MSI RTX 5090 power cable melts

A very expensive graphics card just dragged an old fear back into view. PCMasters.de says its MSI GeForce RTX 5090 Gaming Trio OC ended up with a melted 12V-2x6 power cable in the site’s own long-running test system, and that matters because this was not some reckless overclocking stunt. (pcmasters.de) It was a press bench used almost every day. The ugly part is that the failure appeared during SSD validation and repeated restarts — not during some obvious torture run. (videocardz.com) ### What actually failed? The reported failure is the 16-pin GPU power link — the 12V-2x6 connector that replaced the older 12VHPWR design. On paper, this revision was supposed to be the safer, cleaned-up version after the RTX 4090 connector mess. In this case, PCMasters says the damaged part was a 12V-2x6 PCIe 5.1 cable feeding an MSI RTX 5090 Gaming Trio OC, and the outlet no longer considers the card safe to use. (videocardz.com) ### Why is this report different? Because it happened in a media test rig, not just in a random forum post with missing details. PCMasters says this card lived in its main system and saw near-daily use. That gives the report more weight — there’s a known workload history, and the outlet caught the problem while doing normal bench work rather than after a mystery crash months later. (pcmasters.de) VideoCardz notes this looks like at least the third known media or press-system RTX 5090 connector incident. ### Why would restarts matter? That’s the weird part. The outlet says the problem surfaced during NVMe SSD validation with multiple restarts and no real GPU load. Basically, the connector may have already been degrading, and the restart cycle exposed it. (pcmasters.de) When PCMasters then checked behavior under FurMark, one outer pin heated faster than the others, which is exactly the kind of uneven load pattern people have been worrying about with these connectors. ### How hot did it get? Hot enough for them to stop. PCMasters says it aborted the FurMark run after roughly two minutes because the insulation temperature climbed to almost 50°C. That number by itself is not “plastic instantly melts” territory, but it points to localized heating in the wrong place, and localized heating is the whole problem with these failures. (pcmasters.de) The scary temperatures can sit inside a single bad contact point while the rest of the cable looks merely warm. ### Haven’t vendors already tried to fix this? Yes — and that’s why this story lands so badly. MSI pushed its yellow-tipped “secure” connector idea to make incomplete insertion easier to spot, but Tom’s Hardware covered a separate case in April 2025 where that visual safeguard still didn’t prevent melting. (pcmasters.de) So the easy explanation — user error from not plugging the cable in all the way — no longer feels like the whole story. ### Is there evidence of a deeper design issue? There is at least evidence that power can distribute unevenly. Der8auer’s earlier testing on an RTX 5090 Founders Edition showed some wires taking far more current than others, with one cable exceeding 22 amps and hotspot temperatures reaching about 150°C on the PSU side. That does not prove every failure has the same cause, but it does support the idea that a connector can look fine overall while one contact quietly cooks. (videocardz.com) ### So what’s the practical takeaway? If you own an RTX 5090, this is not a reason to panic — but it is a reason to inspect. Watch for black screens, reboots, flickering, or discoloration around the plug. Avoid sharp cable bends near the connector, use the PSU maker’s native cable if possible, and re-seat the connection carefully. (tomshardware.com) The bottom line is simple: the 12V-2x6 revision reduced the old stigma, but this new MSI case shows the problem is still alive at the top end. (videocardz.com 1) (videocardz.com 2)