MSI RTX 5090 LIGHTNING Z reportedly fails
Source: Jonathan Alva
Indonesian overclocker Jonathan Alva (Lucky_n00b) shared photos of a cracked GB202 die after testing the card with an “XOC” BIOS that’s meant for extreme overclocking sessions, typically under sub-zero cooling.
Out of the box, the RTX 5090 LIGHTNING Z ships with two BIOS modes, 800W and 1000W. Both the retail and special XOC (Lightning OCER) variants feature dual 12V-2×6 power connectors. Alva shared pictures of a cracked GB202 GPU, which reportedly happened during a quick test with an LN2 pot mounted but at relatively warm temps, power draw reportedly went past 1000W, the screen went black within seconds, and the GPU was dead after that.
Source: Jonathan Alva
*I killed my GPU when I test the 2500W XOC BIOS the first time,
I ran 3DMark Port Royal windowed to check GPU & Voltage – benchmark was run for about 10-secs,
GPU Power showing 1000W+ on benchlab, DMM showing 1.255v, pot temp showing around 40C before screen went black and system shutdown.
GPU is gone at that point T_T
Not sure if i put that much pressure, but I’d guess I have bad/uneven mount.
In follow-up posts on Overclock.net, the overclocker shared a few “don’t do what I did” notes for anyone playing with the unlocked BIOS. The main points were to monitor both power inputs externally if you can, verify the cooler mount with a light load before running anything heavier, and avoid room-temperature testing when power limits are effectively gone.
MSI’s GeForce RTX 5090 32G LIGHTNING Z is a flagship GPU priced at $5,090. The OCER variant used by Alva is not available for sale and MSI says it never will be. It’s a special version for extreme overclocking that ships with a preinstalled 2500W XOC BIOS. That BIOS has already leaked , so if you somehow have a few RTX 5090s lying around, this is a quick way to crack one.
Source: Overclock.net
