Ok...
 
But be warned that if all the bad conditions line up again, it will happen again.  It makes sense to replace the PSU for a unit with OCP in order to remove one more hole from the Swiss Cheese accident progression.  You may assume that the bad conditions won't line up again due to other safety measures which have been taken, but I think it is better to remove all known hazards instead of assuming that one hazard mitigation will mitigate another unrelated hazard.

Since my paranoia is settling in, I've decided to contact Corsair on Monday and see if I can RMA the PSU for the newer firmware PSU and let them know what had happened here and mention the ASUS story as well.

What I didn't add to this event because I felt it was irrelevant and possibly I was being NAIVE/INDENIAL but I didn't want to side track it all with a faulty Corsair Link Mini that also had gotten fried before the MB did.  The Link had fried around the first few attempts.  It was removed and than the attempts to post continued.  I should have added this story to the equation but I didn't want it to turn out to be a circus with both companies finger pointing at each other (like the great example from legit review that took 2+ months) and me being the suffering middle man.  I was worried by the time I get the core components up and running, they'd be a generation old with a new line of CPUs and MBs released already.  I still think the Link Mini was faulty while that being their new gen. design, I had the same connections done to the old gen. design with no issues.  This made me feel I had a faulty Link Mini plus the way the packaging looked "used" if you will.  Sure, there's always a possibility that the Link was a warning sign of whats to come.  Maybe the MB was faulty and set off the Link Mini first before going off itself, maybe they both were irrelevant to each other and maybe the PSU spiked too many amps while OCP is not enabled by default with the older firmware batched PSUs just like what had happened to legitreview, but the issue there was the BIOS.  The ASUS BIOS needed a update.  Bad sodering and joints could have been the cause of mine compared to their case.  Again, different areas of the board got fried compared to the legitreview CPU VRMs story so they both are irrelevant from each other at this point.
 
Regardless, I am going to attempt to RMA this old batched (original) PSU.  I really hope they do me right since they made quite a few changes.
 
To recap Legitreviews Story.
 

Update 9/16/2014 - We are still working with Corsair to find out more on the firmware update that was done on their power supplies back in 2013. We have asked for dates and power supply lot numbers, so users can find out if they have one of the original ‘old’ AXi series power supplies that has no OCP by default. We also pointed out to Corsair that there is no mention of this in the instruction manual and that many users might not be aware that their flagship PSU has features that aren’t enabled unless they do so manually. From the sounds of it Corsair just updated the firmware and went to a multi-rail configuration. We’ve talked to several people about this issue and it was unclear if there was a hardware change and that is still being looked into. The bad news is that the firmware is not end-user upgradable. We have asked Corsair what if anything current customers can do since the firmware can’t be upgraded in the field. If you have an AXi series power supply we highly suggest downloading the Corsair Link software and programming the OCP setting.

Update 9/18/2014 - Corsair has gotten back to us with some answers to some questions that we asked earlier this week. It turns out Corsair shipped AX760i/AX860i/AX1200i power supplies for about four months before they changed the firmware on them without notice. The firmware is not field upgradeable and Corsair will not be offering exchanges for anyone with an ‘older’ model that wants to swap out a PSU for one with the latest firmware on it. Corsair also said that by the motherboard makers [ASUS] own admission, the X99 Deluxe motherboard was the root cause for the failures. Corsair also said this which we will directly quote: “Would an OCP-defaulted AXi or a competitor OCP-enabled PSU have save the CPU? We’re skeptical, but maybe.” So, right now it looks like the board had a failure and then when the system was restarted the PSU without OCP may or may not have taken out the CPU through the boards failed VR circuit. We are still waiting on ASUS to give us an official statement as to what happened to the board and were told that a typhoon in the region this week has slowed things down. In the meantime here are some answers to a Q&A that we gave Corsair that you can take a look at.
 
