Old first Build dying, plz help with 1.5

[Rpgamer]

Waaaay back in 2011 I made this thread http://www.overclockers.com/forums/...First-Build-please-help?p=7000761#post7000761 and was greatly helped by the community here.

When i made that thread I expected to upgrade some parts in a year or two but honestly I underestimated just how huge an upgrade I'd experience from the prebuilt computers i was used to. To the extent even to this day I don't feel a pressing need to upgrade my build. Alas however time and use have taken their toll and signs of failure are creeping in, the motherboard is losing functionality left and right (almost all its usb ports failed, it can no longer use a video card, its native graphics is getting iffy, and the occasional rare boot error that i think is it too since it happens very early), its hard drive is becoming unstable, and memory notices are cropping up here and there.

That said as far as i can tell the processor is just fine, the power supply has never blipped, cooling/case/oddball little stuff accounted for and in good shape. Additionally I have an unused copy of windows 7 pro.
MMO/RPGS are still pretty much the hardest thing its gonna run... tho i might have the bad habit of running several at once.

Details of prior build
MB ASROCK|Z68 EXTREME3 GEN3 1155 R
VGA HIS|H695QNT2G2M HD6950 2G R
PSU PC POWER| PPCMK2S750 750W RT (i know this is overkill i was planing to go dual card on graphics but that never happened)
CPU INTEL|CORE I5 2500K 3.3G 6M R
MEM 4Gx2|CORSAIR CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9
HD 500G|WD
I think all of this came up in the prior thread so more details are there.


I'm calling this a 1.5 build in spite of technically qualifying as another build because i'm on a pretty tight budget (about $600) and I don't really mind if performance doesn't improve much (from the old ones peak obviously its current state is kinda sad).

The most important things are the new motherboard and Hard Drive, new memory is probably a good idea (and i kinda wanna get away from the vengeance anywise i didn't care for the difficulties its size caused when i had to put things together), and the gpu itself may or may not be dead so if we can get a decent one in the budget I say go for it. cpu upgrade? if by some miracle there is enough money left over.

What I'm looking at

Mother Boards
ASRock ASRock Fatal1ty Gaming Fatal1ty Z97 Killer LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157501&ignorebbr=1 $109.99
or
ASRock Z97 Extreme4 LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157503 $114.99

Hard Drives
since i want 500-1tb of space an ssd is out of the question and don't think i'd do well with the manual steps needed for a small ssd/hdd dual drive setup to show its best.
I'm considering a hybrid drive since it would at least make a few key things quicker without me having to do alot of extra work.
Looking at this atm WD Blue 1TB Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD10EZEX - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1N82KX4060&cm_re=sshd-_-22-236-339-_-Product $49.99

Memory
This is one of the few places i felt an actual need for an upgrade, but since i didn't care for the size of the prior build's vengeance I tried to avoid physically large ones.
Avexir Core Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Memory Kit Model AVD3U16001108G-2CW
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820011006 $49.99
or
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-1600C9D-16GXM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231568 $67.99
or
G.SKILL Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200) Desktop Memory Model F3-2400C11D-16GAB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231671 $61.99

GPU
Sadly i still stink at reading gpu specs so I'm certain any choice i make here will be sub-optimal.


assuming when you guys look this all over if the above choices are approved we've got around 300-400 to play with for gpu and cpu. That said any advice would be appreciated but sadly the budget can't get larger this time so I gotta stretch this as far as it'll go
(how would i test just how well my cpu is doing to know if there is a need to replace it that i haven't noticed?)

 

[trents]

It seems very unlikely that all those components could be failing at the same time. All of them could be tied into a failure of the motherboard and maybe the memory, but more likely the motherboard. I would consider just replacing the motherboard. You can still buy new socket 1155 boards and it would be a time to upgrade to the Z77 chipset. Your CPU is still very relevant from a performance standpoint.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...fAQGt_qSl_qkMzq0P8ftJRoCTj_w_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Not clear on whether you are currently using a dedicated video card or the IGP. But replacing just the motherboard would leave you enough cash to purchase a nice dedicated GPU like an Nvidia GTX 970.

 

[Rpgamer]

Ya I know the Motheboard and the hard drive are going (i've had a few hard drives slowly fail on me and its starting to do what they did, tho it would probably last another year). The memory I agree is probably the MB but I figured I could get in a bit of an upgrade for it without breaking the bank so i added it in. The GPU from before might be fine but I have no way to test it (the mb slots are doing nothing) but its a part i'm willing to upgrade.

Its good to know the cpu is still relevant thank you. That motherboard looks good too.
So your suggesting http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...gclid=CKao_bGv1c0CFdhahgodqkMIxg&gclsrc=aw.ds for the gpu?

 

[trents]

Ya I know the Motheboard and the hard drive are going (i've had a few hard drives slowly fail on me and its starting to do what they did, tho it would probably last another year). The memory I agree is probably the MB but I figured I could get in a bit of an upgrade for it without breaking the bank so i added it in. The GPU from before might be fine but I have no way to test it (the mb slots are doing nothing) but its a part i'm willing to upgrade.

Its good to know the cpu is still relevant thank you. That motherboard looks good too.
So your suggesting http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...gclid=CKao_bGv1c0CFdhahgodqkMIxg&gclsrc=aw.ds for the gpu?

Yes, that GPU. Upgrading that component will go a lot more for you than upgrading to a Haswell CPU for gaming. If there's money left over, go for an SSD. SSD is the biggest bang for the buck performance upgrade there is when it comes to everyday computer use. Won't make much difference after your games are loaded but they will load much faster as will every other program and the computer will boot much faster.

