NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Gets Decimated in a User Build; Backplate Burnout Is Something We’ve Never Seen Before

Jul 11, 2025 at 05:51am EDT

Well, a gamer apparently saw the sight of his life when his PC closed abruptly, and while investigating it, he saw "literal" smoke coming out of his build, with a fire that decimated the GPU's backplate.

The Use of a Poor Quality PSU Might Have Burnt Out a Costly Build, Resulted In a Fire That Melted The GPU Backplate

The PCMR is a great experience, but there are some precautions to adhere to, especially when it comes to component selection and following safety protocols. You can never be certain if your PC will run into a malfunction, but a user on QuasarZone managed to see a sight that he would probably never want to get into again. Based on a post shared on the forum, it appears that a PC build managed to caught an intense fire while being intact inside the case, which not only burnt out the PCIe slot and power cables, but the GPU's backplate was absolutely destroyed.

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Detailing the account, the user on QuasarZone revealed that while working on Adobe design tools, the PC had shut down abruptly, and then he saw smoke coming out of his PC. To mitigate the issue, the user decided to unplug all the cables and separate out the components to prevent further damage, which is the right thing to do. Upon narrowing down the reasons for the fire, the user claimed that he had installed a refurbished motherboard in the PC a few months ago, which could be one of the reasons why the PCIe slot caught fire.

Upon further investigation, the user said that he had utilized a MegaMax 800W power supply, which is listed in the Tier E "Avoid" section under the PSU Tier list by Cultists Network. A poor PSU is a ticking "timebomb" in many cases, since it often cannot handle power loads in case of fluctuations or abruptions, and that could be one of the reasons how the fire ignited in the first place, maybe the power cable coming from the PSU got burnt out first, probably due to a short circuit. But anyways, the user is investigating the issue by sending his components to a repair shop.

Component selection should be the utmost priority on any build, ensuring that you don't compromise on essentials such as power supplies or motherboards. And if you do, well burnout incidents like the above one could occur any time.

About the author: Muhammad Zuhair is a hardware and technology reporter for Wccftech, specializing in the semiconductor industry and the complex interplay between technology, manufacturing, and geopolitics. His coverage focuses on the corporate strategies and technological roadmaps of industry giants like TSMC, NVIDIA, Samsung, and Intel. Zuhair's expertise lies in deconstructing complex topics such as fabrication nodes (e.g., 2nm process), the economic impact of policies like the CHIPS Act, and the strategic development of AI infrastructure from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.

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