News Charred RTX 4070 fell victim to a PSU without protection feature

[Admin]

One of the most horrifyingly burned graphics cards that we have seen has been featured in a components salvage video.

Charred RTX 4070 fell victim to a PSU without protection feature : Read more

 

[Zaranthos]

Entire rant eliminated by (probably) AI moderation deeming my sarcasm "inappropriate or some nonsense" no matter how tame I tried to dumb down the language. AI has no sense of humor. gaming pc power requirements....

 

[Alvar "Miles" Udell]

Never underestimate the stupidity of some people who will splurge on every component yet use the cheapest bargain basement PSU...

 

[nimbulan]

I'm confused as to how this could happen. Even without OCP, if a power connector starts melting the voltage will drop and any load on the GPU will quickly crash, which cuts the vast majority of power draw off. How could enough power continue to flow to actually result in a fire?

 

[DingusDog]

A risky PSU will ruin your components. Who knew?

 

[ezst036]

RTX40x0 owner:

My video card is faster than yours!

RTX30x0 owner:

Yeah but mine won't allow itself to melt.

 

[Notton]

Never underestimate the stupidity of some people who will splurge on every component yet use the cheapest bargain basement PSU...

To be fair, a 4070 isn't exactly a high end GPU.
It's a 200W card with $600 price tag.
The maximum it'll hit is 225W with an OC.

And the dumb connector allows for 600W power throughput. It can get hot enough to melt the connector before OCP ever kicks in. I think you're more likely to see short circuit protection kick in when it melts the cables.

 

[ilukey77]

Never underestimate the stupidity of some people who will splurge on every component yet use the cheapest bargain basement PSU...

Ive prattled on about overkilling PSU's on theses forums for a while now.

Nothing wrong with going a few hundred watts above spec just to safe guard and a decent brand with proven reliability for a few more $$$

( or to the point of dont blow all your cash on the fancy high end stuff only to cheap out on a crappy PSU for the simple minded )

Dont know how many pc part picker lists ive seen where they have ALL this fancy high end stuff and find the crappiest PSU know to man or the just enough wattage to do the job ..

Only to not understand that the PSU is like the life blood of the PC and when it goes BANG other things can go BANG too !!

 

[bit_user]

Ive prattled on about overkilling PSU's on theses forums for a while now.

Nothing wrong with going a few hundred watts above spec just to safe guard

That wasn't the issue. In fact, a bigger PSU without OCP perhaps could've resulted in an even greater calamity!

and a decent brand with proven reliability for a few more $$$

This is the point. The amount of money that user saved by going with a sketchy PSU was far less than it ended up costing.

Also, a good PSU won't fry anything, when you overload it. At worst, you'll get random reboots. That's not great, but the point is that you're not really risking anything by not way over-spec'ing the PSU for the amount of output you actually need.

 

[bit_user]

To be fair, a 4070 isn't exactly a high end GPU.
It's a 200W card with $600 price tag.

Oh, to live in a time when $600 isn't exactly a high-end GPU...

The main comment I wanted to make is that it still sort of surprises me that it was worth salvaging the non-fried components. I guess a GPU repairer can use them to fix another card someone sends in, but I wouldn't like to buy such a franken-GPU on the open market. Maybe, for pennies on the dollar...

 

[ilukey77]

That wasn't the issue. In fact, a bigger PSU without OCP perhaps could've resulted in an even greater calamity!

In this case sure but PC builders in general who dont allow for power spike or use generic PSU calculators that almost aways say a 650w psu for almost every build is where the problem is !!

My point was going a bit above wattage never really hurts !!

My logic is this being as my PSU is 1000w that ive now used in my system for over 4 years now so ive gone basically from a 5600x 6900xt to a 5800x3d 6900xt then the AM5 swap to 7600x then 7900xtx then 7800x3d all while using the same psu ..

IF nothing else thats value for money right???

If i was going ( which im not ) to look at rebuild say 5090 9800x3d i would without a hesitation go the seasonic prime 2200w psu and say yeah im done for the life of the warranty PSU for what ever AMD or Nvidia throw at me ..

$960aud well spent for 12 years of warrantied PC building so why not ??

super over kill YES maybe1000% yes

But fully warranted that the money i will save in the long run is crazy !!

A decent corsair 1000w isnt really expensive and 10 years of PC building if your in the low to mid range saves you money in the long run !!

If AMD do something decent next gen , like bring back my around the $1000usd decent flagship GPU ( not going to bother with either AMD or Nvidia this gen ) i will seriously look at the 2200w psu to replace my aging corsair HX 1000

 

[bit_user]

My point was going a bit above wattage never really hurts !!

