A new incident is causing a stir in the PC hardware scene: On the YouTube channel Hardware Unboxed, during a stress test, the power connector of a GeForce RTX 5090 heated up to around 175 degrees Celsius and literally melted. The affected card was an ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5090, connected to a be quiet! Dark Power 13 power supply.
Tester Steve noticed the problem because the cable became so hot that he nearly burned his fingers when touching it. Using a Thermal Grizzly WireView Pro measurement device, the team subsequently discovered how unevenly the current was flowing through the connector. Key measurements and facts at a glance:
- Peak temperature measured at the connector: approximately 175.4 degrees Celsius
- Only 2 out of 6 wires in the cable carried significant current, one of them with a peak load of up to 22 Amps
- Surprisingly, the larger melt point was not on the GPU-side connector, but on the power supply-side connector
- Test system used: ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5090 with a be quiet! Dark Power 13 power supply
- Hardware Unboxed emphasizes: The connector was fully seated and clicked into place during installation; user error is ruled out
Why is the RTX 5090's Power Connector Melting Again?
The problem isn't entirely new: Even the 12VHPWR standard, the predecessor to today's 12V-2×6 connector, repeatedly made headlines for melted connectors since the launch of the RTX 4090 in 2022. Nvidia responded at the time with the revised 12V-2×6 design, which was supposed to ensure a better fit and more safety margins. The fact that a cable is melting again, especially at an established test lab like Hardware Unboxed, indicates: The fundamental problem of uneven power distribution across the six thin wires of the connector still doesn't seem to be fully resolved with the current RTX 50-series generation. Similar cases have previously been documented by other tech media outlets and individual users, often regardless of the power supply or cable manufacturer used.
What Should RTX 5090 Owners Do Now?
If you own an RTX 5090, you should regularly check the power connector: Is it fully seated and clicked into place? Is the cable or connector visibly discolored? Or does it smell like burnt plastic? External measuring devices like the aforementioned Thermal Grizzly WireView Pro, which display real-time current distribution across individual wires, offer additional safety. If you notice any signs of overheating, you should immediately shut down the card and contact the retailer or Nvidia directly – cautious handling is always worthwhile for such expensive high-end hardware.
From our perspective, this repeated incident primarily shows one thing: As long as Nvidia and its board partners don't revise the fundamental connector design, this issue will continue to plague RTX 5090 owners – no matter how carefully they assemble their systems. Even our report on issues with RTX 50-series graphics cards in Battlefield 6 Season 4 already indicated that the current Nvidia generation is still struggling with teething problems, not only in everyday gaming but also with fundamental power delivery.
Source: GameStar
Do you own an RTX 5090? Let us know in the comments if your power connector has ever gotten unusually warm.
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