Question PC emits a strong plastic scent after months of use

[Nebulardood23]

I built my new PC about 2 months ago now, and since then I've noticed there's a fairly strong plastic scent coming from it. The strangest part? It's more pronounced when turned off for awhile (though I think it's just cause the fans air it out more, making it harder to pick up).

To clear up a couple things; Yes, the PSU does have a smell too, but it's not the same and seems to have gotten better in time, and to me they don't smell like burning. It's more of a new plastic/tire/rubber smell.

I've pinpointed it around the rear fan and IO plate area, but I still can't quite tell where exactly it's coming from. There is a plastic peel on the second M.2 slot, but it's unused and shouldn't be the culprit. GPU doesn't have any plastic to remove either, and I know for a fact the CPU is unrelated because I used a secondhand cooler, and made damned sure there was no plastic film on it before installing.

I know PC's generally emit scents during their first weeks of use, but is it normal to last this long? Should I be worried?

Parts:
B550 Tomahawk
Zotac RTX 3060 12gb
Ryzen 5 5600x
32gb Ram DDR4
500GB ssd + 4tb HDD
Contac Silent 12 Cooler
RM750x

 

[Lutfij]

You forgot to mention the make, model and age of the PSU in your build. You might want to have your sense of smell to lead you to the source in case one of your connectors isn't fully seated.

Moved thread from Components section to Systems section.

 

[Nebulardood23]

You forgot to mention the make, model and age of the PSU in your build. You might want to have your sense of smell to lead you to the source in case one of your connectors isn't fully seated.

Moved thread from Components section to Systems section.

Aww man, when I was typing it I was certain I didn't forget anything lol! It's an RM750x, the most recent version. All the parts are new and from 2~ months ago.

I doubled checked all the cables and everything is plugged in correctly. Is it possible for a cheap case fan to carry a smell like this?

 

[Nebulardood23]

Aww man, when I was typing it I was certain I didn't forget anything lol! It's an RM750x, the most recent version. All the parts are new and from 2~ months ago.

I doubled checked all the cables and everything is plugged in correctly. Is it possible for a cheap case fan to carry a smell like this?

So as I mentioned, the scent becomes more noticeable when the PC is off for a bit. This morning I smelled it fairly strong like normal (by that I mean I can smell it by getting close to the rear fan. It doesn't stink up the room or anything). I unplugged the entire pc and waited a bit to see if it'd go away, but I could still smell it.

Before going to sleep tonight I'm gonna unplug it again and leave it all night.

I literally only have a few theories on what it is:
- The SATA cable has a similar scent on it, and even stronger. The spare unused one has the same so I'm not worried about it. I can only smell it near the actual cable though so I don't know how it'd reach the rear vent.
- Fan is cheap and maybe has a bad scent?
- Motherboard has a preinstalled IO shield and it's made of plastic. Dunno why it'd smell this long though.
- M.2 thermal pad is way longer than my SSD for the much bigger models, so maybe the scent lingers from the parts not touching anything?

Other than that I have no idea. None of the capacitors look swollen, cables are nice and secured, nothing looks burnt, and the smell itself doesn't smell like burning. I really wish I could figure out what's going on here :/

 

[Ralston18]

Make and model rear fan? Source?

Is it possible for you to swap out the rear fan?

My thought is that the fan may substandard, made of poor materials, or even counterfeit.

Also use a bright flashlight to look in all the nooks and crannies. There may be some small piece of plastic debris stuck somewhere that emits odors once warmed up or actually gets hot.

 

[TerryLaze]

I built my new PC about 2 months ago now, and since then I've noticed there's a fairly strong plastic scent coming from it. The strangest part? It's more pronounced when turned off for awhile (though I think it's just cause the fans air it out more, making it harder to pick up).

This happened to me, this is my power plug.
Just saying but change you power plug and make sure it's a high rated one.
If the system draws more power than the cables are rated for they heat up enough to melt the plastic.

 

[Nebulardood23]

This happened to me, this is my power plug.
Just saying but change you power plug and make sure it's a high rated one.
If the system draws more power than the cables are rated for they heat up enough to melt the plastic.

It's not the PSU. It's coming from the rear fan or IO shield. I'm also using the cable that came with the unit, not some cheap third party one. Sorry to here about your cord though, lol. I'd freak out if that ever happened

 

[Nebulardood23]

I confirmed even unplugged for awhile, the odor remains, so I'm confident it's either just a cheaper fan model or some material used on the mobo that hasn't gassed off yet