Nvidia "expects" RTX 5090/5080 power connectors to not melt or burn thanks to new PCIe plug

If you remember the Nvidia RTX 40-series desktop launch, you may recall the fire hazard that the cards were potentially capable of becoming. All this was due to the introduction of the new 12VHPWR 16-pin connector that was melting or burning up leading to catastrophic component failure.

Further investigations confirmed that the issue was related to improper seating or insertion of the power cable into the GPU's power slots and this led companies to innovate to create ways to prevent this type of happening.

For example, MSI developed a bright-yellow connector plug such that it becomes easy for a user to understand whether the cable is fully and properly inserted or not. Meanwhile, Seasonic made an L-shaped design to solve a similar issue. Finally, Asus revealed its BTF "hidden connector" design to do away with 12VHPWR.

Regardless of the improvements, concerns around the power connector fiasco are still in peoples' minds given that the upcoming RTX 5090 is rated at 175 watts or ~27.78% more than the RTX 4090.

At a media event dubbed GeForce Update Editor's Day 2025, during the Q&A session, Nvidia said that it does not "expect" to see a similar situation with the RTX 5090 or 5080 video cards with the introduction of the newer "12V-2×6 PCIe 12VHPWR connector".

Here's what Nvidia stated (Korean, translated to English using DeepL):

When you launched the RTX 40 series, you changed the auxiliary power to a new 12+4-pin specification. With this new specification, especially on the RTX 4090, there was an issue with the connector melting due to overheating. Has this been addressed on the RTX 5090?

 

We don't expect that to happen with the RTX 50 series. We made some changes to the connector to address the issue at the time, and now, two years later, we don't know of any such issues.

12V-2×6 PCIe 12VHPWR connector has shown promise in its testing phase as the connector has shown that it does not malfunction even if it is not plugged in fully or properly. We covered the topic in a bit more detail here.

Despite the assurance though, users should continue to exercise caution and make sure the cable is properly and fully seated or is not bent too steeply.

Source: QuasarZone Cover image via: Shiftyeyes67k (Reddit)

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