A technician from Northridge Fix, who specializes in computer repairs, stated that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition ranks among the worst-engineered graphics cards ever. He claims the design contains an excess of fragile, tiny components and that the absence of replaceable parts makes meaningful repairs virtually impossible.
The expert advised buyers to avoid the Founders Edition. The chief concern is a delicate board connector that can be damaged even during careful disassembly.
However, the 16-pin power connector is not the only weak point of the RTX 50 series. The RTX 5090 FE uses a very small printed circuit board embedded in the center of the heatsink. That forced NVIDIA to arrange components unconventionally — the PCIe interface and I/O ports are positioned awkwardly, leaving the layout highly vulnerable to any modifications.
The technician received a card whose owner had attempted to fit water cooling. After that modification the GPU stopped functioning. Inspection showed that during reassembly the PCIe connector was damaged: one contact was bent and another sheared off. As a result, the card failed completely. A replacement connector cannot be sourced separately, and even professional workshops are unable to swap the part.
The specialist summed up bluntly: “The RTX 5090 Founders Edition is one of the worst designs I’ve ever seen. Don’t open it unless you want to risk losing the card for good.” The RTX 5090 FE impresses with raw power, but when it breaks there’s almost no chance of repair — an expensive trap for enthusiasts and modders.
Source: iXBT.games