Some owners of Nvidia's new RTX 5090 Founders Edition graphics cards are reporting cases of melting power connectors and damaged power supplies (PSU). The problem resembles what was seen when the RTX 4090 GPUs hit the market two years ago.
A report on Reddit seems to indicate that the damage is occurring on both the PSU end of the power cable and the section directly connected to the GPU. Interestingly, the problem has been seen with power cables from several manufacturers, including MODDIY and FSP, which may indicate that it is not a problem with a specific type of cable.
Nvidia's RTX 40-series GPUs introduced the world to the 12VHPWR power connector meant for the new generation of graphics cards with higher power demands. In response to the initial issues with the RTX 4090, the PCI-SIG, the standards organization responsible for the 12VHPWR connector, has updated the design. The new 12V-2x6 connector features shorter sensing pins and longer conductor terminals.
Nvidia uses the 12V-2x6 connector on its RTX 50-series GPUs, although consumers can still use the existing 12VHPWR cables. Still, some manufacturers, such as Corsair and MSI, have already colored the pins for their 12VHPWR cables to indicate if the connector is not seated properly.
In January, Nvidia said it 'does not expect' to see a similar melting situation with the RTX 5090 or 5080, saying, "We made some changes to the connector to address the issue at the time, and now, two years later, we don't know of any such issues."
It is still not clear what exactly is causing the issue, whether it's the power cable, the PSU, or both. Some users have even speculated that thinner pins on the 12VHPWR connector of their PSU may have led to increased resistance and the melting problem.
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