Upgrade advice and ideas

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
M

Matttheriot284

Reputable
Dec 12, 2015
39
0
4,530
Hi. I currently have a pc that has been giving me a lot of critical failures lately so I have decided to build a new. My problem is that I have been out of the game for so long (never was too savvy anyway) that and am not at all current on todays computer tech and would appreciate anyone's input or suggestions toward which components will be a part of the new build. I have about a 1600 dollar limit. So I guess some info is in order. Ill start really quick by laying out my current build.


ASRock Gaming Fatal1ty Z97 Killer LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDM ATX Intel Motherboard
(http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Fatal1ty%20Z97X%20Killer/)

PowerColor TurboDuo Radeon R9 270X
(http://www.powercolor.com/us/products_features.asp?id=524)

Intel Core i5­4690 Haswell Quad­Core 3.5 GHz LGA 1150
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116989)

Crucial M550 M.2 Type 2280
(http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-512GB-Internal-Solid-CT512M550SSD4/dp/B00ITFZTHC)

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB 240­Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866
(http://www.amazon.com/G-SKILL-Ripjaws-240-Pin-Desktop-F3-14900CL8D-8GBXM/dp/B007K4MZFM)

600w psu as well

Ok so this is what I want in a computer. I want a pc that has no lag when casually browsing through explorer and when running video off the internet. I know that would be an internet thing but I have fiber so focus on the comp. I don't game very much if at all however I like HD because I enjoy the detail and have a nice tv i hook it to. I ALso enjoy music but dont know if I should get a dedicated soundcard for that. I dont record. Mostly just elctromusic. So anyway since I dont know what component on my previous pc is causing all the critical failures, I dont know what from that list I can still use. I feel the processor is a good one and doesnt need to be tossed, right? The m2 ssd is most likely my prblkem but its less than 2 years old (and Im an idiot and threw away the ssticker that was on it.) but oh well. Is newegg still the way to go or does amazon have them beat yet?

This is the case Id like to have
http://www.amazon.com/Phanteks-Enthoo-Tower-Chassis-PH-ES614L_BK/dp/B00LW3X1GO/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1453219534&sr=1-3&keywords=enthoo&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_browse-bin%3A8069155011

Oh and I already have an 800psu on the way

Also I would love for it to be a visually appealing build from the window of the case. Maybe liquid cooling. IDK Throw me your ideas.
Thanks for the input!

 
Sort by date Sort by votes
Interesting read however I dont believe my problem is with my psu. I checked voltages on every wire. All are within tolerance. Even under load. Also I don't see my psu being the cause of all my mbr becoming corrupted. In short my computer will randomly crash. No bsod. No nothing. It immediately boots up with my gpu's fans running above 100 percent. I am certain of this as my computer starts with all fans at 100 then it backs them off to normal operating speeds. The gpu is well above that on this immediate boot. I can not get it to boot normally unless I cut the power completely via switch on psu for a few seconds. Then ill be lucky if i get to boot back into my os without a repair disc. And thats IF that worked. I have had to reinstall several times. When I cant get it to boot at all a rebuild typically does it. I have installed my os onto my ssd without other drives connected at all, only to have my comp crash at a later time, followed by not being able to find my mbr in my ssd. \However my files will be visible from another drive when I boot into it after renistalling. Im thinking root kit?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Proper voltage levels aren't the problem with in every case with a cheap PSU. Voltage noise, ripple and fluctuation under load (And I'm not sure how you managed to test the voltage at the component level under load, but that's doubtful.) due to poor regulation are the primary concerns. Low quality units can have enough noise/ripple out of spec behavior to easily destablize the GPU, CPU, northbridge or VRMs and cause shutdowns. This isn't uncommon at all.

That being said the GS600 isn't EXTREMELY terrible. It's not a firestarter, it just uses cheap caps and doesn't have the greatest performance when hot. But it's also an old design, and is probably an old unit since it doesn't look like it's been manufactured for a while. Those were reviewed all the way back in 2010, so it's probably been around the block a time or two. I'd replace it even if it turns out to NOT be the current issue.

To my experience, when systems simply shut down, without blue screens, or even sometimes with them, out of the blue, the problem is almost always related to either the power supply or the memory (RAM). I'd double check the seating of your memory modules and make sure they are installed according to the population rules for the motherboard. Make sure the XMP profile for your memory is set correctly in the bios and you might potentially even need to bump the memory voltage just a tiny bit. Usually, at 1866mhz on the Z97 chipset that isn't necessary, but it could be on yours.

