A possible catastrophe
A possible catastrophe
Hello,
I've been gradually improving my gaming setup. Recently, an older Corsair 750W PSU emitted an unusual burning odor when under load, so I swapped it out for a new Evga 850 GQ. At first, the new PSU produced a strange scent, but not the intense burning smell. It eventually stopped, though I still notice a burning odor near the heat sinks on the motherboard around the CPU socket. I only realized this issue when I attempted to overclock my CPU from 3.5 to 4.2 GHz. The initial voltage settings were set to auto, but the BIOS displayed 1.145, which I adjusted to 1.2. This might have been a mistake made by someone new to overclocking, possibly due to incorrect adjustments on the motherboard. Since then, I've reset all clocks and voltages back to default BIOS settings, but the smell persists. Perhaps it's just lingering from somewhere else. Initially, I thought the odor came from an HDD. After removing it and installing games on my SSD, my graphics card and CPU performance dropped significantly—especially under heavy load. The GPU ran at core clock speeds only when under 50% load, while the CPU stayed around 45°C even at full capacity. Temperatures were normal otherwise: CPU stayed below 45°C under 100% load, and the GPU was around 70°C during games like Witcher 3 or Fallout 4. I cleared all visible dust, but it rarely accumulated much. It seems replacing the motherboard might be the best solution. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
My specifications:
I5 6600K @ 3.5 GHz with a master hyper 212 EVO cooler
Evga ACX 3.0 GTX 1070
Kingston HyperX Fury 16GB DDR4
Evga 850W GQ
Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 5
500GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD
1TB WD Blue HDD
If you need to know, I have two 200mm and a 120mm fans.
What a different way to phrase it, but the core advice remains the same.
I would keep your CPU frequency and voltage at stock levels for now and just keep watching temperatures as before. Maybe the burning smell will go away over time. I think the smell comes from the old Corsair PSU.
I’m puzzled why your CPU and graphics card aren’t performing well in games after switching to the SSD. How close is the SSD getting full? You shouldn’t let it reach more than 90% capacity.
What a different way to phrase it, but the core advice remains the same.
I'm ready to proceed. I'll share the outcomes after everything is put back together. Appreciate your prompt reply.
I removed everything from the case, cleaned it with soap and water, and checked all parts. After reassembling and turning on the system, the smell disappeared within a few hours once it aired out. It probably just absorbed the odor from the case. I reinstalled the old hard drive and performance returned to normal. This still seems odd, but likely a configuration issue after removing the drive. Everything looks fine now. Thank you for the advice!