RTX 5090 D Cable melting rumour debunked – It was an RTX 4090 after all
PCM confirms that their 12VHPWR cable melted during RTX 4090 testing, not RTX 5080 and RTX 5090D testing
This week, we have seen reports of a 12VHPWR cable melting while testing Nvidia’s RTX 5090 D and RTX 5080 graphics cards. After investigating these reports, we can confirm that this is not the case. PCM, a Hong Kong media outlet, reported on their PSU’s 12VHPWR connector melting during testing. This happened during their RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 D testing. However, this testing also included comparison testing with Nvidia’s RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 SUPER.
Based on PCM’s report (machine translated), the cable was damaged when using Nvidia’s RTX 4090 Founders Edition graphics card. Nvidia’s newer RTX 50 series GPUs were undamaged. It also seems clear that the company’s RTX 4090 remains functional. As such, recent reports of PCM melting their PSU cables with Nvidia’s RTX 5090/RTX 5090 D are misinformation.
Below is what PCM said on their website.
The editorial department used an ATX 3.0 1250W power supply to repeatedly test several graphics cards including RTX 5090 D / 5090 / 4090 / 4080 SUPER, etc. During the test, there were system instability issues, but the running results did not show obvious abnormalities. At that time, it was speculated that The SSD may be faulty and I replaced it, the problem seems to have improved.
When I replaced the graphics card after the Lunar New Year, I found that the 12VHPWR cable behind the graphics card seemed to be abnormal. I checked it with a magnifying glass and found that the copper wire was exposed, which was unusual. I dismantled the whole cable for detailed inspection and found that both ends showed signs of burning, especially the power supply The problem is more obvious at one end of the device, as if it had been overloaded. So I checked all the tested graphics cards and found that the corresponding pins of the RTX 4090 FE had the same slight burn marks, the graphics card socket was still intact, and there were no abnormalities in the test scores.
– PCM
Why is Nvidia confident that their cable melting issues are behind them with their RTX 5090?
After the launch of Nvidia’s RTX 40 series GPUs, it was found that some users had their GPU’s 12VHPWR connectors melt, destroying their GPUs. This could happen when 12VHPWR cables are not fully inserted. As a result, the 12VHPWR connector was revised to create the 12V-2×6 connector. This new power connector features recessed sense pins and longer power pins. This ensures that full/correct cable insertion is required for full power delivery.
After this new connector was developed, new RTX 40 series GPUs were produced using it, retiring the 12VHPWR connector. Over time, this stopped RTX 4090 GPUs from suffering from this melted cable/connector issue. As such, Nvidia expects melting cables and connectors to be a thing of the past with the launch of their RTX 50 series graphics cards. All RTX 50 series GPUs use 12V-2×6 power connectors.
You can join the discussion on PCM not melting a power cable on their RTX 5090 D GPU on the OC3D Forums.
