My computer smells of burning

Mr_Threepwood · Tue 13/07/2004 21:47:56

I recently got a new custom made computer and if i run it for a long time i will notice a burning smell that lasts for about 5 mins then goes away.Ã,Â Is this normal for new computers (its about 2 weeks use now)?Ã,Â Ã,Â It has tons of fans in it and the cpu temperature never exceeds 43 degrees celcius.

My monitor is old and crappy, and im makking it run high res games. I felt the monitor when i smelled the burning and it was VERY hot, could it have beeen the monitor or more likely the comp?

LGM · Tue 13/07/2004 22:24:45

Isn't 43 celcius REALLY HOT for a computer? That's like, 150 Degrees Farenheit or sth, right?

BOYD1981 · Tue 13/07/2004 22:25:11

monitors smelling as if they're about to catch fire is pretty normal for new monitors, my new pc smelled as if it was about to melt for a little while, but that's just new hardware and the smell goes after a while...
one thing to check is the temperature of your graphics card, especially if it's a decent one, my Sapphire Radeon 9800XT gets very hot, but now i just keep the sidepanel off my case and point a big fan in it.
i wouldn't worry about it, it'll probably go away or burn your house down...

Isegrim · Tue 13/07/2004 22:27:45

Might be the monitor, but may also be the transformator unit (don't know the exact word in English).
If it is the latter, you should check if it's of the correct size (you said it's custom made?). Having lots of powerful components in your computer takes a lot of energy, which often makes the trafo unit go hot. Feel that one too, if it smells funny again...

Mr Jake · Tue 13/07/2004 22:28:02

My PC is 31 atm, and that is the hottest it gets, and it only has 2 airflow fans (plus CPU fan and PSU fan) AGA told me that you dont have to worry untill it is above 60. you should check your fans aren't faulty if you have more fans than this, that could explain the higher temperature and the smell. Also, if wiring short circuits it smokes and stinks of burning (happened to me a VERY short while ago).

BOYD1981 · Tue 13/07/2004 22:34:31

i have an Athlon64 3400+ and right now it's temperature is 41Â°C/105Â°F, my motherboard temperature is 30Â°C/86Â°F and that's with an aluminium case and the fans, but, my graphics card temperature is 66Â°C and everything is still working fine, your pc will know when it's getting too hot and either sound and alarm or turn itself off.

Mr Jake · Tue 13/07/2004 22:35:47

or, in the case of my last PC case, make the fans melt

Mr_Threepwood · Wed 14/07/2004 00:42:36

Hotspot whats ur processor it must be an older one to run that cool. I got a p4 3.2 ghz and when i push the limits as far as possible i can get it to reach 45-46 degrees celcius, just sittin around its at about 38. By pushin the limits i mean jacking the res up to 1600 in a video game and turning all options on high and letting it run in a game for a while. My monitor is 8 years old now, and it could be that. I looked through the glass casing on my comp and nothing is obviously burnt but an unknown burning bugs me.

Domino · Wed 14/07/2004 00:53:02

I bought a new computer a week ago and i get a weird smell when the computer is running. It smells like a mixture of plastic and something burning. But i do believe, from my last computer purchase that this smell is comparable to a New Car Smell and will eventually wear out.

But just incase, keep a fire extinguisher close by.

InCreator · Wed 14/07/2004 00:54:55

Athlon XP 2200+, 1.8GHz here.

CPU has HUGE fan which keeps it usually at 49 degrees Celsius, but whenever I play some 3D-games, temp rises over 50 (up to 56) Celsius. Weird is that everything starts to lag then and gets very jumpy. For instance, It's absolutely impossible to play GTA3 more than 10 first minutes, though computer exceeds game's minimal requirements 2-4 times. Lousy game, i guess :x.

And video card is okay, Geforce4 64MB with a fan...

Motherboard runs at 38C-43C all the time and I never smelt any burning.

Strange indeed. Maybe It's not the computer that smells but power outlet where it's plugged in? It happened to me once. Plastic components in outlet were broken into little pieces which started to melt when I plugged in something.

BOYD1981 · Wed 14/07/2004 01:24:18

i had a problem with not being able to play games for more than 10 minutes (sometimes less) a little while back, i discovered it was down to my graphics card being too powerful for it's own good, so i set the AGP speed to 4x and disabled fastwrite and everything runs fine now with absolutely no loss of quality...

ScottDoom · Wed 14/07/2004 02:15:53

Hey guys. Sorry for changing the subject here, but what do you guys use to find out the temperature of your PC components?

InCreator · Wed 14/07/2004 03:13:04

Hm. Easiest way is to restart a computer. For newer motherboards, BIOS displays temperatures at the bottom of the screen just before booting any drives.
Another - I got some CD with my motherboard purchase, there was a program called USDM, which shows and alerts temperature/changes.

And for older computers -- temperature doesn't matter much anyway, they're built to be stable - which brings back to fact that modern age sucks as hard as this word could maximally describe.

Oi - BOYD, where did you set this AGP stuff? From BIOS?

Barbarian · Wed 14/07/2004 05:08:41

Motherboard Monitor was a good free utility for checking the various heat temperatures, fanspeeds and such:
MBM homepage here:
http://mbm.livewiredev.com/

Another alternative place to download MBM from:
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/mbm.html

Looks like that they stopped further development of it, but you can still d-load a free latest version.

Moox · Wed 14/07/2004 07:04:57

Some new cases have thermometers built in also

Mr Jake · Wed 14/07/2004 09:16:47

I have a pre-moded with a thermometers. Now that I have a job Im thinking of moding my own