QuasarZone tested the RTX 5090 Founders Edition and Asus ROG Astral RTX 5090 in Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K with DLSS Quality settings. The outlet found the 16-pin connector became the hottest spot on the card, reaching 91.7°C on the opposite side with DLSS 5 enabled. This is 5.4°C hotter than the GPU die's peak temperature of 86.3°C. The connector temperature rose from 80.9°C to 91.7°C, an 11% increase, while the GPU core rose from 79.4°C to 83°C, an 8% increase. The RTX 5080 showed a smaller temperature increase to 52.2°C on the latch side with DLSS 5 on.

The power draw increase is more pronounced. QuasarZone measured a 13% jump in average power consumption, with the connector peaking at 646.7W. This is 11% higher than the 582.7W reading with DLSS 5 off. The outlet noted that the connector's headroom against the PCI-SIG limit of 9.2A per pin is extremely thin, with just 0.69A remaining at peak load. The current on individual pins ranged from 7.83A to 8.51A with DLSS 5 on.

The outlet also simulated a loose pin scenario, which is a common cause of connector failures. With one non-functional pin and DLSS 5 off, the highest current on a single pin reached 8.9A. This is uncomfortably close to the official limit. The outlet warned that running DLSS 5 may just add fuel to the fire, given the history of 16-pin connector meltdowns on both Nvidia and AMD cards.

The RTX 5090 32G Lightning Z was observed drawing 848W at 4K with DLSS 5 on. QuasarZone noted that while the Founders Edition stayed within its 575W TDP, the connector was the limiting factor. The outlet recommended keeping an eye on temperatures and power consumption if you plan to hop on the DLSS 5 bandwagon.