Spec Me/Advice on fixing old computer

PikeyPriest

PikeyPriest

PikeyPriest

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Joined
21 Jun 2004
Posts
1,700
This morning I turned my PC on and got a blue error screen, followed by a restart and then nothing. The PC wont boot at all now. There are no bleeps, the fans don't spin up and nothing happens. I've tried bridging the power switch and nothing happens. I've tested the PSU and that start normally (fan spins and can here it power up) by crossing the pins. Ive removed all devices and swapped the RAM sticks around but still there is no signs of life. Is there anything else I can try?

Currents Specs:
Asus P5W DH Deluxe
E6600
3Gb Ram
Radeon R7850 (was a later addition)

I have thought about upgrading before as I cant use excel while watching youtube for music videos. If there is no other fixes to try for the above then, can people spec me a new machine?

I use the PC for mostly work (excel, word, powerpoint, stats program) and occasionally gaming but this is league of legends, so not particularly graphics taxing. I would be more than happy to keep my current graphics card, unless there is a strong reason not to (though I appreciate it is 5 years old now). My current case is a Lian Li ATX tower (510x450x210) which has been nice, but the wife wants a smaller case for the next PC.

I have a monitor, Keyboard & mouse, windows and office. I have the existing DVD-RW I can move across (its silver) and Ive got an energmax liberty modular 500W PSU (circa 2006), which I'm happy to move across unless there is good reason not to. Ive got a 1tb HDD I can use and Id retire the 250Gb Hdd as its hardly used. The budget would be about £800 but I can up this if needed for a significant improvement. I don't have a preference of Intel or AMD and I`m happy overclocking in BIOS, but wouldn't want to spend weeks tweaking. I was hoping for SSD and maybe a 6 core if the budget can stretch. Thanks for any suggestions!
 
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I've come up with this:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £699.10
(includes shipping: £13.20)



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With reusing my old graphics card. This would give money for couple fans (not sure how many I would need, I see they make 140mm fans now). Do I need thermal paste with a retail chip with cooler? Thanks for any suggestions
 
smaller and lower end CPU as you arent gaming that much and core will handle it just fine to be honest, ryzen 1600 solid for gamers, i5 even better
also cant see you using 16GB, my office CAD system maxes 7GB , and your games wont

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £406.62
(includes shipping: £11.70)




intel version
i3 now are 4 cores 4 threads like other gen i5's! take a bit of getting use to lol

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £413.66
(includes shipping: £11.70)



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My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £676.55
(includes shipping: £11.70)



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Just a slight change of the existing spec.

The Ryzen 1600 comes with a decent CPU cooler, so no need to buy thermal paste.



Although this system is definitely overkill for a generic office PC with only a slight bit of gaming. Great if you intend to do more gaming though.
 
PikeyPriest said:
Great thanks!

I don't upgrade very often but I like my PCs to last, 11 years for the last has set the benchmark!
Click to expand...

if you want it to last then ryzen 1600 due to core counts, but i cant see word or excel in 10 years time using 6 cores haha - ryzen chipset though will last 3 generations , so in theory in 10 years time you could pick up a 3rd gen Chip ;)
 
Haha, I'm sure word, excel and SPSS will fine!

Do people generally not have CD drives now? Lots of cases particularly the smaller cases seem to omit them. Do people just use a USB DVD drive if required? I saw they were only ~£20 or so.

Also, is there any reason to not go micro-ATX in terms of performance or limitations? I was thinking I'd have the SSD and a HDD only which could fit nicely in a smaller case. Sorry for the stupid question, but its 11 years is the last PC I built.

Thanks
 
PikeyPriest said:
Haha, I'm sure word, excel and SPSS will fine!

Do people generally not have CD drives now? Lots of cases particularly the smaller cases seem to omit them. Do people just use a USB DVD drive if required? I saw they were only ~£20 or so.

Also, is there any reason to not go micro-ATX in terms of performance or limitations? I was thinking I'd have the SSD and a HDD only which could fit nicely in a smaller case. Sorry for the stupid question, but its 11 years is the last PC I built.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Micro-atx boards generally have fewer USB ports, DIMM slots and PCI-E slots. This could lead to issues later on if you wanted to add more RAM, or add more PCI cards

For performance there isn't that much difference, although often the VRM's are unheatsinked, which isn't ideal if you intend to overclock. But this likely won't be an issue for you.


For DVD drives, it has been quite a big trend the past few years to omit them in cases due to lack of user demand. Speaking for myself, I haven't used one for at least 3 years as all software I need is available online now - games, movies, programs etc.



Micro-ATX could definitely be a good idea for an office PC in a small case. Just need to make sure you buy enough RAM for the future (so 16GB ideally) and don't buy a huge GPU that won't fit in the case.
 
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I had a look at ITX, but there seems to be les motherboard availability and the wife has given approval to micro-ATX and likes the case. The current basket is:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £800.92
(includes shipping: £11.70)



​

Is there anything Ive forgotten or missed? Would I need any extra fans or would the rear fan be sufficient? Do I need an adjustable plate for the CPU cooler?

Thanks
 
PikeyPriest said:
I had a look at ITX, but there seems to be les motherboard availability and the wife has given approval to micro-ATX and likes the case. The current basket is:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £800.92
(includes shipping: £11.70)



​

Is there anything Ive forgotten or missed? Would I need any extra fans or would the rear fan be sufficient? Do I need an adjustable plate for the CPU cooler?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Any comments/changes before I pull the trigger?

Thanks
 
PikeyPriest said:
Any comments/changes before I pull the trigger?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Hi!

Maybe you'd like, then this:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £791.54
(includes shipping: £11.70)



​
 
PikeyPriest said:
Any comments/changes before I pull the trigger?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Since you're going Micro-ATX space will be at a premium in that case. The power supply is an excellent unit, but isn't modular at all, which means you will likely have un-used cables and it will be difficult to cable manage in such a small space. A semi-modular or fully modular PSU would make cable management a bit easier. Quite a minor thing though.
 
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southernorth said:
Since you're going Micro-ATX space will be at a premium in that case. The power supply is an excellent unit, but isn't modular at all, which means you will likely have un-used cables and it will be difficult to cable manage in such a small space. A semi-modular or fully modular PSU would make cable management a bit easier. Quite a minor thing though.
Click to expand...
Thank you, that's a good point. I'll upgrade to a modular super flower gold 550w psu to make it easier to fit.
 
PikeyPriest said:
Thank you, that's a good point. I'll upgrade to a modular super flower gold 550w psu to make it easier to fit.
Click to expand...
This one costs a bit more, but is fully modular and has a huge 10 year warranty (2x the Superflower's). Good for future GPU upgrades as well, as it can accommodate up to a GTX 1080. Would be really overkill if you didn't end upgrade the GPU though.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £95.45
(includes shipping: £10.50)



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