TECH NEWS – The connector didn’t even melt, despite the graphics card drawing more than twice its factory TDP during extreme tuning.
A 40-dollar connector cable may be enough to prevent a GPU connector from melting. However, drawing significantly more power than intended still has a negative impact on the overall condition of the GPU. In most cases, 16-pin connector failures have occurred when GPUs operated at full load with power draw nearing 550-600 W. In this case, however, the user managed to run the GPU at more than twice its intended power limit without catastrophic damage.
A user on the Overclock forum reported performing a shunt mod – an inherently unsafe tuning method – on an MSI RTX 5090 Ventus GPU. Liquid cooling was used to allow the card to draw significantly more power and achieve higher performance.
After nearly 20 intensive stress tests, the GPU shut down. This was not caused by a failed or melted connector, but rather by a recently released 40-dollar 12V-2×6 connector cable from AsRock. The cable features an NTC sensor built into the connector, which monitors temperature and sends a signal to the power supply to shut down if a predefined thermal limit is exceeded.
The user pushed the GPU well beyond its limits, triggering a shutdown when temperatures exceeded AsRock‘s preset limit of 105°C. Visible discoloration appeared on the GPU-side connector due to the heat. The system prevented the GPU from powering back on until the cable had cooled down.
The graphics card remains functional, but the user stated that the GPU connector itself has suffered irreversible damage and may need to be replaced.
According to the user, AsRock should lower the thermal shutdown threshold so the GPU powers off before reaching such high temperatures. The company, however, does not accept responsibility for modified GPUs, as such changes void the warranty and can lead to hardware failure.
AsRock responded to the incident on Twitter, praising the quality of its power supplies. It is important to note that the company’s 16-pin cable is only compatible with ASRock Taichi and Phantom Gaming series power supplies.
Following the WireView Pro 2, ASRock‘s 16-pin cable may prove to be a viable solution for many RTX 5090 owners.
