Trying to squeeze every last bit of performance out of high-end GPUs is nothing new. But in the case of the RTX 5090, one ambitious modding attempt ended in a very expensive lesson.

In a recent YouTube video titled “I Killed My 5090…”, the creator behind Frame Chasers walked viewers through what started as a bold experiment on a Gigabyte RTX 5090 Aorus Master, and ended with a completely dead card.

The idea, at least on paper, made sense. Some Gigabyte variants include an unpopulated pad on the PCB for a second 12V-2×6 (16-pin) power connector. It’s there for alternative board designs, including versions that use dual connectors. Seeing that unused pad, Frame Chasers decided to take things further by soldering in a second power connector.

That wasn’t the only modification. He also performed a shunt resistor mod, a well-known (and risky) tweak that effectively bypasses NVidia’s built-in power limits. The goal was simple: let the GPU draw far more power than stock settings allow.

At first, it appeared to work. The system booted, benchmarks ran, and the card seemed stable under load. For a moment, it looked like the mod had paid off.

Then things went very wrong.

The card didn’t fail during a benchmark run or stress test. Instead, it died while idling. According to the video, two large holes were burned straight through the PCB, and at least one capacitor was knocked off the board from extreme heat.

Frame Chasers believes the failure came down to a dangerous combination of factors. The shunt mod reportedly increased baseline power draw, meaning the GPU was pulling more wattage even at idle. On top of that, the fans weren’t spinning despite rising temperatures. The card was also set to “performance mode” in the NVidia Control Panel, which keeps clocks elevated instead of allowing the GPU to downclock at idle.

The GPU die and VRAM chips themselves may still be intact. The catastrophic damage seems localized to the PCB and surrounding power components.

For enthusiasts, extreme overclocking can be thrilling. There’s always the temptation to push just a little further. But this incident is a stark reminder that modern GPUs operate within tightly controlled power and thermal envelopes for a reason.

(Source | Via)

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