GIGABYTE's mobo X79-UD3 happens self-ignition and burning!

[THX1138]

I can't believe the guy didn't have any air cooling for the motherboard. I am also really disappointed with the lack of bad puns in this thread.

[zsamz_]

aircooling woulda helped but that board was due to die
cheap transistors

[mockingbird]

I disagree.

The whole point of cooling is because the case is closed. If the motherboard is just sitting out there in the open, why does he need air blowing on it.

The argument that the heatsink was not making good contact with the hexfets... Look at the thread in the Chinese forum. There are more pics. You can clearly see the indentation of the hexfet on the thermal tape. It WAS making excellent contact. I would have gotten rid of the tape alltogether and used paste plus small bolts instead of spring clips, but it still shouldn't burn up in flames like that.

Even cheap MOSFETS just pop and die when they fail. This thing was literally starting to ignite.

[Leeghoofd]

Haven't we seen this on more sockets and on other brands too ?...

Just an unlucky board... we had a few other boards (non GB ones ! ) dieing on us within first boot too...

Before drawing early conclusions : do we know the full story/facts ?

[Falkentyne]

I disagree.

The whole point of cooling is because the case is closed. If the motherboard is just sitting out there in the open, why does he need air blowing on it.

The argument that the heatsink was not making good contact with the hexfets... Look at the thread in the Chinese forum. There are more pics. You can clearly see the indentation of the hexfet on the thermal tape. It WAS making excellent contact. I would have gotten rid of the tape alltogether and used paste plus small bolts instead of spring clips, but it still shouldn't burn up in flames like that.

Even cheap MOSFETS just pop and die when they fail. This thing was literally starting to ignite.

Can you show or tell us proof as to why this is a cheap IC manufacturer?
I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt, but I'd like more information. This is I think the third post I've seen about GB X79 boards catching fire. (One of them did it instantly after power on).

[halfwaythere]

That's why I'm staying away from gigabyte products. Too much marketing. They are using crappier vrms on other boards as well, especially on AMD.

[SubZero.it]

They call it Ultra Durable 3...

[sxs112]

Finally, today GIGABYTE sent a manager with three research and development engineers went to the end-user's house and gave him some indemnification


as you see, the picture

01.X79 UD3 → G1.Assassin 2
02.Core i7 3930K → Core i7 3960X
03.Brand new G.skill DDR3 RAM (4DIMM)
04.#extra gift (Taiwanese oolong tea)

[STEvil]

Why did he get all that stuff?

Wish Asus guys would clear up Z7S-WS issue.. my emails are going un-answered..

[Hondacity]

lucky guy.

i love taiwanese support

[ice_chill]

What ? so lets all burn our Gigabyte boards and get presents and indemnification ?

[eXa]

O_o

[Hondacity]

What ? so lets all burn our Gigabyte boards and get presents and indemnification ?

you have to make a video and make gigabutt watch it lol

[mockingbird]

Can you show or tell us proof as to why this is a cheap IC manufacturer?
I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt, but I'd like more information. This is I think the third post I've seen about GB X79 boards catching fire. (One of them did it instantly after power on).

I don't know anything about International Rectifier, but I do know that Gigabyte, Asus and MSI have started using cheap "NIKOS" transistors even in their high-end motherboards. You can't trust these people, they're very deceptive, they have to guarantee SOME failure out there in the field to ensure further sales.

[Russian]

IMO, that's sort of his own fault, particularly when we don't know the backround story (ie: voltages, clock speeds, etc).

ANY heatsink is in place to dissipate heat through the use of airflow. In a computer case, there's airflow moving over them which is why most people clue into the fact that out of case testing needs the same type of air movement.

See EVA2000's response above. That's the SMART way to do open system testing. In the video above, you see the clueless way.

I agree, my open bench setup is designed to mimic a compter case and ass such provides fantastic cooling for all parts of the board.