If you've deleted the existing partitions and reinstalled, there cannot be a rootkit. Deletion of all existing partitions removes the boot partition and reinstalling windows rebuilds it. If you boot into the bios and leave it there, does it eventually crash/freeze, or is it fine until you attempt to boot into windows? Does it have the problem EVER during the installation of windows, or only after installation on subsequent boot attempts?

Is your OS drive connected to the SATA 0 header, or a secondary header? Have you tried a different SATA header? Have you tried a different SATA cable? Have you reset the bios to optimal or setup defaults and tried reinstalling windows after the bios reconfiguration has reset the EFI tables? Have you checked your current BIOS version against the latest one from the motherboard product page?

 
Upvote 1 Downvote
Ya I don't know why I said under load.. I was really tired when I wrote that yesterday and was probably thinking by shorting the pins for the psu to remain on, that I was putting a load on it. Idk. Either way thank you for the information. I did not know anything about voltage noise/ripple. Would it make since that it shows up after I have had the unit for a couple years or is that something that would be an issue from the start? Ill say that it has been progressive in nature.

As for the ram issue. By population of the mb, are you saying that if I had 1 stick of ram and 4 slots, it has a certain slot that it should go in first? The xmp profile for the ram is currently correct but when I was having more issues than now, it would reset itself to 1066 and I would have to manually change it to 1866.

"Usually, at 1866mhz on the Z97 chipset that isn't necessary, but it could be on yours." Are you saying that my current setup does not need the bump because it is currently using 1866, but it migght? If so how much of a bump would be safe? I have no overclocking exp. I have run memtest86 a bunch of times with no problems. I dont however know if its populating the correct spot. If i boot into bios and leave it, it will NOT freeze.

"Mebroot. A spamming botnet that used a rootkit that could survive Windows reinstallation. It hides very deep in a system so it loads even before Windows does. It’s responsible for a big percentage of all of the spam traffic worldwide."

^^^ Reason I revisit this is because I frequent darknet. I would imagine that would be the place to catch some bad bugs.

Weird fact though: I Reformat crucial m2 ssd and install windows onto it. Then Update through windows update. Shut down. Connect other HDD's. Boot and all is fine. After that point, if i try to boot WITHOUT the other hdds connected, i get bsod. Almost as if the mbr moves or something. IDK

My m2 is connected to the m2 slot so Idk where that is on the header? Or which header? Idk what a header is. A buss? I have flashed the bios a few times so I dont know if that sets it to optimal or has reset the efi tables. I read somewhere that the m2 on this mb takes some special settings in bios to run correctly. I dont know if I accomplished that or not. I havent updated the bios and am sure its old but if it was running fine at one point then I dont see why it wouldn't be now but that train of thought could be going the wrong direction.

Edit: would this type of problem be able to be diagnosed with the computers event log??

If it is the psu (which looks like it is) then has it damaged any other components in my system or can anything from my current build be safely salvaged into my upgrade? I would love to be able to upgrade my system without having to spend the cash for ALL new parts. Could my cpu and gpu be upgraded to something better for a solid increase in system speed?

Since Ive had this issue I was just about to build a completely new pc. I do need to upgrade because my current rig is a bit slow at times. I don't game very often but I do enjoy the high resolution of hd and the smooth video playback of a 120fps monitor. I essentially want a computer that allows my thought process to flow and it not be the slowest part of the process.

Either way my main objective now is this:

Find what components I can use from my current build that I can use for my upgrade. (components that are not at risk of being damaged by faulty psu AND that are powerful enough to not slow down my upgraded)

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Problems with noise and ripple can be progressively degenerative, but are generally either within spec, or not, from the start. A unit could certainly be within spec from the start and then develop issues over time, and would certainly be more likely to do so if the unit is lower end to begin with.

Yes, there are population rules. They are different for every motherboard. Many share similar rules, but each motherboard has it's own that govern where memory should be populated based on how many sticks are being used. Generally, for one module, DIMM_1 is used, but not in every single case. When two are used, they may be supposed to be installed in DIMM 1 and 3, or Dimm 1 and 2, or Dimm 2 and 4, it just depends on the motherboard.

