Gigabyte Gaming Mouse Allegedly Catches Fire And Melts, See The Horrific Photos

Hand holding a gaming mouse that has been melted.
As more and more electronic devices enter the household, I've developed a slightly irrational fear that a faulty cable or power adapter will overheat, catch fire, and burn everything to the ground. I don't obsess about the possibility, but I could have done without stumbling onto a Reddit post of a gamer who shared harrowing photos of a melted Gigabyte mouse that they claim to have found "burning with large flames" after smelling smoke in a nearby room.

The user ("lommelinn") posted a handful of grotesque pictures of the aftermath of whatever it is that happened, including some burn marks on the wooden desk surface that the deceased mouse once occupied. They also shared a description of alleged events, and it sounds like a nightmare come true.


"I smelled smoke early this morning, so I rushed into my room and found my computer mouse burning with large flames. Black smoke filled the room. I quickly extinguished the fire, but exhaled a lot of smoke in the process and my room is in a bad shape now, covered with black particles (my modular synth as well). Fortunately we avoided the worst, but the fact that this can happen is still shocking. It's an older wired, optical mouse from Gigabyte," the user wrote.

Underside of a burned Gigabyte GM-M6880X gaming mouse.

The "older" mouse is Gigabyte's GM-M6880X as revealed in a separate photo further down the Reddit thread—it shows the underside of the mouse with the identifying label largely intact. It has a 1,600 DPI, Omron switches rated for 5 million clicks, and was released back in 2014.

Gigabyte, through its "AORUS_Official" account on Reddit, issued a response to the situation and asked for patience as it tries to sort out what exactly happened.

"Hi Everyone, We have been made aware of the incident shared by lommelin regarding the M6880X gaming mice. Our customer's safety is our top priority and we are actively looking into this case. Our team has reached out to lommelin to offer support and to investigate the matter fully. In the meantime, we appreciate the community’s understanding and patience as we work to address this issue. Best, The Gigabyte Team," Gigabyte wrote.

Closeup of a Gigabyte mouse that is burned and melted.

As you might imagine, speculation and theories are running rampant in the Reddit thread. It's been posited that a "short circuit or faulty component" could be the culprit. It's also been suggested that "shenanigans" are in play. The only thing we know for sure is that a faulty battery is not to blame, since the GM-6880X is a wired (read: not wireless) gaming mouse.

Regardless of whether this ends up being a hardware fault or sometime else, my recommendation is to keep a fire extinguisher and/or fire blanket handy, either of which can also come in handy for a kitchen/grease fire (or even a burning Gigabyte PSU!). They're not that expensive—you can grab this this 2-pack fire extinguisher for $25.49 on Amazon (after ticking the 15% off coupon box), and this 2-pack fire blanket for $17.99 at Amazon.