In a recent extreme overclocking attempt, top overclocker Alva Jonathan, also known as Lucky_n00b, managed to destroy an MSI RTX 5090 Lightning Z by applying a default voltage of 1.2 volts, far exceeding the chip’s safe limits. This card, which costs about $5,000, is designed to handle high power loads but is not immune to thermal shock and excessive voltage.

Background
Over the years, Jonathan has pushed GPUs to their limits. During his quest for world records, he experimented with early samples of the RTX 5090, attempting to use a special BIOS that allowed the card to draw up to an extreme 2,500 watts. However, when he switched to this BIOS while at room temperature, the GPU cracked under the pressure.

“1.2 V [is] OK for negatives temps on LN2 (liquid nitrogen) but very dangerous on ambient (+25C).”
Translation: 1.2 V is safe when using cooling methods like liquid nitrogen but is too high for room temperature.

In experimenting, Jonathan set impressive scores, such as 683,433 in the Geekbench 5 GPU Compute test, but ultimately the misuse of voltage caused irreversible damage to the graphics card.

This incident serves as a stark reminder of the inherent risks involved in extreme overclocking, especially for high-end components designed to operate within specific voltage ranges. Jonathan noted that MSI provided multiple samples due to the high likelihood of failure in extreme conditions, indicating that such risks are expected in the realm of competitive overclocking.