A broken RTX 5090 recently landed on the desk of Northwest Repairs, run by "Tony" who also serves as the face of their chaotic YouTube channel. NorthWest specializes in semiconductor work, particularly GPUs that need to be brought back from the dead. So, when a PNY RTX 5090 came in with a cracked PCB and no signs of life, Tony got to work and took us along the crazy roller-coaster ride that ensued with repairing this 5090.
RTX 5090s are no stranger to controversy. They've had their fair share of melting power connectors, a legacy carried forward from the direct predecessor—the RTX 4090. However, this was somehow not an overheating GPU drunk under the weight of its own power addiction, but rather a cracked PCB, which is an increasingly common failure point on hefty modern GPUs. Cracks in the PCB can interrupt signal traces buried deep inside the board, leading to seemingly random failures that are tough to diagnose and even tougher to fix.
