Question Testing systems after apartment smoke damage

[buzzski]

My apartment was the source of a fire which came from a small bedroom used as storage. I have a massive desktop system for Windows and a Mini-ITX cube for my Hackintosh, both located in the living room which was next to the small bedroom. The living room and other rooms only suffered smoke damage, but I can see warped plastic in items in the living room (lens cleaner and TV Screen cleaner bottles, top of the plastic floor lamp).

I have renter's insurance but I'd rather not go through having these PCs replaced if I can (as one is a Skytech Prism II with an RTX3090 24GB card). So far I've looked up "Smoke Damage" on these forums and found some helpful tips. I would like to know if it's better to hook up a large extension cord and test the PCs outside, what ways can I clean the components from smoke damage, and if there's anything I should replace immediately.

I've been building PCs since 2010 when I got into Hackintoshes and have learned a lot, but nothing prepared me for this; knowing if and what to clean from smoke damage. I know that the components are accustomed to higher temps, but am new on what to look for when inspecting for damage.

Thank you.

 

[Ralston18]

My suggestion is to take the PCs outdoors and without plugging them in simply open the cases and look.

Clean out loose dust and debris. Canned air should be helpful; however, be sure to follow the directions.

Use a bright flashlight to carefully inspect all components.

There are products available that can be used to clean electronics. Some cleaners are expensive.

In any case, look first, see what you find. Take some photographs inside the case and post the photographs here via imgur (www.imgur.com).

Objective simply being to get a sense of how much damage has been done.

Then options can be considered.