[SOLVED] Cpu choice

George_229

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Hello everyone.
As of yesterday evening, my motherboard VRM section fried. I will be taking the computer to the repair shop to ensure from pros that it is the motherboard at fault and not say psu, just in case, or gpu.
In lieu with that, unless it is easily fixable, I am thinking about getting a new mobo and a cpu. What should I go for?

My current specs are:

Intel i5 7500
Gtx 1070 seahawk
H110m-C motherboard
2 sticks of ddr4 2133 mhz Ripjsaw memory
Evga 750w platinum psu
Barracuda 1TB hdd
Kingston 250gb sad.
Samsung 840 Evo 500 GB Ssd.

Thoughts?
 
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PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($418.61 @ Amazon Canada)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Macho Rev.B 73.6 CFM CPU Cooler ($106.96 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: MSI B450 Gaming Plus MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard ($148.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($133.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case ($134.50 @ Vuugo)
Total: $942.56
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-20 13:27 EDT-0400
Are you JUST doing the platform, meaning CPU and motherboard? Because just about anything you would be wise to look at is going to really be better off with faster memory than what you have. You might consider just trying to sell that memory or possibly hanging onto it for backup and troubleshooting purposes down the road or on other systems.

What do you think your budget for this upgrade might look like?

What makes you think the VRMs on your current motherboard are "fried"? Probably a waste of money to take it to a shop, money that could be put towards the upgrade. Something like that is likely going to cost you around a hundred bucks for them to tell you something that maybe you already know or can determine for yourself.
 

George_229

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I'll be changing ram too as required. My budget for cpu and motherboard is around 700-900 $ cad.
I believe it is the vrm that is fried as that is the motherboard area which is currently not operating properly. CPU fans turn on. GPU fans and liquid pump turns on properly. DvD optical drive works properly. Ssd and HDD are working as I tried then on a different machine. Ram sticks i can't check as the motherboard doesn't provide me with any feedback even when both ram sticks are out of their slots. Led on the mobo does not turn on either. Psu is tested and is working on another machine. :( I never thought of Ram speed mattering. And yeah... I know anything will be better than the cpu or motherboard I currently have as I bought it quite a while back... any suggestion is helpful! ^_^)b
 

Turtle Rig

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I second the moderator. No point in taking it to shop and waisting 80 bucks especially in these times. You can catch covid-19 unless their wearing a mask as well as you. But I must agree a waiste of time and with the CPU you have now it is not the greatest CPU in the world or of that generation and is lacking hyperthreading. Or HT for short which gives your CPU a 35 percent max increase bosst. As each core gets to have a thread which is not really a physically cpu core but through technology and AMD has their own way of this it brings a nice increase to apps that use HT like Photoshop and Premiere and Illustrator and 3d modeling autocad etc. Also DAW apps as well if your a producer. Games right now don't really know how to take full advantage of HT so games are not HT optimized and really a 8 core 9700k lets say doesn't need those extra threads unless you do live streaming on top of the gaming your doing. But desktop apps office apps etc general desktop stuff is not HT optimized or AMD version SMT. How long do you want to keep this new CPU and MOBO and RAM ? Also your PSU is a keeper. Your motherboard fried so no need to take it in store once again. So you can keep all your goodies you have a SSD already you have a large internet hard drive which I don't recommend however external hard drives are ok as you can turn them off if you get a proper brand that has on off switch. Usually you would want your games on a SSD or M.2 same thing as specs say otherwise but real world performrance if you already have a OS SSD a M.2 SSD won't make things any faster. But then again this depends if you have 2 M.2 sticks or your RAID or you have multiple SSD's then the M.2 will shine but it is not a crazy difference. So stick with everything and good news you don't have to RE OS once you get your new motherboard and CPU and RAM as if your using Windows 10 just plug it in and let her boot up. 100 percent this works Ive done it before and Linus has done it on his reviews many times. Your wondering if things will slow down I say no, because it removes your old drivers and mobo stuff and puts in new ones. You will have a super system and no need to RE OS install apps again configure your OS again to your liking and install games all over again. In closing my final suggestion is grab a AMD system if your on a budget and Intel if money won't be a real issue. If your going AMD just grab a X570 MSI motherboard the cheapest model and not ITX either. Then grab a 3700x or 3800x but if you have the money and wan't longevity then grab the 3900x as it is a great value for 12 cores 24 SMT. You can couple the MOBO and RAM with a nice RAM Kit that won't be expensive. I recommend grabbing a G.Skill Ripjaws 3200Mhz at least if your on the AMD platform, as Intel tops at that barely and doesn't care about anything above 3200Mhz. So your RAM choice depends on your motherboard and CPU choise. If your going team blue then grab a Z390 motherboard with a 9900k which has dropped price by 100 dollars. Grab a Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Elite board my old man has one with a 9900k and 3200Mhz G.Skill 32GB Kit with a EVGA but bronze 350watt 80 rating, while yours is better and more quality. He paired this with a M.2 Intel 1GB drive and couple externals and some SSD's and his system has not froozen BSODs or crashed not even once. Not a single time and its been a while, In a couple month it will be about a year. Also the build worked instantly. The only problem is his RAM won't run above 2133Mhz and once I got it to run at 3200Mhz with Easy Tuner software but after some shut downs and what not the BIOS gave error upon boot and computer keeps turning off and on by itself and had to go to BIOS and save as 2133Mhz. I don't know why this is but I have a feeling it has to do with the BIOS as it is using once that is farely older and there have been couple revisions. If this is the case you can also opt for a MSI Z390 board.

