YouTubers "fix" melting RTX 5090 power connector by soldering cables directly to PCB

[DragonSlayer101]

In a nutshell: The RTX 5090 and its predecessor, the RTX 4090, have been plagued by reports of catastrophic thermal failures that can cause the 16-pin power connector to melt, often destroying the card in the process. A team of Brazilian YouTubers has now seemingly found a "solution" to the problem by soldering the power cables directly to the GPU PCB.

TecLab recently demonstrated a workaround for the RTX 5090 thermal failures by modifying a 5090 to bypass the problematic 16-pin power connectors and route the power wiring directly to the GPU's PCB instead. For the experiment, they used a Galax GeForce RTX 5090 D HOF OC LAB XOC, which comes with two 16-pin power connectors designed for extreme overclocking.

The modification was carried out in two steps. First, the team used two adapters to accommodate two sets of wires from each 16-pin connector before soldering them to the connector traces on the PCB. Next, they removed the heatsink and the two 120mm fans cooling the GPU and added an industrial-strength water cooler to reduce the GPU's core temperature.

While the YouTubers did not reveal the GPU's temperatures after the modifications, the ~50A reading from the power meter connected to the 12V rail suggests that the card was drawing around 600W. For context, the Galax HOF OC LAB XOC can handle up to 2,000W, far more than the 575W TDP of standard RTX 5090 cards, thanks to a custom BIOS designed for professional overclockers.

TecLab acknowledged that its "solution" is not practical for most gamers and insisted that it was intended as a sarcastic take on Nvidia's repeated failures to fix the long-standing problem, rather than an actual recommendation to disassemble and permanently modify a $5,000 graphics card.

Ever since the RTX 5090 launched in January 2025, dozens of users have complained about melting 16-pin connectors. One of the earliest reported cases surfaced in February 2025, followed by two more reports in April and another in May. The issue was also documented by John Papadopoulos of DSO Gaming, who claimed that the 12V-2x6 cable connected to his RTX 5090 melted while he was playing Wuchang: Fallen Feathers.

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YouTubers "fix" melting RTX 5090 power connector by soldering cables directly to PCB

 

[Squid Surprise]

Hard to believe this story still garners attention… there is yet to be any evidence that NVIDIA is at fault for any of these “catastrophic failures” or evidence that it’s a systemic flaw in the cards… out of the thousands sold, a few dozen have had this problem - and we don’t know if it simply is a bad batch of cards, cables, motherboards or user error…

Wow, taking a specially made 5090 and “modding” it to prevent a problem it almost certainly never woukd have faced… good job guys…

 

[m4a4]

Hard to believe this story still garners attention… there is yet to be any evidence that NVIDIA is at fault for any of these “catastrophic failures” or evidence that it’s a systemic flaw in the cards… out of the thousands sold, a few dozen have had this problem - and we don’t know if it simply is a bad batch of cards, cables, motherboards or user error…

Wow, taking a specially made 5090 and “modding” it to prevent a problem it almost certainly never woukd have faced… good job guys…

Are you saying that the 4090's and 5090's 12VHPWR cable issues are something that has been happening to cables for a long time (3090 and below), while also being as big a problem on AMD cards?

Or are you just blindly defending Nvidia because you feel like it's not a big deal through no research of your own?

 

[Squid Surprise]

Are you saying that the 4090's and 5090's 12VHPWR cable issues are something that has been happening to cables for a long time (3090 and below), while also being as big a problem on AMD cards?

Or are you just blindly defending Nvidia because you feel like it's not a big deal through no research of your own?

No… I’m saying it’s a very small problem that no one knows the real cause of…

 

[wiyosaya]

Power connectors have been a problem in the past. I once had a dual CPU Slot 1 motherboard. The Connectors on that burned up - it was still the "AT" power supply days. The way that I solved it was to solder the wires from the power supply directly to the pins on the motherboard connector.

Power connector problems are nothing new, IMO.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Are you saying that the 4090's and 5090's 12VHPWR cable issues are something that has been happening to cables for a long time (3090 and below), while also being as big a problem on AMD cards?

Or are you just blindly defending Nvidia because you feel like it's not a big deal through no research of your own?

Melted pins are not new. You can find forum posts of melted pins on cards dating back 20+ years.

If you did some research of your own instead of blindly attacking Nvidia, you'd see that reddit posts for melted 8 pins and forum posts for melted molex existed far before the 16 pin connector ever existed.

No… I’m saying it’s a very small problem that no one knows the real cause of…

We know the cause. Lack of power balancing on the card allows draw to be concentrated on a single pin, causing an overload that melts the connector. The 3090 had 3 separate power planes, the 4090 two, and the 5090 a single plane.

But it's far easier for the overly cynical PC community to cry about evil Nvidia forcing a "bad connector" instead of focusing on the actual issue.

 

[m4a4]

No… I’m saying it’s a very small problem that no one knows the real cause of…

The problem is that it IS a relatively big problem when you compare to other cables that aren't having anywhere as many failures as the Nvidia-specced 12VHPWR power cables, especially this early on.

There have also been reports of carefully seated and unbent power cables melting and many articles covering it.

It clearly has design flaws that are getting swept under the rug, why defend this when the trillion dollar company can do better? There seems to be no foolproofing for it.

