A rare but haunting hardware incident just occurred in the international streaming community, as streamer Jess unexpectedly witnessed her GeForce RTX 4090, worth over 60 million VND, smoking and melting live on air.
The entire heart-stopping moment was captured live, causing viewers to be shocked, while the main character fell into a state of near panic.
According to a video that spread widely on social media, while the livestream was proceeding normally, viewers suddenly noticed white smoke rising from the machine next to the female streamer.
Just a few seconds later, she noticed an unusual burning smell and immediately left the desk in a state of fear. A quick inspection revealed that the power connector of the RTX 4090 graphics card had severely overheated, with the plastic around the cable area bulging and showing signs of melting.
Notably, the RTX 4090 that encountered the incident is not a new component. According to information from technical sources, this graphics card had been used steadily since at least March 2025, meaning the incident did not arise from a newly shipped defect. This has raised significant questions within the community about the long-term safety of the high-power connector standard in the RTX 40 series.
The RTX 4090 remains one of the most powerful and expensive graphics cards on the market, with a common price exceeding 60 million VND in many countries. The fact that such a valuable component could smoke and even burn its connector while in use is clearly a scenario no one wants to think about, especially for streamers who often run their machines under heavy loads for long periods.
In the case of the aforementioned female streamer, many believe she was lucky to detect the issue in time. If the smoke had spread or a serious short circuit had occurred, the consequences would not only have been hardware damage but also posed a fire hazard, directly affecting personal safety, especially since the incident occurred in the confined space of a livestream room.
This incident once again sounds the alarm for the gaming and streaming community using high-end hardware. Along with investing in expensive components, proper installation, regular cable checks, and ensuring adequate cooling are vital factors. Meanwhile, users hope that manufacturers will soon provide more thorough solutions to prevent moments of “burning expensive gear live on air” from happening again.