At the end of the day the 4 extra cores of the AMD system will take in effect in a couple years and you will be glad about your decision. Not only you don't pay a steep price like Intel but you get a system that is for the future and the only thing honestly you would need to ever upgade is your video card. Speaking of video cards you have a fairly good one for 1080p high settings all AA all nvidia options turned on. However at 2k res it will fall a bit if all the nVidia options are on and AAA titles are at highest or Ultra High settings. This all depends on what monitor you have a 60hz then your 1070 will last a long time still. If you have 144hz gaming monitor then can still keep yoru 1070 but I would upgrade in about 3 years and at that same time upgarde your monitor to a 144hz if that is you already don't have one now. Anyhow that is about it any further questions go ahead with them. Thank you 💯
 

George_229

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Hmm. I do a lot of office applications for work and I do do digital arting as a hobby, which is why I got gtx 1070 seahawk when I first built my pc. I still think it's a super good gpu... for the few games that I do ever play like new cod or league of legends, even my i5 7500 and gtx 1070 pair ran fine on ultra everything at good 78 fps. That set aside, are amd cpus that much better now? I remember upgrading from fx 8370e to it 7500 and I kinda.... hate that upgrade to date. Haha...
 
@Turtle Rig, if you can't do better than that wall of text, please, leave off. Seriously. We very much appreciate paragraphs and at least some effort at coherent sentence structure. That, is just a mess. If you're on a phone, I get it, but it doesn't make it any more acceptable man.

Not trying to be on your case, really, it's a heads up because I'm not the only one noticing it and I'm sure you'd like to avoid that kind of attention. Thanks.
 

Turtle Rig

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@Turtle Rig, if you can't do better than that wall of text, please, leave off. Seriously. We very much appreciate paragraphs and at least some effort at coherent sentence structure. That, is just a mess. If you're on a phone, I get it, but it doesn't make it any more acceptable man.

Not trying to be on your case, really, it's a heads up because I'm not the only one noticing it and I'm sure you'd like to avoid that kind of attention. Thanks.
I apologize I went on a rant a positive one but a rant. Im sorry forgive me I will say TLDR and also will split paragraphs from now on. Thank you again for heads up 💚
 
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So, how do you know that "that part of the motherboard isn't working", since the VRMs are the power delivery and cleanup portion and there really ISN'T anything to see as far as what those components do? There must be a reason why you think the VRMs are "fried", and it can't be something tangible. If the VRMs were shot, nothing on the board would likely work, or not work for long, because the motherboard would heat up and shut down either very quickly or immediately, in severe cases.
 

George_229

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So, how do you know that "that part of the motherboard isn't working", since the VRMs are the power delivery and cleanup portion and there really ISN'T anything to see as far as what those components do? There must be a reason why you think the VRMs are "fried", and it can't be something tangible. If the VRMs were shot, nothing on the board would likely work, or not work for long, because the motherboard would heat up and shut down either very quickly or immediately, in severe cases.
That is the only tangible part of the motherboard I have left that I can point towards. All the other components worked, with exception of RAM.
The system is not posting, at all.

I could explain what exactly happened and how I came to this, if you require me to.
 
So let's ask a few questions regarding desirable features on the motherboard.

