It’s well-documented that when an RTX 5090 is running at full tilt, it can end up melting the 12VHPWR connector due to its wattage-guzzling attributes. As powerful as it might be to deliver record-high framerates, this is one major trade-off that gamers have to watch out for. Fearing that the same fate will befall his GPU, one user has developed an open-source tool that automatically shuts down the PC if it detects that the graphics card is drawing too much juice.

Whether or not other RTX 5090 owners find the tool from Redditor “CoolerThanNos” helpful or if they prefer undervolting the GPU using software like MSI Afterburner, the open-source program available on GitHub to download is currently compatible with ASUS’ Astral lineup of RTX 5080 and RTX 5090. The reason these two graphics cards are mentioned is that ASUS has placed individual current sensors per pin to monitor power draw.

Unfortunately, apart from monitoring that a pin is drawing too much, there’s no safeguard to prevent the 12VHPWR cable or connector from melting. This is extremely important when you’re playing a game because your entire attention is diverted elsewhere, rather than to temperature monitoring. The program sits in the tray, polls all 6 pins twice a second, and if any pin stays above 9.5A for 15 consecutive seconds, the PC is forced to shut down.

For those who believe that the time limit is too long or too short, the Redditor mentions that the amperage and duration are both adjustable to the user’s preference, but the defaults have been configured purposely. He also mentions that power spikes or load swings won’t trigger a shutdown, with ASUS’ own warning threshold being 9.2A.

The open-source tool is also lightweight on system resources, as the RTX 5090 owner says that it’s only 35MB in size and only utilizes 1 percent of a CPU’s single core. As for how he successfully managed to develop the software; vibe-coding. Using AI, the Redditor could review the entire code, and it was later verified against two independent open-source implementations before it was ever installed in the RTX 5090 user’s own gaming rig.

In short, if you value your ASUS Astral version of the RTX 5080 or RTX 5090, you’d probably want to get this tool up and running. After all, a new desktop RTX 5090 costs $4,799.99 on Amazon , and we’re confident you don’t want to spend all of this money on just a single component.

News Source: Reddit

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