- Someone bought an MSI RTX 5090 Lightning Z, which is a $5,000 GPU
- They then practiced their soldering skills on the board and cracked the graphics card
- Why? It’s definitely because they wanted to implement a hardware mod that allows running an extreme BIOS on the GPU
MSI’s RTX 5090 Lightning Z is a rare limited-edition graphics card that costs $5,000 (or so) in the US, so what better way to practice your soldering skills than to test your skills with the iron on said board?
Reckless? Well, that doesn’t even begin to really cover it, but VideoCardz discovered this unlikely-sounding tale of GPU follies posted on YouTube by NorthridgeFix, a California hardware repair shop.
The broken board was sent to the repair outlet with a problem description which revealed that the owner wanted to “learn how to solder small 0402 resistors” and that they were “practicing” on their expensive GPU.
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“He was trying to ‘learn to solder’ on an extremely rare MSI 5090 Lightning Z GPU, of which only 1,300 units were ever made worldwide,” NorthridgeFix notes in its YouTube edition, adding, “I’m speechless.”
Me too.
Predictably, the soldering lesson went badly wrong and ended up tearing one of the resistor pads, rendering the RTX 5090 non-functional and requiring a delicate repair.
The repair isn’t actually quite finished in the video clip as it still needed further testing, but it looks like NorthridgeFix was successful in saving the expensive graphics card.
Look at
Analysis: lot to cry on
Why did the owner of the RTX 5090 even think of playing with solder resistors like this with such an expensive piece of hardware? This is probably because they were trying to get the MSI XOC (‘extreme performance’) BIOS working so they could engage in some extreme overclocking.
That BIOS was apparently limited in distribution and only given to professional overclockers, and retail MSI RTX 5090 Lightning Z graphics cards cannot be flashed with it. However, the BIOS was leaked, and what has happened is that some people have found a way around this limitation, adding an extra resistor that apparently allows the XOC BIOS to be used. And that’s apparently what the owner of the GPU tried to do.
Of course, there’s a reason why MSI hasn’t freely released the XOC BIOS: Namely, because if it did, there would likely be a few broken RTX 5090 GPUs (and warranty claims). Keep in mind that this extreme version of the BIOS is designed to allow for 2500W of power, a truly ridiculous amount (calculated for liquid nitrogen fueled world record overclocking attempts).
Anyway, extreme BIOS aside, and to state the obvious: if you’re new to soldering, don’t start your journey on a functional graphics card, let alone a cutting-edge flagship model – and a limited-edition effort. The mind boggles with this case, honestly.
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