Sapphire 7970 Literally Caught Fire Too

NickJames

NickJames

Supreme [H]ardness
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So my friends 7970 just burst into flames at the PCI-E slot charring the mobo and the card. I'm contacting him for pictures, he uploaded them to FB but they aren't showing up on PC only on phone and I can't seem to download from the messenger app.

*EDIT*

Contacted him, he was running a Maximus IV Gene Z68, i5 2500K OC'd at 4Ghz with a Corsair Hydro Cooler powered by a Corsair TX 750. He was casually playing Civilization V when it erupted into flames. He has all his equipment sitting in a Silverstone FT03. This computer was running fine for over 4 months with no issues.

*EDIT 2* Pic's





*EDIT 3*
Sapphire's Response
2013-7-11 [05:32]
This type of damage is usually caused by the power supply supplying irrigular voltage causes the card to burn out like this, this is not covered under warranty, its consider physical damage.

*UPDATE 10/18/13*
Just a quick update, Sapphire came through and decided to replace the card. My friend got a working 7970 back from them about 3 weeks ago. GG Sapphire, faith restored.
 
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sapphire will RMA with no questions asked. sapphire will RMA cards that aren't even theirs it seems lolol.
 
That's good because he bought it second hand from a forum user here.
 
Judging from the pictures it is a reference card?

I'm just bringing this up to point out if that is the case it would not be fair to single out Sapphire for a manufacturing problem in this specific case (not saying you are but just something to be aware of). This is because the reference cards are sourced from a common design from another party (basically it isn't a case of Sapphire being poorer quality in this example compared to another company). This would be different if it were a custom. How the company handles RMA would be what people should draw from this.
 
I took some pics myself





Sapphire's Response

2013-7-11 [05:32]
This type of damage is usually caused by the power supply supplying irrigular voltage causes the card to burn out like this, this is not covered under warranty, its consider physical damage.

Really? "Irregular" voltage from the PSU?
 
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Yikes. Hopefully XFX doesnt fuck me over like that if one of my 7950s fail.

What PSU did he have?
 
NickJames said:
I took some pics myself


Sapphire's Response

2013-7-11 [05:32]
This type of damage is usually caused by the power supply supplying irrigular voltage causes the card to burn out like this, this is not covered under warranty, its consider physical damage.

Really? "Irregular" voltage from the PSU?
Click to expand...

I've seen similar damage from a drooping card that wasn't locked into the slot correctly. Not saying that's the case here :)
 
I love how Sapphire's response is really not unreasonable, and yet people are immediately jumping on them for shitty support.

Often when things die in a dramatic fashion, it is the fault of the power supply. Before you use that PC again, test the power supply and ensure that you are getting stable voltage across all the rails (12V, 5V, 3.3V). I wouldn't be surprised if the PSU was the culprit.
 
I gave him my PSU tester to try out and will report back tomorrow.

He isn't the type to leave the card sitting loosely in the slot, he's had it running fine for about 4 months until this happened. He had overclocked it at one point but the coil whine was bothering him so he disabled it and just left it stock for the past month or so.

*UPDATE*
PSU Tester came up ok on all rails. Sapphire sent this response last night.

Factory consider this as physical damage cause by PSU or MB's PCIE slot, did your PCIE slot fried up as well?
Click to expand...
 
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Since the PSU is OK, I would recommend talking to Asus about them replacing the mobo and card, but I think we all know how that's going to go.
 
Asus Rep told me this.

http://www.interfacebus.com/Design_PCI_Express_16x_PinOut.html

Pins 2+3 are 12V supply for the PCIe card. Something took place on that GPU - probably a short somewhere. The slot pins are specified to pass a certain level of current. If that limit is breached the power plane will start to heat up.

Can't really advise you what to do in this case. As I said the most you can do is contact ASUS service.
Click to expand...

Will go ahead and start the RMA procedure, atleast it'll figure out who's at fault.
 
I RMA'd an Asus motherboard recently without issue. Was one of the first Sandy Bridge MBs with the sata port problem.
 
NickJames said:
*UPDATE*
PSU Tester came up ok on all rails. Sapphire sent this response last night.
Click to expand...

A PSU tester places essentially no load on the PSU, so that just means it's "working," not that it's necessarily "OK."
 
