Just a month into 2026, we may have our first melting of the RTX 4090, one of the best graphics cards, with many more likely to follow given these GPUs' track record. This incident was a bit special, though, as the meltdown was caught on camera live during a gaming session (embedded below). A streamer by the name of "jessick" was playing Marvel Rivals when her MSI RTX 4090 Gaming X Trio suddenly erupted in smoke.
As the video below shows (click the X post to expand), the 16-pin power connector is burning in real time, with smoke and embers visible. The rightmost wire of the 16-pin cable seems to be the culprit, as its shielding has completely melted away, and you can see the bare copper underneath. The connector's plastic has also liquified and conjoined with the molten cable.
wtf do i do pic.twitter.com/Ls1ZVcYZKMJanuary 30, 2026
Despite this horrific sight, the streamer didn't immediately shut off their PC for some reason. It goes without saying —if you see (or smell) something burning in your computer, you should cut power to it right away. There's no telling how much damage one faulty component can cause in a chain reaction, and a melting GPU carrying up to 600W of power should be the last risk you should take.
The GPU we're looking at is an RTX 4090 MSI Gaming X Trio variant with a 450W TGP and an 850W recommended power supply rating. We can see the streamer used a custom white cable to power the card, which likely failed to insert correctly. 16-pin power connectors, especially first-gen 12VHPWR units, are extremely picky during installation.
The slightest bit of looseness or bending can become catastrophic before you know it. If one of the connector pins isn't in complete contact with the cable, the others will bear its load, causing the connector to overheat. The moment even one pin or wire starts to get hot, trouble follows, just like in our streamer's case. We hope jessick turned off the GPU immediately after filming her video and promptly submitted an RMA.
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