Burning smell from GPU

Dribble · March 5, 2021

Hi, I've got my 1 year old i3 8100 build with an gigabyte gtx 1060 3gb and from the last two days whenever i turn the pc on my room slowly fills with a weird smell doesn't fully smell like burning plastic but is definitely is something new that I've never experienced before. Upon further inspection it seems that the only place the smell is coming from is the GPU I've checked the the whole pc ,psu, socket wires, extension cords. The pc works fine nothing has changed since I had first got it. temps and performance is nothing out of the ordinary. I am a student so simply replacing the card is not an option for me right now but i wanna stay cautious would love your guy's advice on how i should proceed.

kelvinhall05 · March 5, 2021

You can try cleaning the card. Pull it out, take the cooler off, dust it, repaste, reassemble. While you have the cooler off you could inspect the PCB for anything obvious.

thepoorgamer · March 5, 2021

I don't know what's wrong. In the meantime, it might not be a good idea to run your system, especially if you aren't paying attention to it. Something you might try to confirm it is the gpu is to take it out of your system and boot the computer on the integrated graphics and see if you still smell it.

Dribble · March 6, 2021

On 3/5/2021 at 7:20 PM, thepoorgamer said:

I don't know what's wrong. In the meantime, it might not be a good idea to run your system, especially if you aren't paying attention to it. Something you might try to confirm it is the gpu is to take it out of your system and boot the computer on the integrated graphics and see if you still smell it.

I think the problem is solved for now, The smell was pretty bad today(most of the days it has been really faint) i disassembled the whole pc and its definitely from the Psu, the blue light on the psu fan was not working either, i have ordered a new one and hope that was the only cause but i swear it smelled like it came from the GPU,could most likely be the gpu fan sucking in the smell that made me think that. Cheers and thanks for the reply.