Show I wait to build a PC. Or just buy a new board.

[michaelroberts9000]

So I built my first PC almost 5 years ago in that time it seem like I had 2 motherboards die. The first one (GIGABYTE GA-Z87-D3HP) Died after years 2 years and the second one (ASUS Z97-AR-R ) died this week . I first was new and the second was refurbished . I was about too buy a new one an was thinking it might be better to just build a new system.

Only issue was I wasn't bottled necked at all and was able to play most games at 1080p 60fps+ on med or high. I can afford to buy a new motherboard but I'm wondering if my CPU is causing my boards to die for some random reason and I'm not OK with by buying a new board every 2 years. And its getting harder to find a 1150 mother board these days that isn't over priced or heavily used.

If I go with the completely new system route the only things i would be able to save from my old system would be at power supply and hard drives. It would probably take me about 6-9 months to save up 700-1000 to build a new system.

My friends are telling me to just buy a new cheap motherboard now and then save up for the new system. The only problem with that is i know if my pc works then I'm going to not be diligent with my saving and if the current trend keeps up I won't have a enough saved up when/if the board dies again.

Also i was wondering if a CPU could kill a mother board. Both times there where no signs of failure before the board died.

 

[rhoban]

If the VRMs are weak, they won't last long.
Especially when you OC. Both are Z chipsets, so I assume you have a K cpu that is overclocked?
The VRM on the Gigabyte board does look a bit weak.

A CPU can kill the motherboard by drawing too much power, frying the VRMs over time.

 

[drea.drechsler]

I should think if the CPU was causing failure it would kill it very quickly, if not instantly. But then if you're overclocking heavily, especially in a case with poor ventilation, that could do it.

A bad power supply could do it too: especially one with a poorly regulated 12V rail.

 

[velocityg4]

I'd also suspect the PSU. Motherboards rarely fail on their own. Sure it happens but it is something I rarely come across doing doing IT service. I suppose the CPU could do it under OC under the conditions already stated. Even then it's not likely unless you were really pushing the overclock or had horrendous cooling.

Outside of that. If you live in an area with dirty power. Brownouts, surges, frequency variations, &c. In which case you need a good UPS that also acts as a line conditioner. A top quality PSU also mitigates a lot of these problems.