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Nvidia's RTX 5090 power connectors are melting

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Re: Nvidia's RTX 5090 power connectors are melting

#221

Post by gambiting »

minzi wrote: post #205
gambiting wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've tested my own 5090FE the same way he did(Furmark for at least 5 minutes at max load, but I actually ran it for 30 minutes just to be mega sure) and with an infrared thermometer the connector is at 45C on the GPU side and 32C on the PSU side. I have no idea what's happening in his video but something is massively wrong, and I don't understand why he didn't just test it with another PSU/cable.

Are you using the splitter that nvidia provided or a 600w cable? Also, what PSU? I've been using mine remotely, so trying to figure out how much I should panic. I'm running off the SF1000 and the cable it came with. Will be a few weeks before I can measure temperatures.

The new Corsair RM1000x(ATX 3.1 model), with the included 12V-2x6 cable(so just one connector at the PSU and one at the GPU, no adapter).

Re: Nvidia's RTX 5090 power connectors are melting

#223

Post by dylan604 »

wnevets wrote: post #222
dylan604 wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they're cheaper?

That sounds like someone buying a Lamborghini then trying to save money by fueling with regular gas.

Yeah, the people that buy a Lamborghini are some of the "cheapest" people and will squabble over the smallest of things.

Re: Nvidia's RTX 5090 power connectors are melting

#224

Post by knowitnone »

BigJono wrote: post #13

This shit is so fucking dumb. Sorry for the unhinged rant, but it's ridiculous how bad every single connector involved with building a PC is in 2025. I'm just a software guy, so maybe some hardware engineer can chime in (and I'd love to find out exactly what I'm missing and why it might be harder than it seems), but why on earth can everything not just be easily accessible and click nicely into place? I'm paying mult…

power requirements of GPU cards are increasing with each generation and pushing power to them become more difficult. Electricity through wire causes heat. More power = more heat resulting in things melting. Even the cable would melt(or explode) if high enough current runs through it. People here are talking about 48 volts instead of 12 volts which is one solution. But more cabling to distribute the current would be easier.

Re: Nvidia's RTX 5090 power connectors are melting

#225

Post by Animats »

There are plastics that can deal with high temperatures.[1] They're heavily used in automotive applications. They're not often seen inside computers.

Still, 50 amps inside a consumer computer is excessive. At some point it's time to go to a higher voltage and get the current down.

[1] https://www.plastopialtd.com/high-temperature-plastics/

Re: Nvidia's RTX 5090 power connectors are melting

#227

Post by cesarb »

opencl wrote: post #196
lr1970 wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If the voltage was higher (i believe 'low volt' classification tops out at 48v) Yep, 48V through sensitive parts of the body could be unpleasant but 24V is almost as safe as 12V. Why didn't they use 24V and 25A to achieve required 600W of power instead of 12V and 50A?

Because nobody makes 24V power supplies for computers, they'd have to convince the whole industry to agree on new PSU standards.

> they'd have to convince the whole industry to agree on new PSU standards.

We already have a new PSU standard, it's called ATX12VO and drops all lower voltages (5V, 3.3V), keeping only 12V. AFAIK, it's not seen wide adoption.

Re: Nvidia's RTX 5090 power connectors are melting

#228

Post by minzi »

gambiting wrote: post #221
minzi wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you using the splitter that nvidia provided or a 600w cable? Also, what PSU? I've been using mine remotely, so trying to figure out how much I should panic. I'm running off the SF1000 and the cable it came with. Will be a few weeks before I can measure temperatures.

The new Corsair RM1000x(ATX 3.1 model), with the included 12V-2x6 cable(so just one connector at the PSU and one at the GPU, no adapter).

Good to know. I guess I'll just hold out hope that things are ok and avoid heavy work loads until I can measure things properly.

Re: Nvidia's RTX 5090 power connectors are melting

#230

Post by nullifidian »

armada651 wrote: post #197
lr1970 wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If the voltage was higher (i believe 'low volt' classification tops out at 48v) Yep, 48V through sensitive parts of the body could be unpleasant but 24V is almost as safe as 12V. Why didn't they use 24V and 25A to achieve required 600W of power instead of 12V and 50A?

Because no PC power supply has a 24V rail and even though there's a fancy new connector you can still use an adapter to get the old-fashioned plugs. After all you don't want to limit your market to people who can afford to buy both your most expensive GPU and a new power supply. In the PC market backwards compatibility is king.

>Because no PC power supply has a 24V rail

Servers with NVIDIA H200 GPUs (Supermicro ones for example) have power supplies that have 54 volt rail, since that gpu requires it. I can easily imagine a premium ATX (non-mandatory, optional) variant that has higher voltage rail for people with powerful GPUs. Additional cost shouldn't be an issue considering top level GPUs that would need such rail cost absurd money nowadays.

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