NVIDIA's DLSS 5 has been controversial ever since its announcement and eventual launch. Perhaps more concerning than the visual changes is its effect on the user's hardware. As reported by Videocardz, Korean outlet QuasarZone ran thermal tests on the RTX 5090's power connector to see if the technology has a hand in recent reports of melting 12V-2x6 connectors.

Testing an RTX 5090 Founders Edition in Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K with DLSS Quality and the Ultra preset over 20 minutes, the 12V-2×6 connector reached 91.7°C on the sense-pin side with DLSS 5 on, up from 80.9°C without it. The latch side climbed from 77.1°C to 83.4°C. An RTX 5080 FE tested the same way stayed far cooler, reaching just 48.6°C and 52.2°C at those two points with DLSS 5 enabled.

The increased heat aligned with a jump in power draw. HWiNFO logged the RTX 5090's average board power rising from 509.2 W to 575.1 W with DLSS 5 on, right at its 575 W limit. The RTX 5080 went from 298.2 W to 350.3 W, close to its own 360 W ceiling. External PCAT readings showed higher figures still: total RTX 5090 power rose from 527.3 W average and 582.5 W peak to 593.9 W average and 658.0 W peak. On the 16-pin connector alone, the RTX 5090 pulled 582.7 W on average and spiked as high as 646.7 W. That lines up with Tom's Hardware's early DLSS 5 testing, which showed a noticeable jump in power draw with DLSS 5 enabled.