New player coming from the 4x genre...

[Felithvian]

With a messed up motherboard due to a nuclear fusion from my 7950 GT Apg. You see, one day I noticed this strange odour coming from my pc, I didn't give it much importance. Later, in a Skyrim marathon, my pc shut down completely. Looks like a burnt capacitor from my GPU nearly fried almost every PCI slot, including my Xfi sound card (Using the "In Board Piece of Crap" Sound Device) and my Ageia Physic card, however the Ram slots, HDD & CPU seem intact.

I replaced a new capacitor with a differential increase in voltage. The GPU barely works correctly when displaying 3d environments (Computer restarts after heavy usage), however the pc seems to work correctly during 2d game sessions (DosBox games, UO, Worms Armageddon, etc).

I tested my GPU in another computer and it seemed to work correctly, so I'm thinking it's the AGP Slot. Anways, I'm not in the mood for a new MB.

So here I am, squeezing the last bit of juice from this computer while playing the best MMORPG.

[Batlin]

In the event your graphics card can't handle this game, try lowering your resolution from 32-bit colours to 16-bit colours.

Have fun on UOSA!

[Felithvian]

Thanks. If things get worse, I'll definitely do that.

I think the problem was a constant exposure to heat due to Skyrim's engine (Which "was" the best optimized engine I've ever seen from Bethesda).

Perhaps the electrolyte caused the strange smell.

Word of advice, if you ever smell ammonia in your case box, shut down the computer and check the location of such smell (You might find an easy solution by replacing a dead/leaked capacitor before it's too late).