Ongoing issues with my system, debating a rebuild, new build or even a mobile device

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adambean

adambean

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Mar 8, 2010
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Hey all,

Been fighting on and off random issues for years. Built my system in early 2010 (see below). It performs well and does its job; however it's obviously aged and I would ideally like something faster for some of today's games. Reality is, I don't have time for gaming outside of some occasional Diablo 3. Still though, I want to ensure I have enough horsepower to handle games for when I do find the time.

I just recently replaced the SSD which did help quite a bit, primarily for the constant checkdisk startup issues. I keep going back and forth between W7 and W8 trying to find which is the lesser of two evils for these issues. In W7 I deal with random screen tears & second monitor not coming on after resuming from sleep, checkdisk on startup, and used to (haven't seen since the last format) random BSOD's. When I go to W8.1, I deal with random lag and freeze ups, both in Windows and even in Diablo 3 ... very odd. I know it's not my SSD nor software. I've updated my mobo to the latest firmware (from a couple years ago) and am just frustrated on what to do.

I was debating replacing the mobo with the Crosshair V; however I kind of wanted to move away from AMD this time around and pick up an Intel mobo/cpu and an Nvidia GPU because the ongoing issues I've had with this machine.

Now what I also do need to throw out there though is that ... I've shorted out my machine, at least 50 times. I have no humidifier in my house and constantly charge up static electricity when walking through my living room into my office. Typically If I touch my tower, it shuts it off. There's obviously a very good possibility that because of this, I've messed up the components. This makes me nervous about building new while still in this house being that the static electricity is not going away anytime soon.

Anyway, just in a cross roads type situation. Do I replace piece by piece? Do I build new? Do I buy a custom from an online company? Do I buy used? Do I move to a mobile device like a Razer Blade? I realize this is all on me; however I'm so out of the hardware scene these days and I'm just not sure what direction to go. I feel like the old man in this world by having a massive tower (Cooler Master HAF X) still when I feel like everyone is going smaller/mobile. Being that most of my desktop builds, I rarely if at all ever replace/upgrade components vs. doing a new build ... part of me says go with the Razer Blade. Problem there is though, that I would want a docking station.

Any random thoughts on the matter are very much so welcome.

Thanks

Mobo - ASUS Crosshair IV: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131644

Memory - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (4 x 2GB): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303

HDD - SAMSUNG 840 EVO: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA29P1EC5222

CPU - AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103849

GPU - XFX HD-587X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5870 1GB : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150476

Thanks all

Thanks
 


I'm not a hardcore enthusiast but I must ask... What sort of things are you doing with this? It should be pretty good by my thoughts... EDIT: Hold it that gpu looks a bit old.
Maybe replace the gpu, mobo and cpu together? Something like:
CPU: AMD fx 6300
GPU: HD 7870 or R270x or maybe a gtx 760
Mobo: Anything that fits your four-channel ram and the am3+ processors.
 
Go with what your gut feeling tells you.

Gpu upgrade is the only thing i can recomend.
If you feel that the Razer will give the excitement of driving a new car, then go for it.
if you have money and time to burn, build a new system.
 
Problem is, just knowing what to replace. I can't isolate where these random issues are coming from. Being that I've redone my O/S ... dozens of times, and replaced my SSD, I know that's not the culprit. I also replaced one of the dimm's not that long ago and ran a memtest ... so memory is also solid.

At this point, it has to be mobo and/or gpu. The gpu yeah, it's old at this point. So I was thinking maybe start with the gpu and see how things go ... next up would be to replace the mobo? I don't put that much constraint on memory or cpu with what I do between gaming and development, so I don't think I "need" to replace them quite yet. There is one note though on the CPU. Every now and then, on startup, one of my six core's get disabled. Typically when I re-enable it, first launch, I freeze up; however thereafter it works again. Quite odd, but does it warrant replacing it? Probably not...

