MSI's Yellow Power Connector Has Another GeForce RTX 5090 Induced Meltdown
The original report came from Reddit user VersauteGurke, who's running a chonky MSI GeForce RTX 5090 in his machine, powered by a Corsair HX1500i power supply. Gurke was troubleshooting a mystery issue with his monitor going blank with a message about the DisplayPort input not being connected, when he came across the singed connector on his GPU.
To wit, this particular MSI adapter takes four 8-pin PCIe power connectors and has a 12V-2x6 port on the other end. The design is actually clever, as the distinguishable yellow tip ensures users know whether their cable is properly seated -- if you see yellow, it's not mellow. Improperly fitted cables were once thought to be the primary reason for RTX 4090 and 5090 cards roasting, as users were not plugging them in all the way.
In Gurke's case, thankfully, both the power supply and the card itself appear to be completely undamaged, as only some pins on the 12V-2x6 plug were cooked. The graphics cards' end of the 12V-2x6 connector has next to no load balancing, so the adapter may not be at fault. It's not impossible that it was improperly manufactured, but at this point in the game we have our doubts about that.
The lack of a large enough safety margin on the connector's design and poor balancing on the GPU end have long been sources of criticism. At this point, however, there have obviously been fewer reported cases of temperature-impaired connectors with 5090 cards than 4090s, so it's likely a combination of factors remain at play. As always, to reduce the change of problems on your rig, make sure your GPU and PSU PCIe and 12V-2x6 connectors are clean and free of any debris (DeoxIT is your friend), that all cables and associated wires are fully seated and connected properly, and that you've got adequate cooling in your system with plenty of airflow around the graphics card to keep temps in check.