- When did Corsair change the firmware on the AXi series of power supplies?
AX760i/860i implementation date 3/15/2013 Lot#:13119560
AX1200i implementation date 3/8/2013 Lot# Lot#:13099520
Corsair shipped the AX760i/AX860i/AX1200i for about four months before they changed the firmware on them. If you bought one of these models when they first came out you likely have one with old firmware. The Corsair AX860i first was made available for sale with Amazon on November 1st, 2012, so just a heads up to early adopters.
 
- Can you please highlight what all changes with the new firmware?
PSU set to multi-rail (which by definition is OCP).
 
- So, you went from a default configuration of one +12V rail with no OCP to a virtual multi-rail setup with OCP enabled by default?
Yes.
 
- Why was this change not made public?
We saw no need for an announcement. The PSU design and its features stayed the same and this isn’t a design fault.
 
- Can end users with the original PSU design update their firmware at home?
No.
 
- How can an end user know what firmware is on his/her PSU? (Can users identify by the serial number what PSU they have? )
By the serial number. The first four digits are the date code. The first two digits are the year and then the next two numbers are the week of the year that the power supply were produced. The image above shows a Corsair AX860i Power Supply with serial number 1249954 that was made the 49th week of 2012 and would be running the original firmware.
AX760i/860i implementation date 3/15/2013 – First Lot number was: 13119560
AX1200i implementation date 3/8/2013 – First Lot number was: 13099520
 
- If users cannot upgrade the firmware at home, can users exchange their PSU for a model with OCP enabled by default?
No.
 
- How many Amps does the OCP default to on the AXi series. I heard it is different for each PSU?
By default, 40A. This is configurable.
 
- I was told that Intel Haswell-E processors are using up to 47A when overclocked to 4.4GHz and that it exceeds the OCP on some PSUs. Some motherboard makers are telling us to stay away from certain PSU’s. What are your thoughts on this?
When you have a PSU with multiple +12V rails, OCP can easily trip if the CPU is overclocked and running over load. This is why Corsair PSUs with Link Digital allow the user to disable OCP and why all other Corsair PSUs feature a single +12V rail.
 
- ASUS designed the VR circuit on their X99 platform with 60A components. Corsair came out with the AXi series in 2012 with an adjustable OCP that was off by default. Was Corsair foreseeing a situation in the future where end users could customize the OCP setting depending on what motherboard they were using?
Initially, Corsair was simply following our existing trend of providing power supplies with a single +12V rail. Since OCP is most beneficial during the initial build stage of putting together a PC, it made sense for the PSU to have the OCP on by default and therefore we decided to make the change.

Update 10/23/2014 - ASUS released UEFI 1004 for the ASUS X99 Deluxe today and we have been told that this update includes an EC (Embedded Controller) Firmware update that fixes something discovered by our board failing here at Legit Reviews. We don’t have the official response from ASUS yet, but Legit Reviews highly suggests that all ASUS X99 Deluxe owners update to UEFI build 1004 due to the fixes implemented in it for the way the board power is being handled. The build date on this UEFI is 10/16/2014, so it has been around for a week before it was made public. ASUS also reprogramed the memory tables after receiving new microcode from Intel. That made a world of a difference on our board when running memory kits beyond 3000MHz with 1T Command Rates. Here is a list of the key changes:
ASUS X99-DELUXE BIOS 1004 Change Log:
1. Update EC FW
2. Fix crash free issue
3. Fix Xonar card compatibility issue
4. Revise Thunderbolt memory resource
5. Enhance Xeon CPU compatibility
6. Rebuild SteamOS boot option

 
 

