Replacement parts for existing Gaming Rig

Gingervitis

Hi all,

I tried replacing the stock CPU cooler with a Hyper 212 cooler, and it looks like I've taken the motherboard out. Time for an upgrade (it was a 6 year old build, so I'm not expecting to find a compatible 1155 motherboard for a 2nd generation i7 that may not even work any more... Just looking for a solid low to mid-tier CPU+Motherboard+RAM combo. Intel or AMD would be fine

1. What is your budget? [€350, but willing to go cheaper to match existing hardware and game performance expectations]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Gaming] (Overwatch, Titanfall 2, most modern games at between 60 & 120FPS @ 1920*1080)

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [No]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [1 TB HDD, 250GB SSD (Samsung evo) / Case - not sure, but similar to a Sharkoon T9 - Mid ATX? / PSU - Seasonic G550 / have DVD drive (never used, can leave out) / GPU - RX480 8GB Nitro+

5. Do you need a monitor? [No]

5a. If yes, what size do you need. [19'/20'/22'/24'/etc.]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [2 Monitors, one 22" 1920*1080, one 144hz 24" 1920*1080] [No]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [No]

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [No]

8. How can you pay? [Credit Card/Laser]

9. When are you purchasing? [In next week]

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? Limerick



Currently looking at this: http://imgur.com/a/zm0sF

K.O.Kiki

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor (£188.94 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI - B350M BAZOOKA Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£76.98 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£74.02 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £339.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-08-03 11:17 BST+0100

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TerrorFirmer

Are you sure the board is dead? 2nd gen i7 is still a good performer, so if the boards not dead it would be a shame to waste it unnecessarily. Also, you could get a 2nd hand decent S1155 board for €60-70, which is obviously far more economical than spending €400!

That said if you are going for a total upgrade, I would also take the Ryzen over the i5.

Other options include 2nd hand S1150 i7 for €200 (adverts - i7-4790) + new board (H81M) for €50, wouldn't be more than €250 and you could re-use your old ram.

Gingervitis

Thanks for the replies.

Unfortunately, I just don't have the resources or spare hardware to test what the actual fault is on the board. I sent it in to a computer shop in Limerick, and spent 120 euro for them to give me bad information (they told my the GPU was toast, but someone else tested it and said it was good, so I can't really trust them.

Therefore, I'd be wary about trying to flog the i7 2600 without knowing if it would work. Given that I caused this fault with my attempt to replace the cooler, I couldn't even say that I have the know-how or wherewithal to replace it properly. Fortunately, I'm working in an IT department, so I shouldn't have trouble getting real help to assemble it.

This, coupled with a desire to keep somewhat future proof in terms of upgrading, means I'll bite the bullet and go ahead with K.O. Kiki's recommendation.

What's €400 if it gives me another 6 years of gaming ?

SickBoy

Gingervitis wrote: »

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [No]

Get the ASUS AMD PRIME A320M-K for £61 and save a few €s.
You're not going to overclock so it doesn't really matter which board you get.

K.O.Kiki

SickBoy wrote: »

Get the ASUS AMD PRIME A320M-K for £61 and save a few €s.
You're not going to overclock so it doesn't really matter which board you get.

Not worth the savings tbh, OP might change their mind in 2 years.

SickBoy

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Not worth the savings tbh, OP might change their mind in 2 years.

True

TerrorFirmer

You're probably right, it's best to just bite the bullet and get with a modern DDR4 platform - just irritating when your original machine is perfectly good otherwise, and to see somewhere charge €120 for a totally false diagnosis is really maddening!

Did you have to remove the motherboard to install the 212? Is the machine actually dead, or turning off with no image, etc? I still feel that there's a very good chance there's nothing hugely wrong with it....the shop probably figured they weren't bothered spending the time it would take to sort it/find out what was really wrong so just fobbed you off with whatever excuse.

It's very unlikely the CPU is dead but I get what you mean about not being 100%.

Gingervitis

I had to remove the board from the case. Then, when removing the stock cooler, the plastic backplate broke, meaning I couldn't take off the last screw. I may have been a bit too enthusiastic with my efforts to get purchase on the screw. Plus, no anti-static bracelet and doing the work with paper underneath may be the culprit. Need to read "Electricity for Dummies" again.

A guy in work said he could power on the motherboard (fans spinning, beep etc,) but no output to the screen.

Guess I'll turn this problem into an opportunity. Anyway, the reason I was upgrading in the first place was because the temperatures were way too high - >95 degrees under load. I can't be sure, but my guess is that's why Titanfall 2 started crashing my system - black screen, restart button wouldn't work, cold reboot required.