Potential upgrade time. Few pointers

DoniiY

DoniiY

DoniiY

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3 Apr 2020
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56
Currently have a Z170 Motherboard

CPU i5 6600k
GF CARD - GTX 1070 8GIG
MEMORY - Kingston 16GIG
PSU - 750 Evga

So basically playing Cod warzone and pc shuts down. Went to turn pc on again and nothing. Bought a new psu and still got problems so after a process of elimination I'm sure it's my graphics card. After some thought I'm considering an upgrade but just after some advice.

A) is my Z170 MB knocking on a bit and should I get a newer one. It was released 2015.

B) I've heard next gen cpu 11 is being released which puts me in a predicament. Obviously I want to get my pc running now.

C) if I were to just roll with current pc build and upgrade graphics card for the meantime what is the best bang for my buck bearing in mind a system upgrade is likely in the near future.

Sorry for all the questions but just want to make the right decision, especially if I'm upgrading an older system with the thought of doing a full upgrade soon.

Don
 
What res are you gaming at? (is the card under warranty?)

If you have to buy a new card i would personally swap the to the 5700XT - it's on a par with 2070 Super and then wait for the release of B550s and possibly Zen 3 - when the world starts to roll with the punches and supply/production picks up. (It's a not great time to buy at the moment - shortages and premium prices)
 
Don't worry about the next generation of CPUs. Any CPU you buy now will work just fine. And you'll be able to upgrade from an 8 core Ryzen 3700 to a 16 core Ryzen 3950. Do worry about GPUs: Nvidia are expected to release their new GPUs this summer.
 
Hmmm OK. We'll I think for now I'll roll with current pc as it is. I'm just going to see if my card works in another slot.
If not based on above what graphics card woikd you recommend?
 
DoniiY said:
OK and all that is fine with above. I mean my processor and motherboard are OK for this gpu?
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Yes, although i would upgrade to the latest BIOS for possible better PCIe compatibility (check motherboard site - it's advisable to have latest BIOS with large upgrades).
 
Plec said:
Yes, although i would upgrade to the latest BIOS for possible better PCIe compatibility (check motherboard site - it's advisable to have latest BIOS with large upgrades).
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Ahh Ive never upgraded the bios Plec, is it safe to do so?
Would hate further problems to arise.
 
DoniiY said:
Ahh Ive never upgraded the bios Plec, is it safe to do so?
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Yes, as long as it's done in the BIOS environment - never within Windows.

Format a pendrive - FAT 32 - ideally ~8Gb install latest BIOS (as directed on MB site description) and use the motherboard's flash feature - e.g. ASUS EZ flash, Gigabyte Q-Flash etc..

Motherboard?
 
DoniiY said:
Ahh Ive never upgraded the bios Plec, is it safe to do so?
Would hate further problems to arise.
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There's always some risk, but avoiding use of Windows based update tools avoids biggest risks.
Instead download correct BIOS file and then put in on USB stick like stated in manual.
BIOS itself has built in tool for update, which is lot more reliable than trusting Windows with all of its crap which might interfere process.

Of course power must be stable.
If you have blackout during when old BIOS is replaced by new, that's pretty near 100% sure "bricked" BIOS chip.
Nowadays most Gigabyte/MSI boards actually have hardware based low level routine, which can overwrite BIOS from file on USB stick in certain port without powering capable PC (even without CPU) but older boards don't have such backup. (also Asus charges luxury for it)
 
EsaT said:
There's always some risk, but avoiding use of Windows based update tools avoids biggest risks.
Instead download correct BIOS file and then put in on USB stick like stated in manual.
BIOS itself has built in tool for update, which is lot more reliable than trusting Windows with all of its crap which might interfere process.

Of course power must be stable.
If you have blackout during when old BIOS is replaced by new, that's pretty near 100% sure "bricked" BIOS chip.
Nowadays most Gigabyte/MSI boards actually have hardware based low level routine, which can overwrite BIOS from file on USB stick in certain port without powering capable PC (even without CPU) but older boards don't have such backup. (also Asus charges luxury for it)
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You've probably terrified him @EsaT :D
 
Haha OK I'll need to digest all of what you guys have said. Might take a while but I actually am enjoying trying to solve this.

All this due to a graphics card.

My system spec should have coped with warzone yes?
 
Plec said:
How did you diagnose the GPU as the fault?
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Ok so a brief overview to where I am now.

So I was playing warzone and Pc just shut off.

I thought it was dust with the psu as I have had this once before. I cleared it out went to restart and nothing.

Me being me I just assumed that the PSU had snuffed it and that was what needed replacing. I didn't even think it was anything else.

New PSU arrives plugged it in and still no go. Absolutely powerless. From there I unplugged evrything and just left the psu plugged into the MB to which it started fine.

I then went and plugged other leads into psu leaving just CPU and GPU leads and it worked still. Plugged the cpu in and again was fine which just left the graphics card. Plugged that in and again pc wouldn't start. I unplugged just the graphics and again even with the graphics unplugged it wouldnt start. I switched off psu via switch and left for 20 secs turned back on and with everything in except gfx card it started again.

To go on from this I have also tried to put gfx card in another pci slot and that doesn't work either.

Sorry that's a lot of info Plec but hope you get all that. I want to resolve this, do like an online game. At the same time in an odd way I'm quite getting into this problem solving and hopefully getting it fixed
 
DoniiY said:
Sorry that's a lot of info Plec but hope you get all that.
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No problem - easy to follow.

Reads and your diagnostics make the 1070 very suspicious - so odds are it's the 1070. Only other viable test would be trying the card in another machine - but i doubt you'll find many eager takers to have a potentially borked card placed into their system.

Are you running the system stably via the CPU's on board gfx and do you have a spare card around that you test in the original PCI Express slot?
 
Plec said:
No problem - easy to follow.

Reads and your diagnostics make the 1070 very suspicious - so odds are it's the 1070. Only other viable test would be trying the card in another machine - but i doubt you'll find many eager takers to have a potentially borked card placed into their system.

Are you running the system stably via the CPU's on board gfx and do you have a spare card around that you test in the original PCI Express slot?
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It's been on for ages now with the onboard graphics. Absolutely no problem whatsoever.

If I was to put the card back in though the system just wouldnt boot up. I'll then have to unplug it and then flick the switch on psu.

I have tried the other PCI slot as there's a few on the board but that doesn't work either.

Afraid have not got another card around.
 
DoniiY said:
C) if I were to just roll with current pc build and upgrade graphics card for the meantime what is the best bang for my buck bearing in mind a system upgrade is likely in the near future.
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Well, option C is a 5700XT at ~£330 seems your best fit:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
​

It's a lot of card for the money - and as mentioned on a par in performance to the 2070Super and would drop into your planned future upgraded system nicely.
 
DoniiY said:
If I was to put the card back in though the system just wouldnt boot up. I'll then have to unplug it and then flick the switch on psu.
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While there's slight chance for some thing between mobo and card causing it, basically 100% of shorted component cases cause those symptoms:
Shorted part triggers PSU's protection, which needs to be cleared by power cycling PSU and when shorted component isn't present/connected to PSU PC powers on normally.
 
EsaT said:
While there's slight chance for some thing between mobo and card causing it, basically 100% of shorted component cases cause those symptoms:
Shorted part triggers PSU's protection, which needs to be cleared by power cycling PSU and when shorted component isn't present/connected to PSU PC powers on normally.
Click to expand...

I actually am struggling to understand EsaT sorry. Are you saying that another component could be causing the issue.
Thanks for input.
 
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