gtxjackbauer
What I didn't add to this event because I felt it was irrelevant and possibly I was being NAIVE/INDENIAL but I didn't want to side track it all with a faulty Corsair Link Mini that also had gotten fried before the MB did.  The Link had fried around the first few attempts.  It was removed and than the attempts to post continued.  I should have added this story to the equation but I didn't want it to turn out to be a circus with both companies finger pointing at each other (like the great example from legit review that took 2+ months) and me being the suffering middle man.  I was worried by the time I get the core components up and running, they'd be a generation old with a new line of CPUs and MBs released already.  I still think the Link Mini was faulty while that being their new gen. design, I had the same connections done to the old gen. design with no issues.  This made me feel I had a faulty Link Mini plus the way the packaging looked "used" if you will.  Sure, there's always a possibility that the Link was a warning sign of whats to come.  Maybe the MB was faulty and set off the Link Mini first before going off itself, maybe they both were irrelevant to each other and maybe the PSU spiked too many amps while OCP is not enabled by default with the older firmware batched PSUs just like what had happened to legitreview, but the issue there was the BIOS.  The ASUS BIOS needed a update.  Bad sodering and joints could have been the cause of mine compared to their case.  Again, different areas of the board got fried compared to the legitreview CPU VRMs story so they both are irrelevant from each other at this point.
 
Regardless, I am going to attempt to RMA this old batched (original) PSU.  I really hope they do me right since they made quite a few changes.
 
To recap Legitreviews Story.
 

Update 9/16/2014 - We are still working with Corsair to find out more on the firmware update that was done on their power supplies back in 2013. We have asked for dates and power supply lot numbers, so users can find out if they have one of the original ‘old’ AXi series power supplies that has no OCP by default. We also pointed out to Corsair that there is no mention of this in the instruction manual and that many users might not be aware that their flagship PSU has features that aren’t enabled unless they do so manually. From the sounds of it Corsair just updated the firmware and went to a multi-rail configuration. We’ve talked to several people about this issue and it was unclear if there was a hardware change and that is still being looked into. The bad news is that the firmware is not end-user upgradable. We have asked Corsair what if anything current customers can do since the firmware can’t be upgraded in the field. If you have an AXi series power supply we highly suggest downloading the Corsair Link software and programming the OCP setting.

Update 9/18/2014 - Corsair has gotten back to us with some answers to some questions that we asked earlier this week. It turns out Corsair shipped AX760i/AX860i/AX1200i power supplies for about four months before they changed the firmware on them without notice. The firmware is not field upgradeable and Corsair will not be offering exchanges for anyone with an ‘older’ model that wants to swap out a PSU for one with the latest firmware on it. Corsair also said that by the motherboard makers [ASUS] own admission, the X99 Deluxe motherboard was the root cause for the failures. Corsair also said this which we will directly quote: “Would an OCP-defaulted AXi or a competitor OCP-enabled PSU have save the CPU? We’re skeptical, but maybe.” So, right now it looks like the board had a failure and then when the system was restarted the PSU without OCP may or may not have taken out the CPU through the boards failed VR circuit. We are still waiting on ASUS to give us an official statement as to what happened to the board and were told that a typhoon in the region this week has slowed things down. In the meantime here are some answers to a Q&A that we gave Corsair that you can take a look at.
 
- When did Corsair change the firmware on the AXi series of power supplies?
AX760i/860i implementation date 3/15/2013 Lot#:13119560
AX1200i implementation date 3/8/2013 Lot# Lot#:13099520
Corsair shipped the AX760i/AX860i/AX1200i for about four months before they changed the firmware on them. If you bought one of these models when they first came out you likely have one with old firmware. The Corsair AX860i first was made available for sale with Amazon on November 1st, 2012, so just a heads up to early adopters.
 
- Can you please highlight what all changes with the new firmware?
PSU set to multi-rail (which by definition is OCP).
 
- So, you went from a default configuration of one +12V rail with no OCP to a virtual multi-rail setup with OCP enabled by default?
Yes.
 
- Why was this change not made public?
We saw no need for an announcement. The PSU design and its features stayed the same and this isn’t a design fault.
 
- Can end users with the original PSU design update their firmware at home?
No.
 
- How can an end user know what firmware is on his/her PSU? (Can users identify by the serial number what PSU they have? )
By the serial number. The first four digits are the date code. The first two digits are the year and then the next two numbers are the week of the year that the power supply were produced. The image above shows a Corsair AX860i Power Supply with serial number 1249954 that was made the 49th week of 2012 and would be running the original firmware.
AX760i/860i implementation date 3/15/2013 – First Lot number was: 13119560
AX1200i implementation date 3/8/2013 – First Lot number was: 13099520
 
- If users cannot upgrade the firmware at home, can users exchange their PSU for a model with OCP enabled by default?
No.
 
