We asked Gamers Nexus: Should PCs smell good?

Computers aren’t really known for smelling like…anything. Maybe a whiff of new device plastic, or a bit of burning dust if you don’t have good cleaning habits. But at Computex 2025, we’re finally getting scented thermal paste. Adam already checked it out with a hands-on (nose-on?) investigation, but now we’re getting input from Steve of Gamers Nexus.

So apparently the idea is that scented thermal paste won’t just smell when you apply it to the CPU. It’ll off-gas (oof, what an unappealing term) when the PC heats up. So the more you’re pushing it, the more it’ll smell…in a good way. That’s the theory, anyway. But it’s not just for CPUs anymore — Yeston, of the anime waifu graphics card designs, apparently makes a Radeon RX 9070 XT with an “ocean-themed fragrance module.” I suppose it could have been worse. Hyte is thinking about doing something similar for packaging, apparently.

Adam’s all for this. But however you feel about scents in your PC parts, it’s not going to be free — the extra hardware and engineering in this stuff will cost extra. Should you pay for it? Steve says no. Adam says he wants a scratch-and-sniff PC case. Well okay then. For hot, smelly takes like that, be sure to subscribe to PCWorld on YouTube and watch our weekly podcast The Full Nerd.