Question CPU Fan Exhaust has a strong smell

retab12332

Member
May 7, 2020
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Hi, the exhaust from the CPU fan is causing a strong electrical or rubbery odor. Computer temperatures top at around early 50s Celsius. Desktop is OEM DELL Optiplex 7010 Small Form Factor. Everything is running smoothly. Just that strong smell.
 

Markfw

Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
May 16, 2002
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Due to the way that Dell cools their CPU's it could be coming from the motherboard. Since the whole system appears to be only worth $150 (googled it) I would just work on saving for a replacement system.
 

bigboxes

Lifer
Apr 6, 2002
38,485
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In the old days, that was always the PSU crapping out. I remember where sites like this would talk of their issues. One day, I smelt "that smell". It was my Antec dying. Mid 2000's?
 
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chrisjames61

Senior member
Dec 31, 2013
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Hi, the exhaust from the CPU fan is causing a strong electrical or rubbery odor. Computer temperatures top at around early 50s Celsius. Desktop is OEM DELL Optiplex 7010 Small Form Factor. Everything is running smoothly. Just that strong smell.

Open your case and do two things. First look for anything like burnt components. Then actually sniff around the psu see if there is any residual odor.
 

beginner99

Diamond Member
Jun 2, 2009
5,208
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OK, it's an ancient system. Did you just buy this used or have you owned it for a while and the smell just started? In the later case there certainly is more room for concern as something has changed.

given the age I would assume no warranty to opening up the system and cleaning it might help with the smell. However if you bought it used just recently who knows where this system sat for the last 8 years? maybe as a PC in a rubber factory having 8 years to "ingest" rubber smell? Yeah kidding a bit but you get the point.

Or said otherwise, more information needed.
 

chrisjames61

Senior member
Dec 31, 2013
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It's a common problem that sometimes CPU makes loud noise with a strong smell. Generic fans and heatsinks are made as cheaply as possible to minimize costs. Small fans need to spin faster to move the air fast enough to cool the heatsink, the faster the fan spins, the more noise it produces. Fan blade design and case design can also make a big difference in how much noise the fan makes. In simple words, low down your GPU usage and make sure you never use the large application as they will produce more heat and smell too.

The larger the surface area of the heat sink the less airflow need to cool it (in general); so ideally you want a large heatsink with lots of fins and a large diameter, slow rpm fan, except not all cases have enough room for this.

Choose a case with good airflow, good quality CPU heatsink and fans, and the PC can be so quiet, the loudest sound is the HDD spinning up.

Uh, what?
Every oem office computer ever made are built with the cheapest of components yet I have never seen this as an issue. "It's a common problem that sometimes CPU makes loud noise with a strong smell".