Redditor claims RTX 5090 melted a 12V-2×6 connector on New Year’s Day
A fresh year, and the melted 16-pin saga is back on the front page. A PCMR user says his RTX 5090 started smelling like burned plastic after a short gaming session.
In the post, he says he played Baldur’s Gate 3 for around three hours, then noticed the smell and found the connector damaged. He also claims the RTX 5090 “are still melting,” and ends with the usual advice to avoid buying from NVIDIA. It’s only one report, and it’s not a controlled test, but it matches the same failure theme that has been hanging around since the 12VHPWR era.
Please mind the gap
Half the thread went straight to cable routing, as if the GPU was fine and the real villain was the side panel. For RTX 40 and RTX 50 series cards, PSU makers typically suggest leaving at least 35 mm of space before the cable bends.
Source: Reddit
If you’re running 12V-2×6, the boring advice still applies: seat it fully, avoid tight bends right at the plug, and do a quick re-check after the first few gaming sessions. In 2026, this is one user story for now, so the useful follow-up will be whether he gets an RMA, and whether the cable, PSU, and case clearance details point to a pattern.
Should this user somehow get a new card, then that’s great. If he gets money back, then good luck buying the RTX 5090 at the same price .
Source: Reddit/PCMR
