HX850i bad smell

[Fair Trial]

My Corsair HX850i emits a bad smell from the rear.

It’s not a burning smell, more an acrid one.

I can smell it while gaming if i put my head near the case fans, but even slightly when the pc is off (only if i “sniff” the rear psu vent though).

I have read online that it could be the internal flux, but after nearly six monthes from the psu purchase the smell is still present.

Should i change/rma my psu?

[jaslion]

If it's really bad then yeah return it and specify the reason that it smell of a bad component and makes the room it is in not liveable. Then it will be taken seriously instead of just returned as is to you.

[Fair Trial]

I mean, i could live with it considering that i can smell it only if i’m really close to the case, but this psu costed a lot, so i’m annoyed by the issue…

[electropical]

23 minutes ago, Fair Trial said:

My Corsair HX850i emits a bad smell from the rear.

It’s not a burning smell, more an acrid one.

I can smell it while gaming if i put my head near the case fans, but even slightly when the pc is off (only if i “sniff” the rear psu vent though).

I have read online that it could be the internal flux, but after nearly six monthes from the psu purchase the smell is still present.

Should i change/rma my psu?

Yep, that's most likely flux.
The reason why it's taking so much time to disappear is because in order for it to burn away, the PSU needs to get hot, which doesn't really happen at idle.

The smell gets stronger when you're playing games because the load is a lot more important (the PSU gets much hotter) and (most likely) because the fan starts spinning, which helps pushing the fumes away from the PSU and towards you.

(I wouldn't worry if I were you, that's a fantastic PSU that you have)

[Fair Trial]

17 minutes ago, electropical said:

Yep, that's most likely flux.
The reason why it's taking so much time to disappear is because in order for it to burn away, the PSU needs to get hot, which doesn't really happen at idle.

The smell gets stronger when you're playing games because the load is a lot more important (the PSU gets much hotter) and (most likely) because the fan starts spinning, which helps pushing the fumes away from the PSU and towards you.

(I wouldn't worry if I were you, that's a fantastic PSU that you have)

Ok, i will keep it then.

 

Thanks for the answer.

[Fair Trial]

The issue persisted, so i RMAd the psu to Corsair but the new HX850i emits the same smell.

 

I decided to change it, as this seems to be the only way to solve.

Can someone suggest an equally good PSU from another manufacturer?

[Juular]

If you have two PSUs emitting, in your opinion the same bad smell, then the problem is you. But sure, look at EVGA G6, it looks like EVGA is doing price dampening so they're quite cheap for what they are.

[--SID--]

The EVGA is gonna smell too. Any new PSU smells until you stressed it for a couple of hours.

[Fair Trial]

1 hour ago, --SID-- said:

The EVGA is gonna smell too. Any new PSU smells until you stressed it for a couple of hours.

It’s not an old-new problem, the first one smelled for months after the purchase and the second rma one is the same.

[Juular]

4 hours ago, Fair Trial said:

It’s not an old-new problem, the first one smelled for months after the purchase and the second rma one is the same.

That's, again, i'm inclined to think that the culprit of the 'bad smell problem' is you. Heated up electronics emit some smell for a while, maybe not half a year but even then just heat kinda smells too. But sure, try another one, maybe you're too sensitive to the the kind of flux Flextronics are using.

[Daethz]

I have had several psus and have never smelled them at all 

You must have a sensitive smeller.

[Guest]

On 8/2/2021 at 5:02 AM, Fair Trial said:

My Corsair HX850i emits a bad smell from the rear.

It’s not a burning smell, more an acrid one.

I can smell it while gaming if i put my head near the case fans, but even slightly when the pc is off (only if i “sniff” the rear psu vent though).

I have read online that it could be the internal flux, but after nearly six monthes from the psu purchase the smell is still present.

Should i change/rma my psu?

It's either solder flux or transformer varnish or both.

 

It will go away over time.

 

[Just that Mario]

New products smell no matter what. I agree the problem is in OP not the product(s). Personally I sniffed my relatively new PC and couldn't find any unusual or any smells.

[Guest]

On 11/7/2021 at 6:25 AM, Fair Trial said:

It’s not an old-new problem, the first one smelled for months after the purchase and the second rma one is the same.

So, the problem with PSUs with "zero RPM fan mode" is that the parts can only vent when the fan spins, which is not most of the time.  Since you have an HX850i, you could always turn your fan on in iCUE to spin at the lowest RPM and that should reduce the smell when it's in Zero RPM fan mode because then it doesn't blast the smell out at you when the fan kicks in.

 

Also, why are you sniffing your PC?  It's one thing if you can smell it with the PC on the floor and you sitting in a chair, but if you can only smell it if you shove your nose up into your PC, I have to wonder why you're doing that.

 

[Fair Trial]

Thanks for all the answers.

You are all probably right about the fact that the problem at this point "is in my head" (lol), but I cared so much mainly because - at least before the RMA - I thought the smell was a sign of my PSU not working properly and also because, as Juular said, it seems that I'm overly sensitive to that particular flux.

 

 

3 hours ago, jonnyGURU said:

So, the problem with PSUs with "zero RPM fan mode" is that the parts can only vent when the fan spins, which is not most of the time.  Since you have an HX850i, you could always turn your fan on in iCUE to spin at the lowest RPM and that should reduce the smell when it's in Zero RPM fan mode because then it doesn't blast the smell out at you when the fan kicks in.

 

Also, why are you sniffing your PC?  It's one thing if you can smell it with the PC on the floor and you sitting in a chair, but if you can only smell it if you shove your nose up into your PC, I have to wonder why you're doing that.

 

Thanks, I'll try this.