Another RTX 5090 Meltdown: German Media Outlet Reports Damaged Cable in Press System
The 12V‑2×6 power connector saga has extended into the ranks of hardware reviewers. German outlet PCMasters.de has reported a melted power cable in their own test system, involving an MSI GeForce RTX 5090 Gaming Trio OC. This marks at least the third known media or press system to suffer a melted connector, following earlier incidents from DSOGaming and Spanish YouTuber Toro Tocho.
According to PCMasters.de, the card was part of their main test bench and used almost daily. The incident occurred during an unrelated NVMe SSD validation, when the system was restarted multiple times without GPU load. The team noticed a small puff of smoke during a shutdown but did not immediately identify the source. After the system began showing issues on reboot, they removed the graphics card.
The 12V‑2×6 cable was found to be stuck to the GPU. Once detached, one pin appeared blackened, and the cable insulation had melted. The damage was worse on the power supply side, connected to an NZXT C1500 PSU: insulation was missing on one side of the 12V cable, and multiple areas of the connector showed melting. Pins 2 and 4 appeared to be the most affected on both ends.
Card Still Boots, But Not Safe
Surprisingly, the RTX 5090 still booted and was detected in Windows after the incident. The outlet then used an Elmor PMD2 and a thermal camera to inspect the card under load. During a Furmark run, one outer pin heated faster than the rest. After roughly two minutes, the insulation temperature reached nearly 50°C, at which point the test was stopped for safety reasons.
PCMasters.de concluded that the card is no longer safe to use. They are hoping to request a repair from MSI.
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Another Nail in the 12V‑2×6 Coffin
The 12V‑2×6 connector was introduced as an improvement over the flawed 12VHPWR design, with shortened sense pins to ensure full seating. However, melting reports continue to surface across RTX 40 and 50 series cards, regardless of power limit or PSU quality. This latest case – in a press test system used daily – suggests that even professional setups with high‑quality components are not immune.
For RTX 5090 owners, the incident is a reminder to inspect the power connector regularly, avoid third‑party adapters, and ensure the cable is fully seated. More importantly, the industry may need a fundamental redesign of the 16‑pin standard before these failures become less common.
Source: pcmasters