Hardware manufacturer Gigabyte is once again in a tough spot as issues with their P-GM series PSUs surface. Shortly after it fell victim to a ransomware attack, the company is now recalling GP-P750GM and GP-P850GM power supplies after several concerns about their reliability were raised by third-party media and buyers.
The two models launched around a year ago and Gigabyte branded them as “ready for RTX 30XX GPUs“. However, reviews quickly arose, pointing out issues with both models and their design.
PGM Reviews Reveals Woes
Aris Mpitzopoulos from Hardware Busters published a scathing review on Youtube back in the November 2020 and voiced his concerns about the PGM’s Over Power Protection (OPP) being set too high. As a result, power switching components suffered catastrophic failure before the protection could kick in. Aris admitted it could just be an unlucky review sample, yet Gigabyte refused to take the damaged unit back for evaluation. They state that they had done sufficient internal testing on the unit, and the testing had revealed no issue within the design.
However, the issue became more apparent as Newegg started selling those units bundled with highly desirable RTX30XX Graphics cards in their Newegg shuffle program. Many people that bought the bundle reported various issues with the units. The complaints range from random shutdowns to failing PSUs, and some even reported Dead On Arrival (DOA) units.
Recently, third-party media GamersNexus published their investigation on the subject. GamersNexus obtained numerous 750W and 850W PGM units from major retailers and viewers. After testing, they confirmed the units had a high rate of failure especially right after OPP testing. They also found inconsistency in components used inside units of the same model. 5 of the 10 units they tested suffered catastrophic failures. Their investigation also reported failures across units using different brands of components. This suggests that the components choice was not the sole cause of this issue. We should however note that components are changed constantly, mainly due to part shortages, it’s the job of OEM and it’s contractor (in this case, MEIC and Gigabyte respectively) to properly validate the changes to ensure that the design still operates as intended. After digging deeper, GamersNexus also found out that the temperature of one of the FETs peaked at 195°c, which raises questions about the reliability of the Over Temperature Protection implementation.
Statements Following Backlash
After a lot of negative reviews and backlash from buyers and reviewers experiencing failures in a time where hardware parts are rare, Gigabyte released a statement on August 13th.
Gigabyte states that it is now aware of concerns about the reliability of the two PSUs models and making adjustments to the design. The company also states that buyers can apply for a Return and exchange service.
These units are eligible for a recall:
- GP-P750GM
- SN20243G001301 – SN20453G025430
- GP-P850GM
- SN20343G031011 – SN20513G022635
Gigabyte is also lowering the load at which OPP triggers and shut down the PGM PSUs, which should help prevent overload damage:
- 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
We should also note that PSUs very rarely fail during brief Over Power Protection tests because protections are there to prevent the PSU failure if set correctly. Aris Mpitzopoulos specifically, have performed protection tests on hundreds of PSUs, absolute majority of which have passed them with no problems. And thus, despite PSUs can and will eventually fail if subjected to prolonged, significantly higher than 100% rated loads, Gigabyte language in the statement suggesting that these units were failing simply due to reviewers repeatedly subjecting them to high stress while performing tests with electronic load testing equipment is unacceptable and misleading.
This situation shows that power supplies are a very important part of your system. Their choice should not be simply based on the 80 Plus badge or the brand, and third-party professional reviews of retail samples are very important. To find out which units we recommend, check here.
