Nvidia RTX 5090D experiment bakes the label off a 750W SFX power supply

Chinese tech video channel Eixa Studio tested one of Nvidia’s powerful new GeForce RTX 5090D graphics cards this weekend (h/t Uniko’s Hardware). What makes this video stand out from the pack, though, is that the channel investigated whether the “monster grade card with DLSS 4” would be feasible to shoehorn into a Mini ITX PC build and used a decidedly underspec’d power supply for their experiment. While this ambitious PC DIY project was a success – the system ran without restarts or crashes – one of the little SFX PSUs that was tested got so hot its barcode label started to disintegrate.

Eixa introduced the video with an overview of the GeForce RTX 5090D. The Bilibili channel had access to a substantial looking (360 x 149 x 71mm) Colorful iGame GeForce RTX 5090D Vulcan OC model. This sports quad fans (one round the back) and a pivoting detachable display. A 1,000W PSU is recommended, according to Colorful’s product pages, which seems reasonable for a card rated at 600W, but enthusiasts would be advised to pick something with a little more headroom.

The Chinese TechTuber wanted this 360mm card to fit into a prototype 15.8-liter Mini ITX chassis they had received. This case’s max compatibility figures stated that GPUs up to 362mm in length could be accommodated. Great, that would leave 2mm of ‘breathing space.’

Now comes the power crunch

Moving onto power, Eixa noted that the case was supposed to be compatible with PSUs up to 140mm long. On PC Part Picker, we see it is quite easy to grab an 850W PSU for about $100, which fits this constraint. However, high-efficiency PSUs of >1,000W can easily double this expected price, and a desirable compact SFX unit like the SilverStone Extreme 1200R Platinum SFX-L we reviewed in November is currently on offer at $330 on Amazon.

Eixa chose three PSUs to test out in this Mini ITX build project. The first was the headlining Seasonic Focus SFX 750W model. However, they are clear that they “wouldn’t recommend anyone use this wattage” (machine translation). During a 20-minute Furmark run with the 750W PSU, Eixa seemed pleased that the system experienced “no black screen or reboots.” Thanks to the tests, including the view of a plug-in power meter, we can see that the little Seasonic could deliver a sustained 1,000W+. However, as our main image shows, the barcode label on the PSU began to bake and disintegrate, even after this relatively short test run.

After the Seasonic Focus SFX 750W power test, Eixa said that it isn’t recommended to use an underpowered PSU like this to shoulder such a power burden in your PC at home. They recommended at least a 1,000W PSU for smooth running (as per Colorful’s specs). This should also ensure better temperatures and avoid power limiting with these choice components. The TechTubers also tested a more appropriately selected Asus ROG Loki SFX-L 1,000W Platinum PSU and a Cooler Master SFX V1300 Platinum, which handled the ITX PC system’s power demands much better.

Eixa also used an AMD Ryzen 9800X3D processor (120W) for this compact yet powerful build. This chip’s gaming performance was demonstrably devastating to the competition during our labs investigations, so it’s the best match for the 5090D. An Asus ROG Strix X870-i Gaming WiFi ITX motherboard was the other major component chosen for this build. This board was launched at Gamescom last year, but we haven’t reviewed it (yet).

This Eixa channel seems to like pushing PSUs to their limits. They note in this video that the last build to use this ITX chassis mixed an RTX 4090 and a Core i9-12900K, but the chosen 1,000W Silverstone SFX PSU endured just 20 minutes before it died.