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[Draugoth]

 

[Walliwallipaloo]

You just can't facepalm hard enough.

 

[MadchesterManc]

I guess they just didn't light enough incense or chant the correct prayer when inserting it. These things happen when you take rituals for using the 12vhpwr connector lightly

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

 

[Magic Carpet]

That is what happens to GPU's when you play as a woman swinging a sword twice your size. Power

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

My natural instinct is to laugh at people who say that PC gaming is overly complex and wrought with issues, then I see threads like this…

 

[CJ_75]

DSO gaming seems to mainly focus on news about pirated games, DRM removals like Denuvo, and the activities of notorious cracking groups.
In my opinion, they pay far too much attention to piracy and hackers instead of concentrating on original and legal aspects of the gaming industry.
This kind of coverage sometimes feels like unnecessary promotion of piracy groups and distracts from the positive developments in gaming.

So, tough luck for them about the melted cable. Boohoo.

 

[Skifi28]

Well deserved you gooners.

 

[kiphalfton]

That's what happens when you play with fire.

 

[MikeM]

Me with my 3x 8 pins

 

[willothedog]

Fix the OG post as NOT fully inserted.

Nice self-report whoever this moron is, now you have no chance of getting your money back.

 

[Fess]

There is a clear gap in the photo they used to show how it was properly connected…..


Edit: see

 

[AzekZero]

I'm glad we have an image of the connector plugged in pre-burn.

In my opinion these cables are too damn finicky if a gap that small leads to catastrophe. Its that or the manufacturers need to use paint schemas that makes it easier to spot the gaps in low light conditions.

 

[Sardaukarama]

I wonder what the ratio of burnt cables to 5090 series cards that have been sold with no problems are

 

[Fess]

I'm glad we have an image of the connector plugged in pre-burn.

In my opinion these cables are too damn finicky if a gap that small leads to catastrophe. Its that or the manufacturers need to use paint schemas that makes it easier to spot the gaps in low light conditions.

True, the connector should be redesigned tbh.

But I've plugged them in many times, if you push them all the way in you're fine. You should feel when the connector is fully plugged in. Normally you hear a little "click" sound when the latch for the locking mechanism snaps in place. But I couldn't hear that on my last card so don't crush the card trying to hear something…

 

[peish]

I wonder what the ratio of burnt cables to 5090 series cards that have been sold with no problems are

Most burnt reports are from users with SFF MITX pc, and using custom cables or right angled adaptors or accessories inbetween....and from reviewers who need to plug in an out often

 

[Mithos]

Normally you hear a little "click" sound when the latch for the locking mechanism snaps in place.

I feel that THIS is what people mean when they say their cable was fully seated/pushed in, they heard the latch "click".

Edit: I agree, when the latch "click" that SHOULD be the cable being pushed all the way in (fully seated), anything else should be considered a bad design.

 

[Walliwallipaloo]

Fix the OG post as NOT fully inserted.

Nice self-report whoever this moron is, now you have no chance of getting your money back.

This may be true, but dang that still makes me nervous. Due diligence is one thing, but total catastrophic meltdown is the concept of a little wiggle? Let's be real: can we really blame the end user for something you kinda have to zoom in to show, and highlight with bright red?

Yeah, there needs to be a better visual indicator moving forward if this sort of volatility is on the table.

 

[Corporal.Hicks]

I'm glad we have an image of the connector plugged in pre-burn.

In my opinion these cables are too damn finicky if a gap that small leads to catastrophe. Its that or the manufacturers need to use paint schemas that makes it easier to spot the gaps in low light conditions.

My MSI 12V HPWR cable has a yellow plug, so I can easily see if it is fully plugged into the connector. If the plug was black, however, I would probably need a good light and look closely to be sure that the connector is fully inserted.

 

[Fess]

I feel that THIS is what people mean when they say their cable was fully seated/pushed in, they heard the latch "click".

If you do hear that sound it should be okay, you actually have to push it hard for the hook to go over the edge. But it's plastic, maybe people hear other sounds?

But again it's better to learn how it feels when it can't go any further, should feel super sturdy, zero wiggle, it's probably one of the sturdiest connectors in the whole PC when properly pushed in.

 

[Rush2112]

PC "master race"

 

[peish]

My MSI 12V HPWR cable has a yellow plug, so I can easily see if it is fully plugged into the connector. If the plug was black, however, I would probably need a good light and look closely to be sure that the connector is fully inserted.

You should do your due diligence, msi yellow plug has been the most reported burnt cases recently

 

[Zacfoldor]

Also <3 Wuchang

Edit: Wait, was it fully inserted or not the 2nd test?

 

[john2gr]

Since I'm John Papadopoulos from DSOG, this was as far as the cable could go. I always make sure to push the cable as much as possible whenever I plug a GPU into the PC. Still, it's clear there is a gap, and this could very well be the reason for the total meltdown. So, it was either an issue that existed with the review GPU sample or, for whatever reason, the cable got loose.

Here are the key takeaways:

a) This can easily happen to anyone. We, reviewers, constantly swap GPUs whenever a new game comes out. So, even when pushing it as much as possible, there is a chance it was not fully seated.
b) The video was taken after I discovered the melted connector and cable. The PC was stable, BTW. I only discovered it due to the smell. For science, I reinstalled the GPU since I wanted to see whether it would work or not. For over 20 minutes, the GPU was working fine at full load with that "gap", without any signs of smoke. So, it's kind of funny that the cable can work fine with that gap.
c) The fact that there is no safe mechanism for when and for whatever reason the cable is not fully seated is a BIG issue, especially for a card that costs 2K-3K euros. When a cable is not fully seated, the GPU should NOT draw power. This simple mechanism could save the GPU.
d) Our replacement is on the way, and we've arranged to send the faulty GPU back to NVIDIA for further examination. (We had already shared pictures and videos with them before publishing the article—they were fully aware of the situation.) Even if NVIDIA hadn't sent us a new RTX 5090, we could have easily purchased multiple units ourselves, so it's not a major issue for us. As I stated in the article, this isn't a "gotcha, NVIDIA" piece. It happened to us—reviewers who've been testing GPUs for over 15 years—so it made sense to document the experience. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[crazyriddler]

The users are so stupid... They don't even know how to correctly connect a cable.

/s

 

[Hohenheim]

I undervolted mine to max out at around 450w. The performance loss is minimal, and the lack of heat + less chance of melting cables makes it a good trade off. It's obviously still crazy that this stuff happens. Maybe the upcoming "Super" variants have two inputs? They should obviously do some changes for safety here.