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New melted cable brings up old Nvidia RTX 5090 design flaw concerns

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A damaged 12V-2×6 cable placed on top of an RTX 5090 Founders Edition graphics card
Melting power cables have once again raised their head this generation. ivan6953 on Reddit

The Nvidia RTX 5090 graphics cards appear to still be having trouble in the connector department, with a user reporting that their component experienced a melted cable.

Reddit user Roachard recently shared their situation on the social media platform with images, having detailed that the incident happened while using an MSI GeForce RTX 5090 Gaming Trio OC GPU. They said the GPU was connected to the original power connector, which damaged both the GPU and its power supply unit (PSU) cables.

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MSI 5090 Gaming trio OC melted cable (repost with pics)
byu/Roachard innvidia

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The connector meltdown is considered a persistent design flaw within Nvidia GPUs. Other Reddit users shared experiences in February, with some previously considering that the issue could be associated with third-party cables. However, the recent report shows this may not be the case. Even so, this is known to be a persistent issue plaguing the 12V-2×6 connector in Nvidia’s GPUs. Though there have now been several incidents with RTX 5090 models, the flaw goes back to the 40 series. The issue arises when five of the six pins are not properly connected or registering, and the pins that are must overcompensate to maintain power. This leads to a power surge and a potential fire hazard, Tom’s Hardware noted.

The images showcased on Reddit show that the damage was localized to one pin on the connector. The user took to the social media platform for advice on how to proceed with a fix for their GPU and PSU; however, Nvidia is still sorting out its long-standing availability issues with the RTX 50 series. Procuring a replacement or troubleshooting from the brand may be a challenge.

Roachard added that the MSI RTX 5090 Gaming Trio OC in question costs them $2,900, which is still quite pricey, but is not as high a price as that model of graphics card can command.

Tom’s Hardware notes that Asus’ ROG Astral GPUs could be a solid alternative as they have per-pin current readings as a native feature. Those who are more technologically savvy can also opt to rig per-pen sensing capabilities into their RTX 50 graphics cards, the publication added.

Fionna Agomuoh
Fionna Agomuoh
Computing Writer
Fionna Agomuoh is a Computing Writer at Digital Trends. She covers a range of topics in the computing space, including…
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