The demonstration by Der8auer shows that the melted RTX 5090 and 12VHPWR connector might not necessarily be due to user error.
12VHPWR GPU Connector Reaches Extreme Temperatures Within Five Minutes Of Running The GeForce RTX 5090
This might come as a surprise for a lot of people, as what seemed to be the root cause for the melting issue of the 12-pin power connectors may not necessarily be user error every time. We recently reported the first case of a 12-pin power connector on both the RTX 5090 GPU and cable. It wasn't clear from the details given by the user whether this was due to user error or using a third-party cable.
Thankfully, the user was able to contact Der8auer, who lives nearby, and sent him the RTX 5090 FE, 12VHPWR cable, and the ASUS PSU, which were part of the original setup. To replicate what would have happened, Der8auer used his own liquid-cooled GeForce RTX 5090 FE and a Corsair 12VHPWR cable and ran the Furmark test for a few minutes.
Surprisingly, things turned pretty bad in under 5 minutes. As shown by Der8auer through the thermal imaging camera, the cable connectors were heating up like the sun. On the PSU side, the temps reached 150°C, while on the GPU, they were close to 90°C. As you would presume, the connectors were inserted correctly in both the GPU and the PSU, but the problem was located elsewhere.
Apparently, two of the wires from the 12-pin connector cable were carrying most of the load, which resulted in high temperatures. Der8auer showed that the wires were initially designed to accommodate 8 Amps of current, but those two were carrying over 20 Amps each. This is why we saw one of them being melted, as shown by the Redditor.
This is entirely because a single 12-pin power connector may not be able to handle all that load, and since the RTX 5090 is already quite power-hungry, such cases may surface in the near future with a 12VHPWR connector. This is why Der8auer recalls the RTX 4090 melting issue, as this wasn't seen with the RTX 4080, which is, of course, due to a noticeable difference in power consumption.
If you think it's because of the poor-quality cable and connectors, then this is probably not the case. The Moddiy 12VHPWR cable connector has been investigated under the microscope, and it is as good as some of the best 12VHPWR cables you may find from other major vendors.
As you can see, despite using a Corsair 12VHPWR cable, the temperatures were going insanely high. Had he stress-tested his RTX 5090 FE further, the probability of ending up with melting connectors would have been quite high. It looks like the RTX 5090 needs two 12-pin power connectors to distribute the load on different wires to achieve lower temperatures.
About the author: Sarfraz Khan is a hardware reporter with a focus on PC components and the builder community. With years of experience writing about PC hardware and laptops, his work has been featured on several reputable technology publications. Sarfraz's hands-on experience is demonstrated through his first-person accounts of using and comparing different hardware configurations, providing practical and relatable insights for everyday users. His technical analysis is respected by peers in the enthusiast community and has been cited by specialized hardware sites such as Germany's Igor's Lab.
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