I'm saying that at 1866mhz, most memory does not require a bump in voltage on Z97 chipset motherboards, but that's not true in all cases. Anything over 1600mhz is considered an OC on Z97, not a native SPD, and could require it depending on factors like the motherboard itself, the strength of the CPU memory controller and other factors like interference from noise/ripple.

Rootkits can survive reinstallation, because reinstallation does not delete the partition and therefore it does not delete the boot partition. Deleting ALL existing partitions, which can be done when you get to the point of the installation where it asks what kind of installation you want to do. You choose "Custom" and then on the next screen click Options or advanced, I forget which, then delete all the existing partitions for THAT drive (Other drives should be disconnected anyhow, just to avoid potentially wiping out something by mistake. Trust me, I've done it.) then installing to the UNALLOCATED space. Windows will create a new partition, new MBR or GPT boot partition, and perform any necessary formatting. Rootkits cannot survive this procedure. Even formatting is not good enough. You MUST delete all the partitions until none remain, then install to the unallocated raw space allowing windows to recreate the partition. Technically, you could just delete them, then create a new one, but that is unnecessary since windows will do it itself.

Sounds to ME like you've had windows installed on one of these other drives before, and there is a boot partition on one of them that has never been removed and is confusing the hell out of the system. That might even be the whole problem. Go into disk management and see if there are any small partitions showing on any of those other drives. Usually they're like 100mb or something.

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Dammit is there any way to take the solved tag off this. I fat fingered it. Not that your answer isn't "the best", I just havent been able to look into it yet and I want to see this through to the end.

Im sure the ram is in the wrong slot. But about the other hdds, yes they have had windows on them. All 3 other of them. I had no clue this was an issue.I am Kind of running a dual boot situation while Ive been troubleshooting my computer. Ill boot into the other hdd to troubleshoot the "suspect" drive. I figured since im booting from different drives totally, that it shouldnt be an issue. Well shit. Why would it all of a sudden give me problems. It had been running fine for a long time. Would I be able to learn anything definitively via troubleshooting software or log files of some sort.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Byo3KW64yw8Fa29veWRfQ3lGZW8/view?usp=sharing

Screen shot of disk manager.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Yes, having more than one boot partition without having a boot loader program installed to tell it which OS and boot partition to boot from is a no no. Looks like both disk 1 and disk 2 have boot partitions and it looks like disk 2 still has a recovery partition from when Windows was installed there unless it's there by intent.

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Wow. I had no idea. Do you think that this has been the reason of all my angst? Yes I will be returning the psu however it was a gift and it has not yet arrived. I already talked to my friend that sent it and explained the reasoning behind my immediate return of his gift haha. He was unaware of psu's being the cause of a lot of different computer crashes as well.

Anyway I am running windows 10 pro but have a key for windows 10 home. I initially did the upgrade from windows 7 but have since reinstalled a bunch of times. Unknowing that I had a key for home and not pro. That being said I will have to do another reinstall because you can't downgrade. Only upgrade. But thats probably a good thing because my os wont let me open any files or file explorer. At all. No shortcuts, windows key + x, nothing. Really freaking annoying but I'm sure its because of all the os's on different drives. So I guess the question is now, what do I do and how do I dig myself out of this mound of os's?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
What is on your secondary drives that needs to be saved, and what does not? Specifying what is on each drives particular partitions will help as I need to know how to give you specific instructions to proceed. I don't want to tell you to delete something and then find out later that it contained important documents or all your game files, or ten years worth of family pictures. The SSD we already know is for the OS, and will need to be completely wiped, so don't bother telling me about that. I just need to know what the other two drives are doing.

Also, if you have already had an ACTIVATED version of windows 10 installed on your machine, you do NOT need the key anymore. It will be recognized by the Microsoft activation servers immediately after it connects to the internet and calls home. The initial activation of Windows 10 on any qualified system creates an entitlement based on your motherboard's BIOS ID string. You will however need the correct installation media for your entitlement. Did you at any point in time, with the current motherboard, have the Windows 10 Home version installed and activated after upgrading from Windows 7?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
The 500 gb hdd is for backups of my other drives, music, movies, shit like that. I didn't realize it until now but I am running off my 80gb ssd. This is not ideal. I have an m.2 crucial ssd installed and is drive G: that I SHOULD be running off of. Hell I have switched so many times that I dont remember why im not currently running off of it. It would certainly help if I could view the files contained in these drives.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Ok, so since you have a Windows 10 home product key anyhow, just in case, here's what I'd suggest you do.

