Following reports of GeForce RTX 5090 graphics cards experiencing issues with their 16-pin power connectors, the fumble now appears to encompass RTX 5080 too. It’s currently unclear what caused the problem in this particular instance, but professional analysis of the damage should arrive soon.
Does Rog Lokis molted rtx 5000 gpu 12vhpwr cable
byu/Ambitious_Ladder1320 inASUS
Reddit user Ambitious_Ladder1320 shared images of their GeForce RTX 5080 graphics card and ROG Loki power supply to the Asus subreddit. Any damage to the latter component is difficult to make out and their pixel pusher looks undamaged to my eye. However, one of the pins on their 16-pin power cable has telltale signs of melting.
The user says their graphics card informed them that they hadn’t installed the 16-pin cable correctly via a flashing red light, presumably via Asus’ GPU Tweak III software. This was a head-scratcher, as they were certain they’d seated both headers correctly to the GPU and PSU.
Following a quick reseat, their card switched to PCIe 3.0 (down from 5.0) and couldn’t display their monitor’s maximum resolution nor refresh rate. Unplugging the cable again, Ambitious_Ladder1320 discovered the PSU side of the cable had melted while the GPU end was as clean as a whistle.
Curiously, this is the second time we’ve seen a 1,000W Asus ROG Loki power supply at the centre of the kerfuffle, as it appeared in der8auer’s latest analysis. Before jumping to conclusions, however, this issue is present across all brands of power supplies, indicating a potential problem with shared specifications rather than specific brands.
Gamers Nexus should offer some answers as to how this damage occurred as the YouTuber has already contacted the Reddit user requesting their GPU, PSU, and cable. Difficult as it is to find GeForce RTX 5080 and 5090 stock, Nexus is offering to pay full retail and “replace everything with whatever you want.” That’s one way to make a burn go down easier.
Club386 hasn’t experienced any issues related to melting power connectors but has dealt with other problems present on GeForce RTX 50 Series cards. Nvidia is actively investigating issues with its graphics cards and you can expect coverage from the site should the company publish any further statements.
I was quietly confident that GeForce RTX 5080 shouldn’t have experienced these issues due to its lower power draw relative to RTX 5090, but I may need to sit down and eat some humble pie. This does create an air of concern surrounding RTX 5070 Ti and 5070 but there’s no reason to presume these cards will suffer a fate similar to their siblings just yet.
Unfortunately for Nvidia, this controversy will remain exclusively with the company’s GeForce cards. Neither AMD nor Intel respectively adopt a 12VHPWR or 12V-2×6 headers on their most-recent pixel pushers, namely Radeon RX 9070 XT and Arc B570.
You can expect updates from me and the team as they unfold, so be sure to follow Club386 on Google News in the meantime. There are plenty of words from us all to look forward to as graphics cards, processors, and more (oh my!) continue to cross our desks.
