I’ve seen plenty of burned-out PC components in my time, from power supplies to monitors, but I’ve never seen a burned-out gaming mouse before. However, a report on social media has left us all scratching our heads after a user complained that their Gigabyte M6880X wired gaming mouse caught fire as they slept, and nearly burned down the house.
If the facts behind this story are true, then it would certainly be a shocker. This particular Gigabyte device isn’t the best gaming mouse out there, but that doesn’t really matter in this instance. It would (or rather, should) be extremely unusual for any mouse to catch fire, especially given the limited electrical current that they typically draw and the fact that this isn’t a wireless mouse, meaning there’s no battery either.
The story originated in a post on Reddit by user lommelinn. In the post, lommelinn shared some worrying-looking pictures of a completely burned M6880X mouse, explaining that they woke to the smell of burned plastic and their gaming mouse “burning with large flames.” The damage shown to the mouse, and to the desk underneath, is extensive.
After picking up a bit of steam in the r/pcmasterrace subreddit, along with plenty of skepticism of the story by readers, Gigabyte responded in a comment under the post. According to the company’s social media team, Gigabyte is “actively looking into this case” to confirm the facts, while stating that its “customer’s safety is [its] top priority.” The company also requests “understanding and patience” as it works to identify the cause of the incident.
It’s good to see that Gigabyte has taken the bull by the horns here and already reached out to the customer involved. Given the lack of details, it’s worth waiting to see what (if anything) comes from the investigation. To own a self-immolating mouse is some feat, so if the mouse itself is at fault, and there are no obvious external causes to blame, we’ll hopefully hear about it from the company quite soon.
Suddenly got the urge to switch out your older, wired gaming mouse for a newer rodent? Check out our best wireless gaming mouse guide, where we’ve listed several alternatives that allow you to ditch the wires completely without sacrificing your gaming performance.
