Redditor Shares RTX 4080 Super's PCB Blown by Fiery Short Circuit

If you have been using a GeForce RTX 4080 for some time now, this news will surely blow your mind. In fact, it’s one of the wildest GPU failures reported and documented on Reddit. The news comes via Wccftech, which reports that a Reddit user, u/TwistedCollossus, has noted that the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 Super Ventus 3X OC basically blew up on a test bench, leaving a literal hole in the PCB near the 16-pin power connector.

The incident triggered a fire hazard, as the user mentioned that flames shot out almost immediately after powering it on. Earlier this week, we reported on streamer Jessick showing RTX 4090 emitting smoke inside a running PC. The footage captured a visible puff of smoke near the power connector area before the clip ended. But this one, this has to be next-level chaos.

The images shared by the Redditor show severe burn marks under the heatsink. The capacitors near the burned area look completely destroyed. It’s unclear whether the problem started with one of the capacitors blowing up, which caused voltage instability and burned out the MOSFETs, or if the MOSFETs failed first, sending a huge amount of current through the board. Either way, GPUs should not catch on fire when operating normally.

The user has not shared pictures of the test bench, so we do not know the details about it. However, the Redditor took the card apart afterward to take photos of the damage. A lot of people on Reddit said that taking the card apart could make it hard to get the card replaced under warranty. As of now, MSI has not said anything about this incident, and it is not clear if the card will be covered under warranty.

Short-circuit failures this extreme are rare, but when they happen, they’re dramatic and dangerous. For RTX 40 series owners, this is a reminder that even high-end GPUs can go catastrophically wrong. Hopefully, MSI provides clarity on whether this fiery failure qualifies for a replacement.

Article feature image and in-content image source: Reddit/u/TwistedCollossus