Just asking to see if these upgraded components check out!

Sweaters

Honorable
Dec 5, 2012
20
0
10,510
I'm planning on upgrading my desktop since I've just purchased a laptop that somehow runs better than it! The rig is about three years old and now I'm going to fix it up since I don't want it just sitting around. All I need to know is if the parts I've chosen will work together and everything! I'm at the point where I'm sure I could figure out installing the parts into the case, but I don't know much about specific details.


Current Mobo: Asus M4N68T-M-V2 ( http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3/M4N68TM_V2/ )
New Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514 )


Current GPU: Nvidia GTS 450
New: HIS Radeon 7850 2 GB ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161406 )


Current RAM: Unsure. Corsair (2 x 2 GB), although it shouldn't matter if I'm replacing basically everything.
New RAM: Ripjaw (2 x 4 GB) ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314 )


Current CPU: Phenom II X4 955 (3.2 Ghz)
New CPU: AMD FX-6300 Vishera (3.5 GHz) ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113286 )



I'd just like to know if my computer will run fairly well if I connect all of these parts correctly, clean out my case, and repair install Windows 7 so that it recognizes the new parts.

This is the first time I'll have ever opened up a computer to work on it, so I need some expert help on this one. Thanks.
 

Sweaters

Honorable
Dec 5, 2012
20
0
10,510
That's one of the things I still have to check, but I know it was at least 500W if I remember correctly. This rig is a gaming PC that I bought awhile back when I was 16, something like my first actual PC that I saved up for a year to get.

Being a dumbass, I've lost all of the paperwork to it and I'm somewhat scared to crack it open and look at the parts for fear of breaking something. I know it also has liquid cooling, which I don't want to go anywhere near since a buddy of mine had some leaking issues that ruined his processor.

As for the Windows 7 install, I'm not sure if I'll be able to. I guess this topic should be in Prebuilt considering this PC was assembled by a company before it was shipped to me. I'm just doing an overhaul and replacing most parts.

I know that W7 came installed and I imagine the code to activate it is somewhere on the back of the case. Would I just need to somehow uninstall/reinstall by entering the same code?


Sorry for the trouble, not even out of High School so I'm kind of new to the PC world.
 

darth pravus

Honorable
Nov 9, 2012
1,552
0
11,960
Now that@s a different story. If it has a whole WC loop then will need new blocks for the CPU and GPU and you will have to drain down and refill the loop.

If it's closed loop then it's not too difficult but it might not fit your new board.

You needed to crack before ordering to be honest.

You can get any disk and you should be able to re-install by the code on the case. Some PC's have a partition you can default to so it's factory fresh.
 

Sweaters

Honorable
Dec 5, 2012
20
0
10,510


I'll crack open my case today to see how things look. I need to clean everything out anyways since it's been on my carpet floor in my dusty room, running for practically half of two years now.

I suppose getting myself integrated with the inner workings of my computer is necessary if I'm going to start tinkering with the parts.
 

Sweaters

Honorable
Dec 5, 2012
20
0
10,510


I'm already afraid that I'll shock something important and nuke the entire rig.
I guess this counts as initiation into the technology world.

The good thing is that I haven't actually ordered yet out of fear that something wouldn't work. I guess I did something right.

Now to figure out if I have a closed loop or not. What exactly does that mean again?
 

Sweaters

Honorable
Dec 5, 2012
20
0
10,510


Finally cracked it open to find dust everywhere. I was able to locate all of the components, but I'm still not entirely sure what my cooling system is. Call me a simpleton if you will, but technical stuff makes my head hurt.

The water cooling can be described as two pipes connected to two parts. One is hooked into the top of the case with a fan leading out the back of the case and the other part is.. some sort of chip inside of a plastic case that is attached to a plate. On the bottom of that is a copper plate that was placed directly against the processor. The pipes connect to opposite sides of the base and these lead over to the part with the fan, connecting to the bottom of it.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but something tells me my processor is running too hot. When I lifted the cooling unit ( the copper plate and everything attached to it), it appears to have melted the label on the processor clean off. There is a bunch of white muck on the spot where it was pressed against the processor and only the name of the processor is visible. I cleaned it and the processor off.

What should I do about the cooling system?

Also my power supply is 600W.
 

darth pravus

Honorable
Nov 9, 2012
1,552
0
11,960
That's a closed loop. No way to put more coolant in.

It's not a melted sticker, it's something called thermal paste which creates a better seal for heat transfer. you need to reapply more of it before you put it back on.

Also I hope you used pure alcohol or similar to clean it off.

600w will be fine for running the new components however you might need a new CPU cooler if your current liquid situation doesn't fit the new mobo.

Does it look something like this?

http://www.corsair.com/en/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/h/8/h80_rad_fans.png
 

Sweaters

Honorable
Dec 5, 2012
20
0
10,510


Looks almost exactly like that. I'm considering limiting my spending and keeping the motherboard/processor, while still upgrading RAM/GPU.

Also that explains a few things. I cleaned it off with a dry paper towel, but I can rub it down with pure alcohol when I crack again to put new parts in. I noticed the copper plate actually looked burned. There was a black mark, nothing too large, but that's what had me thinking it had been melting plastic or something. Jeez, I feel like a dumbass. I cleaned it off and tried to run the computer again as if everything was normal. It was only on for maybe a minute and everything was extremely jittery and slow. Good thing I didn't do anything taxing with it.

