Rebuilding broken PC

[something123xyq]

Hello,

my PC from around 2015 broke about half a year ago - not for the first time, but I kind of gave up on it at that point for a while. Now I'm currently in process of hopefully finally getting a fix on the way after putting it off for quite some time due to frustration. Contemplated buying a modern laptop or a decent prebuilt desktop, but that seems like a silly way to spend more money than necessary. Don't want to spend a lot of money on something overly fancy, just a system that works decent enough for games, hopefully won't need a lot of maintenance or troubleshooting and doesn't obsolete too quickly (I'm not afraid of low settings, but l don't want anything being laggy/choppy even then).
So, there are some things I have left, some things I don't, and some that may or not be broken.

Still around:
- 2x4 GB RAM (used to be plenty even when running a few VMs in parallel... does it make sense to upgrade to 12 or 16? Can you mix 2x4 and 1x8 GB RAM sticks?)
- processor i5 4460 and stock intel fan (have an unwieldy Alpenfoehn cooler collecting dust in the shelf as well, but/because it's a real pain to mount on the board)
- SSD, HDD, DVD drives
- ATX case
- HDMI and DVI full HD monitors (one each, both with only VGA as a secondary plug).
- my favorite keyboard is one with an old PS/2 plug, so that would be nice to have. Then again, adapters are a thing... or I could consider getting a new one because its back pins are kind of broken.

Missing:
- a GPU. Previously had a GTX 960, but gave it away. Since these are currently on the expensive side, I'm going for something mid-range. Radeon RX560 4GB probably - while I would spend maybe up to 250 or 300€ (I think the GTX was 300-ish back then) on it if it's worth it, throwing in more money beyond that GPU class seems to have diminishing returns...

Dubious: (at least one of them has to go, the question is which one)
- Mainboard: Asrock B85M Pro4. I actually retired this ~ 2 years ago because of some freezing issues, my replacement mainboard started to have SATA recognition issues and was physically damaged on the processor socket in the process of sending it in. I'm willing to give the old one a try before buying yet another new one outright. Its questionable health is the second reason I'd rather go for the light than the clunky cooler.
- Power supply: BeQuiet Pure Power 420 W. Suspicion is, the mainboards were innocent and things just started to break because as my system grew, this thing could not keep up anymore, maybe it deterioriated over time as well. According to a calculator, my old system should have used around 380 W or so, but... The mainboard issues were a bit too erratic (sometimes occuring when pretty much idle, sometimes being fine during gaming) for me to immediately consider power being the issue.

OS: I still have a (now driver-wise completely broken of course) Windows 10 install around on the SSD, may keep it if I can reinstall without license issues from HW changes, otherwise probably going for Linux (most likely L/Xubuntu or Mint as Ubuntu derivates are probably by far the easiest to get games (and drivers) to work on - I'm fond of Linux but not so much of the sudden and involuntary kind of tinkering some distros involve).


Am not completely illiterate but still kind of a dummy with hardware and would greatly appreciate any help or advice that could be provided with this.

 

[gosubuilder]

Windows Activation

windows 10 activation
windows 10 activation troubleshooter
windows 10 reactivation after hardware change

If you made a significant hardware change to your device (such as replacing the motherboard) Windows 10 might no longer be activated. If you're running Windows 10 (version 1607 or later) and added your Microsoft account and linked it to the digital license on your device, you can use the Activation troubleshooter to reactivate Windows. For more info, see Using the Activation troubleshooter.
If you're unable to activate Windows 10, the Activation troubleshooter could help. To use the troubleshooter, select the Start button, select Settings > Update & security > Activation, and then select Troubleshoot. You must be an administrator to use this option.

Note
The Troubleshoot option is available only if your copy of Windows 10 (Version 1607 or later) isn't activated.
The following are some problems that the troubleshooter may fix:
If you recently made a significant hardware change to your device, such as replacing the motherboard, Windows might no longer be activated on your device. If you linked your Microsoft account to your Windows 10 digital license on the device before you make the hardware change, you can reactivate Windows using your sign in info:
1. In the troubleshooter, select I changed hardware on this device recently, and then select Next.
2. Enter your Microsoft account and password, and then select Sign in. You’ll also need to enter the password for your local account if the Microsoft account you entered isn’t a connected account.
3. From the list of devices that are linked to your Microsoft account, select the device that you’re currently using, select the check box next to This is the device I’m using right now, and then select Activate.
If you don’t see the device you’re using in the list of results, make sure that you’re signed in using the same Microsoft account you linked to the Windows 10 digital license on your device.
If you’re signed in using the correct Microsoft account, here are some additional reasons why you can’t reactivate Windows:
• The edition of Windows on your device doesn’t match the edition of Windows you linked to your digital license.
• The type of device you’re activating doesn’t match the type of device you linked to your digital license.
• Windows was never activated on your device.
• You reached the limit on the number of times you can reactivate Windows on your device.
• Your device has more than one administrator, and a different administrator already reactivated Windows.
• Your device is managed by your organization and the option to reactivate Windows isn’t available. For help with reactivation, contact your organization’s support person.
If you need additional help reactivating Windows on your device, contact
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkID=530206
For more info about how to add your Microsoft account and link it to your Windows 10 digital license, see Reactivating Windows 10 after a hardware change.
To see what version of Windows 10 your PC is running, select the Start button , then select Settings > System > About.
To add your Microsoft account and link it to the digital license:

Select the Start button, select Settings > Update & security > Activation > and then select Add an account. You must be signed in as an administrator to add your Microsoft account.
Enter your Microsoft account and password, and then select Sign in. You’ll also need to enter the password for your local account if the Microsoft account you entered isn’t a connected account.
After you add your Microsoft account, you’ll see Windows is activated with a digital license linked to your Microsoft account on the Activation page.

Note
If you've already added your Microsoft account to your device, you'll see Windows is activated with a digital license linked to your Microsoft account on the Activation page.

 

[something123xyq]

Thanks for the reply - I'll have to check if I want to go through the trouble with the Microsoft account (I've been preferring a local one), if that even works because the mainboard used for that installation is the one that broke completely. Running Linux instead is not a huge problem for me though, even if some games aren't natively supported or Wine Platinum or at least Gold. Would you have any suggestions regarding the hardware questions?

 

[gosubuilder]

Thanks for the reply - I'll have to check if I want to go through the trouble with the Microsoft account (I've been preferring a local one), if that even works because the mainboard used for that installation is the one that broke completely. Running Linux instead is not a huge problem for me though, even if some games aren't natively supported or Wine Platinum or at least Gold. Would you have any suggestions regarding the hardware questions?

That process worked for me so I hope it works for you too.