As for the mobo. ASUS is obviously no longer supporting it. The drivers are more than two years old and when I wrote them asking for W8 support, they stated that it's not compatible. Which obviously isn't true as it does work. Not yet sure if that warrants the replacement of not; however the Crosshair V seems like a good upgrade; however is it worth it? Probably not. I don't overclock or really know what I'm doing outside of building and using the machine.

Recommendations on the GPU? R9-270X seems to be the fan favorite yeah? Any particular brand better than than the other? I was thinking the ASUS? http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-R9270X-DC2T-2GD5-Graphics-Cards/dp/B00FW4A5YU

Thanks all!
 
well the cpu do seem quite odd, but for diagnosis of problems that you encountered, well there's very little that i can help with since the span of time is 4 years.

for the gpu, the r9 270x is indeed good, if you can stretch your budget gtx 760.
r9 280x is great as well.
 
This is my first AMD GPU and overall, I just haven't been all that happy with it (again, random oddities). The mobo I have though is designed for AMD right ... what do I lose If I go nvidia again? Just the ability to use dual cards? Ideally, I'd love to rebuild and go Intel mobo which means replacing of everything ... but again I just don't know if it's worth it to go all in at this point, or just incremental upgrades to resolve whatever is going on with my hardware that I've destroyed.

Is there an overall favorite these days between AMD and nVidia? Seems like through the years, it's a back and forth with minimal differences in benchmarks. While I do consider myself a gamer, a few points in a benchmark is somewhat irrelevant to me. I just want to be able to enjoy my games on good to great settings without having to mess with stuff. My current card handles everything I want to play relatively well; however I can definitely feel the age from time to time and some slowdown.

Regardless, same question applies between 270, 280, 290, 760, 770, 780 ... any particular brand better than the other or does it not matter?
 
well actually AMD is the fan favorite as of now.... especially for gaming since next-gen consoles are amd build.

its not good to just side with one brand of GPU, since games like any corporation made product, will be biased towards their sponsors. but all in all both GPU brands will offer you something good.

as for recommendation, it depends on your budget.
 
I'm open to anything really. Ideally I'd like to get away with not spending a ton; however obviously I'd like to have something that's going to last several years again.

If I'm sticking with AMD for now, I suppose starting with the GPU is a good place. Meaning, maybe around $300 for the GPU and pending on how that goes, I would then pursue a ~$200 mobo.

So with that said, If I went $300, I'd be looking at the 280x right? Is it really worth the additional $200 to even consider the 290? Again, right now my only gaming is Diablo 3. Every now and then I venture elsewhere; however I just don't PC game nearly as much as I once did. With a better rig though, I may want to dabble a bit more.

As for the mobo, perhaps the Asus Crosshair V? In general I like ASUS ... have a lot of their products.

On a side note, I just tried submitting an RMA on the CPU to AMD ... let's see how that goes. My warrant on the mobo expired last year, damn!
 
Also, if by some odd chance it helps, my overall "performance" issues are as such:
- Opening a shortcut folder via my taskbar hangs for 1-5 seconds on first load within a ~30 minute range. (W7 & W8)
- The above symptom is seen in Diablo 3 as well. If I click on a link in game or open my inventory, I get a 1-5 second hang, usually once within a 30 minute range. This appears to have gone away going back to W7.
- When using Virtualbox to VPN and RDP into my work machine, the screen redraw/refresh rate is quite poor and I experience a ton of lag trying to use my work machine. Granted this may be related to virtual box; however I don't ever remember having this problem early into the life of this setup.
- When waking computer from sleep (W7), the screen usually has random black tears that either take 10+ minutes to finally go away, or restarting of the computer
- When waking computer from sleep (W7), my NIC sometimes takes a minute to start working, leaving no internet connection
- When using W8+, the computer never goes to sleep and remains on. Believe this to be an issue with the mobo.

I am on my machine enough that these issues are crazy annoying. Do you think they're related to the oddity of my CPU disabling one of the cores (currently they're all up), random mobo issues, or ... the GPU? I really don't know. In the ideal world, I'd love to just scrap and start over; however reality states I can't afford that right now.

