House Fire Destroyed Subscriber's Gaming PC, We're Fixing It

In this video, we deep clean and repair a gaming PC that went through a house fire. The question is whether or not it survived, and we're going to do our best to recover it and bring it back to a pristine state. This gaming PC is from a viewer, and regardless of whether or not we can recover it for him, we're going to make sure he at least has a gaming PC to take his mind off the difficult times. This is beyond the usual "deep clean" of dust in coolers and GPUs -- we're cleaning soot, ash, rust, and more from this computer.

Backstory: Luke, one of our viewers, had an AC window unit cause a house fire that incinerated his gaming PC and other electronics. In the time since, fortunately, he has made it back into a permanent residence and is on his way to getting back to 'normal,' and we want to help contribute a small piece of that.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - The House Fire
03:33 - Getting Started
08:53 - Inspecting the Parts
11:45 - Saving the Motherboard
14:31 - The Case, GPU, & Motherboard
17:31 - Mike Loves This & Patrick Tests Survival
21:53 - The Final Build

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Hosts: Steve Burke, Mike Gaglione, Patrick Lathan
Video Production: Andrew Coleman

[GamersNexus]

Update on Luke's PC! We filmed most of this a few months ago and he's had his PC for a while now, so we checked in with him recently. He said it's all working great and he hasn't had any problems, which is awesome! I don't think we noted it in this video (it got cut for time), but we did end up replacing the power supply. NZXT sent one over to match his case! He's also in a more permanent residence now and his situation has improved greatly, which is uplifting to hear.

[DMAMC]

Luke here: I'm writing this from the PC in the video. It took about 1 full year to get our house repaired from the fire. Endless conversations with insurance agents and contractors, getting permits from the city, living out of a hotel for 2 months, and then a rental home for 10 more. It was a nightmare. I'm incredibly lucky that the firefighters responded so quickly, and that we had insurance to cover everything. My advice to everyone: always have insurance, document your belongings (simple photos of your rooms and closets may be good enough, receipts are best), and have smoke detectors. Nobody was home when this fire started, but I luckily live in a large suburban area. If my neighbors didn't hear the alarms going off and then calling 911, we could've lost our whole house. I've been told that a fire can double in size every 30 seconds. It took firefighters 4 minutes to get to my house after they received the call. Although the fire was contained to my room, everything in the house was covered in soot and had to be replaced. EVERYTHING. Every wall had to be repainted, all carpet was trashed, the entire HVAC system replaced (you'll never get the soot out), wood floors, furniture, beds, clothes, everything. It doesn't matter if it was in another room with the door shut or across the house. Small amounts of soot gets everywhere. Since basically everything in houses is made of plastic, that soot is toxic and also usually carcinogenic.

I reached out to Steve because I maybe thought it my be a good video idea, and that this is a unique opportunity where they may be able to learn something interesting and possibly help the community (which turned out to be true). This video was and is amazing. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I CANNOT express how downright respectful, thoughtful, caring, generous, and inspirational the GN team is. They did all of this and asked for NOTHING in return. I didn't expect them to send anything back let alone MY PARTS. They even offered to pay for shipping. After such a stressful time of my life, having GN (people I've looked up to and admired for a while now) provide such a wholesome experience made my whole situation just that much better.

I could go on and on, but I hope it's abundantly apparent how thankful I am to Gamers Nexus and all of their efforts. The PC they sent back to me has had zero issues for what's now been a few months. Truly incredible all around.

[tehtheif]

As someone who lost everything to a house fire, thank you for doing this for him. The (not so) little things like this actually make a big difference. I cried when someone gave us a small coffee maker.

[BladeScraper]

Just FYI, there's something called Soot Eraser Sponges that work absolute wonders at removing fire soot. I worked in fire restoration for a year and a half or so and they're really awesome little things. No water, no liquid, no nasty chemicals and works a treat. Obviously I hope you don't have to do this again, but for anyone else watching and happens to see this comment figured I'd throw it out there.

[thatsabanana]

This one is special to see as my parents lost everything to a fire last year including their 1yr old dog. It's really comforting to see what can be salvaged/restored from any horrible situation. Love what you guys did here. I'm sure it meant so much to the subscriber.

[Spork]

The irony of NZXT sending a case and power supply to the victim of a house fire is not lost on me.

[Mom]

Seriously, huge thanks for helping someone out there ❤️

Or as they say, Thanks Steve!
Jk.
Thanks to everyone that helped on this case!

Also ordered some things from the GN Store earlier this year, super excited to have it show up here. Love to support you guys ^^

[zivzulander]

GN surgery content is some of the unexpectedly best content on the channel. Good job, Dr. Mike and Dr. Patrick. Note: would be awesome to see blue lab coats in the GN store.

[farrez_gump]

My house burned down and lost everything, I know your pain and happy to hear everyone is safe, even friends giving me clothes was overwhelming

[Dudummeskind]

Thanks for giving so much to the community. Really appreciate it. Roman did something similar after the floods here in Germany. Love from Munich.

[cyberwaste]

When the floods hit Lismore in NSW, Australia, my house was completely gutted, and my PC was underwater for two days and sitting in horrible, humid conditions for another three days before I could get back inside and check it. The motherboard battery had corroded and leaked which rusted that area of the motherboard. The only components that worked after I cleaned them were all the drives (m.2, 2.5 ssds, and 3.5 hdd storage), and the 3080. The motherboard, CPU, and memory were all toast. We were homeless for a couple of months afterwards, and it took me almost a year to find somewhere to live and replace my machine. Doing these things for people who have been through that type of trauma is amazing. Great job GN.

[RocotacoPerposterown]

I always love seeing stuff like this. I don't want to see anyone else end up in the same situation as this guy, but if they do, I hope you guys, and/or other channels are willing to help out.

[Nonexistanthuman]

GN still has a way to make their modern videos feel a bit like what they were doing a few years back in the house.
Much respect to what you guys still continue to do

[DeetexSeraphine]

Thanks, guys... thank you.
In these trying times, it's beyond describing how much we need a feel-good story like this.

[MattTester]

The old, stained case has a real look of an abandoned Aperture Science computer, you can't get weathering like that easily. Would be fun to see a build based on that idea.

[itsdeonlol]

This story really touched my heart. I love how Steve and the GN Team is always helping out others in need. ❤

[sidvicious]

Steve in all seriousness, you guys over there are the greatest. I grabbed food and drink and watched this like I would a Hollywood movie. What your team did for this young man was nothing short of incredible and I would also like to thank NZXT for sending over the parts. I found myself rooting for the motherboard hoping that it was going to boot. This is what a PC Community looks like at a time of a crisis!!!

[TheHrb]

I think it was definitely a good idea to replace the PSU even if it could have been saved, just considering they had been through a traumatic fire and the last thing needed is a PSU shorting out due to some unforeseen issue a couple of months down the line. Big props to you all at GN, you showed why it is that so many of us trust you and your opinions as youve shown time and time again to be trustworthy, humble and caring human beings. Thank you.

[beemerss]

Mike is such a great and entertaining personality. Loved his commentary during disassembly and re- assembly lol

[heatblayze]

I don't know if your decision to repair and reuse the components was influenced by sustainability in anyway, but it makes me happy that you chose to do it regardless. Great work everyone!