Having only been on the market a few weeks ago, the GeForce RTX 5090 has been giving us a sense of déjà vu for a few days now: a few cases of melted connectors have recently appeared, reviving the painful memory of similar problems that affected previous-generation GeForce RTXs shortly after their launch.
NVIDIA apparently not at fault
The first documented case concerns a Reddit user, who shared photos of his RTX 5090 Founders Edition damaged at the level of its 12VHPWR power connector. However, he specified that he had used a cable from a third-party manufacturer, which was announced as compliant with ATX 3.0 and PCIe 5.0 specifications up to 600 W.
Despite this, the connector melted while he was playing Battlefield 5, with an estimated power consumption of between 500 and 520 W. The incident caused considerable damage to the power supply (an Asus ROG Loki SFX-L 1000W model), but also to the graphics card connector.
One of the cable's wires also appears to have partially melted over a good part of its length, a sign of an excessively high temperature and therefore a current of a abnormally high intensity. The distribution of the damage therefore seems to indicate that the source of the problem is in the power supply: only one or two of the six available wires transferring the +12V have overheated, suggesting an uneven distribution of current by the power supply.
Check the cable connections
A second testimony, relayed by a Spanish YouTuber, highlights a slightly different scenario. In his case, only the power connector was affected, sparing the graphics card. A faulty connection seems to be the cause here, highlighting in passing the importance of meticulous installation and regular maintenance of the power cable. NVIDIA supplies a longer and more flexible adapter with its GeForce RTX to avoid this kind of mishap, and the graphics card's power connector is angled to reduce strain on the cable. These changes from previous adapters seem to be working so far: no cases of connector melting have been reported when using official cables and adapters.
We therefore advise lucky owners of GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080to use NVIDIA-supplied adapters or their power supply's native cables if possible, to regularly inspect the connectors for discoloration, wear, or bending, and to monitor the power supply temperature to avoid any risk of overheating.
Source: Reddit
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