12V-2×6 Power Connector Overheats Above 150°C with “Water-Cooled” NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

Despite its adherence to advanced standards such as ATX 3.1 and PCI-E 5.1, the 12V-2×6 power cable used in NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 5090 exhibits troubling thermal behavior, reaching alarmingly high temperatures during operation.

Critical Temperatures: 12V-2×6 Power Cable Hits 150°C under Stress Testing with the RTX 5090

Temperature thresholds above 100°C are already alarming for any electrical connector, but reaching 150°C is exceptionally rare and indicates significant design flaws in the 16-pin power connector. Although the newly designed 12V-2×6 cables have mitigated some melting issues seen in the RTX 4090, they still pose serious risks.

Instances of melted connectors have been reported on the RTX 5090 and power supply units (PSUs), particularly when using the 12VHPWR connector. While the 12V-2×6 connector has shown relative safety, the recent thermal readings are increasingly alarming for users. With peak power consumption soaring to 575W or even higher with customized models, the risk of overheating remains significant.

While doing some thermal imaging of a graphics card and reviewing the images, I noticed, that the camera picked up a hotspot at the PSU. The 12V-2×6 cable was cooking at 150+ degrees. This is no joke and will forever remain a weak point of this generation(s).pic.twitter.com/qTMfgTwUr0

— Andreas Schilling 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@aschilling) March 7, 2025

Thermal assessments have consistently shown that the PSU side of connectors tends to experience higher temperatures than the GPU side. This was illustrated in Andreas Schilling’s experimental results, which involved the Inno3D GeForce RTX 5090 iChill Frostbite edition, equipped with an effective water cooling solution. Despite the GPU’s efficient thermal management, the significant load placed on the 16-pin connectors and associated cabling remains a concern.

In his evaluations, Schilling observed that the 16-pin power connector and its cable sustained temperatures exceeding 150°C under maximum load, as the GeForce RTX 5090 reached an astonishing 600W power draw. This represents a notable instance of the 12V-2×6 connector hitting such high temperatures, potentially leading to melting of both the cable and connectors. Fortunately, in this case, the cable escaped damage.

While previous reports indicated the 12VHPWR connector reaching 150°C, this appears to be the first documented occurrence of the 12V-2×6 connector hitting similar extremes. The fundamental design flaws of the 16-pin connector mean that if not all pins are adequately utilized, one pin can endure excess load, leading to melting events within minutes or even seconds during peak GPU usage.

Source & Images