I had to replace an old PSU, in a system where it just used the iGPU. I went with a 350W Seasonic G-series and it worked flawlessly, for a decade. Getting anything bigger would've been a waste of money.

It also would've wasted power, because PSUs tend to have their peak efficiency above 50% utilization. So, buying a bigger PSU and then way under-utilizing it would mean you're in the range where its efficiency isn't as good.

Source: https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-com...k-pg-1600g-phantom-gaming-power-supply-review
​

It's not a huge difference, but just compounds the waste of money. This is especially true, if you have to buy a lower-efficiency model, in order to be able to afford higher power output.

My logic is this being as my PSU is 1000w that ive now used in my system for over 4 years now so ive gone basically from a 5600x 6900xt to a 5800x3d 6900xt then the AM5 swap to 7600x then 7900xtx then 7800x3d all while using the same psu ..

IF nothing else thats value for money right???

If you run a dGPU and expect to upgrade it, sure. But, then what if you buy a graphics card that wants an ATX 3.1 power supply? If you spent big $$$ on an old, ATX 2.0 model, you might've just wasted your money.

 

[ilukey77]

I had to replace an old PSU, in a system where it just used the iGPU. I went with a 350W Seasonic G-series and it worked flawlessly, for a decade. Getting anything bigger would've been a waste of money.

It also would've wasted power, because PSUs tend to have their peak efficiency above 50% utilization. So, buying a bigger PSU and then way under-utilizing it would mean you're in the range where its efficiency isn't as good.

​

​

Source: https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-com...k-pg-1600g-phantom-gaming-power-supply-review​

​

It's not a huge difference, but just compounds the waste of money. This is especially true, if you have to buy a lower-efficiency model, in order to be able to afford higher power output.


If you run a dGPU and expect to upgrade it, sure. But, then what if you buy a graphics card that wants an ATX 3.1 power supply? If you spent big $$$ on an old, ATX 2.0 model, you might've just wasted your money.

Its never really a waste of money with in reason as if you want to upgrade then the one thing you dont have to worry about is the PSU ..

As for ATX 3.1 thats where if you are building now thats up to you to research the products your buying if you think your going to upgrade eventually buy a ATX 3.1 PSU ..

eventually most will be standard with that feature if not all !!

Im not saying go crazy crazy but every 2 years we get a new gen GPU's and power limits increase so PSU power requirements get higher and higher ..

Not saying we are getting a 300w card to 1000w card in a generation but its going to creep up over time..

So by default whats the harm in overkilling with a warranty ?

Most decent PSU's have a min 10 year warranty !!

Buying a non ATX 3.1 PSU is relegated to the cheapish or crappy branded PSU's and most decent known brands are moving to that ATX 3.1 by default !!

 

[bit_user]

So by default whats the harm in overkilling with a warranty ?

Most decent PSU's have a min 10 year warranty !!

I never said anything against getting a quality PSU model. I'm only talking about wattage.

Buying a non ATX 3.1 PSU is relegated to the cheapish or crappy branded PSU's and most decent known brands are moving to that ATX 3.1 by default !!

But, my point was that, if you built a system before ATX 3.0 (pre-2023) and bought a much higher wattage PSU than you needed, then it'd leave you in worse shape for GPUs which support ATX 3.1, because that has additional features that you can't match just by using adapters.

That's the risk of way over-buying, in anticipation of future needs. It's not something you can just go into, thoughtlessly. Not if you value your money.

 

[Alvar "Miles" Udell]

I'm using a 750w PSU now, but it's a holdover from 2015 when CPU and GPU power draws were much lower. If I build another desktop system instead of just getting a desktop replacement laptop it'll have a 1200w, since a typical full load will likely near the 600w range if power consumption continues to increase, and the price difference to a 1000w right now is marginal.

If I had to replace it right now, it'd be the SeaSonic Vertex PX-1200, which is $300, vs the SeaSonic Vertex PX-1000, which is $250.

 

[bit_user]

I'm using a 750w PSU now, but it's a holdover from 2015 when CPU and GPU power draws were much lower. If I build another desktop system instead of just getting a desktop replacement laptop it'll have a 1200w, since a typical full load will likely near the 600w range if power consumption continues to increase, and the price difference to a 1000w right now is marginal.

You should be aware that ATX 3.0 specifies spike load tolerances. When pairing an ATX 3.x power supply with a GPU designed to support the standard, that means you don't have to fudge the PSU spec to try and account for those transients.

Intel ATX v3.0 Specification for Dummies! - Hardware Busters

Hardware Busters - Intel ATX v3.0 Specification for Dummies! - PSUs

hwbusters.com

ATX 3.1 has some refinements around power excursion limits, the 12V-2x6 connector, and some other minor tweaks.

