- A small number of reports on RTX 5090 power cables Overheating and melting has been confirmed
- This follows widespread reports of similar problems with the previous RTX 4090
- However, it is possible that third -party cables may be blamed this time
Do you remember ‘Cabelfegate’? Back at the end of 2022, users began to report that the power connections in their NVIDIA RTX 4090 graphics cards overheated and essentially melted in useless hunks of plastic – and now, according to some buyers, the same problem could plague the newly released RTX 5090.
Now, I covered cable gate failure When the story was at its peak, and at that time I was willing to assign at least part of the blame to NVIDIA, as PCIe Special Interest Group (PCISIG) had previously published a report warning of ‘thermal variance’ risks with Consideration of the 12VHPWR adapter used for the RTX 4090. This time, however, I am really not so sure that Nvidia is to blame.
To begin with, the problems occur far less widespread than with RTX 4090; While literally there were dozens of reports back in 2022 (which Continued far into 2024), we have only seen two isolated confirmed cases of cable melting with respect to RTX 5090. The first came from a Reddit -UserWhile the other was reported by the Spanish YouTube channel Toro tocho reviews. Both reported the same problem: power cord overheated and melted by both ends, something we didn’t see in most of the RTX 4090 plugs.
Secondly, the first of these cases was confirmed to have involved a third-party power cable from PC-maturing supplier Moddiy, introducing a new potential error. Nvidia has now moved to 12V-2 × 6 connection standard for more stable power supply and safer PIN connections, and although Moddiy claims its cables support the new standard, the Reddit user said they had used this cable for two Years with a RTX 4090. Backward compatibility with third party 12VHPWR cables will probably continue to be a problem for NVIDIA’s GPUs – especially Moddiy has now A page on its website Counseling of buyers with RTX 5000 Series GPUs to buy NEW-FOR-2025 12V-2 × 6 cables.
So is there really a problem?
In other words, it seems that at least one of these cable melting cases is caused by user error: 12VHPWR cable that melted, despite being physically compatible with RTX 5090, was probably unable to handle the power supply , that took place. After all, Nvidia’s latest flagship GPU is a hungry girl with an obscene 575W TDP.
PC-MODERS will of course MODERS, but given the known problems of the previous gene card’s power plug I would personally be very reluctant to use anything but the cables delivered in the box at this time. ONE Reddit Megathread Whether the topic is created to prepare further cases, and there is a lot of debate in the comments on whether Nvidia is to blame or whether users should be more careful to avoid third -party cables – even if they claim to be compatible.
Of course, I reached out to my contact with Nvidia to ask for an offer, but Team Green refused to comment – not even a ‘we are investigating’, instead I pointed to Moddiy’s side warning to use older 12VHPWR cables. It seems that Nvidia feels more secure this time, which further strengthens the idea that the cases we have seen so far were not caused by the GPUs themselves, but rather third -party hardware.
It is still possible that we are only at the beginning of a tidal wave of similar reports – considering Extremely limited availability of RTX 5090 at launchwe may not yet see the full extent of the problem, as only a small number of users have managed to get their hands on GPU.
We should still not jump to conclusions. Two cases (with a few more unconfirmed) are not exactly the cavalcade of questions we saw after the RTX 4090 launch, so there is every chance that these problems will not be so widespread. If you was Lucky enough to have one of Nvidia’s new flagship gu’s, my only advice is this: Stay with the included cables for now! If you have thoughts about this, feel free to tell me what genius/idiot I’m in our shiny new comment section below. Honestly, I would very much like to chat with someone who actually managed to buy one of these cards …
