Question Can you monitor PSU heat ?

[Klaz49]

So this is kinda a shot in the dark. I've been dealing with a weird "Smoky" smell in my room for about a month. It seems to be random. It doesnt seem to have any effect on whether Im gaming or my PC or its idle. Sometimes there will be days I dont notice it, but im 90% sure its coming from my PC as I dont notice the smell after a while of my PC being off.

In the beginning, I thought it was my old "AIO" Cpu cooler. Pretty sure it was dying. The water temps were high, my CPU temps were high idle + gaming. I just couldnt find free time when I didnt need my PC and was able to change it to a new cooler i bought (Noctua D15). So 2 nights ago I finally had time and changed it. However 1-2 days later, the smell is still there.. I've used HWinfo64 to see the temps of everything possible in my PC, and the highest thing is only my GPU at 61c.

I dont have any performance issues (that are noticable). All SSD/HD are working fine. The only thing I could possibly think of being the source of the smell would be the PSU? So thats why I'm here.
I want to know if theres any way to monitor the PSU to see if something is wrong. Also, Is it easy to open up a PSU from its case? I generally "de-dust" my PC using a leaf-blower type PC accessory every few months, with me recently doing it at the beginning of the smell (thinking it may be burning dust).
Any tips or info would be greatly appreciated.

Windows 10
SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Gold 750 W 80+ PSU
Nvidia 2080 Super GPU
Ryzen 3900x CPU
Disk drives
MOBO Tuf Gaming x570 plus
Crucial Mx500 1tb SSD
Samsung 840 Evo 1tb SSD

All components were bought brand new.

 

[Ralston18]

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

Include PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition (original, new, refurbished, used)?

Disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full?

Do not open a PSU case. PSU's are not designed to be repaired and any internal "tinkering" is likely to end badly.

Key is to determine the source of the smell. Not always easy especially if the smell is slight and intermittent.

Source could be anywhere along the electrical path serving the PSU: wall outlet, extension cords, surge protector, power strip, UPS,etc.,.,

My recommendation:

Power down, unplug, open the case.

Carefully clean out dust and debris. Use a bright flashlight to look into all the nooks and crannies. The air blower tool may have crammed dust and other stuff somewhere that, once gets hot, then you can smell the resulting smells.

Verify that all connectors, cards, RAM, jumpers, etc. are all fully and firmly in place.

Also use the flashlight to inspect for signs of damage: bare conductor showing, cracked connectors, melted insulation, melted "anything", pinched or kinked wires, browned or blackened components, swollen components.

A magnifying glass may prove useful.

Hopefully, the problem is simply just dust "burning off" inside the PSU.

If possible swap in a known working PSU of equivalent wattage and quality. Remember: Do not mix and match cables between PSU's.

Determine if the smells stop.

But do not open the PSU case.

 

[Klaz49]

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

Include PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition (original, new, refurbished, used)?

Disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full?

Do not open a PSU case. PSU's are not designed to be repaired and any internal "tinkering" is likely to end badly.

Key is to determine the source of the smell. Not always easy especially if the smell is slight and intermittent.

Source could be anywhere along the electrical path serving the PSU: wall outlet, extension cords, surge protector, power strip, UPS,etc.,.,

My recommendation:

Power down, unplug, open the case.

Carefully clean out dust and debris. Use a bright flashlight to look into all the nooks and crannies. The air blower tool may have crammed dust and other stuff somewhere that, once gets hot, then you can smell the resulting smells.

Verify that all connectors, cards, RAM, jumpers, etc. are all fully and firmly in place.

Also use the flashlight to inspect for signs of damage: bare conductor showing, cracked connectors, melted insulation, melted "anything", pinched or kinked wires, browned or blackened components, swollen components.

A magnifying glass may prove useful.

Hopefully, the problem is simply just dust "burning off" inside the PSU.

If possible swap in a known working PSU of equivalent wattage and quality. Remember: Do not mix and match cables between PSU's.

Determine if the smells stop.

But do not open the PSU case.

I cant open the PSU case just to see if theres any kind of debris inside? My room has little to no circulation unless I open the door. so It can get kinda dusty.

I also did check pretty much every crevise (And dedusted it) back then too. I did not see any sign of wire damage back then. But i will probably check again soon.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

NO YOU SHOULD NOT open the PSU for ANY REASON, if you are not a highly experienced Electronics repair technician (and even then I would advise against it--never do stuff around high power alone either)--don't even think about it.

if you have any psu issues cleaning it won't help anyway.

 

[DRagor]

What has been said above. Plus the answer to your direct question: no, you cannot monitor PSU temperature form PC unless you have a model that allows it (they differ from normal ones they have additional connector for motherboard, usually for USB 2 header). Most common method used to monitor PSU temp is thermal camera.