GFX card compatibility

corblimey

A long time ago, I built a PC from parts bought from HWVS. Unfortunately, within 6 months, it had died, possibly due to lightning strike, possibly due to my incompetence. I'm now considering getting back into the PC gaming game, but I was hoping it would be cheaper to bring back the expensive doorstop than buy a whole new rig.

As far as I can gather, the 2 most important things about a gaming PC are the GFX card and the processor (I guess RAM and mobo are up there somewhere too). What I don't want is to fix this PC with a new mobo say, only to find that I need a new GFX card or a new processor or more RAM or whatever. At some point, it'd be better to buy a whole new future-proofed rig. When I bought this PC, I wasn't thinking about gaming on it.

I've used gpuboss.com to compare the GFX card against the min and recommended cards for an average game. It scores 6.5 v 5.8 against the min card, but 6.5 v 7.2 against the recommended card. This suggests to me that this particular game will probably run but not on a high resolution etc. Am I right?

As far as the processor goes, I got a quad-core i5-3570K 3.4 GHZ which is slightly better than the recommended i5-3470, 3.20GHz, so assuming 3.4 > 3.2, I'm set there.

If it's better to get a sturdier, more future proofed system, can I get some build advice?

1. What is your budget? e1000

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? Not sure, I have an OEM copy of Win7 (?) but I'm not sure if I'll be able to install that on a different PC. Accounts vary.

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? Yes, I think I can use the RAM (8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance Low Profile schwarz PC3-12800U CL9), SSD (Crucial M4 256GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5")), HD (WD Caviar Green 1TB, SATA 6Gb/s). Other parts could be frankensteined over, but chances are I'd get HWVS to do the heavy lifting on this, so I think I need to buy from them the minimum needed to get a working PC in the post

5. Do you need a monitor? No

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? No

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Yes

8. How can you pay? Credit Card/Paypal/bank draft

9. When are you purchasing? Depends on if it's worth trying to bring old PC back from the brink.

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? Plan on letting HWVS do it.

game4it70

I'd definitely be trying to sort out the pc you have first.
It may only be one component thats broken and would be worth trying to sort it.

Have you any friends that could help you swap out parts to test?
If it was a lightening strike it would be most likely the psu that could be damaged imo.
What brand an model is it as if it was a decent one it should have protected the rest of your components.

What actually happened it and what happens when you try to boot the pc?

corblimey

I woke up one morning to a completely dead PC. The PSU (Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W) appeared to be dead, so went out and got a new one, which didn't work either - the new PSU at least spun up. At that point, because I needed a PC, I went out and bought a cheapie from PCWorld, rendering this one to the shed. It's a self-build, so brand and model n/a.

I was planning on bringing it to 1 of 2 PC repair shops in the city to see what the deal is, but like I said, I'd prefer not to spend time and money on getting this fixed only to find it's already out of date wrt PC gaming.

Digital Solitude

Your CPU is more than powerful enough for gaming for the next 2-3 years.

Remove the graphics card and see if it boots using the onboard graphics, if not then you might as well bring it in and see what is actually broken in it

corblimey

Well nothing lights up on the mobo with the new PSU in, so I'm fairly certain it's dead. I'm happy with the CPU, but I think the GFX card could use a little boost. Nothing wrong with getting just a GFX card though if I can bring the rest of the PC back to life.

jayo26

corblimey wrote: »

Well nothing lights up on the mobo with the new PSU in, so I'm fairly certain it's dead. I'm happy with the CPU, but I think the GFX card could use a little boost. Nothing wrong with getting just a GFX card though if I can bring the rest of the PC back to life.

Is the CPU socket 1150? Maybe try getting a new mobo is what I would do at least that way your getting something that is adaptable with all the newer top end cards and cpu but all your build is still close to top spec, what graphics card have you? I didn't see it posted but maybe I've missed it.

corblimey

Found my HWVS receipt. These are the 4 main parts I bought back in 2012, apparently (!)

CPU Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155
Mobo ASRock Z77 Pro4-M, Sockel 1155, mATX
RAM 8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance Low Profile schwarz PC3-12800U CL9
GFX ASUS EAH7770-DC-1GD5 V2, AMD Radeon HD 7770, 1GB, PCI-Express

Good point about the socket though - if I have to replace the motherboard, I'm going to need another 1155 presumably, otherwise I'd have to buy a new CPU (which itself could be busted too).

Lu Tze

You are better off trying to isolate the problem, or at least narrow it down, before you go buying something.

As suggest above, remove the graphics card, and the had drives as well (just disconnect them) and see if it works.

If no joy, see if you can borrow a socket 1155 motherboard off somebody to test using that. Alternatively take a good look at you motherboard and see if there are any leaking/bulging capacitors on the board that might indicate damage.

You could also put your graphics card in a friends computer to see if that is the cause or not.

Edit: You could also remove all but 1 stick of ram when trying to narrow it down. Do you have the motherboard speaker plugged in? Getting any beep codes?

corblimey

Ok, I have neither the skill nor inclination to investigate this myself, but going out and buying a new PC seems like a daft proposition without at least giving it to someone to have a go at repairing it. I guess worst case scenario would be a dead mobo and cpu which while the most expensive parts of any build after the gpu, would still be a lot better than shelling out for a sub-standard pre-built. Then I could upgrade the gpu in a few months if needed.

Tomorrow, I'm popping over to a guy on the southside of Cork, referenced in another thread here on Boards, see if he can sort me out.

corblimey

Free slightly broken GFX card to the person who can guess what was wrong with my PC

Actually, it wasn't just the GFX card, at some point I also disconnected the power button, presumably when I was changing the PSU and never bothered to plug it back in, cos why would ya?

Anyway, it's working, the game I had my eye on is working and I'm happy. The GFX card does need to be upgraded at some point, but that's a problem for another day.

jayo26

corblimey wrote: »

Free slightly broken GFX card to the person who can guess what was wrong with my PC

Actually, it wasn't just the GFX card, at some point I also disconnected the power button, presumably when I was changing the PSU and never bothered to plug it back in, cos why would ya?

Anyway, it's working, the game I had my eye on is working and I'm happy. The GFX card does need to be upgraded at some point, but that's a problem for another day.

Brilliant mate delighted to hear it.