Anyway, maybe this will help to provide a recommendation on where to start?
 
well as long as the problems doesn't hinder access to your applications, we can't rule out that it may be due to a lot of background processes and the accumulation of invalid registry entries.

for the hardware side. first culprits there would be a slow or maybe an aging hard disk and accumulation of dust inside the chassis which limits air circulation, thus overheats the system.

second would be to generally tweak the bios to better suit the new windows 8 OS.
 
Understood, but I just got done with a reformat and close to nothing is running on the machine besides browser, diablo, virtual box ... overall very under utilized.

I also just replaced the SSD not more than a month ago.
 
if its diablo 3 then it will still be a heavy application, because it will utilize network communication being an online game along with the use of your gpu for rendering and cpu for ai.. it will also constantly refresh connection with its server.

so the ssd will improve its load times but definitely not its communication with the server.
 
Yeah, and as stated, that weird lag when opening a shortcut folder along my task bar, does in essence the same thing. i can't foresee that being a GPU issue; but maybe something with the CPU? I'm not sure to be honest.

The single most important thing is the ability to have a fast connection to work. I do this via a virtual to segregate my network connectivity. I'd assume I can accomplish the same with a secondary NIC as well; however the performance is just not that great when RDP'ing from within a virtual. I'd wager the GPU is the single most important factor on that performance?

So back on topic a bit, in regards to the GPU's. Is it worth it to jump from 270 to 280, and then even to 290? That and If I went nVidia with an AMD based board, is that a bad move? Last but not least ... brand choice. Any particular one over the other better for any true reasons?

Thanks
 
I can get an ASUS 270x for $155 and a 280x for $265. Is the extra $110 worth it?

I don't even know how much of an upgrade going to a 270x from a 5870 truly is. I had a thread going here awhile ago where someone said it wasn't really worth it.
 
GPU

the r9 270x / r7 265 sits in a place we call "the sweet spot", budget gpu but with good performance.
r9 280 and the nvidia equivalent gtx 760, sits above that tier.
the gtx 770 is probably alone in price-per-performace spot. its expensive but really worth it.
the r9 290 and nvidia's gtx 780 are for those that use multiple monitor in games.

so it really up to you.

amd cpu and nvidia gpu is the same as amd cpu with amd gpu.
im using an fx8350 with a gtx 760, right now.

brand choice mostly for quality and less likelihood of arriving at your door dead.
motherboard asus, gigabyte and msi
gpu sapphire, asus, evga, gigabyte and msi
power supply seasonic, xfx and some corsair series.
 
All in all then, it seems like the middle ground is the best bet ... either the 280 or the 760.

I think I'm going to stick with ASUS.

Now just to decide between AMD and nVidia. Any last words of advice? The nVidia (ASUS) is actually cheaper than the AMD counterpart.

Thanks!
 
I'm going based on amazon warehouse deals (returns).

My gut says go back to nVidia; however I just don't know enough to know If I'm being stupid by thinking I need to stick with AMD being that my mobo is AMD (sli ready) and all that junk ...
 
well, both cards will max-out any game at 1080p resolutions. so i would suggest go with your personal preference.

but as for various game reviews and other people experiences, "real world comparisons" instead of what the manufacturers describe their cards.. the 770 wins.

but the 280x looks beefier and promises quieter operations.
 
Awesome, I'm reading similar (my god way too much info out there).

Yet, now I'm starting to debate the 270x vs. the 280x ... $130 price difference. Obviously the latter is all around better, but is it truly "worth it", when reality says the card may only have a couple year shelf life anyway?

Also, odd ... the 770 is a 2GB card; whereas the 280x is a 3GB card?
 
Which is typically the way it goes ... but it begs the question, upgrade now or later?

R270x = $155
R280x = $267

$155 ... seems crazy cheap in comparison to all GPU's I've purchased over the years. Makes me debate about rock the 270x for now, and then buy a new one in a year or two when I go to upgrade everything else.

Decisions decisions!!!
 
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