 

[caddi daddi]

very well said trents, I don't think we can add a thing.

 

[Rpgamer]

Looking at the list of options on that gpu http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16814487077 comes out abit cheaper (after a rebate) and as far as i can tell it looks like a better choice, thoughts? edit (looking through reviews suggest this is indeed a pure upgrade and since i can get it for effectively cheaper atm no downsides, i think you might of been sending me to this one in the first place and i just missed the mark abit)

So about $300 on the gpu $150 on the MB.
$150 left to play with... my RPGs/mmos take up lots of space a quick check of my system shows just the ones i actively play take up about 160gbs, plus os... probably need a 240gb ssd at least and i'll just be sure to clean up as I go... if I clean my current HD and just use it for file storage it should last awhile so that would save money.
would http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820178967 or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820242258 be good enough? in the more expensive options i'm seeing a big difference in write speeds but not much on read and any of them would be much faster then i'm used to.

 

[Rpgamer]

ok after looking around pretty much think the MB/GPU is solved here, still curious about ssd since i havn't actually used one before in a desktop my ability to compare them is weak.
Besides that one new question has occurred to me for gaming purposes should i take the free windows 10 upgrade when i rebuild? I'm somewhat concerned about its compatibility with older games, but most reviews i've looked at say it seems to compare favorably to 7 there, and directx12 could be important later...

 

[trents]

Looking at the list of options on that gpu http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16814487077 comes out abit cheaper (after a rebate) and as far as i can tell it looks like a better choice, thoughts? edit (looking through reviews suggest this is indeed a pure upgrade and since i can get it for effectively cheaper atm no downsides, i think you might of been sending me to this one in the first place and i just missed the mark abit)

Found this:

"'The acronym FTW stands for "For the win". FTW model graphics cards come with a higher clock speed and are more likely to overclock further than a reference card. Each card is hand tested and guaranteed stable at the advertised clock speeds. SSC stands for super-super clocked and is one below FTW. Oct 4, 2015'"

So about $300 on the gpu $150 on the MB.
$150 left to play with... my RPGs/mmos take up lots of space a quick check of my system shows just the ones i actively play take up about 160gbs, plus os... probably need a 240gb ssd at least and i'll just be sure to clean up as I go... if I clean my current HD and just use it for file storage it should last awhile so that would save money.
would http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820178967 or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820242258 be good enough? in the more expensive options i'm seeing a big difference in write speeds but not much on read and any of them would be much faster then i'm used to.

I would go with the PNY SSD. Better reputation than Kingston. A lot of people, as you are already thinking, put their most important, oft used programs on the SSD and store the bulky data and seldom used programs on a larger spinner. You can get 480gb SSDs for under $100 sometimes if you look for sales. A brand I have come to trust is ADATA and they are usually less expensive than Samsung or Crucial. Egg has them for $110 now I think.

 

[trents]

Before you do anything about the hard drive I would run some checks and repair commands on it:

1. CrystalDiskInfo - this will check the SMART drive data and tell you if certain parameters have been exceeded that indicate failure is imminent.
2. From an elevated command prompt (i.e., with admin privileges) execute this command: sfc /scannow
Note there is a space between sfc and /. This will check for and attempt to replace broken system files.
3. From and elevated command prompt run this command: chkdsk /f /r with a space after chckdsk and after f. This one can take several hours to complete. It will check for bad data clusters, attempt repair and try to move them to healthier places on the disk platter.

You might also run memtest86+ overnight to check for memory problems. memtest86+ is a free program that runs from a self-booting CD.

 

[Rpgamer]

Before you do anything about the hard drive I would run some checks and repair commands on it:

1. CrystalDiskInfo - this will check the SMART drive data and tell you if certain parameters have been exceeded that indicate failure is imminent.
2. From an elevated command prompt (i.e., with admin privileges) execute this command: sfc /scannow
Note there is a space between sfc and /. This will check for and attempt to replace broken system files.
3. From and elevated command prompt run this command: chkdsk /f /r with a space after chckdsk and after f. This one can take several hours to complete. It will check for bad data clusters, attempt repair and try to move them to healthier places on the disk platter.

You might also run memtest86+ overnight to check for memory problems. memtest86+ is a free program that runs from a self-booting CD.

....huh just finished all that, (memtest i cut off after 6 passes) no issues found.... with some of the issues i was seeing I would of thought one of them had a problem. Just to clarify while i am seeing issues that pointed toward that, they only cropped up rarely, couple times a week or so. But I guess since the motherboard itself is having issues it could cause it to happen.
Since i guess the hard drive is fine I guess i'll go with with a 240 ssd for the performance boost, if i'm understanding right I'll need to leave about 25% of its space open for best results, after gb conversion calculation, and leaving windows OS space to balloon abit i should have around 120-130gbs to play with from that which should be plenty for the major programs/games that have noticeable load times if I pay attention. Also looked up ADATA and comparisons yah i'm going with that.

 

[trents]

Yeah, it sounds like your issues are motherboard related. I'm betting the rest of the components are okay.

How many hours of run time did Crystaldiskinfo report are on your hard drive? I commonly see those fail once they start to exceed around 35,000 hr.

 

[Rpgamer]

about 20,000

 

[trents]

about 20,000

You should be okay for awhile. There's around 8000 hr. in one year of continuous running.