An unlucky Taiwanese gamer witnessed their expensive Zotac RTX 5090 literally breathe fire, damaging other components in its way to the afterlife. This unfortunate incident happened while the user was playing Battlefield 6 Open Beta, though the game is unlikely to be the cause. The user recalls that while in mid-battle, the screen froze, just before flames started bursting from the graphics card’s PCIe side. Said fire reportedly lasted for about 10 seconds, which was enough to leave substantial marks on the motherboard, SSD, and CPU cooler.
The pictures shared by the user clearly show the point from which the flames burst. Due to its proximity to the motherboard, the fire started melting its cover, ruining the pristine white design. The white AIO CPU liquid cooler didn’t escape unharmed either, showing large black marks left by the flames. The SSD was also affected, though to a lesser degree from the looks of it.
While the motherboard and cooler may still be working, the aesthetic damage is beyond repair, breaking this otherwise nice white build. Additionally, depending on how the heat affected the motherboard’s PCB, the latter could die prematurely at any point, potentially taking another perfectly working component with it. A risk not worth taking.
As we speak, the source of this incident has yet to be determined. What seems sure is that the 12V-2×6 power connector isn’t the culprit for once. Unlike the previous cases of RTX 40 and 50 Series burning, the affected area is nowhere near the power header. Likewise, Battlefield 6 is probably not responsible for this unfortunate mishap, even though some games have been linked to graphics card damage previously, mainly caused by uncapped fps, which can lead to sudden power surges that exceed VRMs’ safe limits.
The source appears to be related to some sort of short circuit or SMD (Surface-Mount Device) failure. Based on the location, it is believed to be related to the memory subsystem, perhaps some sort of MOSFET short circuit or failure. There were multiple reports recently about such incidents, where power-delivery components failed unexpectedly. So, if I had to bet, I would say the VRM of this Zotac RTX 5090 failed spectacularly – and that’s it, just pure misfortune. Note that while this model featured Zotac’s safety light, which indicate any potential bad connections, it wouldn’t have changed anything.
Now, since the machine was prebuilt, the user has sent it back to the retailer, which in turn is in contact with Zotac to inspect the damage and find the root cause. Hopefully, the wait won’t be long for our unlucky gamer, with a positive conclusion to this unfortunate story.
Despite the low risk, if you are still worried, we recommend capping your game frame rate below your monitor’s maximum refresh. Going higher isn’t useful anyway, unless you play competitive esports games. You could also try to undervolt your graphics card to reduce heat generation.
