Question My GPU Just Caught Fire ?

[drambit]

I was just re-assembling my PC after taking it apart, I lazily only plugged in 8 pins out of the 12pins on my GPU (my cable is one of those super annoying 6+2 + 6+2 splitters, so it is dramatically less effort just plugging in one of them in the short term.

I thought if you don't have enough power going to the video card, it will simply not work / blue screen at worst.

Evidently, I thought wrong. The second I turned on my PC a chip on the card caught fire immediately.

It doesn't seem like it actually caused any damage, I turned it off and blew out the fire promptly. Afterward, I booted the PC up normally, ran furmark for 20 minutes while watching carefully, with no issues whatsoever.

I would be interested to know what happened, if anyone has any idea.

Here's a photo:

 

[XCMachine]

Did you put the correct plug from the GPU from the PSU and does your PSU only haves one pci-e cable ?

 

[norcalsc]

while it make work, i would personally replace that GPU. I would be concerned about the further fire hazard. as far as why it happened, who knows?

 

[drambit]

Did you put the correct plug from the GPU from the PSU and does your PSU only haves one pci-e cable ?

I believe it has two separate splitter cables for GPUs. It was inserted correctly but only 8 pins of it instead of all 12.

 

[DavidM012]

It's a gtx 760? This your card? Specs says it has 1x6 pin and 1x8 pin so you may have plugged in the 8 pin to the 6 pin and overlapped the adjacent socket so it was miswired and misfired.

 

[drambit]

It's a gtx 760? This your card? Specs says it has 1x6 pin and 1x8 pin so you may have plugged in the 8 pin to the 6 pin and overlapped the adjacent socket so it was miswired and misfired.

It sure is a 760. I didn't think it was possible to overlap an 8 pin to a 6 pin but also I didn't realize there was a distinction. Each GPU power cable coming from my PSU is a splitter of 6+2 and 6+2, so I saw no relevance in doing just 6+2 or just 6, but I am pretty certain I put the 8 pin in the 8 pin socket. I'm pretty sure if I tried to put the standard 8 pin alignment, where the +2 pin is to the right, into the 6 pin slot, the remaining 2 pins would not fit on the 2 most left pins on the 8 pin socket side. I'm not certain of this though.

 

[DavidM012]

yeah I dunno I've seen a few examples of 760's catching fire searching it online so occasionally they do catch fire along with a variety of other gpus. I heard some explanation of what may happen if pci connectors aren't installed can't remember it exactly though you said it was

plugged in 8 pins out of the 12pins on my GPU

8+6 is 14 pins so I thought maybe you didn't see it or something I dunno well I can't see from here which way the pci connectors go in so it might also have been simply because all the pci-e cables weren't fully installed.

maybe something to do with when the volts go down the amps go up. Whatever it fried it's a post mortem not a fix, sadly.

 

[DSzymborski]

I believe it has two separate splitter cables for GPUs. It was inserted correctly but only 8 pins of it instead of all 12.

What do you mean by 6+2 splitters? As in the daisy chain? Or are you using an inadequate PSU and using adapters?

In any case, let's get the whole story rather than random bits and bobs from the middle of it. That means full specs and the detailed process that led up to this.

And why does the GPU look like the final scene of Al Pacino's desk in Scarface?

 

[KyaraM]

Why did you even turn it on again after it literally burned?!?
Get rid of that card asap, it might seem fine now, but it's a ticking time bomb. Not to say very old and outdated. Get a new card, or even a used low-end one, low-end doesn't cost you your first born anymore and something like a 1050 should be on the same level and available for cheap.

 

[TerryLaze]

The pic is too low res...
Did an actual component burst?! It could just have been a spark that ignited the dust a bit catching the sticker on fire.
Don't look up dust fire on google, it will give you nightmares but CLEAN YOUR COMPUTER.

 

[zx128k]

You are so lucky that is an open circuit fault. You need to stop using that gpu until its repaired. The good news is there is still hope for a repair. Someone needs to make sure that card is save to use.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I would be interested to know what happened, if anyone has any idea.

Too much dust.
Hot components on pcb ignited dust and caused sticker to catch fire.
Clean your pc once in a while.

BTW - your PSU is installed wrong. PSU fan should be facing down.

 

[drambit]

What do you mean by 6+2 splitters? As in the daisy chain? Or are you using an inadequate PSU and using adapters?

In any case, let's get the whole story rather than random bits and bobs from the middle of it. That means full specs and the detailed process that led up to this.

And why does the GPU look like the final scene of Al Pacino's desk in Scarface?

Each GPU power cable coming from the PSU has two 8 pin connectors on it, one after the other, each 8 pin is split 6+2 pins. No adaptors involved.

The chain of events: I unplugged my normal GPU to test if a different GPU was working, it was, so I unplugged it, at which point my PC wouldn't turn on, so I thought maybe it's not turning on because there is no power to the GPU, so I quickly moved the power from the alternative GPU to the new one, which was 8 pins I believe, it still didn't turn on, I noticed that the I/O connectors got disconnected, so I plugged them back in, hit the power button, and the part on the GTX 760 immediately caught fire,

Why did you even turn it on again after it literally burned?!?
Get rid of that card asap, it might seem fine now, but it's a ticking time bomb. Not to say very old and outdated. Get a new card, or even a used low-end one, low-end doesn't cost you your first born anymore and something like a 1050 should be on the same level and available for cheap.

I'll upgrade in a while certainly, I've been meaning to for a while. I'm not really afraid of it suddenly failing if an hour of furmark didn't push it past 60°C. It must have been some strange voltage issue.

The pic is too low res...
Did an actual component burst?! It could just have been a spark that ignited the dust a bit catching the sticker on fire.
Don't look up dust fire on google, it will give you nightmares but CLEAN YOUR COMPUTER.

I suppose I should at least try to keep the GPU clean. There is very little dust in the rest of the case, but that GPU being a flat horizontal surface does have a habit of collecting it a little bit. I have no idea if the component burst or if a bit of dust caught fire from a spark, I guess more likely the latter.

Too much dust.
Hot components on pcb ignited dust and caused sticker to catch fire.
Clean your pc once in a while.

BTW - your PSU is installed wrong. PSU fan should be facing down.

I'm not sure it was hot components doing that, it happened literally immediately when I turned the PC on. I suppose I'll flip the PSU one of these days, I have known that it's upside down for a while.

 

[drambit]

I wish I had not unplugged the power cable from the GPU immediately after it caught fire, that seemed like the most rational thing to do for the moment before I realized it makes more sense to just turn the entire pc off.