Nvidia’s new flagship graphics card RTX 5090 has come to the agenda with a serious and unwanted problem immediately after its release. The 12VHPWR power connection, which is well -known by many users, has manifested itself in the new model. Are the burning and melting events in the period when the RTX 4090 was released?

The first cases emerged

Two different RTX 5090 Founders Edition users reported that graphics cards have detected melting in power connections. The first case arose with the problem that a user in Reddit increased from RTX 4090 to RTX 5090. Battlefield 5 stating that the smell of burn plastic while playing, the user, when the computer closed the power cable both the graphics card and the power supply in connection points noticed. It is stated that the cable used belongs to MODDIY that produces special cables and is tightly attached from both ends. The manufacturer states that the relevant cable uses the 12V-2X6 design.

The second case came from the Spanish Youtuber Toro Tocho. Toro Tocho’s RTX 5090 Founders Edition graphics card was used with the FSP brand power supply cable and the same melting problem. Moreover, this time the melting plastic is not only in the video card connection, but also the PCIe 5.0 connector on the power supply. The only common point of these two different scenarios is that third -party power cables are used.

12VHPWR standards have been renewed but the problem is not solved?

With the RTX 40 series, Nvidia introduced the 12VHPWR power connection and released compatible power supplies for this standard. While the RTX 4090 can attract 450W of this connection, the power consumption of the RTX 5090 is up to 575W. This is theoretically considered as a value at the border for a cable that can carry 600W.

Following the connection problems in the RTX 4090, the PCI-Sig updated standards and developed a new 12V-2X6 connector. This new connection has shorter detection pins and longer conductive terminals. Nvidia also uses this connection in the RTX 50 series. However, there is an important detail: the old 12VHPWR cables are still compatible with these new ports.

The 12VHPWR connection developed by PCI-Sig is used so far only on consumer graphics cards by Nvidia. AMD chose the classic 8-PCI PCIe connection in the upcoming Radeon RX 9070 series. Users with problems are wondering what kind of explanation of Nvidia this time. During the RTX 4090 period, Nvidia claimed that the problem was experienced due to the fact that users did not fit the cable. However, new cases show that this statement is not enough.