Replacing hardware- do you think it's worth replacing my motherboard?

[bellanza]

Hi guys,

So I'm going to be upgrading my computer in about a week. Definitely getting a new case, hard drive (current one is throwing SMART errors, frankly I'm impressed it's still going!), CPU fan. Probably going to upgrade PSU depending on budget.

However, I'm wondering now whether it's worth upgrading my motherboard too. Basically, I might scrap everything I currently have except CPU, GPU and RAM. I've had problems since I built it (2 years ago), including:

• - Doesn't boot reliably (about 25% of the time when I power on, the desktop is obviously powered but doesn't even go into motherboard boot screen and there's no hardware beep- only solution is to turn off and try again)
  - When it does boot into Windows, periodically it won't load the GPU and will just default to the onboard CPU graphics- again, only solution is to restart

I've had my suspicions for ages that my mobo was the culprit, and upon Googling reviews for it recently I discovered it's infamously problematic. (Current mobo is a Gigabyte Z87M-D3H)

Do these sound like mobo issues to you?

 

[CBender]

Yes those could be mobo related but with no extensive troubleshooting you can't be 100% certain. If you can try other gpus and power supply before buying a new mobo. I

 

[bellanza]

Yes those could be mobo related but with no extensive troubleshooting you can't be 100% certain. If you can try other gpus and power supply before buying a new mobo. I

Unfortunately I only have the hardware already in my desktop, so I can't troubleshoot trying other hardware. In any case, I don't have the money to replace my GPU and it seems to work perfectly fine otherwise.

 

[CBender]

Then go for it, if any of your issues are mobo related they are only going to get worse. So an upgrade now should save you a lot of heartache later.