An MSI GeForce RTX 5090 Gaming Trio OC has cooked its 16-pin connector while running Nvidia’s new DLSS 5 Neural Rendering.
The unfortunate card belonged to a VideoCardz reader using the handle erek, who was testing DLSS 5 in NBA 2K27. For now, that is the only officially supported game, making it an inconvenient technology demonstration.
Erek told VideoCardz.com that enabling DLSS 5 pushed GPU power consumption from roughly 450W with his previous workload to more than 600W. MSI officially rates the Gaming Trio OC at 575W.
GPU-Z recorded a maximum Board Power Draw of 613.5W. According to erek, the card remained above 610W for a period rather than simply hitting that figure as a brief spike.
That figure represents total board power rather than everything travelling through the 16-pin cable. The PCIe slot supplies some power, so the 613.5W reading does not mean the connector itself was carrying more than 600W.
Shortly afterwards, the card stopped working. Erek noticed an unusual smell and found the power cable extremely difficult to remove.
The connector’s plastic had melted badly enough to begin bonding the plug and socket together. Photographs show serious heat damage around several terminals on the MSI-branded 16-pin connector.
DLSS 5 Neural Rendering places a substantial compute load on the GPU. A separate HardForum user reported consumption jumping from 435W to 520W after injecting DLSS 5 into Hitman 3.
That does not make DLSS 5 the smoking gun. Melted RTX 5090 power connectors have previously appeared with other workloads, although sustained operation above 600W is unlikely to make a marginal connection any happier.
Erek had been testing DLSS 5 extensively when the failure occurred. If Neural Rendering can keep RTX 5090 boards sitting at unusually high sustained power levels, Nvidia may have another reason to examine its power delivery arrangements.
Nvidia has yet to provide an official response to earlier melted-connector reports, leaving users facing the familiar possibility that modders will investigate the problem before the manufacturer does.
