After 5 years, looking to upgrade current rig

[jimlwk]

My PC has been with me for 5 years already and while it's still performing decently well, I think I can consider looking into upgrading the hardware.

Currently (but also in the past), I believe it has overheating issues especially when the weather's warm and I am gaming, the PC will just shut itself out (screen will turn black, audio's still playing normally but cannot do anything except force shutdown), GPU 80 degs and CPU about 55 degs.

My profile shows the current hardware and below are the ones I would need some help with:

Processor:
Intel i7 2600K @ 3.4 GHz with H80 Liquid Cooling

One of the H80 fans isn't working at all from the beginning so not sure if should stick back to Corsair or upgrade to Corsair Hydro Series H100i?

Processor seems dated but it's working ok so not intending to change.

Mainboard:
Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3

Seems to be working fine except one of the clamp-locks for the RAM broke off. No intention to change.

Graphics
MSI GTX970 4GB O.C TWIN FROZR V GAMING

Just upgraded last year. No intention to change.

Memory
Corsair Vengeance 1600 MHZ 16GB (4GBx4) CL9

They are DDR3 RAM. Might seemed dated but since they are working fine, so no intention to change.

Storage
OCZ 120 GB Agility 3 SSD

So far so good. A bit small in size but I install games at a separate SSD so no intention to change.

Power Supply Unit
Seasonic M12II Modular 650W 80+ (Bronze)

Not sure if my problems has anything to do with this PSU. If not, no intention to change.

Casing
Cooler Master Storm Enforcer

The fan at the front is not spinning anymore. Prolly looking to change this to Corsair 540 as the airflow of the case seems really good.


My budget should be about $1000 depending on how necessary it is. Most important is to get the temperature lower to prevent random shutdowns so I guess priority should be new case, new cooler and new fans. If there are hardware that really needs to be changed, please feel free to let me know.

 

[LLCSG12]

Somehow I have a feeling it's the mobo... Or the ram..

For mine.. although my vegenence works fine.. but my system is more stable after I replaced them with newer rams..

I also changed my 4yr old ssd..

Can feel the improvements in speed.. of a 4 yr old rig..

 

[Phen8210]

if it's ram, your audio won't continue playback, confirm hard freeze already.
I think it's your GPU or GPU driver, when you installed your new gpu have you done a clean install with display driver uninstaller (DDU)?

 

[jimlwk]

if it's ram, your audio won't continue playback, confirm hard freeze already.
I think it's your GPU or GPU driver, when you installed your new gpu have you done a clean install with display driver uninstaller (DDU)?

Actually this thingy has been on off, back when I was using GTX 580 it happened. I thought change to 970 the thing will stop but it didn't and it always happens when the weather is warmer.

Usually rainy/windy won't happen. It's really hard to pinpoint why and how as it occurs quite randomly and it's not an everyday thingy. Only common trait is heat and warmth. Sometimes I just pull out GFX, blow abit and put back, it's ok liao. If not, I take out ram and put back. If still cannot, I just leave it to cool for the night and next day ok le.

But it will piss me off when I playing ranked games, so yea.. Thought it's better to just do an upgrade since it's 5 year old liao. Aiming for a really good cooling case and 540 with its unique airflow design might just fit the bill. Also considered FD define r5 but it's like the rest of the mid tower cases but just better designed.

 

[Koenig168]

I don't think it is temperature. 55C for CPU is nowhere near hot. Might not be GPU either as you have the same issue with two different GPUs.

 

[jimlwk]

I don't think it is temperature. 55C for CPU is nowhere near hot. Might not be GPU either as you have the same issue with two different GPUs.

If not temp, i really dunno wat le. If there's a way to diagnose the problem, will gladly try it out.

 

[clearsky7]

5 years old and ailing... How about a complete overhaul. Get new cpu, mobo, ram, psu and case with your $1000 budget. Keep your 970 and ssds for now.
This old rig can give to someone else for less intensive use to see out it's days and die peacefully.

 

[Phen8210]

have you done a reformat before, the problem not with temperature..

 

[Koenig168]

If not temp, i really dunno wat le. If there's a way to diagnose the problem, will gladly try it out.

If it is me, I'll just swap components until the problem goes away to ID the source but not everyone has enough spare parts to build another rig or two lying around.

 

[jimlwk]

If it is me, I'll just swap components until the problem goes away to ID the source but not everyone has enough spare parts to build another rig or two lying around.

The thing is this problem is damn random and intermittent sia.. Even swap also dunno test how long to verify..

 

[jimlwk]

have you done a reformat before, the problem not with temperature..

Nope, never do befote actually.. Haha didnt think its software related. U have any theory for the cause?

 

[jimlwk]

5 years old and ailing... How about a complete overhaul. Get new cpu, mobo, ram, psu and case with your $1000 budget. Keep your 970 and ssds for now.
This old rig can give to someone else for less intensive use to see out it's days and die peacefully.

