Current PC has issues so looking to upgrade

Baggi0 · 9 Sep 2020 at 17:43

Hi all, my PC has just started turning off itself off out of the blue so I thought now is the time to upgrade as its all really old anyway.

Once it's gone off the PC keeps trying to reboot itself but won't even get to POST until I switch it off for a while then it boots up again, is ok for sometimes hours and then randomly turns off again and repeats the above. I've come to the conclusion after trying multiple things that it may be my motherboard so need a complete revamp as I have a 3570k that needs a 1155 socket motherboard so there is no point in buying another one.

My budget is £300-400 and my only thought is to go with a Ryzen 3600, 3600X or XT and the motherboard and ram I need some help with.

Also, I'm looking to get a new GPU later on down the line after I see what AMD are doing to compete with the new 30 series so I don't know if I should be looking at getting a better CPU and a motherboard with PCIe 4.0 so all help is appreciated

Sparx · 9 Sep 2020 at 21:12

Sounds like could be PSU dying as well for all we know

What model PSU and age is it? Do you have an SSD as well btw?

For a CPU/MB/RAM combo I'd roll with the below. You can get 3600 for £180 if look elsewhere. Which would bring total to ~£338 so room to get a PSU if needed.

If you do decide you need a PSU, unfortunately they aren't cheap atm with the pandemic gouging supply/prices still. It'll put you over budget obviously, but if you're looking at a Nvidia 30 series GPU later down the line, like a 3070/80 you prob want at least 750w to be comfortable. So would suggest something like Corsair RM750.

Note1: Board is mATX as cheaper, but if want ATX go for something like GB B550 Aorus Elite instead.

Note2: Also be aware AMD are apparently launching their next-gen CPUs in the next 1-2 months. So depends if you fancy waiting on that before buying. But if your current PC is a little brain dead, you might feel you have no choice but to buy now.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £218.99
1 x Gigabyte B550M AORUS ELITE (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard= £109.99
1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey= £49.99

Total: £378.97 (includes shipping: £0.00)

Baggi0 · 9 Sep 2020 at 21:29

Ryzen 3600 with a MSI MPG B550 Gaming Plus Motherboard for about £280.

Sparx said:
Sounds like could be PSU dying as well for all we know What model PSU and age is it? Do you have an SSD as well btw?

For a CPU/MB/RAM combo I'd roll with the below. You can get 3600 for £180 if look elsewhere. Which would bring total to ~£338 so room to get a PSU if needed.

If you do decide you need a PSU, unfortunately they aren't cheap atm with the pandemic gouging supply/prices still. It'll put you over budget obviously, but if you're looking at a Nvidia 30 series GPU later down the line, like a 3070/80 you prob want at least 750w to be comfortable. So would suggest something like Corsair RM750.

Note1: Board is mATX as cheaper, but if want ATX go for something like GB B550 Aorus Elite instead.

Note2: Also be aware AMD are apparently launching their next-gen CPUs in the next 1-2 months. So depends if you fancy waiting on that before buying. But if your current PC is a little brain dead, you might feel you have no choice but to buy now.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £218.99

1 x Gigabyte B550M AORUS ELITE (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard= £109.99

1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey= £49.99

Total: £378.97 (includes shipping: £0.00)

I bought a new PSU last week because I thought it was originally. I actually bought a Corsair RM750X lol so I've already been hit for a PSU. I have 2 SSDs and today I tried cloning the OS on my SSD to a HDD and removed both SSDs and the same thing happened within 30 minutes.

Thanks for the Combo. I was writing a message I got a notification about a reply here and it was regarding a combo I found and was going to ask for views on it.

It was a Ryzen 3600 with a MSI MPG B550 Gaming Plus Motherboard for about £280. Would that board be better than a ATX B550 Aorus Elite?

Sparx · 9 Sep 2020 at 21:41

Fair enough, PSU will be fine now then

That's a decent deal for £280 - I'd probably go for it at that price!

The X570 version of that mobo was pretty bad for VRM thermals, but seems with the B550 MSI resolved that concern. I found a quick video mentioning it, then later if you flick through shows temps which are pretty decent.

https://youtu.be/HSY9rDsQgd4?t=129

Baggi0 · 10 Sep 2020 at 17:13

Sparx said:
Fair enough, PSU will be fine now then

That's a decent deal for £280 - I'd probably go for it at that price!

The X570 version of that mobo was pretty bad for VRM thermals, but seems with the B550 MSI resolved that concern. I found a quick video mentioning it, then later if you flick through shows temps which are pretty decent.

https://youtu.be/HSY9rDsQgd4?t=129

Sounds like that mobo will do just the job for me then thanks.

I'm in a bit of a pickle now though as you mentioned with AMD bringing out the Zen 3 CPUs. At first i wasn't to bothered but I recently saw a video where they say AMD usually price their new CPUs the same as the ones out currently so it seems pretty silly paying full whack for one now when I can get one which should be a lot better for the same price.

