GA-H77M-D3H i7-3770S "electronics" smell after 8 days

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spcmhe
Posts: 26
Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2012 8:50 am

GA-H77M-D3H i7-3770S "electronics" smell after 8 days

Post by spcmhe » Tue Nov 27, 2012 11:34 pm

My build:

GA-H77M-D3H(rev. 1.1), i7-3770S, not overclocked, BIOS: F9
no video card, 120GB SSD (no hard disk), no add-on cards
Crucial 8GB (2x4GB), 1600 (8-8-8-24)
Seasonic SS-400FL fanless power supply
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo cooler (using one push fan)
Silverstone PS07 case (using just one of the two front case fans, at low speed), Win 7 64-bit SP1

After running more than one week (24 hours a day at full load), the motherboard is still emitting an irritating "electronics" smell.

Idle core temps (via Realtemp) are about 27C; full load core temps max at 64C (well under 103C, which I believe is TJ Max for the i7-3770S).

The memory cards are cool. The blue (Northbridge?) heatsink is warm to somewhat hot to the touch.

No smoke, but the smell eventually fills the room, and is slightly caustic.

The main source of the smell is coming out the lower back of the case, from the exhaust of the heatsink fan, which pushes air through the heatsink, and then comes out of lower back vents of the case.

A small odor is coming from the (fanless) power supply, which vents out the top of the case. I don't think the power supply is the problem.

Total input power (measured by Kill-a-Watt) is 27W at idle, and 96W at full (Prime95) load.

The smell is more obvious at full load -- and dissipates only after the computer is turned off.

To eliminate the heatsink fan as a source, I removed it and ran the system at 30% load (resulting in max temps of 65C). Same smell.

I have two theories:

1. The smell is coming from the motherboard. If so, for how long, and can anything be done?

2. The (heated) thermal paste is giving off a smell. (I applied a "pea size" amount.)

Cooler Master says that neither the paste nor the heatsink is producing an odor -- and that the problem is probably a bad capacitor.

I can see all the capacitors, and they show no signs of leakage or cracking. Also, the board has performed properly so far (no crashes or blue screens).

Gigabyte has not yet responded to my support submission.

As the temps at full load seem good, I'm reluctant to reapply thermal paste -- but will do so if necessary.

Suggestions?

P.S. On the bright side, the system is both cool and quiet.

xan_user
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Re: GA-H77M-D3H i7-3770S "electronics" smell after 8 days

Post by xan_user » Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:17 am

i know you said you think its not the psu...but i had a similar issue with a psu before. do you have another one you can swap in and try?

spcmhe
Posts: 26
Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2012 8:50 am

Re: GA-H77M-D3H i7-3770S "electronics" smell after 8 days

Post by spcmhe » Wed Nov 28, 2012 6:19 pm

xan_user wrote:i know you said you think its not the psu...but i had a similar issue with a psu before. do you have another one you can swap in and try?
Thanks for your input.

I might be able to use a power supply from another computer.

But the reason I don't think the Seasonic fanless X-400 is the source is that both its vented sides (top and back) face the outside of the case, relatively far from the CPU fan which is near the bottom of the case. There is hardly any smell coming out of the two PSU vents. But there is a strong smell in the air coming out of the bottom back of the case, propelled by the heatsink fan.

Das_Saunamies
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Re: GA-H77M-D3H i7-3770S "electronics" smell after 8 days

Post by Das_Saunamies » Sat Dec 22, 2012 5:45 am

More than likely the PCB. I've never heard of a smelly TIM or case fan.

You could try a burn-in by running high loads and high fan speeds for an extended period of time. If it's a coating or a protective layer that needs to solidify or dissipate then burn-in is the way to go. If it's a busted component then I'd get an RMA in, but it's hard to know with no actual fault symptoms.

My boards have never smelled for longer than a day, usually not even that.

spcmhe
Posts: 26
Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2012 8:50 am

Re: GA-H77M-D3H i7-3770S "electronics" smell after 8 days

Post by spcmhe » Sat Mar 29, 2014 12:29 pm

Update (which I should have posted much sooner):

About 20 days after my last post (Nov 2012), I replaced the stock thermal paste with Arctic MX-2, and shortly after that the smell went away.

But since the smell was already reducing, I don't know if changing the paste really made any difference. It could easily have been a burn-in issue with some other component.

The CPU temps are slightly less with the new paste, but just slightly -- and I might have done a better job of applying it. Just don't know.

In any case, the system has been running well ever since.

Thanks to all for your comments.

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