Prebuilt RTX 5090 melted cable prompts warranty dispute

What failed

Anthony DeMarco's father bought him a Digital Storm Corsa before his first job after college. The PC cost $5,245.00 before tax and was delivered in May 2025, but it remained in its box until August 2026. Two weeks after DeMarco began using it, he noticed a burning smell and monitor flickering. He shut the system down and found that the power wiring and connectors had melted. DeMarco said he had checked the cabling when he received the computer.

The most severe damage was to the 1,000-watt semi-modular Digital Storm power supply, which has an 80-Plus Gold rating. Its upgraded cables had blue sleeving. Parts of the cable were fused to the connectors, with bare wire exposed. The PC also included an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X, a 2TB Crucial T700 Pro SSD, 64GB of Kingston Fury RGB RAM and a PNY Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090.

Warranties diverge

Digital Storm offers a one-year parts warranty and three years of labor coverage. Because the Corsa had remained in storage for more than a year, its parts coverage had expired. A Digital Storm support summary said DeMarco should seek a return merchandise authorization from PNY, which separately warrants its GeForce RTX gaming GPUs for three years.

PNY initially rejected the request because Digital Storm had used its own cables. A support representative said every PNY GPU requiring a 16-pin 12VHPWR or 12V-2x6 input includes an approved cable or adapter, and that this was the only configuration covered. PNY said third-party cables or power supplies could leave connector damage outside its warranty. It later said the case was under review and that it would contact DeMarco directly. DeMarco reported a CPSC SaferProducts.gov filing on Sept. 16 and requested a refund rather than another RTX 5090 because he did not feel safe using the damaged system unattended. Digital Storm did not respond to requests for comment.

A wider connector issue

DeMarco described the failure as a known PNY RTX 5090 connector problem, but reports of melted 12VHPWR connections have involved multiple brands across RTX 4090 and RTX 5090 cards. The connector is standardized by PCI-SIG, which sent members a notice in 2022 about safety testing and avoiding user error.

The case illustrates why buyers should check the system builder and component warranties before purchasing, especially when buying an expensive PC as a gift. The report also recommends checking connections and making sure RAM and GPUs are properly seated. For a self-built PC, using the adapter supplied with an RTX 4090 or RTX 5090 can provide the most conservative warranty configuration, although it requires additional power cables.