Hi, this is my first post on Tom's Hardware, although I have been reading on here to seek advice for years 
Nearly two years ago (November 2011) I bought a custom PC from Digital Storm. Although I have had several issues with the rig, I have never had to call their tech support or directly ask for help anywhere else, as I have been able to Google stuff and figure it out on my own. However, this time I am stumped, and cannot really find anything helpful on the web!
First off, here is my setup:
Chassis: 942 HAF X - Cooler Master
CPU: i7 2600k 3.4GHZ quad core
GPU: GTX 580
MOBO: ASUS P8P67 Deluxe
RAM: ADATA Gaming Series - 8GB DDR3 2000MHZ
PSU: 800W Corsair GS
SSD: 60GB Corsair Force GT Series (for OS, Windows 7 Pro 64 bit)
HDD: 1TB Western Digital Caviar 7200rpm (for data)
Sound: Auzen X-Fi Hometheater HD 7.1
Net card: Killer 2100
Airflow: Standard Chassis Fans
Water cooling: Honestly I do not remember the brand for the radiator, but I know it was around 120-150 bucks and I figured I needed it because I was planning on overclocking up to 4.8 GHZ.
The CPU is NOT overclocked at the moment, as I have had heat issues in the past when it was formerly OCed to about 4.5 GHZ. Although it ran perfectly, while OCed, for about a year, I decided to clean everything out and reset the CPU back to stock to fix the heat problems. That was about 6-8 months ago, and I have had no issues since then.
However, about five days ago I was playing a game (WoW Mists on ultra) and I started smelling something burning in the room. At first, I seriously didn't know if the house was on fire or if it was my PC. The smell was very strong and pungent, and smelled something like burning plastic, or maybe even burning hair. I turned around to look in my room and I swear I could barely make out some steam fizzling away (I say "swear" because it was late and I might have been loopy and seeing things because I was, of course, freaking out). I quickly shutdown and unplugged everything and decided to take a look inside the next day. When I did, I didn't find any signs of damage on the inside, although I was not able to get a "completely thorough" look-through because I did not feel comfortable removing the water cooler (I wouldn't mind doing it if I really knew what I was doing). I thought that maybe the PSU blew, but I couldnt find any evidence there. As far as I know, nothing is wrong with the mobo or CPU. My guess at the time was that dust or a hair from my cat got into the PC somehow and got fried. I cleaned out dust for a while (it was pretty dusty) and put the window back on.
The computer was unplugged and untouched for three days (I was out of town on a trip), and when I got back, I was able to boot it up with no problems. I checked BIOS, looked over all of the CPU temps, voltages, etc, and I haven't been able to find anything wrong. I figured I had guessed right, the dust problem was messing it up. I was even able to play games fine for a couple days. Then, when I was gaming, I noticed my frame rate had dropped for some reason. I shutdown and checked BIOS and apparently my CPU was at a dangerously high temp. I don't remember the exact numbers at the time, but I did wait for it to cool off for 15 mins, booted it back up, and it was back to a normal temp.
I downloaded RealTemp and have been monitoring my CPU temp while in Windows and doing various things on my PC. The temp right now, for example, is at 68-70 C, and all I am doing is running Chrome. However, when gaming, it heats up to 98 C pretty fast, and at that point, the CPU has to slow down to cool off (hence my frame rate drop). The CPU stays at around 1.1GHZ to keep at 95-98 C (lol).
So, obviously I know I have a cooling issue. However, I do have a few other questions...for example, what the heck was burning?? Is it possible that my radiator coolant actually evaporated and steamed out somehow from the extremely high temps? I have seen temps over 100 C during this whole ordeal. Or could it have just been dust or hair getting fried on something inside, from the extremely high temps? Or, is it possible that one of either the PSU, mobo, GPU, or CPU, etc. actually DID get fried, but somehow still works? Is that even possible?
Also, I should say that the smell stuck around in the room for several days after the initial scare, and at times, like when my PC is very stressed from gaming, I can KIND of smell a very slight burning scent. I have just attributed this to the very strong burning that happened last week, and that the scent I smell now (it comes and goes randomly) is just the leftover smell of whatever got fried.
Right now, I plan on reapplying thermal paste to the CPU, although I don't really know how to do that with my water cooler. I am also up for upgrading my fans inside, or maybe even replacing the water cooler for an air cooler.