Tts wat i thinking loh, so see if anyone got anything to comment regarding my thoughts, like maybe better recommended parts

 

[divasion]

Tts wat i thinking loh, so see if anyone got anything to comment regarding my thoughts, like maybe better recommended parts

ya usually pc components failing,most ppl rather pay for a whole new system if they are not on budget and if the pc at least 3 years.

for example if its motherboard spoil,it may manifest and cause the gpu card to act weirdly which created a false-positive that ur gpu is spoiling. you can do gpu stress test to see if its really gpu problem but if the problem is intermittent, the results may not show.

for example if ram spoil,u can run a ram test for 3-4 passes,not problem, the next time u run the test again, it shows error after 1 pass.

Best way is to diagnose by using working spare parts 1 by 1 but abit mafan also.

 

[jimlwk]

ya usually pc components failing,most ppl rather pay for a whole new system if they are not on budget and if the pc at least 3 years.

for example if its motherboard spoil,it may manifest and cause the gpu card to act weirdly which created a false-positive that ur gpu is spoiling. you can do gpu stress test to see if its really gpu problem but if the problem is intermittent, the results may not show.

for example if ram spoil,u can run a ram test for 3-4 passes,not problem, the next time u run the test again, it shows error after 1 pass.

Best way is to diagnose by using working spare parts 1 by 1 but abit mafan also.

The ONLY common denominator is warm weather, almost 100% sure. Like tonight rainy, I can safely play my ranked games... lol

 

[trenzterra]

I would slowly change one by one. Maybe change the PSU and RAM first since it is easier to replace than mobo+CPU.

I was in a similar situation as you. My computer would BSOD once a week randomly. The last straw was when my computer refused to wake up from hibernation. So I overhauled my system, bought Skylake and everything... and realised my PSU was the one at fault On hindsight I think I was just looking for an excuse to upgrade

 

[divasion]

I would slowly change one by one. Maybe change the PSU and RAM first since it is easier to replace than mobo+CPU.

I was in a similar situation as you. My computer would BSOD once a week randomly. The last straw was when my computer refused to wake up from hibernation. So I overhauled my system, bought Skylake and everything... and realised my PSU was the one at fault On hindsight I think I was just looking for an excuse to upgrade

i keep getting bosd on "graphics intensive" games on my 3 year old pc. basically like overwatch and the forest.. but league of legends never get.. at thot is software issue,but after reformatt,still there. i did ram and hdd test using two software on different occasion,no problems. I suspected is gpu or motherboard or psu.. in the end just buy new one haha. cause usually the AVERAGE lifespan of gaming pc around 3 years de before start to spoil. Then there will be some cases which start to fail after 1+ year or the other end of the spectrum which is ur case, 5 years.. 5 years already before spoiling considered worth it le if is use everyday. BUY!.haha

more space more ventilation for ur hardware components so choose casing also need choose properly one.. btw is ur room air conditioned or fan de cause ambient temperature quite important too especially for gamers.if ur room is quite hot/stuffy one, more fan in the case also no use.

suspect is ur mobo cause graphics card is connected to mobo de.

 

[zenify.me]

5 years old and ailing... How about a complete overhaul. Get new cpu, mobo, ram, psu and case with your $1000 budget. Keep your 970 and ssds for now.
This old rig can give to someone else for less intensive use to see out it's days and die peacefully.

I got a similar setup as OP and I think the problem is that it's too future proof.
My 2600k and GTX560Ti is more than capable for DOTA2 at 1080p. 700W gold rating PSU which took into account of the power output degrade over time.

I only stupidly killed my old motherboard due to a bad BIOS flash and gotten a cheap B75 motherboard as replacement and changed my dead HDD to a SSD around 1 year back.

I personally feel that OP is good to go as long as the freezing issue is sorted out. Silly question but has OP tried doing a clean install of Windows?

 

[jimlwk]

I got a similar setup as OP and I think the problem is that it's too future proof.
My 2600k and GTX560Ti is more than capable for DOTA2 at 1080p. 700W gold rating PSU which took into account of the power output degrade over time.

I only stupidly killed my old motherboard due to a bad BIOS flash and gotten a cheap B75 motherboard as replacement and changed my dead HDD to a SSD around 1 year back.

I personally feel that OP is good to go as long as the freezing issue is sorted out. Silly question but has OP tried doing a clean install of Windows?

Haha, nope.. doubt upgrading to Windows 10 counts right? If not, then yea.. never clean install before.. But really, is it the issue cos like I'd mentioned, usually hot weather then the problem comes.

 

[ssxdots]

Already rule out monitor issues?

 

[jimlwk]

Already rule out monitor issues?

Most definitely. I just changed it too. From Acer to Samsung to Benq, all also got the problem so nthg to do with monitor.