Question Strange smell, GPU dead?

[llxy]

PSU: 650w Corsair CX650F RGB (80+ Bronze)
GPU: Acer OEM 1060 6GB (blower style, if you wondered)
CPU: i7-8700
MB: B365M PRO-VDH



I had some cheap Thermaltake 80+ White PSU unit and I was worried something could happen to my PC from it considering its age/price.

I purchased a 650w Corsair CX650F RGB (80+ Bronze) in hopes of protecting myself from said situation. It worked well for 3 weeks, but just today I smelt something very strange. I walked around my room and it didn't smell like it came from the PSU... more the other side of my room. I was nervous, but I didn't think much of it. 5 minutes later, my display turns off. Friends still heard me in a Discord voice chat, but the display did not turn back on afterward. I turn off my PC and the smell went away after 15-20 minutes.

I turn it back on, boots up just fine, the display is there. Steam, Discord, and Chrome were all opening up. I thought I could breathe easy... until I noticed the fans were not spinning (there is no 0 RPM mode) and my temps were at 97C. In a rush, I turned off my computer.

I don't think anything was damaged besides the GPU. My CPU temps were fine, indicating my AIO was functioning, and the PC turned on, indicating that RAM/CPU/mobo were most likely fine.

Forgot to mention, PSU's RGB was functioning, and I did see the PSU fan spin. No other parts seemed to be harmed. If a PSU gives out and kills a GPU, wouldn't it not function afterwards / kill other parts?

Did my GPU give out? It was a bad model, blower-style and Acer OEM after all. Usually ran at 70-85c under games with a 165fps cap.
Or was it my PSU? I put my nose right up to the PSU and didn't smell a thing from there but did smell it from the top of my case.

Should I keep using my PC just with my iGPU? Should I return the PSU? What can I do?

 

[DRagor]

We don't really know what has happened. It could be that fans on your GPU stopped working and you didn't noticed that until GPU started burning - in such case your new PSU would have nothing to it. Or it could be something else. Personally I would rather trust Corsair PSU to be fine unless proven otherwise. And there is nothing yet that let's me suspect your PSU. I'd say it's safe to use unless you notice any signs of a problems (like unexpected power downs), in which case the situation might need re-evaluation.
Knowing what exactly happened to your GPU would help here too. There are lots of different ways the fans could fail, the most trivial being internal fan connector disconnecting on its own. Some of the failings could be caused by PSU, others could not.

 

[llxy]

We don't really know what has happened. It could be that fans on your GPU stopped working and you didn't noticed that until GPU started burning - in such case your new PSU would have nothing to it. Or it could be something else. Personally I would rather trust Corsair PSU to be fine unless proven otherwise. And there is nothing yet that let's me suspect your PSU. I'd say it's safe to use unless you notice any signs of a problems (like unexpected power downs), in which case the situation might need re-evaluation.
Knowing what exactly happened to your GPU would help here too. There are lots of different ways the fans could fail, the most trivial being internal fan connector disconnecting on its own. Some of the failings could be caused by PSU, others could not.

NOTE: This GPU sometimes gives the motherboard a hard time detecting it, rarely but persistently my EZ-DEBUG will report with the VGA light indicating GPU error, forcing me to restart the computer. I pinpointed this to Fast Startup in Windows, but it did not fix it.

I am going to play it safe and still replace the PSU as I still have a few weeks until I can not, I hope nothing else along with it was damaged. The fan connector unplugging wouldn't be the case because before I powered on the system again, as I mentioned before the monitor's connection suddenly stopped (They still had power, just no input from GPU). How can I be sure nothing else was damaged? Everything seemed to boot up just fine, will there be a lingering problem afterwards? Perhaps my CPU is damaged but slightly?

EDIT: I am also concerned about continuing to use it due to if the PSU may be harming more components. Do PSU's gradually harm/kill components? Or is it just one "shock" like the one that maybe happened to my GPU?

 

[DRagor]

I am going to play it safe and still replace the PSU as I still have a few weeks until I can not,

Sure you can go extra safe if you want, nothing wrong with it.

How can I be sure nothing else was damaged?

There is no reason to suspect PSU has done any damage to your system. If it did you would not be able to start it up so easily afterwards.

Do PSU's gradually harm/kill components?

The bad ones certainly can. But CXF is not one of the bad ones.

 

[llxy]

Sure you can go extra safe if you want, nothing wrong with it.

There is no reason to suspect PSU has done any damage to your system. If it did you would not be able to start it up so easily afterwards.

The bad ones certainly can. But CXF is not one of the bad ones.

I'll just bid farewell to my current GPU and hope that my iGPU can get me by for a few months when the new unit comes in. Any tips incase I do notice strange behaviour after the new PSU?

 

[DRagor]

I'll just bid farewell to my current GPU and hope that my iGPU can get me by for a few months when the new unit comes in. Any tips incase I do notice strange behaviour after the new PSU?

Sure - act first, investigate later. First thing to do is always turn off your PC, only after that you start looking for what's wrong. In case of a smell, open the case and try to sniff out which component it might come from.

 

[AntonyLovric]

So kind of a potential fix here can you zip tie a 12v case fan (or two) to the GPU? Something like this?

 

[llxy]

So kind of a potential fix here can you zip tie a 12v case fan (or two) to the GPU? Something like this?

The ports randomly turned off and along with that smell, I doubt the cooling is the only issue. I probably don't even have the patience to attach something that precisely but further down the line it can make for a cool experiment

Sure - act first, investigate later. First thing to do is always turn off your PC, only after that you start looking for what's wrong. In case of a smell, open the case and try to sniff out which component it might come from.

Also, if my PSU killed my GPU, wouldn't the PSU die with it? You might be right about the PSU being completely normal. If a PSU kills something and continues to live, can it kill other parts down the line?

 

[DRagor]

If a PSU kills something and continues to live, can it kill other parts down the line?

It's possible. For example if PSU would generate too high voltage it could kill components and keep working. However it usually happens with units that don't have proper protections (OVP in this case). Corsair CXF have it.

 

[llxy]

It's possible. For example if PSU would generate too high voltage it could kill components and keep working. However it usually happens with units that don't have proper protections (OVP in this case). Corsair CXF have it.

Should I bother with the return re-purchase process? Should my CXF be fine, and I plug in the old... 745...?

I just dont want to risk any data loss.