Earlier, we told you about the case of the RTX 5090 FE from user Ivan6953 on Reddit. While playing Battlefield V (500 to 520W of power consumption), he smelled something burning… It was his power supply and graphics card that had just gone up in smoke. Ouch. What’s more, as he was using a third-party cable, a model from ModDiy, he fears for his warranty, as brands reject after-sales service as soon as possible in this kind of situation.
In short, he was contacted by Der8auer to find out more about the case. After a lengthy exchange, Ivan6953 sent his damaged components to the overclocker, who proceeded to inspect the hardware in detail. Finally, we were treated to a test session where he reproduced the problem on his hardware. Clearly, his conclusions are (very) worrying.
RTX 5090 FE burnt, it’s not a cable or connection problem!
According to Der8auer’s findings, the problem was not caused by a connection error. As an experienced and knowledgeable user, Ivan knows how to handle the 12V-2×6 and it was correctly installed. As for the cable, it comes from ModDiy and is of satisfactory build quality, so it’s not to blame.
What is an issue here, however, is the graphics card itself. During a load test, the overclocker noticed that some pins were getting much hotter than others. In fact, of the six 12V pins, two proved to be very hot, up to 150°C on the power supply side and 80°C on the graphics card side, after just a few minutes under Furmark.
Finally, after measuring with a clamp ammeter, it turned out that some cables were drawing all or almost all the amperage. Huge disparities were measured: between 23A and 2A depending on the cable. This unequal distribution of the load between the pins is ultimately very problematic, as it leads to the situation we are experiencing.
The problem behind all this is that the unique 12V-2×6 of the RTX 5090 FE doesn’t leave enough room for manoeuvre to avoid damage. Ideally, these cards should have two connectors… Or additional protection circuits in the card’s power supply. In any case, something needs to be done and a revision made to the Founders Edition… and all the models concerned. In any case, this is a worrying problem and if nothing is done, there are going to be more burnt cards.
