Nvidia’s RTX 5090 graphics card is one of the most sought-after pieces of technology worldwide, but reports suggest it has melted power cables. The issue causes damage not only to the cable but also to the PC's power supply — in one Reddit user's case, worth £240 — and the RTX 5090 graphics card. These graphics cards are in high demand and incredibly expensive, priced at £1,939 when purchased directly from Nvidia.
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“I noticed the burning smell playing Battlefield 5. The power draw was 500-520W. Instantly turned off my PC,” wrote Reddit user ivan6953. This isn’t the first instance of high-powered graphics cards causing melting cable issues. In late 2022, following the release of the Nvidia RTX 4090, similar reports surfaced, showing burned cable sockets and damaged components across social networks like Reddit.
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This standard is known as 12VHPWR, and while Nvidia has switched to using a slightly different connector in the RTX 5090, it will still accept the older cable style because the two are fundamentally similar. The reformulated standard has pins of slightly different lengths. Improperly inserted power cables were blamed for the 2022 incidents, prompting the new cable socket design to prevent such issues. This also led to a recall by cable maker CableMod, after the US Consumer Product Safety Commission identified their power cable adapters as a potential 'fire and burn' hazard.
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His initial investigation suggests an issue with an “imbalance” across the power cable pins when using the Nvidia RTX 5090 Founders Edition card. He recorded temperatures of 150°C at the point where the power cable connects to the power supply. “Are you telling me that 150 degrees centigrade at the PSU side and 90 degrees at the GPU side within five minutes, that is normal?” Der8auer said in his video. He said this was “extremely concerning”.
