Smell that smell? High End PC

[Exdeb Exdeb]

I just recently installed a new EVGA GTX 780 ti inside of my gaming PC and I'm getting a strange smell from my case but only during the first 4 minutes of gameplay. Then the smell goes away. I monitor my computer CPU's and GPU's temps like an eagle. My CPU and GPU temps always stay below 72 degrees as long as I have Vsync turned on. I am using a temporary 600watt GPU because my primary one went bad. This back up PSU was kinda dusty before I took an air compressor to dust it out. But I could not get all the dust.

EVGA phone support told me that I have enough watts from my back up PSU but I will be replacing it very soon.

Do you have any idea why I might be experiencing this strange smell?


Here is a list of my PC parts

LG 29EA93-P Black 29" 5ms HDMI 21:9 Widescreen
LED Backlight LCD Monitor, IPS Panel 2560x1080

COOLER MASTER HAF 932 Advanced RC-932-KKN5-GP
Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case with USB 3.0,
Black Interior and Four Fans-1x

Microsoft Windows 8 Professional 64-bit OEM

Intel Core i7-3770 Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz(3.9GHz Turbo)
LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
Intel HD Graphics 4000

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X
DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM
DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model

ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler

ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s
USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II 950W High Performance
80PLUS Silver SLI CrossFire ready Power Supply

1 x Western Digital WD Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM
SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Intel Solid State Hard Drive 320 Series 300GB

Loigtech k360 wireless keyboard

Logitech G700 wireless/USB mouse

Logitech G35 7.1 Surround Sound Headset

 

[menetlaus]

Something is burning, from your description sounds like it is something close to a heat producing component and starts to burn quckly, but once something else nearby gets hotter (assumption) the PC increases fan speeds to $part and it keeps the temps low enough that the burning stops.

With all the new parts (and admitted amount of dust in the PSU) it would be hard to narrow down exactly where the smell is coming from... but you could try to remove the PSU from the case while keeping the MB/GPU/HDD plugged in and see if the smell comes from the PSU or the case.

 

[Exdeb Exdeb]

Bring my nostrils even closer to working components during a benchmark lol Good idea lol Thanks

 

[menetlaus]

Umm, smell the air being blown out of the PSU - if it isn't in the case and smells of burning - there is your problem.

I didn't say to stick your head into the case and get within an inch of the motherboard. Just isolate the PSU (as the most likely culprit) and see if it is blowing smoke.

 

[Exdeb Exdeb]

I pulled the PSU out while it was still connected to everything and ran a quick benchmark test. Although the smell was less apparent it did help me to believe that the smell's most likely culprit was my PSU's fault as the same smell was still there even though it was less apparent being out in the open air like I had it. Never the less still there. I have horrible luck with PSU's. Thanks for the suggestion "Menetlaus", that was a good idea. Sometimes the simple answers are the best answers! Cheers!

Just waiting for my new PSU to show up in the mail and trying not to punish the one I am using now.