If this is posted in the wrong forum, I apologize
I would appreciate any and all help!
Nearly two years ago (November 2011) I bought a custom PC from Digital Storm. Although I have had several issues with the rig, I have never had to call their tech support or directly ask for help anywhere else, as I have been able to Google stuff and figure it out on my own. However, this time I am stumped, and cannot really find anything helpful on the web!
First off, here is my setup:
Chassis: 942 HAF X - Cooler Master
CPU: i7 2600k 3.4GHZ quad core
GPU: GTX 580
MOBO: ASUS P8P67 Deluxe
RAM: ADATA Gaming Series - 8GB DDR3 2000MHZ
PSU: 800W Corsair GS
SSD: 60GB Corsair Force GT Series (for OS, Windows 7 Pro 64 bit)
HDD: 1TB Western Digital Caviar 7200rpm (for data)
Sound: Auzen X-Fi Hometheater HD 7.1
Net card: Killer 2100
Airflow: Standard Chassis Fans
Water cooling: Honestly I do not remember the brand for the radiator, but I know it was around 120-150 bucks and I figured I needed it because I was planning on overclocking up to 4.8 GHZ.
The CPU is NOT overclocked at the moment, as I have had heat issues in the past when it was formerly OCed to about 4.5 GHZ. Although it ran perfectly, while OCed, for about a year, I decided to clean everything out and reset the CPU back to stock to fix the heat problems. That was about 6-8 months ago, and I have had no issues since then.
However, about five days ago I was playing a game (WoW Mists on ultra) and I started smelling something burning in the room. At first, I seriously didn't know if the house was on fire or if it was my PC. The smell was very strong and pungent, and smelled something like burning plastic, or maybe even burning hair. I turned around to look in my room and I swear I could barely make out some steam fizzling away (I say "swear" because it was late and I might have been loopy and seeing things because I was, of course, freaking out). I quickly shutdown and unplugged everything and decided to take a look inside the next day. When I did, I didn't find any signs of damage on the inside, although I was not able to get a "completely thorough" look-through because I did not feel comfortable removing the water cooler (I wouldn't mind doing it if I really knew what I was doing). I thought that maybe the PSU blew, but I couldnt find any evidence there. As far as I know, nothing is wrong with the mobo or CPU. My guess at the time was that dust or a hair from my cat got into the PC somehow and got fried. I cleaned out dust for a while (it was pretty dusty) and put the window back on.
The computer was unplugged and untouched for three days (I was out of town on a trip), and when I got back, I was able to boot it up with no problems. I checked BIOS, looked over all of the CPU temps, voltages, etc, and I haven't been able to find anything wrong. I figured I had guessed right, the dust problem was messing it up. I was even able to play games fine for a couple days. Then, when I was gaming, I noticed my frame rate had dropped for some reason. I shutdown and checked BIOS and apparently my CPU was at a dangerously high temp. I don't remember the exact numbers at the time, but I did wait for it to cool off for 15 mins, booted it back up, and it was back to a normal temp.
I downloaded RealTemp and have been monitoring my CPU temp while in Windows and doing various things on my PC. The temp right now, for example, is at 68-70 C, and all I am doing is running Chrome. However, when gaming, it heats up to 98 C pretty fast, and at that point, the CPU has to slow down to cool off (hence my frame rate drop). The CPU stays at around 1.1GHZ to keep at 95-98 C (lol).
So, obviously I know I have a cooling issue. However, I do have a few other questions...for example, what the heck was burning?? Is it possible that my radiator coolant actually evaporated and steamed out somehow from the extremely high temps? I have seen temps over 100 C during this whole ordeal. Or could it have just been dust or hair getting fried on something inside, from the extremely high temps? Or, is it possible that one of either the PSU, mobo, GPU, or CPU, etc. actually DID get fried, but somehow still works? Is that even possible?
Also, I should say that the smell stuck around in the room for several days after the initial scare, and at times, like when my PC is very stressed from gaming, I can KIND of smell a very slight burning scent. I have just attributed this to the very strong burning that happened last week, and that the scent I smell now (it comes and goes randomly) is just the leftover smell of whatever got fried.
Right now, I plan on reapplying thermal paste to the CPU, although I don't really know how to do that with my water cooler. I am also up for upgrading my fans inside, or maybe even replacing the water cooler for an air cooler.
If this is posted in the wrong forum, I apologize
I would appreciate any and all help!
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