Goty said:
A PSU tester places essentially no load on the PSU, so that just means it's "working," not that it's necessarily "OK."
Click to expand...

Well the rails were giving an accurate load as far as voltage is concerned, 11.8-9 on PCI-E. Is there another way of testing a PSU for Sapphires so called irregular voltage issue?

*UPDATE*

It seems his PCI-E slot still works, GG ASUS.
 
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If pins 3+4 were both +12V power, then even shorting them wouldn't do anything. There was either a short or some sort ON THE GPU that cause it to draw far too much current, or there was some sort of power surge that put too much power into those pins. My bet would be a short on the GPU. Either a bad component or physical damage.
 
I'm betting on the vid card as culprit. I wonder how this will play out.
 
Oh lovely, I have 2 7950s from Sapphire that look exactly like that card. I hope this doesn't happen to mine. A friend of mine had issues with a Sapphire card a few years ago and couldn't get them to replace it even though it was clearly defective. I suggest following up constantly and proving anything they tell you wrong as categorically as you can. Offer to send them the power supply if they want (they won't bother it's not worth their time).
 


This is the damaged area of the card- you can see 2 small capacitors in this location- I have seen several times small caps (likely ceramic) develop a crack and ultimately pop, causing this type of damage. My guess is that this is what happened- one of those caps let go and CAUSED the damage.
 
One of the many reasons why I stayed far, far away from Sapphire.
 
techrat said:
One of the many reasons why I stayed far, far away from Sapphire.
Click to expand...

Actually- likely not a sapphire problem- this type of this could happen with ANY card. It IS likely a defective part that blew and caused the problem (so should be covered under warranty), but nothing that Sapphire did improperly- just the type of thing that can happen with surface mount technology, especially in a constantly changing thermal environment such as a PC that heats up and cools down with load/no load.
 
the is clearly on Sapphire to replace the card
imo i wouldnt ever buy another card made by them if they are going to try to get out of replacing it by blaming the PSU or main board

friend of mine had and awful time with XFX as well a wile ago so i dont buy from them ether any more

so im stuck with EVGA now that BFG is gone and now even eVGA ditched there lifetime warranty
 
sounds like there is a problem with manufacturers honoring their warranties. There have been quite a few threads similar to this within the past few months
 
You should submit this info to The Consumerist web blog, nothing like a bit of public shaming to help motivate an unmotivated hardware manufacturer.
 
This is definitely (IMO) a warranty claim that Sapphire should honor. (I'm an electrical engineer BTW)
 
After some exchange of words the Sapphire rep told my friend to contact their tech department (Althon Micro) directly, he did and now they are investigating the claim internally.
 
Sorry to hear about the card sir! Hope your friend manages to work through the red tape. I've had to use the Saphire RMA service quite a lot, and it is almost always a hassle.

UZ7 said:
ASUS RMA?? good luck with that! :p
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Asus RMA on the other hand has never been a problem. If you clearly explain the issue, and how you've arrived at their product being the source of the failure, they've been pretty good about beginning the RMA process. That being said, they aren't quick about getting stuff back. Saphire may be a pain, but at least they are usually pretty quick.
 
BFG was the best i have ever had to work with
eVGA is a close 2nd

i have no idea if any one that makes AMD cards is even close to the 2
 
I'd gladly buy any product from BFG period. Best warranty ever. too bad they went out of business I bought my motherboard from EVGA, I am happy with it. I'd buy a EVGA video card but, at the time I wanted a ATI card.
 
MaxTheLimit said:
Sorry to hear about the card sir! Hope your friend manages to work through the red tape. I've had to use the Saphire RMA service quite a lot, and it is almost always a hassle.




Asus RMA on the other hand has never been a problem. If you clearly explain the issue, and how you've arrived at their product being the source of the failure, they've been pretty good about beginning the RMA process. That being said, they aren't quick about getting stuff back. Saphire may be a pain, but at least they are usually pretty quick.
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Have you read through the ASUS RMA nightmare thread. Because of how they handled my RMA and then basically told me to go pound sand after they sent me a physically damaged replacement that lasted 1 week before it totally died. I will never buy or recommend another ASUS product again.

I contacted newegg about it, and they RMA'd the board and refunded me the original purchase price.
 
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