Think it is time to update my PC? Point of no return?

kiehugh

kiehugh

kiehugh

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10 Sep 2016
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5
Morning all,

My first post so please forgive any schoolboy errors... I dont have time for gaming, but I do like to have a fast/responsive machine that I can use for work etc

Back in 2009, I had the below PC built for my new house, I have certainly got my ROI back 100 times over.

I have upgraded the hard drive when that failed, I have installed more RAM and last year I had to replace the fan as the machine kept over heating.

Over the last few weeks, the PC has been shutting itself down randomly, and will not switch back on until I full power down from the wall.

I think that I have 2 questions:

1- Is this a PSU failure, if it is how do I find out etc. Secondly could the motherboard be failing? I have the temp sensors and that is not showing anything abnormal.

2- If it is a simple fix, at what point to I reach the point of no return? Like all machines there is only so long before you have to stop replacing parts, as the new components just place greater strain and cause greater issues, and go out shopping.

Happy Sunday

Kieron

CPU: Intel® Core 2 Quad Q8300
CPU Cooler: Standard CPU heatsink & fan
Motherboard: Asus P5P43TD
Memory: 4GB DDR3 1333mhz (2x 2GB)
Hard Drives: 500GB S-ATAII 3.0Gb/s
Optical Drive: 22x DVD±RW DL S-ATA
Optical Drive: 22x DVD±RW DL S-ATA
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 1GB
Sound Card: Onboard 7.1 Audio
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
 
The most likely cause is overheating. Except you say that the temperature sensors show nothing amiss. I would check the heat sink and the thermal compound on both the CPU and the GPU, just to be sure.

But really, a modern PC will be vastly faster.
 
Hey Quartz,

My initial thought was that it was overheating. However I have tried to push my system, have multiple videos running, games running, multiple chrome taps, updates running, norton scanning, outlook archiving, you name it I have had it open and I am still in the normal range.

When it has turned off before, there has been occasions when idling, and also yesterday when I literally only had excel open


Hmmm
 
Have you blown air through the PSU to clear out dust? The simplest way of testing the PSU is to put in a spare PSU. Which PSU do you have?
 
I will try the air, I would need to buy a new PSU to test. It appear to be random, so would find it difficult to replicate the conditions.
 
Could be the Hard drive, need to redo the thermal paste etc.

It depends what you are doing, a SSD will be money better spent than a whole new system if you dont play games.
 
I would replace the power supply to a Evga/Superflower one and bin the stock cooler as they are crap and replace it with a cheap aftermarket cooler. Sounds like the PSU problem to me.
 
I would suggest a SSD drive will make a massive difference and new PSU if your not playing games the CPU although old will be fine and the difference with the new SSD would be like a new machine.
 
Power cord check, been on for about 2 hours no problem.

If I don get a new PSU then I will be looking at like for like. Just dont want to have the situation where I replace the PSU and then it is something else. How do I know the point of no return? However in the not too distance future I think it is time for a total upgrade :)
 
That pc is rather old, but should still run fine. Any upgrades could be transferred on to a new build in the future.
 
At that age random crashes could be a mother board problem.

It is old enough for capacitors and the like to start failing.

Having said that my Core 2 Quad Q6700 is still running like a train.

Remote diagnosis is always unreliable guesswork; could be PSU, motherboard, RAM......
 
Run Memtest x86, Check Psu, if you've got an overclock go back to factory settings, , Check GPU, Check motherboard cables and motherboard for signs of damage, Reseat CPU and heatsink. If this doesn't resolve your issue then it's time to upgrade brah
 
Does the PC get noisier before it shuts down? If your fans are adjusting due to temp that could be a sign of overheating?

A case example, I used to run a Q9550 system in a budget Gigabyte case, it had a fair share of odd problems, shutting down and blue screens, on various occasions, over it's many ears of service.

One time tuned out to be indeed overheating, the case had one input fan with poor air flow, and one output fan, but no filters, inside had simply got coated in dust and lacked suficient cooling due to the dust on everything and lack of airflow. The CPU heatsink fins were clogged with dust.

This was resolved with a good clean, and a Scythe Kama bay, Scythe Angle CPU cooler and Akasa Viper fans, two intake, one on the CPU cooler and one as an exhaust. Case still sucked though.

A second time turned out to be USB driver issues, it had had so many USB device drivers install themselves over the years it would not work with a majority of USB devices, and occasionally blue screen too. No amount of testing sorted it, I was going to strip it for parts, but one day I pulled it out to try andother OS and found it was perfectly fine with a fresh OS install. It provided sterling service up until last year as the main family PC, the motherboards life was cut short due to an accident with an AIO cooler fitting.

I would assume with a system that has been used for so long. It could indeed be a case of dust ingress, maybe needing new cooling, maybe just a rebuild with new thermal paste etc.
Or just a bloated OS that needs a spring clean.

Hopefully you will get it resolved, it's not too bad if you are happy to strip and rebuild and upgrade a PC, you at least know your upgrades can move down the line if you end up not resolving an issue.
 
id just put an SSD In the thing probly 128-256 gb one . i still have my old core 2 duo machine by the way and its still able to game and its still very responsive after i upgraded it with an ssd so you can get away with it at the moment
 
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