Key information
A Reddit user named DallasGrave modified an MSI GeForce RTX 5090 by soldering a custom setup to address ongoing concerns regarding 16-pin power connectors. The modification connects a small pickup PCB to the 16-pin header contacts, which feeds a secondary board featuring two additional 8-pin PCIe power sockets. This allows the graphics card to operate using a total of three cables.
According to the modder's post on r/pcmasterrace, each conductor carries approximately 3 A of current. During a 48-hour stress test running at 550 W, the wires reportedly remained below 40°C, including at the joint. The author noted that additional test data will be provided later.
This custom hardware intervention arrives amid persistent reports of melting 16-pin connectors on RTX 5090 cards, despite NVIDIA's early 2025 assertions that the updated 12V-2x6 revision resolved the issue. Other commercial and manufacturer solutions, such as ASUS's ROG Equalizer cable and ASRock's TempGuard, have also faced reported failures in the field. Meanwhile, other modders like Brazil's TecLab have experimented with direct PCB soldering or running three 8-pin connectors, whereas DallasGrave's approach keeps the original 16-pin connector active to share the electrical load.