First, make installation media on either CD, DVD or USB by using the media creation tool located here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2784691/ditch-problematic-win10-upgrade-replace-clean-install.html


Next, disconnect all drives except for the drive the OS will be installed on.

Now run the windows 10 installation by booting from the media you created. During the installation choose the "custom" option. Delete ALL the existing partitions on the drive and then install to the UNALLOCATED space without creating ANY new partitions. Windows will do that automatically.

Full steps are located here:

http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1950-windows-10-clean-install.html


Follow the steps EXACTLY. Do NOT skip any of the steps, especially those directing you to delete the existing partitions until there are no other partitions left on the drive and only unallocated space remains. Be sure to unplug either the power or SATA cables from ALL other connected drives before you install.

After installing, go into your bios and select the drive or Windows OS boot manager as the boot drive so it will boot from that drive going forward. Reconnect your other drives only after you've performed that step and once you boot to windows it would be a good idea to delete ANY partitions on your other drives that don't contain data you need to save. The small 100mb system partitions especially. Make sure to NOT do that with your boot drive once you've installed the OS however. Only the secondary drives and partitions. If you have other drives with operating systems on them, I'd delete those partitions as well to avoid further confusion for the UEFI boot sequence.

In fact, if you have someplace you can temporarily transfer anything that's currently on those drives that you want to save, then delete all the partitions on those secondary drives, followed by creating a new partition on them and then restoring your data from the external or other location you saved it to, that would be even better.






 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ok cool. I will give this a try when I get back from out of town. Thanks a lot for your time. I truly appreciate you taking the time to help me as well as other members of this forum. If you have reddit, which i am almost certain you do, pm me your u/n and ill give you gold for being awesome.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I don't reddit actually. I really don't do any social media or other forums except for Tom's Hardware, Overclock.com and Overclockers.com. Every once in a while I'll pop in over at Anandtech since it's our sister site now, but that's about it. I can't stand the stupidity that goes on at the reddit sites, facebook, twitter and all the rest. I have too many other things to do, but thanks for the offer anyhow. Just getting your problem resolved will be good enough for me and is it's own payment.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Im sorry. I guess my last post didn't post before I x'ed out of the page. I was out of town for my dads funeral and said that I would try your ideas as soon as i get back into town. Well Im back. ha. And i have done all but "After installing, go into your bios and select the drive or Windows OS boot manager as the boot drive so it will boot from that drive going forward. "

Are you referring to my boot sequnce? Not exactly sure how to manually choose which os or partition to boot from other than prioritizing my boot drive as first.

So anyway it seems that this clean install has fixed some things however I still have issues. Every now and then my computer wont boot. Well it boots but the 3 monitors connected dont recognize this. 2 Of them are running off my Radeon R9 270X. Other is the onboard vga. None make any indication of recognition of power turning on but the drive still runs up. I see the red led turn on on my mb (indicating bios) and turns off as it makes it into my os. Same thing on restart. Cant boot into bios (at least not I am able to see) i made a video of all the settings in my bios. I dont know if thats asking too much but could you see if theres anything in there that causes concern. I just want a stable drive. A pc that I dont have to save everything every 3 seconds. Thanks again

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=9BFDCC4431BB2B52!1324&authkey=!AN3QJ1teSONugS0&ithint=video%2cmp4
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Oh man. Sorry to hear about your dad. What a drag. I lost my dad last year, so I know what it's like.

You'll need to right click your desktop and go into the display properties. Extend the displays and configure them however you wish. Personally, I wouldn't use the iGPU along with the discreet card. You should be able to use the discreet card for all three displays, if it has displayport. You'll need an active adapter though depending on what the inputs of the three monitors are.

Before messing with all that though I'd make sure you've installed the latest Crimson display drivers as well as the latest Intel iGPU drivers. I'd run the DDU first, then install those drivers as follows.

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2767677/clean-graphics-driver-install-windows.html
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Thanks. I definitely was not prepared. Pancreatic cancer is a son of a bitch. Anyway I forgot to add to that last bit that the only way to get it to boot with display again is to open the computer up and unplug the 2 power wires to the r9. Then I am free to boot with vga. At that point I can shut down and plug the card back in and boot into os with no other issues. I have the latest crimson drivers. I have only recently had both the discreet and onboard however this issue has been going on for a while. I have had to switch pci-e slots before. You think it might be dying?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom