Question New PSU “exploded”, now my whole system is acting up

[Buskrns]

Hey everyone,
I’m dealing with a really strange (and frustrating) issue and could use some insight from the community. Here’s the full timeline and everything I’ve tested so far:

Timeline of Events

1. I Installed a new GPU and PSU (Asus Prime RTX 5070 Ti + Corsair RM850e)
   → Worked fine for 4 days, gaming, AI, general use, no issues.
2. On day 4:
   • Pressed the power button
   • Immediately got a loud bang, PSU “exploded”
   • House breaker tripped
   • Whenever I turn on the breaker, another loud bang.
3. Replaced the failed PSU with my old PSU and old GPU
   → Booted, but crashed after about an hour
   → Now the old PSU won’t pass paperclip test (stays on 10 seconds, then shuts off)
4. After waiting half an hour, I managed to boot old PSU + old GPU again
   → Got into BIOS, voltages looked stable
   → After 2 minutes in BIOS, PC shut off again
5. Rebooting is now inconsistent — after waiting a few minutes it powers on briefly, but than stops and won’t turn on at all.

What I’ve Tested So Far

• Multimeter tested motherboard, No shorts between 12V, 5V, 3.3V rails and ground
• Multimeter tested new GPU, no shorts.
• No visible damage on the motherboard (no burnt pins or caps)
• CPU temps in BIOS were fine

What’s next?

What should I do next? What could be wrong? Should I just plug in new GPU + new PSU when it gets back from RMA?

 

[rgd1101]

check the power at home?

 

[Teknoman2]

I don't know about the PSU that made the bang, but your situation indicates that the power lines in the wall have a problem, or the breaker panel itself. Have you tried to plug it in some other room?

 

[Buskrns]

check the power at home?

I checked the logs and everything is stable, nothing out of the ordinary. Also none of my other devices have any problems.

 

[helper800]

I checked the logs and everything is stable, nothing out of the ordinary. Also none of my other devices have any problems.

If there is damage it can be widespread. CPU / MOBO / RAM / PSU are the most easily damaged. That loud bang could have been the motherboard caps popping too. I would contact Corsair and see what they can do for you. They may be nice and replace everything or not helpful at all, I cannot say. The only way to tell would be to swap in known working parts in a part of the house that has known working circuits, or to drop the PC and the extra parts off at a computer repair shop and let them sort it out. If you want to get new parts to test, make sure they have a good return policy. I would start with a new motherboard and PSU. Can you make a list of all your parts in the PC and the extras.