Enthusiast attempts to install second 12V-2x6 connector on RTX 5090, is rewarded with a hole punched through the PCB

An enthusiastic RTX 5090 owner attempted to install a second 12V-2x6 power connector on their flagship Blackwell graphics card in a desperate attempt to reduce the chance of the connector melting. Unfortunately, the owner ended up bricking the graphics card as a result of the mod and was forced to send the card to a repair shop to get the GPU fixed. YouTube channel northwestrepair covered the story and showed how the 5090 owner was able to install a second power connector on their card. Luckily for the owner, the card was saved after the technician transplanted the GPU and memory to a new PCB.

The RTX 5090 owner had an air-cooled AORUS variant with a second 12V-2x6 slot on the PCB, making it possible to solder on a second power connector to the card. At first glance, the existence of this slot makes it seem as if the card can support two connectors, but unfortunately, northwestrepair revealed that the card is not wired from the factory to support two connectors simultaneously. Specifically, the card reportedly lacks any shunt resistors wired up to the second power connector slot, making it impossible for the PCB to monitor and regulate power coming from the second connector. As a result, when the owner went to power the card with the secondary plug connected, the card overheated and burned a hole through the PCB.

The unfortunate RTX 5090 owner was likely inspired by existing RTX 5090 graphics cards with dual 16-pin connectors and modders who have successfully installed a second power connector on RTX 5090s. Earlier this year, reports surfaced that a modder had successfully added a second 12V-2x6 power connector to a GIGABYTE AORUS Xtreme Waterforce RTX 5090, which coincidentally has the same PCB layout as the AORUS RTX 5090 repaired in this story. MSI's RTX 5090 Lighting Z and Galax's RTX 5090 HOF are also cards that come equipped with two 16-pin power connectors from the factory.

It is understandable why this RTX 5090 owner went to great lengths to reduce the risk of the card's power connector melting. The melting catastrophe surrounding the 12VHPWR/12V-2x6 power connectors continues to be a non-stop problem, especially on high-wattage cards such as the RTX 5090. Worse still, we have seen reports of lower-end cards with melted 16-pin connectors, including the RTX 5080 and even Sapphire's RX 9070 XT Nitro+.

This problem has also extended to advanced 16-pin power cables that are designed to stop the melting problem. ASUS' ROG Equalizer cable, a product that features per-wire load balancing, has already melted for at least one customer.