Do you require WiFi or do you intend to use an ethernet connection?

Are you an overclocker when it comes to the CPU configuration?

Do you have an aftermarket CPU cooler or have you been using the stock cooler for your current rig?

What case model do you have, so that we know what form factors it supports since your current motherboard is a smaller micro ATX model?

How many case fans do you plan to run, so that we can be sure to get a board that has enough fan headers to support the number of case fans you would LIKE to run?

Any RGB considerations at all?
 

Karadjgne

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Oh no.

No excuses 'for a phone' lol.

I'm 99.8% on mobile and have no issues with the ↩ key every so often, especially at a change of thought.

3700x + decent mobo will run @ CAD$670, but good luck finding any 3600 C16 ram, it's sold out everywhere.

Let me guess, you cleaned the cpu cooler and now nothing works?
 

George_229

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Please, do that.

Yesterday afternoon, I was doing work on the computer on excel and post completion, I launched a Warhammer Total war to play before I headed off to work. Fast forward 15 minutes after my lunch and upon returning to computer, the game was stuck (as in crashed), and neither my mouse or the keyboard were responding (The red led and the blue Led were gone).

The image of the game was still present on the display.

No artifacts from the gpu that I observed.

I rebooted the computer, only to be met with a black screen, no boot, and "No display detected" on the screen.

Post rebooting again and getting the same message, I thought something happened with the gpu so I removed the display cable and plugged it into the motherboard display port (the one that is attached to the motherboard). Result? No display and neither keyboard or mouse were on, again.

Opened pc tower and started checking for any loose connections. None were found, but I removed everything and re-installed them. Booted up the pc - nothing. Fans spin on cpu, computer power button works, led turns on, pause fans turn on, and gpu fan (below the gpu) and the water pump radiator fan, both turn on. Furthermore, the gpu starts pumping thr liquid without a problem.

No display, yet again.

I uninstalled one Ram stick and swapped places. No display.

Uninstalled both Rams and booted. No display and no beeping sound or Led flash from the motherboard about missing both ram sticks.

I removed absolutely every component from the case and one by one, checked them. HadHead-on off - no display. Ssd data disconnected too - no display.

I took the psu downstairs to my brother's pc and launched it. - no problems with the psu. It works fine. No failure. No smoke. No odd noises, no sudden shutdowns even when launching ac odyssey game thing (hope I did not butcher the name).

Swapped his gtx 1050 Ti with 1070, it worked fine and the temps displayed were all normal.

That is how I came to the conclusion thet it has to be VRM as aside the cpu fan, no other part of the motherboard is working. I don't have the equipment to check each pins for voltage, which is why I was thinking about taking it to the computer shop.

Thank you for hearing me out and I apologize for the long post.

And above all, thank you for all the replies! It might not show that I am panicking but I am quite in a panic mode... this computer has been with me for 4 years and i am quite attached to it, even if it is just a hardware.
 

George_229

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Oh no.

No excuses 'for a phone' lol.

I'm 99.8% on mobile and have no issues with the ↩ key every so often, especially at a change of thought.

3700x + decent mobo will run @ CAD$670, but good luck finding any 3600 C16 ram, it's sold out everywhere.

Let me guess, you cleaned the cpu cooler and now nothing works?

I wish. But alas, no. I replied to the moderator. It is a bit more complicated than that.

:)
 
Ok, so it was a low end motherboard to begin with, and it was used for gaming, so there's every chance that it was simply not up to the task of a demanding system for years on end. Probably agree here, good chance it is the motherboard.

Unfortunately, your panic level is likely to go UP because at the end of it all there may be a very good chance you are going to need to do a complete CLEAN install of Windows. The good news is, you will almost certainly at least be able to boot the system and backup any important files you didn't already have backed up before having to do so BUT you have to keep in mind that any time you do a platform change, even if it is Intel to Intel or AMD to AMD, when a new chipset and storage controllers are involved, there is every chance that the system will simply NOT want to work correctly, at all, without first doing a clean install. Or it will work but it will be extremely buggy, laggy and error prone.

Usually a clean install is eventually a requirement when you change platforms so doing a clean install and then reinstalling all your programs and games, if they are on the same drive as the operating system, may be a foregone conclusion before all is said and done.

Before we get quite that far though, and kudos for what you've done already, but there is still a chance it could be something else like a faulty drive or failed cooler, so I'd recommend trying this first, if you don't want to just go ahead and do the upgrade anyhow.

