The Korean outlet QuasarZone conducted thermal tests on the NVIDIA RTX 5090 Founders Edition using Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K resolution with the Ultra preset. The testing focused on the 12V-2x6 power connector temperatures while running DLSS 5 over a 20-minute period.
With DLSS 5 enabled, the connector reached 91.7°C on the sense-pin side, compared to 80.9°C without it. The latch side temperature rose from 77.1°C to 83.4°C. In contrast, the RTX 5080 Founders Edition remained significantly cooler, peaking at 52.2°C under identical conditions.
The increased thermal output corresponds to higher power consumption. The RTX 5090 average power draw increased from 509.2 W to 575.1 W with DLSS 5 active. External PCAT measurements recorded a peak board power of 658.0 W, while the 16-pin connector alone reached a spike of 646.7 W.
