Computer booting problems+burning smell

Question

So yesterday, I was playing a game and my computer suddenly turned off and starts the burning smell. I tried turning on the computer again and it did turn on the light and all but nothing was showing on the monitor. The smell is still there so I turned off the computer again and took the PSU and that's where the smell comes from.

I'll buy a new PSU later but I just need to know if there is anything I've missed regarding this or any parts that need to be replaced?

Answer 1

PSU's are in my experience the most failing part in modern PC's. Especially when you use gaming GPU. Why that happens? Several reasons:

• Over time electronic components age and their performance drops, if you buy 500W PSU today, because of that aging and depending on the quality over time the peak power it can provide will drop. So 2 years later it might fail even at 400W peaks.
• We always add more components to our PCs, new disk to hold more stuff, more powerfull video, more memory, etc. but we rarely think about power. Unless it fails. This increases power consumption. The PSU will hold, to some degree, then bang!
• Good cooling is major factor when it comes to component aging. To keep your PC running well regularly clean it from dust which blocks cooling. Best way is compressed air or the blowing exhaus that many vacuum cleaners have. Dont use suction, its not effective and you might suck parts of the PC :)
• Gaming GPU's use a lot of power and stress the PSU. If you have powerfull GPU its essential to buy good quality PSU with enough exess power to handle peak power consumption.
• When buying new PSU always lookup the max current at the 12V rail, thats where the GPU is pulling most power. Wattage is irrelevant if your PSU is not able to provide enough power at 12V. More W PSU will generaly have more Amps of current on the 12V rail but that's all you can tell :)
• When PSUs fail or overload they might briefly provide higher than nominal voltage which might in turn blow more components. Good PSUs have overvoltage protection. That's why you should never cheap out on PSU. Bad PSU can damage your entire PC, get a good one!
• When buying PSU always get one that has at least little bit more power than you need. This will ensure you have enough peak power capacity for future upgrades and compensate for aging.
• If your machine starts to behave erratically, sudden freezes, graphics corruption, black screens, lack of power is one of the first things you should suspect, the other being overheating.