Hardware Unboxed RTX 5090 Connector Melts at 175°C

Hardware Unboxed has documented a melted power connector on an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card. The incident occurred on September 2, 2026, during testing with an ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5090 paired with a be quiet! Dark Power 13 power supply.

Host Steve Walton discovered the fault by touch, finding the cable hot enough to burn his hand. Subsequent thermal camera readings confirmed temperatures above 150 degrees Celsius, peaking at roughly 175°C under load. A Thermal Grizzly WireView Pro diagnostic tool identified the core issue: a severe current imbalance across the connector's pins.

The Fault and the Damage

The data showed some pins carried almost no current, while a single wire was pulling approximately 22 amps. Interestingly, the physical damage was more severe on the power supply side of the connection. The cable had fused inside the Dark Power 13's connector and required pliers for removal. The GPU's own connector, however, escaped without visible marks.

Hardware Unboxed stated the cable was fully seated and does not attribute the meltdown to installation error. This incident is presented not as an anomaly but as part of a known pattern. The source report notes the 12V-2x6 connector is notorious for melting, with RTX 5090 connectors failing even after users apply undervolts and limits on electricity draw.

A Wider Pattern of Failures

The report references at least one other case where an ASRock power supply's thermal cutoff mechanism saved a card from a similar fate. Frustration with the connector design has driven some modders to extreme measures. The source states some frustrated modders have gone so far as to solder wires directly to the PCB just to sidestep the connector altogether.

Discussion in the source's comment section highlights community concerns about supplemental safety products. One commenter argued if you have to buy a supplemental product to protect yourself against the risk of losing your current product, then the original product was never safe for resell and should be recalled. Others speculated whether cables with integrated thermal protection, like those from Corsair, could have prevented the damage.

The Underlying Design Question

The central technical issue identified is the current imbalance. A comment from the source thread elaborates, calling it a very bad design to allow one cable to carry so much load, where eight of them should. This points to a potential flaw in the power delivery design of the connector system itself, rather than a simple matter of cable quality or user installation.

The Hardware Unboxed test setup involved the stock cable supplied with the be quiet! Dark Power 13 power supply. Despite the high-end components involved, an ASUS ROG Astral model and a monitoring tool, the failure still occurred. This has led to broader questions about the safety and longevity of high-power graphics card connectors as GPU electricity demands continue to rise.