A user at r/PCMR shared a shocking incident with the Gigabyte M6880X optical mouse, which purportedly caught on fire and burnt to a crisp. The mouse is reduced to a melted shell with visible streaks of char spread across the table. While Gigabyte has made no official comment, users should note that the model in question is aged and not indicative of broader quality concerns.
In 2021, Gigabyte was in hot water. Users in the hardware circle reported high failure rates with certain PSUs, dubbed "ticking timebombs." This is likely a one-off incident, as we'd have heard more reports by now. The model in question is the Gigabyte M6880X, which dates back over 10 years. As the mouse is completely wired, there are no batteries in the equation.
Most power-delivery components are designed with fault tolerances. USB 2.0 operates at 5V and 0.5A, and most modern motherboards, PSUs, and USB controllers typically have some fallbacks to prevent current/voltage surges. Natural degradation might have aided to some extent as kindling for the fire, or perhaps it was a short circuit.
My Gigabyte mouse caught fire and almost burned down my apartment from r/pcmasterrace
Another image reveals the mouse's back, which is largely undamaged. Why was the fire concentrated at the top only? We cannot come up with a conclusive answer until further investigation is done.
The fire rendered the mouse unusable and ate away a chunk of the mousepad. Reportedly, it also smoked up the user's room, which is now covered in black ash. This is truly a nightmare for any PC enthusiast, as such fires damage neighboring peripherals and may also be fatal.
Almost every PC component has some safeguard to prevent an oversupply of voltage/current to connected devices. Well-built PSUs are designed with safety mechanisms to protect the rest of the PC from damage in case of a voltage spike or other irregularities. Computer mice, on the other hand, don't have safety protections.
There could be several factors at play here, but the best practice is to not cheap out on your motherboard and power supply and opt for high-quality peripherals. You need not splurge hundreds of dollars to get branded accessories, but you should generally avoid cheap knockoffs that scream "Safety Hazard!" We've seen many bizarre stuff happen with PC hardware, but it's the first time we've seen a mouse allegedly go up in flames.
