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In a nutshell: The Nvidia RTX 5090 has long been plagued by catastrophic thermal failures that can cause its 16-pin power connector to melt under heavy workloads. In an effort to find a solution to the overheating issue, a team of tech YouTubers has reportedly created the world's first RTX 5090 graphics card to use 8-pin power connectors instead of a 16-pin design.
Brazilian YouTube channel TecLab has demonstrated that an RTX 5090 can be connected to a PSU using standard 8-pin connectors instead of 16-pin ones, despite its 575W TDP. To perform the experiment, the modders used a Galax HOF OC LAB RTX 5090, which is designed to use two 16-pin connectors. However, the team claims that the card can even function with three 8-pin connectors.
As part of its effort to find an alternative to the 16-pin design, the team initially tested the card using XT90 power connectors, which support up to 90 amps each. They eventually opted for three 8-pin Mini-Fit Jr. connectors after making the necessary modifications, which involved tricking the sensors into accepting the new configuration.
