[SOLVED] Upgrade or fix existing?

[Woobnut]

Hi All,

I have a FX based computer running MSI 970 Gaming Mobo with an FX 8350 chip. I had it is storage for a couple months during a move and long story short, it is not turning on any longer. Based on my troubleshooting the Mobo is fried. So that leaves me at a decision point I need advice on.

Do I find a new AM3+ mobo (pretty expensive for anything decent) or try to find a good used one? The risk in this is there could be damage to processor and I have no way of knowing.

The other oprtion is replace with new Ryzen setup which will need processor, mobo and RAM. What can I get for $250-$300 tops?

TIA

 

[cdrkf]

Hi All,

I have a FX based computer running MSI 970 Gaming Mobo with an FX 8350 chip. I had it is storage for a couple months during a move and long story short, it is not turning on any longer. Based on my troubleshooting the Mobo is fried. So that leaves me at a decision point I need advice on.

Do I find a new AM3+ mobo (pretty expensive for anything decent) or try to find a good used one? The risk in this is there could be damage to processor and I have no way of knowing.

The other oprtion is replace with new Ryzen setup which will need processor, mobo and RAM. What can I get for $250-$300 tops?

TIA

I guess it depends on what you want out of the machine, the FX 8350 is still pretty capable for most tasks (although very slow compared to newer alternatives like Ryzen)....

Personally, if the performance of the machine is good enough for what you need, then I'd look at fixing it. I would say though there's not much point throwing too much money at an AM3+ rig these days as it's a dead platform so I would just try and find a cheap second hand motherboard for it and see how you get on - that way if there is another fault (e.g. damaged cpu) you aren't wasting too much money.

I gather the machine was working before it went into storage? I am curious as to what could have happened to kill it when it's out of use? Normally storing a system is more likely to cause a mechanical fault (e.g. cables become dislodged, fans get stuck etc) and there isn't much on the motherboard that would be susceptible to that kind of damage..... what lead you to the conclusion the motherboard is the culprit?

 

[Woobnut]

I will have to look a bit harder for some cheaper used mobos. So far even used have been pricier than I thought.

When I plugged it in it just no longer turned on and get absolutely no response from the motherboard. No lights or beeps. Thought PSU at first so i swapped it out with a new one and got same result. Removed all components and just tried poering the motherboard and still nothing. Tried jumping the on switch on the motherboard to verify was not power switch. Then I jumped the termials on the PSU to get power flowing and got some lights to and fan to come on but no POST beeps. I put a couple of basic compnents back on to see if I had any screen output but nothing. So at this point I am thinking Mobo isse at the least.

 

[geofelt]

The fx platform is obsolete.
I would not spend a dime on it.

What is the main purpose of this pc?
What are the parts you now have that can be reused?

You should be able to buy a 9th gen intel or ryzen processor, motherboard and 16gb of ddr4 ram for your budget that will outperform the FX-8350.

 

[Woobnut]

The fx platform is obsolete.
I would not spend a dime on it.

What is the main purpose of this pc?
What are the parts you now have that can be reused?

You should be able to buy a 9th gen intel or ryzen processor, motherboard and 16gb of ddr4 ram for your budget that will outperform the FX-8350.

To be honest I only play the multiplayer Battlefield series of games. That is why it can be tough to justify spending money on upgrades at times. Looking at the options for new or used AM3+ mobo is looking pretty bleak and going to cost at least 30% of the upgrade cost. Making me lean towards upgrading. At first I thought the used market for AM3+ mobos would be better from people upgrading to Ryzen but doesn't seem to be the case.

 

[cdrkf]

To be honest I only play the multiplayer Battlefield series of games. That is why it can be tough to justify spending money on upgrades at times. Looking at the options for new or used AM3+ mobo is looking pretty bleak and going to cost at least 30% of the upgrade cost. Making me lean towards upgrading. At first I thought the used market for AM3+ mobos would be better from people upgrading to Ryzen but doesn't seem to be the case.

If you can't get a replacement motherboard for a decent price then moving to the AM4 platform isn't a bad idea.... also if you are watching the cost there are some great deals to be had on AM4.

