Graphics card ignited(minor fire), was it because of the graphics card or the psu?

[lceBear]

Two days ago, my computer shut off when i was watching a stream on twitch.tv and when it turned off i looked at the computer and saw an orange light for a second from what i believe was the graphics card (however there could not have been a fire at this time due to no smoke or smell). After that, i pressed the power button several times without the pc booting up or anything happening. Therefore i unplugged the power cord and plugged it back in and pressed the power button once again...the computer started but the graphics card immediately ignited which resulted in me pulling out the power cord to stop the graphics card from burning. I removed the graphics card and plugged in the power cord and started the computer again and it ran like normal. I bought the computer back in december 2011 and the only problems i have had was that the computer would shut down/restart because of overheating when i played on "high" graphics for a longer duration in certain games. The graphics card is a gigabyte geforce gtx 550 ti.

And i wonder if the fault lies in the graphics card or if it had something to do with the power supply... i have not been able to test other graphics cards since, i ordered a new one earlier today but it would be a shame if it too were to ignite when i boot up my computer.

Picture on where the minor fire occurred: http://embed.gyazo.com/058423014b20437df42fffee9943e26f.jpg

 

[cst1992]

Specifications?

 

[lceBear]

Not exactly sure what you mean, sorry... If you mean what i have in my pc: 500 watt psu(don't know brand), AMD FX-Series FX-6100 3,3GHz cpu, asus M5A78L-M LX motherboard(, 2x 4gb ram, 1tb harddrive, one additional fan and a dvd/cd drive) .

if you only ment graphics card: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3799#sp

 

[dominirican3351]

When was the last time you changed the thermal paste on the card? The reason I ask is because it is an older card and that series of cards run at high temps (400&500 series). Also were you monitoring the temps?

 

[lceBear]

I had not touched the graphics card before i had to take it out recently which means i never changed thermal paste (can't say i know what thermal paste is either) and i didn't really monitor the temps regularly , i did monitor temps one day because of the pc shutting down/restarting when playing certain games for long durations and it warned about high temperature on either cpu or gpu(don't remember) when i played a game so i lowered the graphics on the game i was playing and i didn't monitor temperatures since then because i didn't experience anymore crashes... until the shutdown that occurred two days ago when I was simply on the browser.

 

[dominirican3351]

when you get your new card make sure you monitor the temps of your cpu because the paste might not be doing the job anymore

 

[lceBear]

Ok, will do, however, do you know what caused the graphics card to ignite the moment i pressed the power button on my computer? was it related to the graphics card? (i hope so,) not knowing is making me a bit worried...

 

[dominirican3351]

what is the brand of your psu?

 

[lceBear]

Model number says: FSP500-60APN
so i guess it is this one : http://www.fsp-group.com.tw/index.php?do=proinfo&id=1683

 

[cst1992]

I have heard of mixed reviews of FSP. Some of them are beyond excellent, and others are average at best.

Yours seems to be a lower tier unit. It seems to be capable of providing the required power, but has no credible reviews.
You should change your PSU first, then get a new GPU.
Bad quality power supplies wear out your hardware. Guess your GPU is a few years old, and finally gave in. It could also explain the shutdowns.