ASRock's special protection system failed to prevent GeForce RTX 5090 melting

Problems continue for NVIDIA's most powerful graphics card, the GeForce RTX 5090. Details have emerged regarding another incident involving the melting of this GPU's power connector. This time, the situation is notable not just for the technical failure, but for the ineffectiveness of a specialized safety system. This is reported by Ixbt.com reports .

According to ixbt.com, a user connected an MSI GeForce RTX 5090 Gaming Trio OC graphics card to an ASRock PG1000-PSF power supply unit using a direct 12V-2x6 cable. Although the system worked stably for several weeks, the computer suddenly began experiencing interruptions. An inspection revealed that the power connector and part of the cable had melted.

Why didn't TempGuard technology help?

The strangest aspect of this case is that the ASRock power supply was equipped with a special temperature monitoring system called TempGuard. The manufacturer claimed that this technology should constantly monitor the temperature at the connector and automatically cut power when it reaches dangerous levels. However, in practice, the protection system did not trigger.

According to the owner, the computer continued to operate even after the connectors began to melt. Only when the user noticed the physical damage did they manually shut down the system. This shows that even new protection mechanisms designed for modern graphics cards do not always provide the expected results.

During the investigation, it was revealed that not only the cable end connected to the graphics card but also the port on the power supply housing suffered serious damage. The power supply manufacturer has already recalled the device for laboratory testing. For now, the exact cause of the failure—whether it was poor cable quality or a bug in the protection system—remains unknown.

Interestingly, this is the second such incident for this user. Previously, they encountered the same melting issue with a combination of a GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition and a Corsair SF1000 power supply. In both cases, the primary damage was to the power supply and connecting cables, rather than the graphics card itself.

This is an important warning for technology enthusiasts and gamers. When using high-power devices like the GeForce RTX 5090, it is recommended not to rely entirely on even the most modern protection systems, and to regularly check that cables are securely seated and monitor temperature conditions.