An RTX 5090 Gaming Trio OC has reportedly suffered a catastrophic failure during DLSS 5 Neural Rendering testing. The user, known as erek, was running the feature in NBA 2K27, the only officially supported game at the time. The card stopped working after a burning smell led to the discovery that the 16-pin connector's plastic had melted and fused to the socket.

The incident highlights the significant power draw associated with Nvidia's new Neural Rendering technology. Erek reported that DLSS 5 pushed the card's total board power from a typical level to over 600 W. This figure exceeds the card's official 575 W rating. While GPU-Z tracks total board power rather than just the auxiliary connectors, the reading suggests the added load was substantial.

Tom's Hardware notes that the connector itself is the point of failure, potentially because DLSS 5 is pulling too much power at the back end. This aligns with earlier reports that DLSS 5 can push the RTX 5090's power draw unusually high. The incident serves as a cautionary tale for users pushing the limits of the new hardware.