So add http://tinyurl.com/29l3an to my list?

I'd also like to ask another question, but I'm not entirely sure if you'd be able to answer it or not. I never actually turned my four cores on for the first year and a half of owning my PC entirely because I was clueless and new to this and I didn't realize they weren't already turned on.. Now that I know how to actually turn them on, I find that having them on causes my PC to shut down at random. No warning, just blinks and shuts off as if I'd hard-rebooted it. This usually happens if I'm playing a game. Have any idea what could cause this?
 

darth pravus

Honorable
Nov 9, 2012
1,552
0
11,960
IF you've oc'ed it could be unstable and causing the cores to crash out.

I know they sell a tri core which is a defective quad so you chip might have some defects.

I wouldn't use that plate anymore as it sounds like it wouldn't give a good connection for heat transfer. Use microfibre cloth rather than towel as you might static damage it.

Q tips are good i've heard.

Thats a good idea to be honest. The fx series that low down can be slower than the old phenoms. Going to 8gb of ram would help and a new GPU would be a massive gaming boost.

What's you GPU budget?
 

Sweaters

Honorable
Dec 5, 2012
20
0
10,510
Not replacing the motherboard and the processor opens up a lot of spending room for other things, so I don't feel guilty spending a lot on my GPU and ram. I was either going to go for a GTX 660 or the original HD 7850 I had planned on buying a week or two ago. Basically $250 for is the ceiling for my GPU budget, but I might stretch a bit further. The good thing is that the RAM and the thermal paste are cheap, so I could potentially get everything I need without spending more than $300. Do you have any recommendations for GPUs? I mostly play non-taxing stuff like TF2, MMOs, LoL, etc, but there is some heavy-duty stuff that my current card struggles to handle.

Actually now that I think about it, this card has given me a lot of trouble for no reason at all. It should be able to play everything I've tossed at it before, but a lot of games cause FPS drops for extended amounts of time, only to run smooth for one minute and then go back to being slow again. Correct me if I'm wrong, but a GTS 450 should be able to burn through a flash game like Binding of Isaac, and this refuses to. At this point, any replacement is good enough for me.

Never mind about that though.

How much is a new copper plate going to cost me? If it's a lot, I can manage. The burn was pretty insignificant compared to the entire plate, but I did notice my PC becoming a lot noisier after a year or so and I imagine this is why.
 

darth pravus

Honorable
Nov 9, 2012
1,552
0
11,960
It's not a new copper platte. It's a whole new heatsink.

A hyper 212 evo would be cheap and fire for what you need.

Maybe it's your CPU as you cant activate all the cores. It might be damaged from being rubbed with a paper towel or excessive heat.

a 450 should be ok in flash.

A 660 would be a massive upgrade
 

Sweaters

Honorable
Dec 5, 2012
20
0
10,510


I only cleaned it off recently, so it would have been a heat issue if it's an issue with the processor at all. I can activate all of the cores, but it randomly shuts off, mostly when I play LoL. It's weird.

Does this mean I'll be replacing my liquid cooling entirely? It was a very cumbersome thing to move around in the case and I'd be happy with it gone if this will provide better performance for cheap.

Now that I'm confident about moving parts around in my PC, I'm pretty eager to get started on this project.

Hyper 212 Evo, GTX 600, Arctic Silver thermal paste, and 2 x 4 GB sticks of RAM should be enough then?
 

Sweaters

Honorable
Dec 5, 2012
20
0
10,510


It came free with the system. Some special deal on Cyberpower at Christmas time.

Apply new thermal paste, install the new fan, install the GPU, and the new RAM! Got it.

Sweet! Thanks for the help and everything. I guess I know what all I need to do now, so this problem has probably been solved.
 

Sweaters

Honorable
Dec 5, 2012
20
0
10,510


Bought a new GPU and replaced the RAM no problem, but I thought I'd try to run with my current cooling before I went and replaced the liquid system entirely.

Turns out my current CPU spikes to unknown temperatures if I try to turn all of the cores on for more than half a minute, and then it fails due to overheating. The max recommended temp for my processor is 62 C and I've been running at probably 80-100, so I'm not surprised there are burns on the radiator.

At one core it idles at something like 98C so I'm definitely not going to do much with it for fear of damaging it completely.

I'm afraid the processor might already be damaged from the heat.

Replacing the cooling system soon because I am sick of this awful thing not working. Nothing more until then, other than being happy about Christmas and having everything installed.
 

Sweaters

Honorable
Dec 5, 2012
20
0
10,510


Either the temperatures were right or I had things plugged in wrong and I was getting incorrect readings.

The important thing is that the backplate for the watercooling unit refuses to come off of the motherboard. I've tried using a hair dryer and pulling and etc, but it refuses to. I guess I'll just upgrade it and use the old processor in the new one.


Here's to a little project turning into a full-blown rebuild.
 

Sweaters

Honorable
Dec 5, 2012
20
0
10,510


OK! So instead of ever actually buying a new motherboard, I've managed to pry the back plate off of the motherboard and install the new CPU fan. Everything seems to work and it's running cool, except for the fact that nothing appears to be running at all.

I hear a single beep and the fans turn on, but the LEDs that are usually on don't turn on and my monitor doesn't react at all.

Any idea as to what the problem could be? This is the first time I had to go and mess around with cords so it may be due to being plugged in incorrectly. I can post pictures if need be.