Nvidia’s RTX 5070 becomes the newest GPU to suffer a melted cable incident
RTX 5070 user reports melted 12V-2×6 power cable
A Japanese RTX 5070 user on Twitter/X (via Videocardz) has reported that the 12V-2×6 power cable attached to their GPU quickly melted after they turned on their PC.
The user reports that their PC was made using new components, and that smoke started coming out of their PC shortly after it was turned on. The user found that one cable on their 12V-2×6 power cable had melted. On X, the user also stated that they checked their 16-pin power connection “over and over again” to ensure it was fully seated.
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This system likely used a defective graphics card
The 16-pin GPU power standard is controversial, though its issues are typically only seen on high-power graphics cards like Nvidia’s RTX 4090 or RTX 5090. Melted cable incidents are rare on lower-power graphics cards. This is the first time that we have heard of a relatively low-power GPU like an Nvidia RTX 5070 suffering from an issue like this.
Based on the image below, we believe a GPU defect caused this cable melting issue. Note that one of the pins of the 12V-2×6 connector below is not visible (though you can see its reflection). This pin appears to be recessed, suggesting that the connector is defective.
Note that the owner of this PC claims that their system was made using new components. Additionally, they stated that the cable melted once their PC was turned on. Typically, these cable melting scenarios occur while gaming. Gaming workloads give heat time to build up within a cable or power connector. This wasn’t the case here. As such, we believe that this failure may have been due to a manufacturing fault.
In this instance, we believe that this gamer was simply unlucky. An instantaneous failure like this suggests that one of their components is faulty. We hope that they will be able to get their components replaced soon by their retailer or manufacturer. This incident shouldn’t concern other RTX 5070 users.
You can join the discussion on Nvidia’s RTX 5070 becoming the newest GPU to have a melted power connector on the OC3D Forums.