You're going to have to pull it all out anyhow to change the parts out, so might as well do the testing anyway.



Assuming it IS the board, and you have to upgrade, do you have a hard fast preference for Intel over AMD, or just whatever offers the most bang for the buck?
 
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George_229

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Ok, so it was a low end motherboard to begin with, and it was used for gaming, so there's every chance that it was simply not up to the task of a demanding system for years on end. Probably agree here, good chance it is the motherboard.

Unfortunately, your panic level is likely to go UP because at the end of it all there may be a very good chance you are going to need to do a complete CLEAN install of Windows. The good news is, you will almost certainly at least be able to boot the system and backup any important files you didn't already have backed up before having to do so BUT you have to keep in mind that any time you do a platform change, even if it is Intel to Intel or AMD to AMD, when a new chipset and storage controllers are involved, there is every chance that the system will simply NOT want to work correctly, at all, without first doing a clean install. Or it will work but it will be extremely buggy, laggy and error prone.

Usually a clean install is eventually a requirement when you change platforms so doing a clean install and then reinstalling all your programs and games, if they are on the same drive as the operating system, may be a foregone conclusion before all is said and done.

Before we get quite that far though, and kudos for what you've done already, but there is still a chance it could be something else like a faulty drive or failed cooler, so I'd recommend trying this first, if you don't want to just go ahead and do the upgrade anyhow.

You're going to have to pull it all out anyhow to change the parts out, so might as well do the testing anyway.



Assuming it IS the board, and you have to upgrade, do you have a hard fast preference for Intel over AMD, or just whatever offers the most bang for the buck?

Re-installing the O.S is not a problem for me whatsoever.

I have no preferences between amd or intel, but from past experience, amd is a bit more user-friendly. Otherwise, no preferences. As long as the quality is all-right. Unfortunately, I never thought that a low-end motherboard could affect the system in such way. Prior to i5 I had the 8370e CPU with a better motherboard but I never thought of it this way. This is a good information to know.
Thank you, yet again!
 

George_229

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Ok, so it was a low end motherboard to begin with, and it was used for gaming, so there's every chance that it was simply not up to the task of a demanding system for years on end. Probably agree here, good chance it is the motherboard.

Unfortunately, your panic level is likely to go UP because at the end of it all there may be a very good chance you are going to need to do a complete CLEAN install of Windows. The good news is, you will almost certainly at least be able to boot the system and backup any important files you didn't already have backed up before having to do so BUT you have to keep in mind that any time you do a platform change, even if it is Intel to Intel or AMD to AMD, when a new chipset and storage controllers are involved, there is every chance that the system will simply NOT want to work correctly, at all, without first doing a clean install. Or it will work but it will be extremely buggy, laggy and error prone.

Usually a clean install is eventually a requirement when you change platforms so doing a clean install and then reinstalling all your programs and games, if they are on the same drive as the operating system, may be a foregone conclusion before all is said and done.

Before we get quite that far though, and kudos for what you've done already, but there is still a chance it could be something else like a faulty drive or failed cooler, so I'd recommend trying this first, if you don't want to just go ahead and do the upgrade anyhow.

You're going to have to pull it all out anyhow to change the parts out, so might as well do the testing anyway.



Assuming it IS the board, and you have to upgrade, do you have a hard fast preference for Intel over AMD, or just whatever offers the most bang for the buck?


Forgot to mention, I did unplug all the drives and check them separately and they are working well and fine, except hdd which is getting older and Ssd where windoesnis installed as I couldn't connect it to my brother's pc. Regardless, even if that ssd was faulty, I did unplug all sata cables to test if the Post would happen and at least a bios would boot. Sadly, nothing.
 
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Swapped his gtx 1050 Ti with 1070, it worked fine and the temps displayed were all normal.

That is how I came to the conclusion thet it has to be VRM as aside the cpu fan, no other part of the motherboard is working.

Checking Ebay, has a page full of these motherboards. Here's an exact replacment for $55 with free shipping. And, it looks new! From Minnesota by a long term seller with 100% positive feedback.

I started to buy that one but I have absolutely too many motherboards on hand.

At this moment in technological time I would replace the motherboard, stand back and hope the power supply is ok and the video posts, then continue on Windowing.

Hang onto the money until the new Nvidia and AMD products launch then have a good look at new stuff, there may be a tidal wave of 'slightly used' Ryzens for sale. Good luck bud!
 

