Modders show RTX 5090 works flawlessly with 8-pin connectors instead of 16 without overheating

[DragonSlayer101]

In a nutshell: The Nvidia RTX 5090 has long been plagued by catastrophic thermal failures that can cause its 16-pin power connector to melt under heavy workloads. In an effort to find a solution to the overheating issue, a team of tech YouTubers has reportedly created the world's first RTX 5090 graphics card to use 8-pin power connectors instead of a 16-pin design.

Brazilian YouTube channel TecLab has demonstrated that an RTX 5090 can be connected to a PSU using standard 8-pin connectors instead of 16-pin ones, despite its 575W TDP. To perform the experiment, the modders used a Galax HOF OC LAB RTX 5090, which is designed to use two 16-pin connectors. However, the team claims that the card can even function with three 8-pin connectors.

As part of its effort to find an alternative to the 16-pin design, the team initially tested the card using XT90 power connectors, which support up to 90 amps each. They eventually opted for three 8-pin Mini-Fit Jr. connectors after making the necessary modifications, which involved tricking the sensors into accepting the new configuration.

The YouTubers put their plan into action by connecting the Sense 0 and Sense 1 pins, allowing the card to continue operating at its full TDP despite switching from a dual 16-pin to a triple 8-pin design. The modified card had nine +12V rails, each supporting around 8 – 8.5 amps. The team says the changes were limited to the hardware and did not require any firmware modifications.

To test the modified card, TecLab gradually increased the power threshold from 400W to 900W while closely monitoring the voltages and temperatures. The card operated at an impressive 3.4GHz while drawing around 70 amps on the 12V rails. The setup remained stable throughout the test, staying well within the recommended electrical and thermal safety margins.

The card was also tested with a peak current of 120A at 3.4GHz, and it still passed the test with flying colors, with operating temperatures reaching only around 35 degrees Celsius. The modders also tested the card with just two 8-pin connectors instead of three, and even that configuration was able to keep temperatures below 25 degrees Celsius, with the card drawing 66A while running at more than 3.2GHz.

Just days before releasing the latest video, TecLab demonstrated another solution to the RTX 5090's overheating problem by routing the power wiring directly to the GPU's PCB. The channel claimed that bypassing the 16-pin power connectors was a foolproof way to end "meltgate" for good, but acknowledged that it is not a practical solution for most gamers.

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Modders show RTX 5090 works flawlessly with 8-pin connectors instead of 16 without overheating

 

[yRaz]

The problem with the 12/16 pin connector is that it was just vastly over rated. These aren't "cheap" products, either. They are premium products and they definitely had the margin built in from MSRP to over build and under spec their cable. If we are paying this kind of money we should be paying for an over engineered product that doesn't doesn't have things like "user error" or even just come loose overtime due to environmental vibrations. Crap comes loose in my home theater not often, but often to notice that the stuff sitting next to my 15" sub comes loose more often than stuff not sitting next to it.

These things are in environments with kids running around, pets, vibrations from sound systems and gamers raging and pounding on their desk. Sure, on a spreadsheet it looks fine. Not to be, but to someone the cable specs looked good enough to mass produce. The thing is that life isn't a spreadsheet.

The failure of the 12/16 pin connector is that it was built to what a spreadsheet needed it to do, not what people needed it to do.

 

[wiyosaya]

One word: Marketing.

 

[Beerfloat]

Non-issue.

 

[FaTaL]

These articles are so stupid. Just cause some modders did it on youtube doesn't mean it'll work globally and for every configuration.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

The problem with the 12/16 pin connector is that it was just vastly over rated. These aren't "cheap" products, either. They are premium products and they definitely had the margin built in from MSRP to over build and under spec their cable. If we are paying this kind of money we should be paying for an over engineered product that doesn't doesn't have things like "user error" or even just come loose overtime due to environmental vibrations. Crap comes loose in my home theater not often, but often to notice that the stuff sitting next to my 15" sub comes loose more often than stuff not sitting next to it.

These things are in environments with kids running around, pets, vibrations from sound systems and gamers raging and pounding on their desk. Sure, on a spreadsheet it looks fine. Not to be, but to someone the cable specs looked good enough to mass produce. The thing is that life isn't a spreadsheet.

The failure of the 12/16 pin connector is that it was built to what a spreadsheet needed it to do, not what people needed it to do.

It's not over rated, unless you are claiming that the amperage rating of wires is somehow magically wrong just for GPUs. When the connectors run in spec, there are no issues. The problems occur when the connectors run out of spec, EG cards shove all their demand on 1 or 2 pins instead of 6. The same type of failure would, and has, melted the "legendary" 8 pin connector.

It is on cards to balance power, this is industry standard. But it is easier to cry about connectors then it is to address an industry wide issue of poor design. Given 3080s were sufficient to burnt he 8 pins, its only a matter of time until this 5090 burns an 8 pin, because the core problem, the lack of load balancing, has not been addressed.

 

[starfalls]

You know whats easier? Have a card with a max W draw of 400. Then the burning cable thing will be 90% less. I know, even 5070 can have burning connectors. Still, it will be ALOT less than a 500-600-900W 5090. In fact, why even have 5090 if its that bad? Silly card. My Heater is 1000W. Im sure 8 pin is perfect, but yeah. They wanna keep it clean. I cant wait when 6090 is out and they make you use 2 of the burning connectors LOL. There goes the whole 1 cable logic.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

You know whats easier? Have a card with a max W draw of 400. Then the burning cable thing will be 90% less. I know, even 5070 can have burning connectors. Still, it will be ALOT less than a 500-600-900W 5090. In fact, why even have 5090 if its that bad? Silly card. My Heater is 1000W. Im sure 8 pin is perfect, but yeah. They wanna keep it clean. I cant wait when 6090 is out and they make you use 2 of the burning connectors LOL. There goes the whole 1 cable logic.

Then buy a 400w card then. Nobody is stopping you from doing so.

 

[yRaz]

It's not over rated, unless you are claiming that the amperage rating of wires is somehow magically wrong just for GPUs. When the connectors run in spec, there are no issues. The problems occur when the connectors run out of spec, EG cards shove all their demand on 1 or 2 pins instead of 6. The same type of failure would, and has, melted the "legendary" 8 pin connector.

It is on cards to balance power, this is industry standard. But it is easier to cry about connectors then it is to address an industry wide issue of poor design. Given 3080s were sufficient to burnt he 8 pins, its only a matter of time until this 5090 burns an 8 pin, because the core problem, the lack of load balancing, has not been addressed.

A connector should be rated for the worst case scenario it will experience. The failure isn't in the wire, it's the contacts that connect the PCB to the wires. After that, there are watts=V*Amps. The connectors don't connect, volts drops and amps go up. When that happens, it creates more heat but thinner wires or even just a lower quality of copper can fail.

But can we take a step back for a second and think of how absolutely ridiculous having a 600watt connector is? The lunacy of the connector doesn't even start with the connector