According to a report from Kuaikeji on August 8th， an overclocking enthusiast has successfully modified a Gigabyte RTX 5090 Aorus Master ICE graphics card， effectively doubling its power limit and achieving astonishing performance under its default air-cooling solution.
This Reddit user employed a modification technique known as “shunt resistor modification.” By replacing the original 2MOhm resistors on the graphics card with 1MOhm resistors， they were able to elevate the RTX 5090’s power consumption from a nominal 600W under full load to an impressive 1200W.
Typically， when undertaking such power limit modifications on high-performance graphics cards like the RTX 5090， water cooling is considered a necessity. However， this particular user managed to achieve these results using only the card’s original air-cooling system.
The user’s rationale is that the stock cooling solution on these high-end cards is often designed with significant thermal headroom， capable of handling substantially more heat than the default power limits allow. This suggests that the original coolers may be over-engineered for typical usage scenarios， providing an opportunity for enthusiasts to push the hardware further.
Furthermore， the user enhanced the thermal performance by reapplying thermal paste， opting for PTM 7950 and Upsiren UX Ultra thermal pads， which are known to be more effective than the stock materials used by manufacturers.
Following the modifications， the RTX 5090 operated at a peak power draw of 820W， with its core clock speed reaching an impressive 3.2GHz. Crucially， the temperatures remained within a very reasonable range， hovering around 79 degrees Celsius.
In the 3DMark Speedway benchmark， the modified card achieved a score of 16559 when paired with a 9950X3D processor， securing a ninth-place ranking. This remarkable achievement highlights the significant performance gains unlocked by the overclocking and cooling modifications.
Additionally， this configuration attained a score of 17125 in the Steel Nomad test， placing it at 11th overall， and a score of 43378 in Port Royal， ranking 15th. These results position the card among elite performers in demanding synthetic benchmarks.
The fact that this RTX 5090， running on air cooling， achieved such high rankings in these benchmarks is particularly noteworthy. It serves as compelling evidence that the stock cooling solutions on many high-end graphics cards possess considerable untapped potential.
Through shunt resistor modification， the RTX 5090 was able to push its frequencies well beyond 3.2GHz， a performance level that would be virtually unattainable with the card’s reference design， which has a boost clock speed of only 2.4GHz.
In conclusion， while this type of modification can undoubtedly lead to significant performance improvements， it is not something that most users should attempt casually. Proceeding with such alterations will almost certainly void the graphics card’s warranty， and carries inherent risks to the hardware if not performed with expertise.
