Is it the PSU?

[herrix590]

Sorry to ask if the question seems to be too common these days as I've searched on Google. If a rubber burnt smell is coming from the PC does this indicate it as being the PSU as the problem? I had this PC for like 2 years ago and I've tried to identify as where the smell is coming from and it generally comes from the PSU as I sniffed it from the back where the switch is indicated. GPU and CPU have no problems whatsoever and I've cleaned the case for dust a week ago. This happened when my friend was here playing Nosgoth. The next day the PC omitted the burning smell. So as the title says is this due to the PSU?

My rig is:
ASUS Extreme IV-Z
i7-2770K
CoolerMaster Pro Silent GOLD 1000w
8GB RAM Corsair Vengeance
HDD 1TB Seagate + SSD 120GB Corsair Force 3
GTX 680

P/s: I am sorry if the question seems to be idiotic but I just need confirmation on anything especially if I'm required to change said power supply

 

[thx1138v2]

That smell is never good. You didn't say whether you had other case fans that expelled air from the case but if you don't then the PSU fan is probably the only fan that expels air. If that's the case, it doesn't necessarily mean the PSU is bad but that it's the only place where you would smell it if something else in the case caused the smell. The smell may come back when you put the machine under heavy load again.

The dust itself doesn't usually cause that smell although it can cause overheating of other components by reducing their ability to shed their heat. You need to look for signs of overheating on the motherboard, graphics card, hard drive, and inside the power supply. Look for indications of capacitor damage. Search "visual signs of bad capacitor" to see what that looks like. Also look for discoloration on both the front and back surfaces of the circuit boards, particularly around any components that have heat sinks.

If you're not comfortable doing that, take it to a shop and have them check it out for you. If you continue using the machine without a thorough examination you may damage other components also.

 

[herrix590]

That smell is never good. You didn't say whether you had other case fans that expelled air from the case but if you don't then the PSU fan is probably the only fan that expels air. If that's the case, it doesn't necessarily mean the PSU is bad but that it's the only place where you would smell it if something else in the case caused the smell. The smell may come back when you put the machine under heavy load again.

The dust itself doesn't usually cause that smell although it can cause overheating of other components by reducing their ability to shed their heat. You need to look for signs of overheating on the motherboard, graphics card, hard drive, and inside the power supply. Look for indications of capacitor damage. Search "visual signs of bad capacitor" to see what that looks like. Also look for discoloration on both the front and back surfaces of the circuit boards, particularly around any components that have heat sinks.

If you're not comfortable doing that, take it to a shop and have them check it out for you. If you continue using the machine without a thorough examination you may damage other components also.

Sorry that I didn't mentioned that I do have case fans that do so. The case is CM Storm Trooper. I've checked my motherboard, graphics card as well as the HDD but haven't tried peering inside the power supply. When smelling through the case fan it doesn't have that burnt smell unlike sniffing near the power supply. I'll try to peer inside the power supply if it does indicate a bad capacitor damage. Thanks for the tip. I didn't know what would I need to look for inside the power supply. I'll keep this post updated just for people's reference in the future.

 

[herrix590]

What actually causes the capacitor to be damaged anyway? Just for my information.

 

[thx1138v2]

What actually causes the capacitor to be damaged anyway? Just for my information.

Search "damaged power supply capacitor" to see pictures of what to look for. You'll probably need to remove the PSU case cover to get a good look.

Over voltage from a power surge can damage them. This can occur for a number of reasons like the power going off and then immediately coming back up. lightning strikes, etc. Capacitors also age and lower quality ones age faster than better quality ones but they all age. The ones that use a liquid dielectric can also leak which is avoided with the newer solid capacitors but those are somewhat expensive. You will, however, see them more and more on motherboards but not so much in PSU's As far as PSU's go there is a lot more involved than just the capacitors but that has typically been one of the weak points of cheap PSU's