- Sep 13, 2010
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- 18,510
I'm no expert... I might be leaving out important information, so let me know!
I built a system buying most parts from Newegg back in 03/2008 (two and a half years old)
Parts are:
Motherboard: MSI P7N SLI Platinum LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 750i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor BX80562Q6600
Memory: CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C4DHX
Case: APEVIA X-DISCOVERY-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
In 04/2008, I upgraded from something to a new video card:
Video Card: EVGA 512-P3-N861-AR GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
In January 2010, I had a power supply problem, I replaced it with:
Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply
I also have two Western Digital 250GB drives installed (striped) with the NVraid.
I use the PC for playing games, browsing the web, data storage (photos), etc.
Friday, I plugged in an external USB drive, backed up some data, then decided to clean up my HDDs. After running a defrag, the computer was just sitting there, and click. Turns off. I pushed the power button, but got nothing. I opened up the case, and unplugged it, plugged it back in, and pushing the power button makes the fans wiggle (trying to turn for a fraction of a second, but not powering up). I tried to do some online research, unplugged everything inside the case. Tested the PSU using a paper-clip and the fan on the PSU spins. After reading a couple of other posts, people were complaining (with similar issues) that everything spins up when the 8-pin power connector for the CPU is unplugged. I tried that, and I have the same thing. All my fans will spin up, and everything lights up, if I have the 8-pin disconnected from the motherboard. Plugging that back in, nothing comes on.
So I'm thinking it's probably the motherboard. MSI tells me it might be the power supply or the processor still. I think back then, the motherboard only had a 1 year warranty (according to the old link on Newegg), so I'm guessing they're not going to want to replace it. I *could* test the power supply by tearing apart BOTH of my computers, and plugging it into PC2. I really can't test the CPU, since the 2nd machine is AMD. So at this point, since I can't test every part and tell them it's "for sure" the motherboard, and since I can't guarantee they wouldn't just tell me "It's 2 1/2 years old and out of warranty", I'm think it might be time for a new motherboard.
So the question is... Do I buy something I can use with the existing processor/memory? Or is the hardware getting too old and does it make more sense to just get a new motherboard, CPU, memory and GPU? ... I could probably spend the money, but I'm not sure I want to spend too much...
My goal is a system that works very well, medium to medium-to-high performance, and one that doesn't require a lot of tweaking/playing with. I always thought I'd love to be an overclocker and tinker with my stuff, but I'm learning that I *hate* having to tear this thing apart and deal with downtime.
I'm also considering if I do build another PC (or if I have to reinstall anyway, because of a new motherboard) that I'd probably just go out and get Windows 7, instead of installing XP again. Then I came across a bunch of threads around here about SSD (I admit, that's all new to me)... I think that the OCZ Agility 2 OCZSSD2-2AGTE60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) looks awesome, and I'm starting to think SSD for a system/OS drive with Windows 7, and the existing SATA drives I have as data drives... I have no idea how easy that is, or if it's really a good idea. I feel like I would consider building a new machine every 4-5 years....
Any advice? Is it worth just fixing this build and waiting another year or two? I guess some of these questions only I can really answer, but what would you do?
Thanks in advance!
I built a system buying most parts from Newegg back in 03/2008 (two and a half years old)
Parts are:
Motherboard: MSI P7N SLI Platinum LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 750i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor BX80562Q6600
Memory: CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C4DHX
Case: APEVIA X-DISCOVERY-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
In 04/2008, I upgraded from something to a new video card:
Video Card: EVGA 512-P3-N861-AR GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
In January 2010, I had a power supply problem, I replaced it with:
Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply
I also have two Western Digital 250GB drives installed (striped) with the NVraid.
I use the PC for playing games, browsing the web, data storage (photos), etc.
Friday, I plugged in an external USB drive, backed up some data, then decided to clean up my HDDs. After running a defrag, the computer was just sitting there, and click. Turns off. I pushed the power button, but got nothing. I opened up the case, and unplugged it, plugged it back in, and pushing the power button makes the fans wiggle (trying to turn for a fraction of a second, but not powering up). I tried to do some online research, unplugged everything inside the case. Tested the PSU using a paper-clip and the fan on the PSU spins. After reading a couple of other posts, people were complaining (with similar issues) that everything spins up when the 8-pin power connector for the CPU is unplugged. I tried that, and I have the same thing. All my fans will spin up, and everything lights up, if I have the 8-pin disconnected from the motherboard. Plugging that back in, nothing comes on.
So I'm thinking it's probably the motherboard. MSI tells me it might be the power supply or the processor still. I think back then, the motherboard only had a 1 year warranty (according to the old link on Newegg), so I'm guessing they're not going to want to replace it. I *could* test the power supply by tearing apart BOTH of my computers, and plugging it into PC2. I really can't test the CPU, since the 2nd machine is AMD. So at this point, since I can't test every part and tell them it's "for sure" the motherboard, and since I can't guarantee they wouldn't just tell me "It's 2 1/2 years old and out of warranty", I'm think it might be time for a new motherboard.
So the question is... Do I buy something I can use with the existing processor/memory? Or is the hardware getting too old and does it make more sense to just get a new motherboard, CPU, memory and GPU? ... I could probably spend the money, but I'm not sure I want to spend too much...
My goal is a system that works very well, medium to medium-to-high performance, and one that doesn't require a lot of tweaking/playing with. I always thought I'd love to be an overclocker and tinker with my stuff, but I'm learning that I *hate* having to tear this thing apart and deal with downtime.
I'm also considering if I do build another PC (or if I have to reinstall anyway, because of a new motherboard) that I'd probably just go out and get Windows 7, instead of installing XP again. Then I came across a bunch of threads around here about SSD (I admit, that's all new to me)... I think that the OCZ Agility 2 OCZSSD2-2AGTE60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) looks awesome, and I'm starting to think SSD for a system/OS drive with Windows 7, and the existing SATA drives I have as data drives... I have no idea how easy that is, or if it's really a good idea. I feel like I would consider building a new machine every 4-5 years....
Any advice? Is it worth just fixing this build and waiting another year or two? I guess some of these questions only I can really answer, but what would you do?
Thanks in advance!
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