- How many Amps does the OCP default to on the AXi series. I heard it is different for each PSU?
By default, 40A. This is configurable.
 
- I was told that Intel Haswell-E processors are using up to 47A when overclocked to 4.4GHz and that it exceeds the OCP on some PSUs. Some motherboard makers are telling us to stay away from certain PSU’s. What are your thoughts on this?
When you have a PSU with multiple +12V rails, OCP can easily trip if the CPU is overclocked and running over load. This is why Corsair PSUs with Link Digital allow the user to disable OCP and why all other Corsair PSUs feature a single +12V rail.
 
- ASUS designed the VR circuit on their X99 platform with 60A components. Corsair came out with the AXi series in 2012 with an adjustable OCP that was off by default. Was Corsair foreseeing a situation in the future where end users could customize the OCP setting depending on what motherboard they were using?
Initially, Corsair was simply following our existing trend of providing power supplies with a single +12V rail. Since OCP is most beneficial during the initial build stage of putting together a PC, it made sense for the PSU to have the OCP on by default and therefore we decided to make the change.

Update 10/23/2014 - ASUS released UEFI 1004 for the ASUS X99 Deluxe today and we have been told that this update includes an EC (Embedded Controller) Firmware update that fixes something discovered by our board failing here at Legit Reviews. We don’t have the official response from ASUS yet, but Legit Reviews highly suggests that all ASUS X99 Deluxe owners update to UEFI build 1004 due to the fixes implemented in it for the way the board power is being handled. The build date on this UEFI is 10/16/2014, so it has been around for a week before it was made public. ASUS also reprogramed the memory tables after receiving new microcode from Intel. That made a world of a difference on our board when running memory kits beyond 3000MHz with 1T Command Rates. Here is a list of the key changes:
ASUS X99-DELUXE BIOS 1004 Change Log:
1. Update EC FW
2. Fix crash free issue
3. Fix Xonar card compatibility issue
4. Revise Thunderbolt memory resource
5. Enhance Xeon CPU compatibility
6. Rebuild SteamOS boot option

 
 

Jack,
 
Sorry about all of your troubles.  After the whole Link fiasco at Corsair, I have decided to avoid Corsair products going forward.  In my new build, I used a ASUS, Rampage V Extreme X 99 for my motherboard and an 5930 K.
 
  The biggest reason I went with it, as opposed to an EVGA Classified, was for the fan control.  It has several onboard 4 pin headers that work in either PWM or DC mode.  I have 11 Noctura Industrial fans ( 8- 140mm and 3-120 MM)  hooked up using powered fan splitters plugged into the motherboard's 4 fan headers.  It works amazingly well.  It is DEATHLY quiet until the CPU heats up and then they ramp up but are still pretty quiet.  I combined it with an EVGA Supernova 1300 G2 PSU.  
 
So far everything is working well.  My fans are all on a temperature controlled fan curve and I have confidence in my PSU. 
 
I wish you the best of luck going forward but after having 3 Corsair PSU's fail me in 4 years, I will never buy another one.  Just my two cents worth.    

Hey randolla.  Been a while and good seeing everything is going well.  As you can see here I got my panties in a bunch.  Don't even remind me about the Corsair Link roller coaster ride. lol  I gambled again because I hate quiting and tried out their newly designed Corsair Link Mini since i won't need the commander and before I know it, it was at least to me almost on fire.  Was ready to dump it into a bucket of water or in the sink @ 3:30 a.m. while every was asleep.  The thing had smoke billowing out of its LED hole for a good 2+ minutes.  I freaked the hell out.  Caught my composure after swearing a storm and said, Corsair Link is on timeout now.  Went back to the rig and focused to get it to boot up while everything was connected properly and sealed tight.  Than the unthinkable happened literally 30 minutes later.  Still can't figure out how I made myself fall asleep that night but I somehow did.
 
