Smelly GPU

Sandycheeks

Sandycheeks

Sandycheeks

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Bought a second-hand GPU recently and I can smell cigarette smoke on it, like it had a 60 a day habit.
How do I rid it of the smell?

I suppose I should just hang a magic-tree air freshener next to it.

Don't really want to strip it down but might have to if it continues.
 
Difficult without stripping it down. I bought a pair of headphones second hand with the same issue. The smell went away after about a week.
 
Alcohol wipes? on the bits you can clean? Use an air duster to rid of any dust. Other than that strip it down and use q buds with alcohol.
Can you smell it outside of the case?
 
A more serious reply

Running something (probably not furmark) that heats up the GPU might actually help evaporate the volatile compounds that you can smell, dumping all the smell out in one go leaving you with a less smelly card. So maybe try looping heaven overnight or something (if you are happy to do that)

Can you really smell the GPU from where you sit? Thats pretty amazing lol
 
foster grant said:
It is lol..I smoke and I cant smell smoke off mine.....never have done :)
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You are immune to it though. I used to fix my sister in laws pc all the time when she clicked on some crap she saw on Facebook even though I told her to stop doing it. She smokes and the smell from her pc was so disgusting it used to make me feel sick. She couldn't smell anything.
 
I had simmilar issue before. Oced it to the max and ran as possible for 2 days. Horrible smell went away. Can obviosly lower the fan speed and not oc the card :)
 
I would definitely try just running it for a few weeks and see if the smell just comes off by itself. Outside of that just wipe the outside of the heatsink with a alcohol wipe and dust off the PCB/Fan.
 
Sandycheeks said:
Bought a second-hand GPU recently and I can smell cigarette smoke on it, like it had a 60 a day habit.
How do I rid it of the smell?

I suppose I should just hang a magic-tree air freshener next to it.

Don't really want to strip it down but might have to if it continues.
Click to expand...

Hi is this the card you got off the forums and had trouble with the seller. ANd as strange as this question may sound a) was the guys name David and by any chance b)he was based in cardiff?
 
I bought a 290 a few years back ( not from the MM ) and when it arrived it was the same. I stripped it and cleaned it but it was never right. not long after the fans started rattling like mad. managed to get replacement fans but the card died not long after..

I must admit Im a smoker but Ive never seen any of my hardware get smelly or marked. but im guilty of cleaning it every 2 to 3 weeks as we have pets.
plus I tend not to smoke in the house as we have kids.
 
Sandycheeks>So basically by not answering you are answering;)

At first I thought it was a coincidence when I saw the username of the seller. But for some reason I thought it might be the same person I thought of.

I know the guy from years back when we belonged to the same battlefield gaming commuinity/forum.

I have dealt with him twice I do believe. He sold me a 8800gtx years ago when sli 8800gtx was the thing and I had no issues. The second time was not directly his fault but because the deal was going through him their were issues. Iwas selling I do belive a intel Q9450 and his cousin/brother wanted it I can;t remember. Anyway a price was agreed and we agreed to meet up to exchange cash and the CPU with this acquaintance. WHich was ideal as at the time his work place was literally round the corner from mine which was less than 5 mins away if that.

So I go there they both don't show. I ring them both no answer. I then spend the next hour or so waiting with no phone calls recieved from either. I come back home miffed but I never lost any money and still had my cpu so there was that. Over the next few days I tried to get in touch but to no avail. Because I have dealt with him before and he seems okay enough I ring again but this time stopping my phone number been given out he answer and then tells me something came up at the last moment with his acquaintance and no longer can afford it. THat's fine these things happen but dont waste people time and at least keep an open channel of commuinication.

I haven;t spoken to him since regarding that incident. But the reason I posted when you mentioned smelly gpu smelling of smoke was the first thing I noticed about him when I first met him was the state of his teeth. They were heavily stained with tobacco and the state they were in. Have you ever seen a person teeth who heavily smokes meth or takes amphetamines over a period of time? well his teeth look like that but yellow with the staining of tobacco. That's how I knew it was him as I know he only ever has nvidia cards as well.

Now I am not saying that he is dodgy per se. But when you learn that apparently he once found a dead body in his house combine with all the other things means that he has a lot going on in his life.
 
AdamScott85 said:
People who smoke don't realise how disgusting it is and can never smell it, smoking is vile and pointless.
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I would disagree with that.
I don't know if its because I don't smoke heavy ( about 10 to 12 a day ) or if its because I smoke roll ups but I can walk into a place where someone smokes 30 or 40 a day and I can smell it. also if Im working on a car that belongs to a smoker I smell it when I get into it ( I don't smoke in my car )

also the smell of standard cigarettes turns my stomach
 
jbh110tdi said:
I would disagree with that.
I don't know if its because I don't smoke heavy ( about 10 to 12 a day ) or if its because I smoke roll ups but I can walk into a place where someone smokes 30 or 40 a day and I can smell it. also if Im working on a car that belongs to a smoker I smell it when I get into it ( I don't smoke in my car )

also the smell of standard cigarettes turns my stomach
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It does depend if you smoke much in the house also, if you live in and smoke 30 a day without opening a window it's going to stink but of you only smoke 5 in the house with the window open it will go away fast. Non smokers view btw.
 
I have never smoked, I can tell if someone smokes straight away every time and it always stinks. a lot of smokers I know seem to think there is no smell, trust me there is always a smell and it is always disgusting. I won't even let people in my home who smoke, I find it that vile. The only people I let in my home, are people who I know don't smoke. Anyone else won't get past the door. In fact this is how much I dislike it, I was in a relationship for 4 years with a woman a few years back, she came home from the pub one night and stunk of it, I asked her had she been smoking and she said she had 1. She was booted out 10 minutes later and all of her stuff was thrown out into the yard. If you want to stink of ashtrays good on you, but it's not for me. It doesn't matter what it is you are smoking, it all make you stink of ** Fully Star out all swearing **. I just don't get it, it is a massive waste of money, it makes you smell like a tramp and it slowly kills you... And so many fools still do it. As for the op and the smelly card, I would probably strip it down and clean it, then change the cooler.
 
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