The Korean outlet QuasarZone conducted thermal tests on the NVIDIA RTX 5090 Founders Edition using Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K resolution with the Ultra preset. During a 20-minute session, the 12V-2x6 power connector reached 91.7°C on the sense-pin side with DLSS 5 enabled, compared to 80.9°C without it. The latch side temperature increased from 77.1°C to 83.4°C.
For comparison, the RTX 5080 Founders Edition remained significantly cooler under identical testing conditions, reaching 48.6°C and 52.2°C at the same points. The increased heat generation correlates with a rise in power consumption. HWiNFO data showed the average board power for the RTX 5090 climbed from 509.2 W to 575.1 W when DLSS 5 was active.
External PCAT measurements recorded even higher figures, with the total board power for the RTX 5090 reaching an average of 593.9 W and a peak of 658.0 W. Specifically, the 16-pin 12V-2x6 connector drew an average of 582.7 W, with power spikes reaching as high as 646.7 W during the testing period.