I still have faith in the Corsair PSUs even though this particular PSU wasn't made by Seasonic but by Flextronics.  Seasonic is by far my #1 choice even though I still haven't switched to them yet.  If I ever chose another PSU other than Corsair, Seasonic is a guarantee winner for me personally.  Only reason why I went with the AX1200i was because I had already purchased a Corsair Link to monitor the existing system and its water cooling.
 
This statement got me all wrapped up.
 

The revolutionary AX1200i is the first desktop PC power supply to use digital (DSP) control and Corsair Link to bring you an unprecedented level of monitoring and performance customization. The DSP in the AX1200i makes on-the-fly adjustments for incredibly tight voltage regulation, 80 PLUS® Platinum Efficiency, and clean, stable power.

 
The concept and idea is great for the Link software but only if it worked for everyone.  I still have hard times believing those that call it a working software.  I think its far from a typical software and still in its beta stage but hey what the hell do I know against fanboys. lol  Best way to throw standards out the window. :P
 
Anyhoo, I hope they except the PSU for RMA and at the same time I am feeling sickly inside knowing if I do send it back, I am trading a single rail PSU (another reason why I got this PSU) for a newer firmware multi-rail PSU (at least what legitreview says) even though apprently they still state they are single.  I don't know how to think of this.  Its like you're entangled in a spider web and can't get loose.

Good news is they approved my RMA on the PSU and are giving me a up-to-date PSU.  Sending in the PSU and second GPU out next week for replacement.  Very glad this is moving in the right direction.  Next step is to test out the replaced MB with the CPU and RAM with a small GT220 GPU and hope my CPU and RAM had survived that nasty blowout.  If all goes well, well I can finally start the project all over again.  Should be up and running anywhere by mid to end of January, approximately. 

Yup, good to hear.  Glad you gave them the details about the issue so it can be worked out or prevented for anybody else also 

bcavnaugh
gtxjackbauer,
Are you saying that their is a Firmware Update for the Corsair AX1200i Power Supply?
If so can you provide a link to it, have looked but cannot fine it.
Thanks

 
Here's the story that started it all or read the fifth post up top of this page.
 
So there's no mixup, the original AXi's being sold four months in have a older Firmware.  That firmware had OCP by default disabled as you needed Corsair Link in Windows to enable it.  The newer firmware by default enabled OCP and virtual multi-rail system.  And you can't flash your PSU as Corsair stated.

You're should be fine.  I think your PSU is fine but you could check and see in the article if your's is included too but from my understanding only the "AXi" first few batches in a 4 month cycle were only effected.

Thanks to both of you!

71stpsde
Thanks to both of you!

bcavnaugh
February 15, 2013 for my AX1200i so this may have an issue if I use it on a NEW Computer Build.
August 3, 2013 for my AX860i it has the old firmware, issue on this one is the OS is Ubuntu 14.04 and I cannot use corsair link.
 
Thanks for this info gtxjackbauer about the Power Supplies.

  Np guys.  
 

Nice!!! Glad it all worked out......IS IT RUNNING YET???? LOL Heck with the snoozy pictures

Nice to see it worked out in the end.  Have fun testing, building and benching.

I got all the bare components setup.  Crossed my fingers and got the BIOS.  Went through each column to check it out.  I disregarded any changes just in case I accidently hit something while going through the BIOS and reset and I can't get back to BIOS again.  I don't get any video feed.  I swapped for another GPU and in the process ended up scratching one of my surround monitors to test a GPU from another case.  Its the monitor I use mainly for my forums and monitoring.  The scratches are noticeable with light colors but not dark.  I can't catch a break........
 
Scratched Asus VS248H-P

 
My next step is to call EVGA tech support and see what they can do for me.  I am exhausted.
 
Edit:  Talked to tech support.  I was using HDMI even though it worked the first time, it stopped working after that.  Went to DVI and everything looks jelly.  Going to try and install Win 7 on M.2.  (Fingers-crossed)