Preventing PCB Damage: Importance of Anti-Sag Brackets and Tightening I/O Screws

Without going into too much detail here, we are certainly working on this internally to find out what is going on. So far no incidents have been seen from the Benelux, but we keep our eyes open.
If you have a problem, do not hesitate to contact us. May be under this comment, via DM or just via our social media. May just be public by the way, little to hide here and there is no conspiracy to save 0.002ct per PCB for an inferior quality.

Most here are aware of the force that is put on a PCI-E bus at 1500 – 2000 grams. Unfortunately, many PCs are still being built without an anti-sag bracket. Even in some cases it is thought that it is unnecessary to screw your card in place, leaving out the I/O plates that sit below the GPU I/O. By the way, the latter give quite a bit of support to the upper slots and therefore the GPU I/O bracket itself.

Tweakers are generally very careful with their hardware (eg remove GPU during transport) but this is certainly not the rule. Putting the computer down on the floor without an anti-sag bracket and not tightening the I/O screws quite easily can easily kill a PCB. Plopping the last piece on the table… it won’t be the first time I’ve seen that.

The connection of the 6+2 pin PCI-E power cables is also not ideal in that respect. If it is pushed against it the wrong way, it pulls or pushes the entire card with it. Cables that are too tight and your GPU is constantly under physical stress.

The best thing is to arrange something like a GPU bracket. 3d printing or buying a universal thing.
The 40 series comes standard with a metal bracket that is fairly invisible. However, this was not yet the case with the 30 series.