DLSS 5 test linked to melted RTX 5090 connector

A reported DLSS 5 Neural Rendering test in NBA 2K27 has been linked to a melted power connector on an MSI GeForce RTX 5090 Gaming Trio OC. The incident was documented by a reader nicknamed erek, who said enabling DLSS 5 raised the card’s power draw from around 450 W to over 600 W, exceeding MSI’s 575 W rating for the model.

A GPU-Z screenshot showed peak board power of 613.5 W, which erek said remained steady rather than appearing as a brief spike. The card reportedly stopped working shortly afterward, and a burning smell led to the discovery that the connector’s plastic had melted and fused to the socket.

The case appears to be the first reported connector burn tied to the unusually high power draw seen in early DLSS 5 testing on RTX 5090 hardware. GPU-Z measures total board power, not only auxiliary connector draw, because the PCIe slot also supplies power, so the reading does not prove the connector carried the full load.