Owners of recent-generation high-end GPUs, such as the RTX 4090 or 5090, are aware that these powerful rendering devices are substantial enough to deter potential PC thieves. As GPUs increase in size and weight, the issue of sagging has become a growing concern for PC builders and GPU manufacturers. Recently, ASUS acknowledged its awareness of this problem.

In January, ASUS discreetly introduced a feature called “Equipment Installation Check” to its GPU Tweak III monitoring software. This toolset included a measurement called “VGA Horizontal Status,” which accurately assessed the angle at which the installed GPU was tilting downward. Users could set a custom warning if the GPU tilted beyond a user-defined degree threshold.

In mid-April, the Taiwanese publication UNIKO’s Hardware published a teardown of the latest ROG Astral 50-series cards, highlighting a suspected Bosch Sensortec chip. According to Bosch, this chip is “a general-purpose, low-power IMU that combines precise acceleration and angular rate (gyroscopic) measurement with intelligent on-chip motion-triggered interrupt features.” The technicians at UNIKO’s Hardware believe this chip powers the tilting detection tool.

Interestingly, the most recent mentions of this feature on the ASUS forums indicate that as of the latest Tweak III software release (dated April 11), the Equipment Installation Check button is no longer available. Users had reported suspected false positives, confident that their GPUs were level despite the software indicating sagging. Engadget reached out to ASUS for clarification on whether this feature is being deprecated or if it was not providing accurate readings, but did not receive a response.

Regardless of the feature’s status, the risk of sagging GPUs is a pressing concern for many PC gamers today. PCIe slots were not designed with modern large GPUs in mind, leading to gamers finding creative solutions to support their enormous graphics cards and prevent potential damage.