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Nvidia has been quick to wave away concerns that its RTX 5090 flagship graphics card, which consumes close to 600W of power, won’t melt power connectors like its predecessor had a habit of doing. Although the new card will pull close to 30% more power than its predecessor and cool it in a much-more compact design, Nvidia is confident that changes made to the power connector will be enough to prevent similar problems this generation.
Confirmation of this confidence came from Nvidia spokespersons at the Nvidia RTX AI Day 2025 in South Korea this week (via Tom’s Hardware and Quasar Zone). When asked about the RTX 5090 connector and its potential for melting, a spokesperson is quoted as saying, “We don’t expect that to happen with the RTX 50 series. We made some changes to the connector to respond to the issue at the time, and we know that it is not happening now, about two years later.”
Nvidia’s last few generations of flagship graphics cards have been as characterized by their monstrous power requirements, as they have their impressive performance. The RTX 4090 debuted in October 2022 to similar praise. But it quickly raised concerns as some early adopters saw their money and gaming performance vanish in a puff of smoke, as the new 12VHPWR 12-pin power connector on the card had melted. It wasn’t a common problem, but enough people were affected that a class-action lawsuit was filed, and Nvidia promptly changed its power connector to a more secure design.
Credit: Reddit
It’s that same 12V-2×6 power connector that Nvidia is using in the design of the new RTX 5090, with a recessed placement that should prevent much of the problems of the original. While there was never a definitive cause of the early melting incidents with the RTX 4090, it appeared to be related to users either not plugging the new power connector in all the way, or debris from repeated insertions and removals causing heat build up. Heavily bending of the connector was also cited as a potential concern, as well as using some of the third-party 2x 8pin to 12VHPWR converters.
Nvidia used the newer 12V-2×6 design on later 40-series graphics cards, like the RTX 4080 Super and RTX 4070 Super, and there have been no melting issues with these cards or the newer power connector. While some RTX 4090 cards have continued to run into melting connector issues in the years since the original spate of problems, those have tended to be older cards using the original connector design.
Nvidia’s board partners have made some additional changes of their own, too. Zotac famously added a safety light to its 40-series cards, so that they won’t run unless the connector is fully plugged in and the light engaged. MSI’s power connectors featured a yellow indicator, to make it clear when the connector was fully inserted and when it wasn’t.
The RTX 5090 debuted at CES to much acclaim—though there are questions about its real-world performance and reliance on frame generation. Look out for reviews in the coming days.