Asus ROG Astral RTX 5090
If you are using an Asus ROG Astral RTX 5090 or RTX 5080, a new free open-source tool could provide an extra layer of protection against one of the biggest concerns surrounding Nvidia’s high-end GPUs: melting 12VHPWR power connectors.
For anyone who may not be familiar with the issue, the 12VHPWR connector has attracted plenty of attention since the launch of Nvidia’s RTX 50 series, with improperly seated or unevenly loaded power connections potentially resulting in excessive current being delivered through individual pins. Asus itself equips its ROG Astral graphics cards with sensors capable of detecting anomalies across all six power pins, although simply being able to monitor the values does not necessarily mean something will automatically be done if a problem occurs.
This is where a gamer cum developer on Reddit has stepped in with a rather interesting solution called 12VHPWR Guard, which is designed specifically for Asus ROG Astral RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 graphics cards. The free tool is said to continuously monitor the current flowing through each individual power pin and is said to automatically shut down the PC if one of them remains above a specified threshold for too long.
