- Both RTX 4090 and 5090 cards still suffer from burned power connectors despite Nvidia’s redesigns.
- Technicians are seeing burned ports across multiple vendors, including ASUS, MSI, and Gainward.
- Third-party monitoring accessories can shut down PCs during spikes, but they only treat the symptom, not the root power-draw issue.
Graphics cards like the RTX 5090 and RTX 4090 are becoming increasingly expensive as AI demand drives up memory costs. But their high prices come with another concern: overheating and melting power connectors. Despite NVIDIA’s efforts over the years, the issue appears far from resolved, with one technician reportedly receiving 10 damaged RTX 5090 and RTX 4090 graphics cards in just two days.
The NVIDIA RTX 4090 was the first to be affected by NVIDIA’s 12VHPWR connection, causing significant controversy. In this case, customers were accused of fitting the connector incorrectly, and while that happened occasionally, it wasn’t entirely their fault.
NVIDIA had to modify it and release the 12V-2×6 connector, but this didn’t fix anything, as the problems persisted. Finally, the only option is to use connectors that monitor, alert with alarms, and even shut down the PC in an emergency, such as the Thermal Grizzly WireView Pro II, which can be expanded with a plugin.
Overheating and melting issues with NVIDIA’s 12VHPWR power connectors continue to plague the GeForce RTX 4090 and RTX 5090, providing a substantial revenue source for repair professionals. In fact, one of the most well-known Chinese repair experts, “Brother Zhang,” showed that his workshop received eight RTX 4090 and two RTX 5090 graphics cards in just two days, all with similar power-connector damage.
The affected cards came from a variety of manufacturers, including MSI, ASUS, and Gainward, showing the issue isn’t limited to one brand. One of the more extreme examples was a Gainward RTX 5090 whose power connector had melted and fused completely to the power line, prompting the owner to disconnect it to send the card in for repair. The commonality of the damage let the technician use nearly identical repair procedures on all machines.
After repairing the cards, Brother Zhang ran tests to verify functionality and connector temperatures. On one RTX 5090, the connector reached around 82°C, a significantly high temperature that should not melt.
Because new units aren’t always available, many owners turn to independent repair companies rather than relying on their warranties. Furthermore, several manufacturers have refused warranty repairs when consumers used unapproved connections or adapters, leaving those affected with limited options for recovering their expensive graphics cards.
While these community-driven solutions add safeguards against power connector failures, they cannot eliminate the underlying risks of high-current power delivery. So, until more reliable connector designs and built-in protection mechanisms become standard, RTX 5090 owners must install carefully and monitor continuously.
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[Editor-in-Chief]
Sajjad Hussain is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Tech4Gamers.com. Apart from the Tech and Gaming scene, Sajjad is a Seasonal banker who has delivered multi-million dollar projects as an IT Project Manager and works as a freelancer to provide professional services to corporate giants and emerging startups in the IT space.
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