ZOTAC RTX 5090 emits smoke after five minutes of gaming
This time it wasn’t the power connector.
A ZOTAC GeForce RTX 5090 SOLID owner has reported a sudden graphics card failure involving a loud pop, crackling sounds and a large cloud of smoke. Unlike the widely documented cases involving melted 16-pin power connectors, the visible damage appears near the card’s PCIe interface.
The incident reportedly occurred around five minutes after launching Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced. The owner had recently installed NVIDIA’s GeForce 610.74 driver, which was released on July 7 with support for the game. There is currently no evidence linking the driver update to the hardware failure.
According to the owner, the ZOTAC RTX 5090 SOLID had operated for around one year without problems. The system immediately shut down after the pop, while photographs showed dark residue on the graphics card and around the motherboard’s primary PCIe slot. The 12V-2×6 power connector reportedly remained undamaged.
Possible cause
The exact cause has not been determined. Redditors suggested possibilities including a failed power-delivery component or damage caused by PCB flex. One theory involves a PCB crack near the PCIe connector caused by the card’s weight. This seems like the most likely scenario, but with the complexity of graphics cards nowadays, it’s possible that a other components shorted and caused the “explosion.”
The owner said the case included an anti-sag support, but it only contacted the rear corner of the card. The system used an MSI X870E Tomahawk motherboard, which may also be sent for inspection because the owner had previously experienced unexplained USB problems. Both components are now expected to undergo an RMA assessment.
Source: Reddit via Uniko’s Hardware
