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Yes. Overclocker Roman “Der8auer” Hartung modified an ASUS ROG Astral LC RTX 5090 so it could draw around 800 watts or more, then recorded a narrow win over a professional RTX card in 3DMark Speedway. The result came from physical changes to the graphics card—not a normal software power limit—and carried serious electrical and hardware risks.
How the RTX 5090 shunt mod raised power draw
The ASUS ROG Astral LC RTX 5090 used in the experiment had a 600-watt power target. Hartung added 5-milliohm resistors in parallel with the card’s 2-milliohm shunts. The parallel resistors lowered the effective resistance to about 1.4 milliohms, causing the card’s power-monitoring circuit to register less power than the board was actually drawing.
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That distinction matters: GPU-Z understated consumption after the modification. Hartung used an external WireView meter to measure power draw. The figures below are therefore based on the test reports’ external measurements, not the card’s post-modification software readout.
How much power and performance did it deliver?
Tom’s Hardware reported that the card drew roughly 660–700 watts under modest benchmark loads after the modification, then ran at about 750 watts during most later testing. In further stages, the draw reached around 800 watts or slightly higher. VideoCardz described successive measured ranges of 650–720 watts, then 750–786 watts, followed by more than 800 watts with manual overclocking. These are results from different stages of the experiment, not a single fixed operating level.
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In Notebookcheck’s 2025 report on 3DMark Speedway, the card scored about 146 FPS at stock, 152 FPS after the shunt modification, and up to 158 FPS after voltage and power were pushed toward 800 watts. The numbers describe performance in that benchmark; they do not establish a similar gain in games or other workloads.
Did it beat the RTX 6000 Pro?
Coverage of the experiment reports that the modified RTX 5090 narrowly surpassed a professional RTX card in 3DMark Speedway. That is a workload-specific benchmark result, not evidence that the 5090 is a better professional GPU overall. Tom’s Hardware characterized the win as narrow and inefficient: the modified consumer card used substantially more power than either the stock 5090 or the professional comparison card.
The comparison card’s naming is not consistent across the supplied 2025 coverage summaries: they refer to an RTX PRO 6000 or an RTX 6000 Ada. Treat the headline-style “beat the RTX 6000 Pro” claim cautiously unless the exact card and test configuration are identified. Tom’s Hardware cited a price of about $10,000 for the professional comparison card; that figure is the report’s cited price, not a current quote.
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Is an 800-watt RTX 5090 shunt mod safe?
No. This was an extreme hardware experiment, not a generally safe upgrade. The modification involves soldering on the graphics card’s PCB; a mistake can permanently damage an expensive GPU. It also raises the load on the 16-pin power connection and its individual pins. Notebookcheck reported approximately 13.5 amps on one 12-volt power pin in final testing, while VideoCardz warned that the power cable is not intended for this use and can melt under excessive load.
The test used the liquid-cooled ASUS ROG Astral LC model. Notebookcheck said its liquid cooling handled heat better than an air-cooled design and advised against applying the same approach to air-cooled cards. Better heat handling does not remove the electrical risks or make the modification safe.
What the result means for RTX 5090 owners
The experiment shows that bypassing the card’s ordinary power-sensing limit can produce higher draw and a modestly higher Speedway score on this particular liquid-cooled RTX 5090. It does not show that an 800-watt setting is available through normal software controls, that the gain will carry over to other tasks, or that the trade-off is worthwhile. The extra benchmark performance came with much higher power use and substantial risk to the card and power connection.
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