My 5yo MSI Z77MA-G45 just died. Help me find a replacement?

[nedney]

edit: this should actually read help me pick a replacement. I'm not looking to get the exact same motherboard - just trying to learn about which board I can buy as a suitable replacement.

Per this thread, my MSI DDR3 1600 Intel LGA 1155 (Z77MA-G45) motherboard just died (apparently taken out by my expiring power supply). What would be a suitable new replacement at about the same price point? I paid $105 for the MSI board in 2013. I don't know anything about new chipsets or processors or anything like that since then. I am thinking I may upgrade/rebuild my rig next spring, but for now I'd settle for keeping my current CPU, an Intel i5-3570K 3.4Ghz. I may buy some more memory however. Thanks in advance.

 

[Iron Woode]

Your only hope is Ebay, or something similar, to find another Z77 board.

 

[sdifox]

err what makes you so sure your cpu and memory modules are fine?

 

[nedney]

Your only hope is Ebay, or something similar, to find another Z77 board.

Ahh now I see why people keep saying this. I'm not looking for a replacement board that is the same as my old one - I'm just looking for a new board to put in that can do what I need it to and that fits the rest of my components (mainly my CPU).

err what makes you so sure your cpu and memory modules are fine?

Well that's the thing, I'm not sure that they are. But I know it's not just the PSU because the new one is working fine and the rig still won't turn on. Are there ways to test the other components aside from swapping in spares?

 

[sdifox]

Ahh now I see why people keep saying this. I'm not looking for a replacement board that is the same as my old one - I'm just looking for a new board to put in that can do what I need it to and that fits the rest of my components (mainly my CPU).



Well that's the thing, I'm not sure that they are. But I know it's not just the PSU because the new one is working fine and the rig still won't turn on. Are there ways to test the other components aside from swapping in spares?

no easy way to test cpu and memory unless you have another board

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Gigabyte-In...h=item21365f83c8:g:vmUAAOSwKIdaTzit:rk:5:pf:0

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/ASUS-Maximu...=item3d76a6aa57:g:DHMAAOSw8Y1bveDG:rk:21:pf:0

 

[nedney]

no easy way to test cpu and memory unless you have another board

Yeah I figured this was the case. So can you recommend a board I can get to replace the Z77?

 

[Iron Woode]

I am going to say this again with more detail. There are no new boards for your cpu. Your cpu was meant for socket 1155 (Ivy Bridge). We are now up to socket 1151 (Coffee Lake). So you will need a socket 1155 board that supports Ivy Bridge cpus.

I hope that clears this up.

 

[nedney]

I am going to say this again with more detail. There are no new boards for your cpu. Your cpu was meant for socket 1155 (Ivy Bridge). We are now up to socket 1151 (Coffee Lake). So you will need a socket 1155 board that supports Ivy Bridge cpus.

I hope that clears this up.

Haha yes details are good, thanks for going slow for me. I guess I should always preface these posts with warnings to assume that I know nothing about any of this lol.

But I get what you mean about my socket being old, that was the main part of my thinking about where to go from here. As I said above, I'm close to deciding to build an entirely new rig, but I'm probably gonna wait another six months or so. So I guess I'll just pull something off eBay after all. Thanks again for your patience and help.

 

[vailr]

This unbranded "microATX" (although the photo shows it actually to be: miniATX) H61 chipset board is only $1.32; includes shipping from Malaysia.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/163191931136
It's also socket 1155 (same as Z77 boards), so it should probably work.

 

[nedney]

This unbranded "microATX" (although the photo shows it actually to be: miniATX) H61 chipset board is only $1.32; includes shipping from Malaysia.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/163191931136
It's also socket 1155 (same as Z77 boards), so it should probably work.

Ha thanks for the rec, but I bought one on ebay that just arrived last night.

One question, however: can I literally just swap out all the other components with the new board and (assuming everything else is working) it should boot up like normal? Or is there a bunch of software-related stuff I'd have to do in order to complete the transition to using the new board?

Thanks again.

 

[sdifox]

Ha thanks for the rec, but I bought one on ebay that just arrived last night.

One question, however: can I literally just swap out all the other components with the new board and (assuming everything else is working) it should boot up like normal? Or is there a bunch of software-related stuff I'd have to do in order to complete the transition to using the new board?

Thanks again.

Just do swap first, drivers should fix themselves.

 

[nedney]

Just do swap first, drivers should fix themselves.

Okay that's good to know, thanks.

Which, however, leads to the next question: what do I do if I swap in the board and it still won't boot up? That would mean either the CPU or RAM (or both) are also fried correct? Are there ways to test them without buying new components?

 

[sdifox]

Okay that's good to know, thanks.

Which, however, leads to the next question: what do I do if I swap in the board and it still won't boot up? That would mean either the CPU or RAM (or both) are also fried correct? Are there ways to test them without buying new components?

Post codes may help you diagnose, but other than having a proven working mathing computer to play swaparoo on, it's not easy.

 

[nedney]

Post codes may help you diagnose, but other than having a proven working mathing computer to play swaparoo on, it's not easy.

Hmm okay, I'll hopefully have time this weekend to swap it in and pray. If it's a no go then I'll explore this possibility.

 

[nedney]

So I swapped in the board I bought on eBay and still no go. I think I'm just gonna bite the bullet and do a whole new build. Question is, can I just get an up-to-date motherboard, CPU, and RAM while keeping everything else the same? Or will I need to buy new HD/SSDs, reinstall Windows (I'm running 7 and don't really want to upgrade from that), etc.?