ATX v3.1 & PCIe CEM 5.1 are official! - Hardware Busters

Hardware Busters - ATX v3.1 & PCIe CEM 5.1 are official! - PSUs

hwbusters.com

If I had to replace it right now, it'd be the SeaSonic Vertex PX-1200, which is $300, vs the SeaSonic Vertex PX-1000, which is $250.

The reason why they're cheap is probably because they're only ATX 3.0, from what I can tell.

I have an ATX 3.0 PSU, which I don't plan to replace. But, if I were buying a new one that I planned to use with a dGPU, I'd certainly go for 3.1 at this point.

 

[ilukey77]

I never said anything against getting a quality PSU model. I'm only talking about wattage.

we could argue this for ages

I just think that with GPU's getting more and more power hungry there is a lot to be said about buying that 1000w instead of a 850w or that 1200w instead of a 1000w PSU for the life span and quality ..

lets not get started on 80 gold vs platinum or titanium ratings

Most of the high end 9070xt's are asking for 750w to 900w recommended PSU's my 7900xtx red devil was 900w manufactures recommendation .. NO way the 7800x3d 7900xtx is pulling close to 900w ..

even under extreme over clocking the card will maybe pull 450w 470w add the other bits and peices CPU etc etc .. maybe max 750w ..

So 1000w is over kill !!

 

[CelicaGT]

I'm confused as to how this could happen. Even without OCP, if a power connector starts melting the voltage will drop and any load on the GPU will quickly crash, which cuts the vast majority of power draw off. How could enough power continue to flow to actually result in a fire?

The card, and its several layers of conductive copper traces became a big, expensive space heater and then attempted fire starter. That was the load, not the GPU. Any PSU without overcurrent protection is a potential house fire. This person got off lucky.

 

[bit_user]

I just think that with GPU's getting more and more power hungry there is a lot to be said about buying that 1000w instead of a 850w or that 1200w instead of a 1000w PSU for the life span and quality ..

If you think you're likely to run such a power-hungry GPU, then go for it. I'm also not against that. What I am arguing against is the idea of way over-buying the capacity you can reasonably imagine needing.

Like, for me, I will never need a 1600W or even 1200W PSU, because I never want to have such a power-hungry GPU in my workstation. I already have a 275 W model and I already don't want to turn that machine on, except in the spring and fall. If I ever got a GPU more power hungry than that, I'd set a custom power limit to keep it on a leash. Currently, it has an 860W PSU in there, which is more than enough.

lets not get started on 80 gold vs platinum or titanium ratings

At least they correlate better with quality than wattage does.

Most of the high end 9070xt's are asking for 750w to 900w recommended PSU's my 7900xtx red devil was 900w manufactures recommendation .. NO way the 7800x3d 7900xtx is pulling close to 900w ..

But, they aren't assuming you have an ATX 3.x PSU. So, they have to pad the amounts, in order to account for excursions. With ATX 3.x, that becomes unnecessary. If they gave recommendations specifically for ATX 3.x PSUs, then they'd certainly be lower.

They are probably also basing that assumption on people having like a i9-14900K. So, their amounts are going to pad for that, fast RAM, a couple hot SSDs, and case fans and maybe a pump + radiator. Furthermore, cheap PSUs don't behave so well above the limit. So, if you're issuing a blanket estimate, then you don't want people to go over.

 

[Exploding PSU]

I'm so glad that the incident I had with a cheapoo PSU that got me to sign up to this forum and name my account such wasn't THAT catastrophic...

 

[RoLleRKoaSTeR]

Good reason to never skimp on a power supply. I did that once - fried a motherboard and cpu that way. Never again.

 

[ThereAndBackAgain]

I'm rocking a glorious 5-year-old 450W 80+ Bronze rated PSU. Oh yeah... Living the high life.

 

[TJ Hooker]

The card apparently set on fire in a working PC which suffered from a power connector issue. Patryk was told that the PSU in use was from a mining rig, and this PSU didn't have the luxury of overcurrent protection (OCP), so the combustion of the power connector and ensuing electrical mayhem didn't cut the power delivery.

Where did this info come from? None of it is in the video that I can tell. They don't even mention the PSU, let alone discuss its protection features (or lack thereof).

 

[KyaraM]

RTX40x0 owner:

My video card is faster than yours!

RTX30x0 owner:

Yeah but mine won't allow itself to melt.

This could have happened with any and all GPUs on the market, including the 3000 series AND including AMD. Nvidia haters really need a reality check sometimes.