Nvidia refuses to replace RTX 5080 FE GPU's broken 16-pin power connector retention clip — the owner says Nvidia is trying to 'burn my house down'

A Reddit user has reported that Nvidia — a company with a $5.2 trillion market cap — declined to replace their brand-new GeForce RTX 5080 Founders Edition, one of the best graphics cards, and that the company is trying to “burn my house down” after the card’s 12V-2x6 connector lost its retention clip during the first attempt to remove the cable.

The post, shared on Thursday, December 4, in the PCMR Reddit, includes support transcripts in which the user says they were initially told the connector was safe to use before the case was escalated and ultimately ruled “customer-induced damage.”

The retention clip plays an important role in anchoring the plug inside the socket and helps ensure full insertion. This is particularly important because Nvidia attributed the widespread RTX 4090 melting incidents to partially seated 12VHPWR connectors, and the revised 12V-2x6 standard was introduced with the RTX 50 series to improve reliability.

A clip failure removes one of the few mechanical safeguards that prevent the plug from backing out under cable tension. Support logs quoted by the user indicate an initial assessment that “everything looks totally normal from pictures.” However, the customer insisted that, after seeing the disasters the connector has caused, they weren’t willing to leave it as is. The nature of the replies led the original poster and those commenting to speculate that Nvidia support was relying on AI to analyze the customer’s pictures and respond to their concerns.

This isn’t a first for the 5080, which has been the subject of at least one earlier Reddit thread in which an owner asked whether a broken clip could cause long-term issues. Other reports include a 5080 power cable allegedly melting at the power supply side and isolated cases of 5090 connector damage. These incidents have not yet formed a clear pattern, but they sit alongside high-profile reminders that the underlying design may be flawed.

Warranty outcomes have varied across vendors. In the RTX 4090 cycle, Nvidia said it would handle RMAs for connector-related failures, even when third-party adapters were involved. Board partners did not always match that posture.

MSI previously rejected an RMA when a CableMod adapter was used, and the case only came to light after customers shared support transcripts. Cooler Master sparked its own controversy when a representative advised a user to dismantle part of a 12V-2x6 plug to fit an RTX 5070 Ti. The company later apologized and withdrew the connector from sale, noting that its internal guidance had been incorrect.

The Reddit user behind the new 5080 claim says they have asked Nvidia to reconsider the diagnosis, arguing that a mechanical failure on the first unplug should not be treated as misuse.

Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.