Pretty much, that and the quality of the sample being higher then end delivered. They couldnt get the new one to short even trying so should be 100% solid (as much as any riser prob can be)
“Higher” in what regard? What is the actual difference?
The through whole plating is the biggest differentiator in quality. Through whole plating protects the PCB better and reduces the chance of damage occurring to it while inserting a screw. It will last much longer.
The sample that was sent to GN had the larger hole and was plated through to the far side and had an exclusion zone of the 12v plane around the hole
The actual one sent out, seems to be*, the original with the hole drilled out a bit bigger and plating on top of the PCB only.
They did say they tried the same steps that caused fire in the original ones and they could not get it with the new one they are not happy with.
*But there was not yet a full analysis if the 12v plane is still right there anyway and potentially still a problem. It looks like it could still happen but you would have to try to have the riser mounted to one side so the screw still makes contact and digs into the board.
Edit: if the plating on the top is actually real and effective and the 12v is still right there and you manage to mount it off enough to make contact it should not catch fire but instead just short and trip the PSU which would still be annoying and faulty but at least not fire.
It is unclear if the plating is functional or for the warm fuzzies.
Edit 2: for what it is worth I agree with Steve on this, it is really hard to trust NZXT, even if it is fixed the manner in which they went about it, the changes in the item and not making it clear that it was going to be the way it is now.
I am however a little annoyed that it was a rushed video for the rage and not actually investigated to the same level as the originals, or at least it was not shown if they did. It was just summed up with we could not make it catch fire now no work done xraying or using the multimeter to check grounding.
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That’s it?
No, the 12V plane was also not close to the screw hole as well making it even harder to cause a fire. But proper through whole plating will heavily reduce the chance of fire even if you do short it.
I would see what @Zibob stated above. He was a lot more nuanced than I am and describing it better.
Thanks for the detailed description.
Internal layers may have changed. No way to tell except X-Ray or sanding it down.
Possible but highly unlikely I would guess