Question Motherboard/cpu upgrade adive needed.

[nozgo1]

Well, I guess I just messed up. I have an old pc I built that I wanted to max upgrade to use as a home server for plex and some games. The mobo/cpu are as follows
Gigabyte 970A-DS3P with an AMD FX 6300 6 core.
So, what happen was... I just recently spent about $400 on parts to upgrade.
4x 8gb ddr3 ram
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
1tb ssd
6tb HD
It was previously powering down and locking up randomly and I had hoped the upgrades would solve the issue. I was running windows 10 prior to and after upgrading parts. I used rufus to work around the windows 11 unsuported mobo/cpu issue and got everything running fine... until it wasn't. Now it no longer shuts down randomly, but it continuously blue screens with 3-4 different codes. After days of troubleshooting, I am prepared to try a new mobo/upgrade.
SO, long story longer, can anyone lend some advice for a combo that I could buy that would use(be compatible) the ram and video card that would be more stable without being overkill? I really can't afford to spend much more... sigh. Any help is appreciated!

 

[SkyNetRising]

I was running windows 10 prior to and after upgrading parts.
I used rufus to work around the windows 11 unsuported mobo/cpu issue and got everything running fine... until it wasn't.
Now it no longer shuts down randomly, but it continuously blue screens with 3-4 different codes.

So your problems escalated after you upgraded to windows 11 on unsupported hardware.
Return back to windows 10.

Return back to 2x8GB ram configuration. 4 module configuration can introduce stability issues.

 

[Avro Arrow]

It just sounds like you need to get rid of Windows 11 and go back to using 10. I honestly don't know why you'd want to use Windows 11 with an FX CPU but my mother's PC is running Windows 10 Pro and has an FX-8350. It runs just fine so for your server, just switching back to Windows 10 would be fine (or even better, use Linux). Those options would cost you the least (especially Linux). Linux would also extend the life of your CPU because it has much lower processor overhead than Windows. The only problem might be your GTX 1050 because nVidia doesn't make stable Linux drivers like ATi does. I don't think that it'll be a problem though because the GTX 1050 is so old and weak that I'm sure that there are Linux drivers for it by now.

Now, for gaming, the question is, what games? If you only play the kinds of games that a GTX 1050 can handle, then the FX-6300 should be fine just as it is because the GTX 1050 was considered to be a bottom-of-the-barrel card back when it launched seven years ago. That means it should work rather well with an FX-6300 CPU because seven years ago, the FX-6300 was considered to be one of the best gaming CPU values out there.

The only caveat to all of this however is the fact that many games are incompatible with Linux, but some games have a Linux version that works just fine. If your games need Windows, just get rid of W11 and get W10. Since W10 does officially support FX CPUs, your problems should go away immediately.

 

[nozgo1]

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I will try windows 10 first. The problem is, when I was on windows 10, the pc would randomly shut down. I want to run minecraft and Ark Survival Evolved servers, along with plex. I also think I am going to try and re-seat all my components.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I will try windows 10 first. The problem is, when I was on windows 10, the pc would randomly shut down. I want to run minecraft and Ark Survival Evolved servers, along with plex. I also think I am going to try and re-seat all my components.

Windows 11 is not compatible with that processor so that alone makes it a likely candidate for random shut downs. Windows 10 is at least compatible so it's far better for it and what's more, a clean installation of Windows 10 may fix the problems. So definitely do a clean install.

I also agree with changing back to a 2x8GB, 16GB total, memory configuration for that processor. I don't use them but my understanding is those servers get along fine on 8GB or less memory and not much else needs more than 16GB so it just makes sense to give the processor what it works best with: 1 DIMM per channel.

Another thing to look at is your PSU: how old is it and what brand & model? An old, dodgy, PSU that's suddenly loaded up with a big HDD and new GPU to power may just decide to start delivering droopy +12V and leave the system unstable. When looking at power delivery rating from PSU keep in mind a modern system uses +12V almost exclusively for everything but older PSU's delivered a sizeable amount of their total power on +3V and +5V. So a "450W" PSU might deliver only 130W for what matters: CPU, GPU, memory, HDD platter drive motors. And that's only when brand new.