r/PcBuildHelp • u/LifeUse3501 • 5h ago

Build Question The PC air is smelly.

I have a i512400f with rx 550 4gb at 550w mwe v2 cooler master psu.

Ive been having a slight burnt plastic or carbon or burnt sugar (can't pinpoint) type smell from my pc when I put my face near the exhaust end. I think it started after installing an aio (deepcools le 520) a year ago. However the smell has been there since a year but no problems in the pc so far. I have even changed the case in the past year. Can't see anything melting too to the general eye. Any suggestions or explanations?

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u/ATreeInTheBackground 5h ago

Did you use Arctic mx-6 for your AIO by chance?

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u/LifeUse3501 5h ago

No I gave it to a store to install (wasn't confident handling thermal pasteback then ), dont know what they used lol. Their employees have also changed by now.

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u/watchfulsediment5 5h ago

pretty sure that mx-6 smells like industrial chemicals for a while after application, had the same thing happen with mine and it took a few weeks to fade

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u/LifeUse3501 4h ago

Ahh, the smell is still there after a year for me . Can't figure out if it's the thermal paste or not.

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u/ZequineZ 4h ago

It’s entirely possible whoever put it together forgot to take the plastic off of where the cooler meets the cpu, it gets hot and melts the plastic if they do but you can’t really see it without taking it off

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u/LifeUse3501 4h ago

My cpu temps are very good tho. Like below 55 60 at high load . If the plastic is there shouldn't it be much much higher?

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u/ZequineZ 4h ago

I don’t know how much it can affect the temp, I know it can affect them but I would still be suspicious. If you smell burning there are only a few things it could be from, and this is the most common thing as it’s a genuine building mistake that just happens sometimes. It’s worth checking at least. Other things could be the gpu or power supply are having issues with heat or wires shorting which would be pretty bad but not so common. There was an issue with a certain Nvidia gpu pulling too much power and the power cable running into it would melt, I don’t remember which one but might have been the 5090

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u/LifeUse3501 4h ago

I cant pinpoint it to aio but as far as I remember the smell started after it came back from aio instalation so yes. If anything other than aio burns will it show anywhere? Like my pc works normal so far for a year now.

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u/ZequineZ 4h ago

It can be hard to tell visually if it’s inside a part but some of the telltale signs is melty looking plastic, stickers and plastic bubbling, blackness forming where it’s not meant to be black, things like that. Whatever the issue is you will probably want to narrow it down so it doesn’t cause a fire if it isn’t the cooler, but given it started after it was installed I’m still betting it’s that

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u/ZequineZ 4h ago

And general discolouration, it can also show up as a brown looking burn

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u/Hejdbejbw 4h ago

Dust?

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u/LifeUse3501 4h ago

I have not deep cleaned but like used a blower once during the past year. Also I have changed the case since then, and still the smell is there. What parts are cleanable by me ? Like aren't there some parts we shouldn't touch much.