Nvidia's China-exclusive RTX 5090D grapples with the notorious 16-pin overheating predicament.
In the world of hardware, the Chinese-exclusive GeForce RTX 5090D, a contender among the crème de la crème of graphics cards, has found itself entangled in a sticky issue - 16-pin power connector meltdowns. Uniko's Hardware has unearthed two recent cases of this predicament, shared on the Baidu Tieba forums.
We had high hopes that the meltdown issue would be a thing of the past with the advent of the revised 12V-2x6 power connector. However, doubts persist, as occasionally, we see a user report cropping up on the Internet. While reports of 16-pin power connector meltdowns have become less frequent, they haven't completely vanished.
A user on Baidu Tieba shared his woes with his Aorus GeForce RTX 5090D Master Ice, which functioned flawlessly for two months before the 16-pin power connector started melting. He allegedly utilized the native 16-pin power cable supplied with his Segotep KL-1250G power supply—a well-known Chinese manufacturer with over two decades of experience. The KL-1250G is an ATX 3.0 power supply rated at 1,250W and certified for 80 Plus Gold efficiency.
Another user recounted his experience with his Gainward GeForce RTX 5090D graphics card and an Asus ROG Loki power supply. He didn't specify the exact model he owned but mentioned using the native 16-pin power cable. In this instance, the 16-pin power connector melted on both the graphics card and the power supply side.
Forum members criticized the user's Segotep KL-1250G power supply in the first case, with one participant even pointing out that this power supply was often associated with the previous GeForce RTX 4090 meltdowns. Though Segotep is a significant name in the Chinese market, we can't vouch for the quality of its products. In the second case, however, the user employed an Asus ROG Loki unit, so its quality wasn't under dispute.
Theories abound about what's causing the 16-pin power connector meltdowns on Nvidia's GeForce RTX 40-series (codenamed Ada Lovelace) and GeForce RTX 50-series (codenamed Blackwell) graphics cards. One of the most prevailing theories revolves around Nvidia's revised PCB design for Ada Lovelace and Blackwell eliminating load sensing and balancing, a feature present in the older GeForce RTX 30-series (codenamed Ampere). This presumed lack of balancing could explain why the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti, despite sharing the same 450W TDP as the GeForce RTX 4090, never suffered from melting connectors.
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The prevalence of 16-pin power connector issues continues to be a concern, especially with high-end graphics cards such as the GeForce RTX 5090D, despite the introduction of revised power connectors.
The ongoing debate surrounds the potential causes of the 16-pin power connector meltdowns on Nvidia's recently released graphics cards like the GeForce RTX 40-series and GeForce RTX 50-series, with one theory suggesting a lack of load sensing and balancing in Nvidia's new PCB design.
