Hello,
I am facing a bit of a dilemma and I really hope that you guys can help me make the correct decision!
I have to start with a short story of what is happening, so please bear with me.
It all started about a month ago, when my PC refused to boot - fans would spin, but no picture whatsoever on the display (no beeps either). I tested a couple of different monitors, I tried plugging out the video card and running with the integrated one, but to no avail. I ended up giving it to a repair shop for diagnostics, and they managed to fix it by re-flashing the bios (and updating it to the latest one). I was happily using my computer up until yesterday, when the same problem occurred. Today I went back to the repair shop, but this time they were unable to fix it and said that my mobo is pretty much gone. The thing is that they are out of 1155 motherboards and in general boards with this socket are pretty hard to find in my area. International shipping is potentially an option, but I am one of those people that enjoys spending quite a bit of time on his home PC, so I might be a bit too impatient for that.
My dilemma - should I upgrade to a new motherboard/CPU/ram (keeping the rest of the current hardware), or try harder to hunt a new 1155 mobo (or maybe even resort to looking for a second hand one?).
My current configuration:
- CPU: i5-3570K (Had it overclocked to 4.2 - GHz for a few years with no problems whatsoever, but in the recent months my system started becoming unstable and I removed the overclock - maybe it was caused by the motherboard?)
- CPU Cooler: CoolerMaster 212 Evo
- RAM: 2x4GB 1600 MHz Kingston HyperX
- GPU: Sapphire Radeon 7770HD
- SSD: 120GB HyperX Fury
- HDD: 1TB Western Digital Blue
- PSU: 600W Fortron FSP
What I use the system for: The games that I play the vast majority of my time are League of Legends (1080p 60Hz) and Hearthstone, both of which do not require a powerful GPU (I do enjoy streaming them from time to time, but from my understanding that's a CPU-bound process). I do some light Java development and like to have a bunch of Chrome tabs open.
Option 1: Look harder for a new 1155 motherboard; Failing that, get a 2nd hand mobo.
EDIT: Managed to track down a couple of "new" (as in pretty old, but unopened) ASROCK boards. From my understanding ASROCK is not a very reputable brand when it comes to motherboards, so I am wondering weather either one of them a viable option to help me carry on for some time? (bot cost about 50€)
ASROCK H61M-DGS, H61
ASROCK H61M-VG4, H61
Option 2: Upgrade to a 1151 motherboard, potentially going for an i5-6600K or potentially an i7-6700 and 2x8GB DDR4. That would also involve trying to sell my old i5 and ram, but not sure if I can get a good price selling those.
I guess my real question is - would that upgrade feel like a difference to my general day-to-day usage. I am ok with spending up to 500€ for that (hopefully recovering some of it by selling my old parts), but if it would be a negligible difference I think that I would rather save the money.
Thanks you so much for your help!
I am facing a bit of a dilemma and I really hope that you guys can help me make the correct decision!
I have to start with a short story of what is happening, so please bear with me.
It all started about a month ago, when my PC refused to boot - fans would spin, but no picture whatsoever on the display (no beeps either). I tested a couple of different monitors, I tried plugging out the video card and running with the integrated one, but to no avail. I ended up giving it to a repair shop for diagnostics, and they managed to fix it by re-flashing the bios (and updating it to the latest one). I was happily using my computer up until yesterday, when the same problem occurred. Today I went back to the repair shop, but this time they were unable to fix it and said that my mobo is pretty much gone. The thing is that they are out of 1155 motherboards and in general boards with this socket are pretty hard to find in my area. International shipping is potentially an option, but I am one of those people that enjoys spending quite a bit of time on his home PC, so I might be a bit too impatient for that.
My dilemma - should I upgrade to a new motherboard/CPU/ram (keeping the rest of the current hardware), or try harder to hunt a new 1155 mobo (or maybe even resort to looking for a second hand one?).
My current configuration:
- CPU: i5-3570K (Had it overclocked to 4.2 - GHz for a few years with no problems whatsoever, but in the recent months my system started becoming unstable and I removed the overclock - maybe it was caused by the motherboard?)
- CPU Cooler: CoolerMaster 212 Evo
- RAM: 2x4GB 1600 MHz Kingston HyperX
- GPU: Sapphire Radeon 7770HD
- SSD: 120GB HyperX Fury
- HDD: 1TB Western Digital Blue
- PSU: 600W Fortron FSP
What I use the system for: The games that I play the vast majority of my time are League of Legends (1080p 60Hz) and Hearthstone, both of which do not require a powerful GPU (I do enjoy streaming them from time to time, but from my understanding that's a CPU-bound process). I do some light Java development and like to have a bunch of Chrome tabs open.
Option 1: Look harder for a new 1155 motherboard; Failing that, get a 2nd hand mobo.
EDIT: Managed to track down a couple of "new" (as in pretty old, but unopened) ASROCK boards. From my understanding ASROCK is not a very reputable brand when it comes to motherboards, so I am wondering weather either one of them a viable option to help me carry on for some time? (bot cost about 50€)
ASROCK H61M-DGS, H61
ASROCK H61M-VG4, H61
Option 2: Upgrade to a 1151 motherboard, potentially going for an i5-6600K or potentially an i7-6700 and 2x8GB DDR4. That would also involve trying to sell my old i5 and ram, but not sure if I can get a good price selling those.
I guess my real question is - would that upgrade feel like a difference to my general day-to-day usage. I am ok with spending up to 500€ for that (hopefully recovering some of it by selling my old parts), but if it would be a negligible difference I think that I would rather save the money.
Thanks you so much for your help!