Did something burn out?

So, I was running this pretty demanding game today and after about two hours, something just... popped. Then my PC went totally dead. Now I’m sitting here wondering if everything inside just fried or if it's just a few specific components... About a year ago, I did a little overclocking on my Intel Core i7-6700K, and honestly, that's the only thing I've ever messed with in the BIOS. Everything seemed fine until now, though it used to be a bit finicky about booting up sometimes, but I didn't think much of it at the time. When I opened the case, the power supply and the graphics card felt way hotter than the processor, which feels weird since I never even touched the clock speeds on the GPU. So, what does that actually mean? Did the whole system go up in smoke, or is it just the PSU or maybe just the CPU? Any idea how I could actually test this out... help me out here

Unfortunately, there isn't really a quick fix for this one—nobody can just wave a magic wand and solve it. Your best bet is to go through a process of elimination by testing every single component one by one. To do that properly, you’re going to need a different motherboard that uses the exact same socket as your current processor, just so you can rule things out.

If you don't have a spare board lying around, it might be worth taking everything over to a local repair shop for a professional diagnostic.

It used to struggle to boot up on the first try -> maybe a faulty PSU or some blown capacitors. What kind of build are we talking about here, and which power supply are you using?

Power supply is 230V, 4A, 50Hz... probably. Got some AMD card in there, something from the 7790 series I think. CPU is an Intel Dual Core, maybe an Intel Core i7-6700K or something similar... 2.6 GHz, actually, though I might be remembering it running at 2.8 or 2.9... can't quite recall anymore. Might be the power supply itself... honestly, the whole thing is just choked with dust. Haven't even bothered to vacuum it out in three years...

Give it a sniff—if you catch a burnt smell, then the capacitors probably blew, which would explain that popping sound you heard.

The only real question is whether the PSU took anything else down with it, since this unit is pretty weak to begin with.

Look, the Intel Core i7-6700K isn't exactly a power hog, but once you start overclocking, it’ll easily pull 100W—just like the GPU. Add in a basic stock cooler and, let's be real, there's a 99% chance someone's running some ancient, no-name power supply from a decade ago. A total dream setup right there. Honestly, the poor thing fought hard 😬

It’s almost certainly the PSU. Just start praying it didn't take anything else down with it...

George Sanders37 said:Give it a sniff—if you catch a burnt smell, then the capacitors probably blew, which would explain that popping sound you heard.

The only real question is whether the PSU took anything else down with it, since this unit is pretty weak to begin with.

Everything smells fine now... but man, when that thing finally blew, my whole room was absolutely stinking... 🕺

You might as well toss that power supply straight into the trash. Your best bet is just to use the process of elimination to figure out what else died along with it—assuming you can find someone with a compatible motherboard to test things with.

AC 230V 4A 50Hz doesn't really tell us much, I guess. We probably need the actual brand and model number from the power supply label

fadedorca66 said:AC 230V 4A 50Hz doesn't really tell us much, I guess. We probably need the actual brand and model number from the power supply label

Logitech Unifying Receiver

You could probably just toss the power supply in the trash and pray it didn't take anything else down with it