The GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition is Nvidia’s own-brand flagship GPU for consumers, but one repair technician says it comes with a hidden flaw that makes it “one of the worst designs in the history of… GPUs,” he’s seen. In a teardown uploaded to the Northridge Fix YouTube channel, the card was declared unrepairable after damage to an internal connector — one that, the technician claims, cannot be replaced or sourced.
The card in question was sent in after it stopped outputting video following the installation of a third-party water block. While one of the customer’s two cards was successfully repaired, the Founders Edition model wasn’t so lucky. “I checked all contacts,” Alex explains in the teardown. “I inspected the voltage rails; everything is within range, but we do not have an image on the screen.” Eventually, the fault was traced to a board-to-board connector inside the FE’s modular two-part construction.
The GPU repair expert goes on to explain that the Founders Edition is built in two sections — the main card and the PCIe connector assembly — joined by what he calls “a very fragile FPC connector.” Comparing it to plumbing, he argues that every extra joint adds a new potential failure point: “The more connections you have, the more likely you’re going to have a failing point… the same goes with the 5090.”
After inspecting “every single pin”, Alex points to what he calls a damaged connector. “He installed a water block, the card stopped working, and that’s because of the damage that we see here,” he says. “No other damage was found on the board, and that’s the only physical damage I see.”
Northridge Fix's expert host, who has previously covered melting RTX 4090s, adds that the connector, which carries signals between the GPU and the PCIe interface, cannot be sourced as a replacement. “I went online to look for this connector, and I was not able to get my hands on this connector,” he says. “You cannot even get your hands on this if it broke for whatever reason… So what’s the use of having this made in two pieces if you cannot buy a replacement?”
He concludes by warning owners against attempting to open the Founders Edition at all. “If it’s not broken, do not fix it,” he says. “I would stay as far away from the Founders Edition 5090 as I possibly can.”
Edit 10/27/2025 5am PT: Corrected title.
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.