 

[m4a4]

But it's far easier for the overly cynical PC community to cry about evil Nvidia forcing a "bad connector" instead of focusing on the actual issue.

Yeah, the issue is that it's a bad connector considering it's "new". As I said, it is relatively worse, but you conveniently didn't address that.

Melted pins are not new. You can find forum posts of melted pins on cards dating back 20+ years.

If you did some research of your own instead of blindly attacking Nvidia, you'd see that reddit posts for melted 8 pins and forum posts for melted molex existed far before the 16 pin connector ever existed.

Nice strawman argument, I didn't say other connectors never melted.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Yeah, the issue is that it's a bad connector considering it's "new". As I said, it is relatively worse, but you conveniently didn't address that.


Nice strawman argument, I didn't say other connectors never melted.

You equated the connector not being the problem to blindly defending Nvidia. Hush now.

The connector is not the problem. Lack of power balancing is the problem.

 

[m4a4]

You equated the connector not being the problem to blindly defending Nvidia. Hush now.

The connector is not the problem. Lack of power balancing is the problem.

........As in a better connector/cable would obviously fix the issue with the 12VHPWR being relatively worse than other previous connectors/cables and melting at the connection.
Ooof, so desperate to dismiss Nvidia's role in this that you thought you made a good point. And I hope you weren't clinging to semantics when context was so obvious.

Anyway, it seems like your opinion on this is worthless. Good day.

Edit: Clarified, so one last strawman argument can't be made so easily.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

........As in a better connector/cable would obviously fix the problem.
Ooof, so desperate to dismiss Nvidia's role in this that you thought you made a good point. And I hope you weren't clinging to semantics when context was so obvious.

Anyway, it seems like your opinion on this is worthless. Good day.

A "better connector" wouldn't fix the problem, because the problem isn't the connector. Power balancing is not done in the connector.

Is reading comprehension a bit difficult for you, or are you being intentionally obtuse?

Edit: since we like using edits: where is your evidence that the 12v connector is actually any worse? Do you have anything beyond reddit posts?

 

[user556]

It is the connector. Specifically the contacts in the cable side female plug.

The whole load balancing talk is complete myth. Load balancing only works when there is redundancy. There is no redundancy in the 12VHPWR/12V-2x6 spec.

 

[p51d007]

Well, maybe when they build all of those "AI" data centers, the connectors will melt and take them out LOL.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

It is the connector. Specifically the contacts in the cable side female plug.

The whole load balancing talk is complete myth. Load balancing only works when there is redundancy. There is no redundancy in the 12VHPWR/12V-2x6 spec.

That doesnt make any sense. Balancing a load in no way "requires redundancy". Proper power load balancing allows you to eliminate (expensive) unneeded redundancy. This is electricity we are talking about, not network topographies.

You do realize that older cards with multiple 8x pins were all balanced right? And the 3090 was balanced too. All balancing does is make it extremely difficult for power to climb out of the safe range by increasing resistance exponentially as one approaches amperage limits.

It's not rocket science.

 

[user556]

Edit: since we like using edits: where is your evidence that the 12v connector is actually any worse? Do you have anything beyond reddit posts?

That question flips really well: How many people do you know running a RTX4090 or RTX5090? Even aside from the insane price tag, I suspect a lot of potential buyers have been put off by this nagging problem of meltdowns.

 

[user556]

You do realize that older cards with multiple 8x pins were all balanced right? And the 3090 was balanced too. All balancing does is make it extremely difficult for power to climb out of the safe range by increasing resistance exponentially as one approaches amperage limits.

Not balanced, no, but allowance for excess. Which, up until the RTX4090, had been a feature of ratio of demand to capacity. Not so much in the spec but via the GPUs not using 100% of the spec. And GPUs didn't have the capacity to short-term boost to extreme power either. Now they can.

Also, there were a number of early posts years ago where people would highlight how the old 8-pin spec had more leeway on the pin current rating. This adds to that allowance ratio of demand to capacity.

The plug spec is too tight and the GPUs are pushing too hard. The fix is to cut the plug off and solder the cable to the card ... or make the plugs tougher.

 

[yRaz]

No… I’m saying it’s a very small problem that no one knows the real cause of…

I think the real problem with the connector is that it didn't eliminate human error and can also come loose while your side panel is open and all that nonsense.

I agree that it's a small issue but it shouldn't be an issue at all. Connectors are a solution to human error. Probably still lower than connecting them yourself, but nVidia should have seen this coming. I also think they grossly over rated the cable. It really shouldn't have gone above 400-450watts.

The 12pin feels a lot more flimsy compared to the 8pin we've been using. The old connectors were bulky and didn't look as clean but I think that's a really good reason to switch to 12pin.

It could theoretically take 600w safety, but the connector itself and the loose tolerances on it opens it up for some really stupid failure points and that alone makes it a less than desirable connector in my book.

 

[Squid Surprise]

That question flips really well: How many people do you know running a RTX4090 or RTX5090? Even aside from the insane price tag, I suspect a lot of potential buyers have been put off by this nagging problem of meltdowns.

I’m using a 4090… haven’t had any issues… and they are selling like hot cakes - and at extremely high prices… I suspect very few potential buyers have been put off at all… at least, not by any connector issues… anyone put off is probably put off by the price tag…