Gigabyte Busted Again, GP-P750M PSU Caught Exploding On Cam When Tested With DC Electronic Load Equipment

Gigabyte has had a rough week following its recent leak of confidential documents & disastrous launch of its brand new GP-P850GM & GP-P750GM PSUs. The company refuted that there was a significant issue with its power supplies and put the blame on users & testers however, the claim has been busted by Steve over at GamersNexus as one of the PSUs has been caught exploding on camera in a record 15 minutes time period.

The GP GM PSU lineup has been a catastrophic launch for Gigabyte which was followed by a very detailed statement suggesting that the company had applied new OVP and OPP adjustments that would prevent their new power supplies from exploding while running in PCs.

The statement has been listed below:

For desktop PC systems, there can occasionally be instances where the peak wattage can exceed the intended usage range. During such instances, the GIGABYTE GP-P850GM / GP-P750GM model power supplies include the industry standard built-in safety feature “Over Power Protection” (OPP). The OPP safety feature is designed to shut down the unit when the power load exceeds the wattage the unit was designed to operate within. The OPP was set to 120% to 150%, 1020W~1300W for GP-P850GM, and 900W~1125W for the GP-P750GM

GIGABYTE, appreciates and takes into consideration any feedback and suggestions from our media partners and PC hardware professionals. We were made aware by third parties of concerns regarding potential issues of the GP-P850GM and GP-P750GM tripping at high wattages when tested via DC Electronic Load equipment for extended lengths of time repeatedly close to the 120% to 150% OPP trigger point. This level of extended testing could severely reduce the lifespan of the product and components of the GP-P850GM and GP-P750GM.

To address these potential issues raised by third parties, specifically, those discovered during their testing via DC Electronic Load equipment for extended lengths of time repeatedly close to the 120% to 150% OPP trigger point. GIGABYTE has made adjustments and lowered the OPP on GP-P850GM and GP-P750GM to the below values.

GP-P850GM- Adjusted OPP trigger point range from 120% ~ 150% to 110% ~ 120% Before: 1020W ~ 1300W After: 950W ~ 1050W

GP-P750GM- Adjusted OPP trigger point range from 120% ~ 150% to 110% ~ 120% Before: 900W ~ 1125W After: 825W ~ 925W

GIGABYTE highly values the confidence and trust all our customers have in our product quality and after sale services. GIGABYTE would like to stress the potential issues that were reported, only seemed to occur after very long time periods of extreme load testing via DC Electronic load equipment and would not be typical of any real world usage.

GIGABYTE GP-P850GM and GP-P750GM PSU’s included industry standard power protection designs OCP, OTP, OVP, OPP, UVP, and SCP.Safety certification from various countries to ensure safe and stable operation of your system.

To offer customers complete peace of mind, any serial number not listed in Appendix 1 are the amended OPP settings as listed in point 3.Despite the fact that both before & after OPP adjustment versions are reliable for real world usage, we still offer owners of the GP-P850GM or GP-P750GM products included in the serial number range listed in Appendix 1 can apply for the *GP-P850GM and GP-P750GM return and exchange service.

Appendix 1 – Serial Number below can apply for Return and Exchange service

Gigabyte states that the main issue is with testers who are testing the PSUs with DC Electronic Load Equipment for extended lengths of time at close to around the 120-150% trigger point and that can lead to a reduction in the lifespan of their products. A DC Electronic Load equipment pushes power from the PSU just like a traditional PC would but the difference is that it does so at a fixed value but PCs on the other hand sip power at variable values (voltages, power input, etc). It is a more refined way to measure the quality and safety features of PSUs. At the same time, it helps to showcase the OVP and OPP features on PSUs which in the case of Gigabyte's GP GM series are kicking in but also leading to unwanted and harmful explosions.

The company also stated that the prolonged duration of these tests lead to failures (such as GP GM Gigabyte PSU exploding up) but it took the guys over at GamersNexus a mere 15 minutes (or less) to get the PSU to explode under a normal test environment. It looks like the PSU tripped when the OVP/OPP protections kicked in but instead of fully powering down the PSU, it shorted the components leading to the explosion. Patrick Stone, the IT & Tech guy, says that his friend who's an expert on hardware believes that the problem isn't a small one and is actually a design flaw related to the timings on the MOSFET controller.

The problem is so widespread that Newegg (via Videocardz) brought forward an exchange service to users who had purchased the Gigabyte GP-850GM or GP-750GM PSUs that are prone to exploding. The retailer is offering a return & exchange service with the serial numbers that are mentioned in the table above. Gigabyte must be taking the advantage of users by offering these PSUs with graphics cards as a bundle even when they were aware of such a huge design flaw in their product.