When Your Computer Goes Up in Flames: A Cautionary Tale

It’s a gamer’s nightmare: you sit down to enjoy a new title, and instead of an epic gaming experience, you’re faced with an alarming malfunction. Recently, while launching a game on Steam, I encountered a shocking situation where my computer caught fire. In just five minutes, the screen went black, and sparks started shooting from behind my graphics card, leading to actual flames near the PCIe slot. Naturally, I acted quickly by shutting off the power supply and disconnecting the unit.

For those who like technical details, here are the relevant specifications of my setup:

• Motherboard: MSI Gaming Pro Carbon AC
• Graphics Card: Sapphire Pulse Vega 56
• Processor: Ryzen 2600
• Memory: G.Skill Trident Z 3200MHz CL14
• Power Supply Unit (PSU): EVGA G3 750W
• Operating System: Windows 10

This incident leaves me pondering several questions. What could have caused such an extreme failure? With the majority of my components still under warranty, I wonder about the extent of the damage. I suspect both my motherboard and GPU might be beyond repair, but I’m also curious if one component failed and subsequently damaged the other.

If you have experience with similar issues or insights into what might have gone wrong, I would greatly appreciate your guidance. This might help me navigate the often-dreaded warranty process a little smoother.

Also, apologies for any formatting issues; I’m writing this from my mobile device after the unfortunate event left my computer inoperable. Thank you in advance for any advice you can share!