Question What should I do with my Corsair RM650x PSU ?

[Marek991]

Last night I noticed like a candle light flicker coming from my pc, I thought I imagined it because my gpu has rgb lightning, but then I noticed a distinct smell of something having fried. My pc was still working fine, not crashed or anything so I shut it down, unhooked the power cable and tried using my nose to see where the smell came from, but it had evaporated and I could not see any damage.

This morning I decided to risk it and turned the pc back on, everything is running as it should, psu started with fan on and then turns it off like it always does, there's no smell, sounds or anything seemingly amiss. I have been having my side panel off, so maybe it was just a case of dust or some particle getting into the psu? If something in there did fry though, would it be possible to tell if I check every pin with a voltage measuring tool?

The psu is just over 2 years old, so it would be covered by Corsair's warranty, but ofc shipping would be both costly and time consuming so it's not something I would do unless certain that the thing is broken. Basically what I would like to know, is if there are ways of telling if the psu has had lasting damage?

 

[Aeacus]

is if there are ways of telling if the psu has had lasting damage?

No way to tell.

As of what it might have been: dust burning up due to the heat/electrical arc.
To avoid it in the future, do clean the innards of your PC from dust including inside the PSU. E.g using compressed air (either by canned air or air compressor). Though, never open the PSU itself.

 

[Zerk2012]

I would never recommend a air compressor unless you have a dryer on it. Most don't have dryers on their compressors unless they use it for painting.
The tanks on air compressors build up heat from the compressed air and then condenses into water.

 

[geofelt]

The only way to test for a psu failure is to replace with a known good replacement.

In your case, if you suspect the psu, contact Corsair for a RMA.
Talk to them about your symptoms.
I think they may have a program where they ship you out a replacement and put a credit card hold on it.
When they get your possibly damaged psu, the credit card charge is waived.

 

[Aeacus]

In your case, if you suspect the psu, contact Corsair for a RMA.

User neglect doesn't fall under the RMA. If given it was the dust that burned inside the PSU.
Better to buy new PSU and be more caring in the future.

 

[geofelt]

The OP speculated about dust as a cause.
I find this unlikely.
A burning smell is not good news; no telling what it was, or if it could be dangerous.
Sometimes residual solder flux gets burned off giving off a smell.
No problem there, otherwise who knows.
See what Corsair thinks.

 

[an5io_oleka]

What kind of burnt smell?
Electric parts and metal have a specific smell, that excludes dust.

Also, if dust catches fire that extra energy could damage something else.

If you saw flickering of burning, where did it come from?

If it smelled as if electric parts burn or melt, and it points to the psu, i would not trust it anymore.
If there was any flame or spark at all.

 

[Marek991]

What kind of burnt smell?
If you saw flickering of burning, where did it come from?

The smell was the same as when I once had a short circuit in one of the power outlets, so metallic in nature.

As for the flickering, it would have had to come from the top of the psu. Anyway, I am going to contact Corsair and see what they think. Thanks for all the replies!