[SOLVED] Replacing a motherboard with spiked USB ports

[grasshopperstalker]

Hello, this question has probably been asked before, and this beginning written too, but here I go.

Many months ago I was repeatedly plugging in to my PC the USB soundcard of my HyperX Cloud II headset, because it refused to connect sometimes. I stupidly plugged it in too many times in a row, and I received a warning of a USB power spike. Soon I was not able to use that very USB port, but I also noticed that other USB ports started acting funny. Some would permit connection with my keyboard, but the LED lights of my keyboard would not show up, or they would partially. Soon I realized I couldn't have all my peripherals plugged in at the same time. I decided to buy an USB hub with it's own power source, but I ended up killing that too.

I've been thinking about just replacing my Gigabyte AB350-Gaming-CF motherboard with either the same model or some other B350 board, but I'd like to know if the USB spike problem is only contained in the motherboard itself, or could possibly other 'old' components like my PSU, hard drive, processor or GPU affect my new motherboard and spike that too? The problems I've had with my motherboard have greatly bothered me and I been forced to use standard office mouse and keyboard for a while, plus I can only connect my headset with a 3,5mm input, since I'm scared of plugging in new peripherals in case they break like others before them.

Thank you for your time and possible responses.

 

[DSzymborski]

Well, could you tell us more about your components, especially the exact PSU? Hard to venture a guess about a problem with a component without knowing what the components are.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

Low quality boards tend to have lower pedigree circuitry incorporated into the PCB design, which also includes capacitors and voltage regulators as well as fuses to prevent the spikes you've seen. Now, what you've done might be a one off but it's a good idea to invest in a better quality board, now that you know the shortcomings of the one you have. On another note, just for the sake of relevance, mind sharing the specs to your current build?

Please list the specs like so:
CPU:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Audio equipment and peripherals:

 

[grasshopperstalker]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

Low quality boards tend to have lower pedigree circuitry incorporated into the PCB design, which also includes capacitors and voltage regulators as well as fuses to prevent the spikes you've seen. Now, what you've done might be a one off but it's a good idea to invest in a better quality board, now that you know the shortcomings of the one you have. On another note, just for the sake of relevance, mind sharing the specs to your current build?

Please list the specs like so:
CPU:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Audio equipment and peripherals:

Thank you, I should have added them in my starting post! Here they are:

CPU: Ryzen 5 1500X @ 3,5 GHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte AB350-Gaming-CF
Ram: Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200MHz, CL15, 1.35V (2x8gb)
SSD: Samsung SSD 860 EVO M.2 250GB
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB ST20000DM006-2DM164
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB
PSU: Corsair VS650
Chassis: Fractal Design Focus G, black (ATX)
OS: Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Audio equipment and peripherals: HyperX Cloud II gun steel / black, cheap (HP?) keyboard, some cheap Trust mouse that I bought from a local big box store.

I'd say none of the PC parts were especially low quality products, though I wasn't and still aren't an expert on PC parts. I might also add that I built the system myself.

 

[DSzymborski]

Given the problems with your motherboard and with knowledge of the rest of your components, I would replace the motherboard and the PSU. A VS is not really ideal for builds with GPUs that require external power and that goes doubly so if it's an older VS, which was much worse (there will be colored letters on the PSU instead of black-gray-white). With an unknown power issue and the wisdom of an upgrade anyway, that would be an easy choice for me.

 

[grasshopperstalker]

Given the problems with your motherboard and with knowledge of the rest of your components, I would replace the motherboard and the PSU. A VS is not really ideal for builds with GPUs that require external power and that goes doubly so if it's an older VS, which was much worse (there will be colored letters on the PSU instead of black-gray-white). With an unknown power issue and the wisdom of an upgrade anyway, that would be an easy choice for me.

My VS is one with gray / white and black style, but I remember reading a few years back about them having some problems, but I decided to go with it since it was the best deal for me at the time. Thank you for your suggestion!

 

[DSzymborski]

My VS is one with gray / white and black style, but I remember reading a few years back about them having some problems, but I decided to go with it since it was the best deal for me at the time. Thank you for your suggestion!

They're fine for what they do -- basic PSU for budget rigs, especially in third-world countries -- and they're way better than the old ones with the yellow-orange lettering which were pretty much garbage (Corsair basically upgraded their VS and CX lines considerably 5 or 6 years ago). But this is really at the edge for what's advisable, so I figure you might as well remove that as a problem source.