Burning smell from 680

Jas1222 · 30 May 2012 at 21:41

I was playing DayZ last night when I noticed a burning smell coming from my PC, I went to check the temps and it was running at 70c. I immediately quit the game and turned my computer off.

I gave the GPU a once over check and did not notice any signs of damage, no considerable amount of dust but it was hot to touch. I've turned it back on and it seems to be running at 35c idle but its jumping to 38 at some times. Should I be safe? anything to worry about? What checks to do?

Just abit paranoid at the moment, thanks for any help. It's the EVGA normal model, no overclocks or anything done to it.

P.S: I have previously noticed the fan speed increase and hotter temps during running ARMA2 more than any other game.

Rusty0611 · 30 May 2012 at 21:57

Those temperatures aren't symptomatic of the card overheating at all. They're 100% normal. The burning was something else.

Jas1222 · 30 May 2012 at 22:04

That's what confused me, I checked my CPU temps briefly and those were normal, I smelled the PSU and touched it and that was fine.

Cleeecooo · 30 May 2012 at 22:10

It's probably nothing, I sometimes get a plastic burning smell too.

Note: If there's smoke you probably should run.

On Holiday · 30 May 2012 at 22:11

70'c is average.

The worst I done was locked the GPU fan to 30% without realising it, played Crysis 2, and temps were at 100 :/

EDIT: Run MSI Afterburner, and if you don't mind the noise, set fan speed to 100%

Jas1222 · 30 May 2012 at 22:21

Just started playing Starcraft and the temperatures jumped from 35 - 45 in 30 seconds (low settings), the fans are also starting to get a lot louder, I thought I noticed smoke before. I think I might have to RMA.

5 minutes in starcraft and the gpu is blowing out red hot heat at 50c.

Rusty0611 · 30 May 2012 at 22:42

Have you listened to what we've been saying?

50c is cool. 70c isn't hot at all.

Unless there's something else fundamentally wrong with the card your RMA WILL be rejected.

zx|muppet · 30 May 2012 at 22:48

i have had a gtx 280 running at 118c! so 70 really is NOT hot at all!!!!

Jas1222 · 30 May 2012 at 22:48

I have been listening and taking on what you've been saying. But these spikes in temperatures and the heat getting increasingly hot does not seem right. If I left the game running for 20 minutes i'm sure the card would continue to heat up to over 80+.

You could smell the burning from upstairs.

windheaven · 30 May 2012 at 22:49

in these circumstances ..this is what i do..

stick ur wrist band on...open the side panel, turn on ur pc....run a game... stick ur head inside a bit...then start sniffing....

..i'm serious ..you'll get a more acurate idea of where the smell is coming from..

i had a situation like this in the past..and realised the burning smell was the rubber sleeves touching the back of the gpu pcb...

Mysterae_ · 30 May 2012 at 23:22

In the past I've had a fan fail in the psu and started to smell. In another psu it smelled a little before a capacitor in it went pop. Stunk a lot more afterwards

. One was an el'cheapo FSP Group and the other Enermax. Never bought a cheap psu since. I digress...

Have you checked that all fans are spinning that should be? You don't have any cheap led fans or inverters for lighting or such like in your case?

Windheavens method is pretty sound.

Gregster · 30 May 2012 at 23:23

You probably cooked a spider and this is what you could smell. I wouldn't worry about the temp spikes at all.

Akagi · 30 May 2012 at 23:28

Cleeecooo said:
Note: If there's smoke you probably should run.

Cleeecooo · 30 May 2012 at 23:29

acme15 said:

What?

You can thank me when i save your life

OptimaLnrg · 30 May 2012 at 23:31

Got any LED strips? The adhesive on them gives off a strange burning-ish smell.

70c is nothing btw.

wazza300 · 30 May 2012 at 23:34

My 7850 hit 75c today due to the hot weather,expect a burn in smell if the gpu is new,after a week it will go

jallan · 30 May 2012 at 23:34

I noticed my KFA2 EX OC 670 gave off a "fresh" PCB smell, it wasn't burning but when it was warmed it had a stronger smell than when it was cold.

gurusan · 31 May 2012 at 02:16

pretty much all modern gpus will run between 60-90C during gaming....nothing to worry about.

Rroff · 31 May 2012 at 02:25

Its possible you have a loose connection somewhere or a connector/cable that isn't upto the amperage which isn't uncommon with cheap PSUs in conjunction with high end graphic cards.

Rusty0611 · 31 May 2012 at 07:47

Jas1222 said:
I have been listening and taking on what you've been saying. But these spikes in temperatures and the heat getting increasingly hot does not seem right. If I left the game running for 20 minutes i'm sure the card would continue to heat up to over 80+.

You could smell the burning from upstairs.

The fan increases in speed as it gets hotter and even so 80c isn't hot either really.

The spikes in temperatures are normal too. It works like this:

GPU idle = no load and clock down in voltage and core speed - low temperatures
GPU in use = load on the GPU, voltages and core speeds increase - temperatures increase

I don't know what you're expecting but that's just what happens. If you want it to run cooler (for whatever reason) edit your fan profile so the fan blows faster sooner.

I repeat though, there's nothing wrong with the pattern your GPU is displaying. Mine does the same...