What a bad time for my PC to go **** up lol

Sparx · 10 Sep 2020 at 17:22

3600 still a great CPU - you're not technically paying full whack as that bundle seems discounted by about £50.

No reason couldn't buy now still if need a new system up and running imo.

Worst case if the new '4600' or equivalent CPU is that good and warrants an upgrade, then you could sell 3600 and upgrade for not much loss I'd expect.

Journey · 10 Sep 2020 at 17:26

Assume you've stripped down the whole PC, and cleaned all your parts? Also have you just done a barebones bench test once stripped down? If you've done neither of these they you've just scratched the surface for the fault finding process.

Baggi0 · 12 Sep 2020 at 10:07

Sparx said:
3600 still a great CPU - you're not technically paying full whack as that bundle seems discounted by about £50.

No reason couldn't buy now still if need a new system up and running imo.

Worst case if the new '4600' or equivalent CPU is that good and warrants an upgrade, then you could sell 3600 and upgrade for not much loss I'd expect.

Good point. In the time ive been considering this, the CPU has gone up a tenner lol

Journey said:
Assume you've stripped down the whole PC, and cleaned all your parts? Also have you just done a barebones bench test once stripped down? If you've done neither of these they you've just scratched the surface for the fault finding process.

So I've removed all ram and tried each 1 by 1 in different slots, removed the GPU, removed the CPU and applied fresh thermal paste and bought a new PSU because I didn't have a spare to test it.

I've also cloned the OS on a SSD to a HDD and removed the SSD.

I've sprayed what dust was there out but haven't cleaned any parts though. I have some electrical contact cleaner so ill strip it later and clean it all then do a bare bones test and report back

Journey · 12 Sep 2020 at 10:22

Baggi0 said:
I've sprayed what dust was there out but haven't cleaned any parts though. I have some electrical contact cleaner so ill strip it later and clean it all then do a bare bones test and report back

It's always nice to have a clean and shiny PC afterwards, even if its b0rked.

Baggi0 · 12 Sep 2020 at 19:42

Journey said:
It's always nice to have a clean and shiny PC afterwards, even if its b0rked.

So I've cleaned everything and done a test with only the CPU, SSD and 1 stick of RAM and I still have the same problem, unfortunately. I'm at a loss, sometimes when it does run and I shut it down manually it will shut down but then try to start up over and over again so don't know if that points to something specific?

The other strange thing is when it does switch off and goes into this booting loop, if I pull the power for half an hour it will boot up. I thought this pointed to some temps being high but I've ran AIDA64 extreme stability test on the CPU, FPU, RAM and cache for an hour and the temps are all fine.

Baggi0 · 13 Sep 2020 at 11:51

I tried a new CPU earlier and get the same thing. Pulling the power after and waiting isn't working as much either, I left it overnight and it still wouldn't up boot up lol

Ian Evey · 13 Sep 2020 at 23:43

Baggi0 said:
I tried a new CPU earlier and get the same thing. Pulling the power after and waiting isn't working as much either, I left it overnight and it still wouldn't up boot up lol

You could try the cmos battery, normally a CR32. Will be cheap and might fix it as not even getting to post screen seems to me
Like a motherboard fault.

Journey · 14 Sep 2020 at 00:00

Well as it hasn't worked and you're having no luck, happy to help out a fellow OCUK'er if you are local and want it testing with some known working gubbins.

Baggi0 · 14 Sep 2020 at 07:31

Ian Evey said:
You could try the cmos battery, normally a CR32. Will be cheap and might fix it as not even getting to post screen seems to me
Like a motherboard fault.

Already tried that as well unfortunately and still no joy.

Journey said:
Well as it hasn't worked and you're having no luck, happy to help out a fellow OCUK'er if you are local and want it testing with some known working gubbins.

Thanks for the offer buddy really appreciate it.

I have another old working motherboard (albeit a different manufacturer) I can try as the final test so I’ll give that a go. I’ve already cloned the OS so hopefully I can just boot into safe mode with that as see if it works without having to reinstall Windows.

Baggi0 · 15 Sep 2020 at 19:11

So an update for those following this, I changed the motherboard and put all the other components back on that were on my old PC. After leaving it switched on overnight then running a stability test for a few hours after work, I didn't get one restart so it was the motherboard after all.

On the software said everything seems to be working fine after the swap so at least now I can hold out and wait for the AMD announcements before I take the plunge on a new CPU and Mobo.

Thanks @Sparx @Journey and @Ian Evey for the help. I'll probably be needing it again in a couple of months

Journey · 15 Sep 2020 at 19:13

Great news!

Sparx · 15 Sep 2020 at 19:16

Happy days buddy.

Ian Evey · 15 Sep 2020 at 20:55

Well done, glad it’s sorted.