Scorchio

[polycrac]

So after a long day of hard use (gaming, browsing and moving files), I heard a 'pop', and then briefly smelled burning.

I switched it off and checked the case. I couldn't see anything amiss inside and my nose isn't sensitive enough to find the cause. The PC still works fine, one intake fan has failed, but I don't think that was working previously. All other fans (GPU, CPU cooler, 2x intake and 1x exhaust are working fine). It was last night that this happened and I've worked on it all day today with no issues.

Its a PCS PC, (2700x with a 2080ti added, full spec to follow). Seven years old and seen a LOT of use over that time - it is very much out of warrantee and I'm amazed it made it this far with so little trouble.

My questions are:

What are the common failure points and what should my steps be to find out what went wrong?

Aside from making sure I've all files of importance backed up in online and offline storage, is there anything else I should do with a possibly dying PC?

For a while now, I've been tempted to get a new one, but have been too tight to spend while my old one does the job. I was about to try and upgrade to a 5700X3D, as a partial upgrade, but I'm loath to spend on that in case its on its way out anyway. I'm thinking a motherboard or PSU failure might be enough to tempt me into getting a new PC, rather than spending to prolong this one's life, but I'd like to hear people's opinions on this.

Case
CORSAIR OBSIDIAN SERIES™ 500D SE CASE
Promotional Item
FREE Assassin's Creed: Odyssey with select SAMSUNG NVMe SSDs!

Promotional Code CLMK-K8AY-XWAL-4TM9
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X Eight Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.35GHz/20MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
Gigabyte X470 AORUS Ultra Gaming: ATX, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2933MHz ~ (2 x 8GB)

Change to: 16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3400MB/R, 2300MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H100x Hydro Cooler w/ PCS Liquid Series Ultra Quiet Fans
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
1x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days

 

[Martinr36]

So what monitor are you playing on, and what's the budget for a new pc , not forgetting if you're scrapping this one you can use the W10 license to upgrade to W11, so can save yourself about £110

 

[polycrac]

I'm on a Acer predator 1440p, 160 hz monitor, but if I was taking the plunge on a new PC, I'd probably get a new monitor, too - looking for around £3.5k including approx 700 for the monitor. I can be flexible on the price, I never regretted a penny of the money I spent on the last one, but I'm not sure if the jump to 4k is worth it for me - again, I'd be keen to hear from those who moved up to 4k

I checked with HWmonitor and the thing that stood out to me was the GPU at 107+ degrees. To control fan noise and manage temps in Total War Warhammer 3, I'd been capping my fps at 40 for a while, so that seems a bit extreme. I suspect the GPU has been slowly cooking itself for a while.

Edit: I'd already upgraded Windows to 11, no need for a license. I get Office for free through my work account, too.