It's incredibly rare to see such explosions on graphics cards, but the GeForce RTX 5090 is not unfamiliar with rare incidents.
PNY GeForce RTX 5090 ARGB OC's Capacitor Near the 16-Pin Connector Explodes Violently and Leaves the Nearby Heatsink Fins Bent
Melting 16-pin connectors, burnt memory VRM, and now exploding capacitors; The GeForce RTX 5090 is going through a lot, but the recent incident is definitely one of a kind, which we hardly hear about. A Redditor reported that he witnessed a capacitor explosion late at night when he was editing a video on his system. He says that the GPU temperature was under 70 degrees Celsius and everything was looking stable, but suddenly he heard a loud explosion from his PC.
I was working on a video edit at 2AM when a firecracker went off next to me. I jumped out of my chair it was so loud. The screen went black, sparks and smoke poured out of the case, and the smell of electrical fire filled the room.
- u/RoboDogRush
Upon investigation, he found out that a capacitor near the 16-pin power connector exploded violently, bending the heatsink fins near it. It was quite loud and its impact can be seen in the pics. The user listed his specs, which included a Super Flower Leadex III 1300W 80+ Gold PSU, which he connected to his PNY GeForce RTX 5090 ARGB OC via the 12VHPWR power cable shipped with the PSU.
Here, the 16-pin connector was totally fine, and it looks like the issue was in a totally different place. An exploding capacitor indicates that PNY is either using low-quality components or that a soldering defect was to blame. Since NVIDIA only supplies the GPU chip and VRAM modules, the responsibility falls on PNY. It appears that PNY either used a sub-standard capacitor or didn't carry out adequate quality assurance on the soldering.
Thankfully, the user got his RMA approved, but the incident raises the question about the component quality on PNY cards. A $2000+ card, which is also the flagship edition by PNY, shouldn't explode that easily. A user in the thread pointed out that it could also be due to a direct contact between the capacitor and the heatsink, as the latter will transfer the heat to the capacitor, resulting in premature failure.
Whatever the reason might have been, PNY should investigate this. As of now, only 16-pin melting connectors remain the single most reported issue, but the exploding capacitor isn't any less of a nightmare. We await an update on the issue since PNY's other RTX 5090 models share a similar design.
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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