One of the owners of the video card developed a PCB for the NVIDIA RTX 5090 power cable that signals when one of the wires is too high.
A user of a social network Bilibili with the nickname Wing King published a photo prototype of the connector 12V-2×6, capable of reading the current on each pin. The video card still won’t be able to balance the current, but the board will signal that the values are too high. The author connected six shunt resistors R002 (0.002 Ohm) to each 12V cable. The developed board has a USB connector on the back. Technically, the signals can be used for monitoring or even some automation purposes.
The 16-pin 12V-2×6 connector (the latest iteration) has four signal pins, six main (+12 V) pins, and six ground pins. Theoretically, all 12 V pins should provide the 575 W of power required by the RTX 5090, but in reality, the current distribution between them is uneven.
Shunt resistors are used to measure the current in a circuit. Ideally, each of the six 12V pins should have one. У NVIDIA RTX 30 video cards there were three resistors — not ideal, but better than in the RTX 50, where there is only one. This makes it impossible to determine the current for a particular contact.
The project is still under development, and its current implementation can be considered more of a proof of concept. At least the monitoring of values still needs to be implemented. The Chinese enthusiast plans to continue to inform about the details.
Source: Tom`s Hardware
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