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Question Repairing/updating old gaming computer

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dundeyr

Junior Member
Hi guys! Just registered to see if i can get some good advice.

I have a desktop gaming computer (specs farther down) that i got defunct from a friend. That time i replaced the hdd and reset cmos and got it working. I used it for a while then put it in storage. I recently brought it out again and now its dead. No beep from motherboard, no screen, no nothing. All components seem to be getting power. fans are running, and som small noise from the ssd. All lights are on. Ive replaced the cmos battery and tried bare bone boot, just PSU, CPU and motherboard. Just starts and shuts down, no beep or any other sign of life. there is a display on the board that displays a code, which corresponds to "early cpu loading".

Ive come to the conclusion that either CPU or motherboard is broken. I dont know if i can do any more troubleshooting, but was hopeing that i could replace CPU&MB.

Specs are as following:

CPU: Core™ i7-3930K
Motherboard: MSI X79A-GD45
SSD: kingston 128GB
PSU: coolermaster GX bronze 750w
Graphics card: GTX 580
RAM: 2 x Corsair 16GB 1600mhz
Chassi: corsair. Really big with lots of fans. cant find a modelname.

Ideally id like to just get it running, but i have given up. I brought it out cause it pains me to watch my girlfriend try to edit video on her 2010 macbook. So the bar is low, the goal is to outperform that machine at vidoe editing. id prefer to not spend a fortune, but im open to discussing different soloutions. from used stuff to some nice stuff to make it a decent machine if thats possible.

What do you guys think of replaceing motherboard and cpu but keeping the rest. Is it feasible at all?

I was thinking maybe getting these parts:
MB: GIGABYTE Z390 D ( here ) ( seems to require a ram update as well )
CPU: Core i5-9400F ( here)
RAM: HyperX Predator 32GB (2x16GB) ( here )

All the best!
 
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You could do that; there should not be any compatibility issues. And I hope you just forgot to mention you tried each stick of ram, one at a time, when troubleshooting.
 
Thank you for your reply. I did, and did it again just now to be sure. It is interesting that you would ask though. because when i first brought it out of storage i would start it and it'd run indefinitely. Still black, no beep, but fans and lights on.

After removing the ram it went into a cycle where it would run for about 15 seconds, then restart. Its still doing that, even after replacing the RAM.

The fix i had in mind here ends up costing about 4000kr ( ca 400$ ). Woould it in your opinion make sense to ad a little bit to that, to get a machine that could reasonably easily be updated into a gamingmachine with the addition of a new graphics card? If so, what are some reasonable minimum specs to look out for?

Edit:
Ive landed in:
CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
MB: MSI MPG B550 GAMING EDGE WIFI
RAM: 2x8GB DDR4

Seems reasonable?
 
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Sorry I missed your reply.

I don't know what prices are like in your corner of the world. Here in the U.S. the 10400f B560 combo is probably the best budget gaming value right now.
 
Yes, you are absolutely right. the 10400f was almost 40% cheaper. However, wouldn't it combine better with B460, since it doesnt have PCIe4 suport? or have i misunderstood. Alternatively going for the 11400f which is 25 dollars more expensive, and a B560 mb?
 
dundeyr said:
Yes, you are absolutely right. the 10400f was almost 40% cheaper. However, wouldn't it combine better with B460, since it doesnt have PCIe4 suport? or have i misunderstood. Alternatively going for the 11400f which is 25 dollars more expensive, and a B560 mb?
Click to expand...
Dr. Cutress has a nice 5 series chipset chart in his latest review https://www.anandtech.com/show/16495/intel-rocket-lake-14nm-review-11900k-11700k-11600k/3

The big upgrade with B560 is it allows memory overclocking which will help you get the most performance out of the system. Whether you go 10th or 11th gen.

I have not seen the 11400 reviews yet. If you did, and it is worth the extra money in you opinion, do it. But I would go B560 regardless.
 
Wow, that was some great reading!

Ill go with the ASUS PRIME B560-PLUS motherboard. it seems to have the basic functionality i need, except maybe wifi which i can always get separetely. More importantly its in stock at my local store.

i dint quite realise the 11400f was that new. I find it strange that the clockspeed is lower than the 10th gen cpu, but the few benchmarks available seems to indicate better performance, so i guess ill go with that mainly for pcie4 suport.

Now, memory. Is any old pair of 2x8gb 3200mhz good enough? Or is there an advantage to 3600Mhz?
 
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dundeyr said:
Wow, that was some great reading!

Ill go with the ASUS PRIME B560-PLUS motherboard. it seems to have the basic functionality i need, except maybe wifi which i can always get separetely. More importantly its in stock at my local store.

i dint quite realise the 11400f was that new. I find it strange that the clockspeed is lower than the 10th gen cpu, but the few benchmarks available seems to indicate better performance, so i guess ill go with that mainly for pcie4 suport.

Now, memory. Is any old pair of 2x8gb 3200mhz good enough? Or is there an advantage to 3600Mhz?
Click to expand...
Concerning the memory: If you can get 3600 for a small premium, it is always a good thing. If the markup is heavy where you live, 3200 may be the better choice.
 
I went with
ASUS PRIME B560-PLUS
intel 11400f
2x8 Gb 3200Mhz RAM

I put it together, and sadly got the same issue. Fans are running, but thats about it. I guess the issue was with either graphics or PSU after all. Well, no turning back now.
 
That is too bad. The updside is that your X79 board and CPU are likely good, and a nice X79 board fetches a pretty good price these days if working.
 
That is true, nothing bad that doesnt bring something good. Any ideas for telling if its the gpu or the psu thats the issue?
 
It sounds like the GPU. If you have a basic one, you could try that to get it to post. Also could try the same with a PSU swap.
 
You are probably certainly down to the GPU or the PSU.

If I was going to pick one thing to replace, I'd swap the power supply first as it is more likely to be bad than the GPU. I don't know how old the one you have actually is, but that model PSU was released like 11 years ago. Plus, there was a JonnyGuru.com review from May 2010 that specifically found that model to have had questionable capacitor quality. It also indicates that the PSU was actually a 600W PSU masquerading as a 750W PSU with heat issues - if the prior owner pushed it as a 750W unit, it wouldn't have done those capacitors any favors.

If you decide to swap it, don't pull the old one until you have tested. Set the new PSU up outside the case, swap over the cables, and try to see if it will boot.

If you have a local computer shop, you might have them test the GPU for you by swapping it into a working system.
 
Yes. let's hope it is the PSU. Vid card prices being insane, a quality PSU can at least be bought without getting scalped.
 
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