George_229

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Checking Ebay, has a page full of these motherboards. Here's an exact replacment for $55 with free shipping. And, it looks new! From Minnesota by a long term seller with 100% positive feedback.

I started to buy that one but I have absolutely too many motherboards on hand.

At this moment in technological time I would replace the motherboard, stand back and hope the power supply is ok and the video posts, then continue on Windowing.

Hang onto the money until the new Nvidia and AMD products launch then have a good look at new stuff, there may be a tidal wave of 'slightly used' Ryzens for sale. Good luck bud!
I am not looking forward to a gpu upgrade yet. But thank you!
 
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I am not looking forward to a gpu upgrade yet. But thank you!

Ryzen 3600, b550 board, 16gb 3200+ ram, and possibly an aftermarket cooler aswell is doable for under $400.

That's half your budget and is still a big upgrade from a 2 generation old straight quad core intel!

What case are you using?, has a bearing on both board and cooler used.

You could go with something more expensive and with more cores than the 3600 but in all honesty for 99% of users it's totally unnecessary.
If you've been managing with a qaud core until now then 6c/12t is going to be more than enough for your uses.
 

George_229

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Ryzen 3600, b550 board, 16gb 3200+ ram, and possibly an aftermarket cooler aswell is doable for under $400.

That's half your budget and is still a big upgrade from a 2 generation old straight quad core intel!

What case are you using?, has a bearing on both board and cooler used.

You could go with something more expensive and with more cores than the 3600 but in all honesty for 99% of users it's totally unnecessary.
If you've been managing with a qaud core until now then 6c/12t is going to be more than enough for your uses.

Thank you for the reply! I will definitely check that out! As for ram, I am dead set on getting 32 GB as I want to do some 3d modeling for my work projects. I'll check out the processor though!
For my case, I have (what I thought when I was first building a PC to be super cool) a Zalman z10 which is a beefsteak mushed into butter. Yep. Hate this case. So I am planning to separately buy a new case too.
 
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This is what I'd recommend, in your case.

Yes, B550 has some advantages over B450 because it's newer and supports PCIe 4.0, but you aren't replacing your graphics card with a PCIe 4.0 model anytime soon most likely and you're probably not interested or worried about a PCIe 4.0 NVME M.2 drive immediately, besides which there are very few specific situations where that could even translate into something tangible and beneficial anyhow, so even if you wanted to switch to an M.2 NVME drive (IF you don't already have one) the switch to a PCIe 3.0 drive would in truth be just as beneficial. PCIe 4.0, right now, is mainly just a marketing gimmick anyhow. I haven't seen anything that indicates any real world benefits for graphics cards or storage devices, yet. And since B550 boards, especially in your neck of the woods, are rather expensive if you don't want a lower end budget model, while the Gaming Pro Carbon I included is a pretty damn decent board for the price.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($419.50 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: MSI B450 GAMING PRO CARBON MAX WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard ($198.00 @ Vuugo)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($201.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify S2 ATX Mid Tower Case ($219.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $1039.48
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-19 03:38 EDT-0400
 
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George_229

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This is what I'd recommend, in your case.

Yes, B550 has some advantages over B450 because it's newer and supports PCIe 4.0, but you aren't replacing your graphics card with a PCIe 4.0 model anytime soon most likely and you're probably not interested or worried about a PCIe 4.0 NVME M.2 drive immediately, besides which there are very few specific situations where that could even translate into something tangible and beneficial anyhow, so even if you wanted to switch to an M.2 NVME drive (IF you don't already have one) the switch to a PCIe 3.0 drive would in truth be just as beneficial. PCIe 4.0, right now, is mainly just a marketing gimmick anyhow. I haven't seen anything that indicates any real world benefits for graphics cards or storage devices, yet. And since B550 boards, especially in your neck of the woods, are rather expensive if you don't want a lower end budget model, while the Gaming Pro Carbon I included is a pretty damn decent board for the price.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($419.50 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: MSI B450 GAMING PRO CARBON MAX WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard ($198.00 @ Vuugo)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($201.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify S2 ATX Mid Tower Case ($219.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $1039.48
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-19 03:38 EDT-0400

I just checked it out! It looks great and promising. I can get a b550 Tomahawk motherboard with a ryzen 7 3800x bundle. It's in stores at the moment for 700 cad. I can even get ram sticks and a new case ^_^)b