Your best bet value wise might be to look at a first gen motherboard on a B350 or X370 chipset, the main downside to the earlier boards is they can be a bit fussy with memory, but if you aren't fussed about getting every last fps out of your machine they are perfectly stable (I'm running a R7 2700 on an X370 board with no issues, had to run memory at 2933 mhz for stability instead of rated 3000 but that's hardly a problem). You may get a first gen cpu + motherboard pretty cheaply, something like a Ryzen 5 1600 or Ryzel 7 1700 would be a big upgrade from your FX, and added bonus you can upgrade to a newer cpu in the future if you want as the early boards have pretty much all been updated with Ryzen 3000 series support which means upgrade options all the way up to 16 cores.

 

[Woobnut]

If you can't get a replacement motherboard for a decent price then moving to the AM4 platform isn't a bad idea.... also if you are watching the cost there are some great deals to be had on AM4.

Your best bet value wise might be to look at a first gen motherboard on a B350 or X370 chipset, the main downside to the earlier boards is they can be a bit fussy with memory, but if you aren't fussed about getting every last fps out of your machine they are perfectly stable (I'm running a R7 2700 on an X370 board with no issues, had to run memory at 2933 mhz for stability instead of rated 3000 but that's hardly a problem). You may get a first gen cpu + motherboard pretty cheaply, something like a Ryzen 5 1600 or Ryzel 7 1700 would be a big upgrade from your FX, and added bonus you can upgrade to a newer cpu in the future if you want as the early boards have pretty much all been updated with Ryzen 3000 series support which means upgrade options all the way up to 16 cores.

Looking at the R5 1600 is only $85. Very tempting to get that with a slighly better B450 motherboard to plan for a future uprade when needed.

 

[cdrkf]

Looking at the R5 1600 is only $85. Very tempting to get that with a slighly better B450 motherboard to plan for a future uprade when needed.

Yeah if you are looking for new parts, look out for the updated Ryzen 5 1600 'af' model (it has those two letters at the end of the product code instead of 'ae' for the original). The newer af version is actually a rebranded R5 2600 with 100mhz lower boost clock (which makes no difference and as it's unlocked you can bump the speed up anyways). That is a great part for the price and is a good 15% faster than the original 1600 for the same money (it makes the 2600 and 2600X parts at over £100 a bit pointless).

Motherboards wise there are some great B450 boards, have a look at some reviews as it's worth trying to get one with a strong VRM if you ever want to drop in any of the higher tdp parts in the future (e.g. something like a 2700X or even a 3900X). The MSI B450 Tomohawk Max is a popular choice for this (it's been proved to work nicely even with the 16 core 3950X, albeit at stock settings) although it is more at the premium end for B450 boards. There are some cheaper B450 boards with equivalent VRM solutions I believe although I don't have any specific recommendations. If you are ok to stick with the lower 65W parts you can use any board you like and still have an upgrade path to 8 cores / 16 threads with the 3700X.

 

[Woobnut]

Yeah if you are looking for new parts, look out for the updated Ryzen 5 1600 'af' model (it has those two letters at the end of the product code instead of 'ae' for the original). The newer af version is actually a rebranded R5 2600 with 100mhz lower boost clock (which makes no difference and as it's unlocked you can bump the speed up anyways). That is a great part for the price and is a good 15% faster than the original 1600 for the same money (it makes the 2600 and 2600X parts at over £100 a bit pointless).

Motherboards wise there are some great B450 boards, have a look at some reviews as it's worth trying to get one with a strong VRM if you ever want to drop in any of the higher tdp parts in the future (e.g. something like a 2700X or even a 3900X). The MSI B450 Tomohawk Max is a popular choice for this (it's been proved to work nicely even with the 16 core 3950X, albeit at stock settings) although it is more at the premium end for B450 boards. There are some cheaper B450 boards with equivalent VRM solutions I believe although I don't have any specific recommendations. If you are ok to stick with the lower 65W parts you can use any board you like and still have an upgrade path to 8 cores / 16 threads with the 3700X.

Great info. Thank you!