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There is something unusual about PNY’s RTX 50 series GPUs, despite only two reported incidents so far. No other AIBs have experienced capacitor explosions yet.
Capacitor on PNY RTX 5070 Explodes While Playing a Game; The Second Such Incident Reported in a Week
Exploding capacitors are rare, but this is the first time such incidents have occurred within just a few days. Four days ago, a user reported a blown capacitor on their PNY RTX 5090 ARGB OC edition, which was likely the first such case on an RTX 50 series GPU. Exploding capacitors are extremely rare, and another incident has now emerged involving a GeForce RTX 5070 from PNY.
A Redditor (u/Wujushu) didn’t specify the exact model but mentioned that all four editions use similar heatsinks. According to the user, they heard a loud pop while playing Marvel Rivals on their PC. The incident left a burning smell, and they found a blown capacitor off its position. This is similar to the PNY RTX 5090 capacitor explosion, except both GPUs have different heatsink designs, and the blown capacitor on the RTX 5070 does not appear to be in contact with the heatsink.
It seems there is about a 1 cm gap between the capacitor and the heatsink, which could be due to poor soldering or a bad capacitor. The capacitor is near the I/O, part of the VRM power delivery system. It appears this capacitor couldn’t handle the load and exploded.
Interestingly, the GPU was still functioning after the incident, suggesting minimal damage to the PCB. However, higher loads will now be distributed across remaining capacitors. The user has initiated an RMA process, but concerns remain about poor-quality capacitors and inadequate quality checks. This incident is unlikely due to overheating and might affect other PNY RTX 50 series GPUs, as one user reported a similar issue with their ZOTAC GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super GPU.
