My Computer Catastrophe: A Fire Incident and What Comes Next

Recently, I encountered an alarming incident with my gaming setup that I never thought I would experience—my computer caught fire. Let me walk you through what happened and seek your insights on how to address this unfortunate event.

After booting up GTTOD on Steam, I was fully engaged in gameplay when, within a mere five minutes, disaster struck. Suddenly, my monitor went black, and I noticed sparks emerging from behind my graphics card at the PCIe slot. In a panic, I immediately switched off the power supply and unplugged everything. The damage was extensive, and to give you a clearer picture, I’ve shared some photographs of the aftermath: Check out the visuals here.

System Specifications

For context, here are the specifications of my rig:

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

Seeking Guidance

Now that the dust has settled (literally and figuratively), I’m reaching out to the community for assistance. Does anyone have any insight into what might have caused this incident? I’m assuming that both my motherboard and graphics card are likely damaged. What other components might need replacement? Additionally, I’m curious to know whether the motherboard malfunctioned first, leading to the GPU’s failure, or was it the other way around?

Fortunately, all of my hardware is still under warranty, so I’m preparing for what could be a tedious warranty process. Any advice or experiences you can share to help me navigate this situation would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all for your support during this unexpected and stressful time!