[M.Beier]

well, it is a small model, not the highend, and he isnt cooling properly, sure it is a bit embarrasing, but I think it is grand that Gigabyte replaces his board & CPU ...
As for RMA; I really wish I could get my X58A-UD3R RMA'd, but unfortunately it seems I cannot. (lost a ram channel, and sure, I pushed the board hard)

Huge thanks to Dino for the recommending clicking the link... That SPA commercial that pops up as suggester after, isnt bad!

[sin0822]

I can't belive Gigabyte is using this lousy transistor in such an expensive board.

Definitely NOT this guy's fault.

http://www.irf.com/whats-new/nr111213.html

Can you explain how these FETs are lousy? IR makes very good products for many companies.
Here is the datasheet for those FETs, and that is a low-side FET, how is that lousy? How is it cheap?
Haters will hate.
http://www.irf.com/product-info/data...rfh8330pbf.pdf

I am pretty sure IR also makes those DirectFETs used on previous ROG boards, the ones that are Copper topped.

You gotta have some sort of wind going around the VRM heatsinks, that is how they are designed for function. Of course BIOS settings can cause that to happen if you set the thermal limits too high.

X79 needs VRm active airflow in some way on most every board if you are going to OC.

You talk about NIKOS transistors, I am sorry but those can be just fine for other component use, as far as I know only cheap AMD boards and some ASRock boards use those for their VRMs, not really on the Intel side do you find cheap VRMs that blow up.

That design is total IR design, it isn't GIGABYTE cheaping out by replacing something in the design with a cheaper MOSFET.

how in the world is this considered news????

[Lanek]

The problem is elsewhere, but it is just a faulty board ... not a question of design, or bad cooling, the mosfets will stop working far before it goes on a temperature it can burn. I dont know exactly what have happen, but well, at the moment we dont see hundred of boards going like that... no worry to have.

[mockingbird]

My point is that you don't see these types of failures with ST Microelectronics and such transistors.

Yea, IR is probably an OK transistor manufacturer, probably superior to the cheap NIKOS garbage they all use in their lower-end boards, but why do I always get the feeling that the Chinese and Taiwanese are always penny pinching, even on expensive, high end products. And then they complain about desktop sales. They have destroyed the desktop market with their inferior products. First they were nickel and diming us on the capacitors, and now this funny business with transistors.

How much extra would it cost for STM transistors? A few pennies? Save the cheap stuff for the cheap boards. We don't need tantalum capacitors in the VRM MSI (Big Bang series), what we need are decent transistors.

[Lanek]

Actually, the chinese capacitors are just the best of the market.... i dont know where you have take that. (ofc, chinese, is a big word, as theres plenty of production manufacturers, and all are not so good )

[sin0822]

My point is that you don't see these types of failures with ST Microelectronics and such transistors.

Yea, IR is probably an OK transistor manufacturer, probably superior to the cheap NIKOS garbage they all use in their lower-end boards, but why do I always get the feeling that the Chinese and Taiwanese are always penny pinching, even on expensive, high end products. And then they complain about desktop sales. They have destroyed the desktop market with their inferior products. First they were nickel and diming us on the capacitors, and now this funny business with transistors.

How much extra would it cost for STM transistors? A few pennies? Save the cheap stuff for the cheap boards. We don't need tantalum capacitors in the VRM MSI (Big Bang series), what we need are decent transistors.

ST? Ok so when ASRock decides to replace Chil Drivers with ST drivers because its cheaper that means ST is a better company, right? Because Chil PWMs work better with ST parts?

[PatRaceTin]

some distributer refuse to RMA in similar case (in my country)

[RCG_Bex]

Interesting.... Not the first time... I've not something catch fire like that since my Asus 3870X2. But I've had about 2x boards from Gigabyte with something similar. But Gigabyte were good and replaced both of them.

[Eldonko]

There is new Trident??

[Hondacity]

There is new Trident??

+1

quadchannel tridents? probably not? i dunno hence questioning minds...