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Motherboard Mishap


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#1 Warpig1227

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Posted 30 January 2016 - 03:56 PM

Somewhat sad for my first post to be a cry for help but I'm pretty out of my depth here. I've been playing for about two weeks now on my old Sony Vaio vintage 2009 and it just isn't cutting it. Stable framerate in the 40s when staring at a canyon wall but down in the teens when it counts. Time for an upgrade! This has lead me to try and figure out how to replace the motherboard in my iBuypower rig. It had a component fall off of it a few years back, a transistor I think, and will not boot. Flash of power then nothing. It is far out of warranty and being from 2011 it isn't easy to find a replacement board of the same type. I found one vendor in mainland China but it looks suuuuuper sketchy and their customer reviews are mixed to say the least. I've been out of the PC game for several years now and all of the numbers and letters mean nothing anymore. Can anybody out there offer any guidance to a beginner light pilot?

Also if I should be posting this in a different part of the forum please let me know and I'll move it over.

Here's the specs if it helps:

Processor Intel® Core™ i3 550 Processor (2x 3.20GHz/4MB L3 Cache)

Processor Cooling Liquid CPU Cooling System [SOCKET-1155] - [Free Upgrade] Standard 120mm Fan

Memory 8 GB [4 GB X2] DDR3-1600 Memory Module - Corsair Vengeance

Video Card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti - 1GB - EVGA Superclocked - Core: 900MHz - Single Card

Video Card Brand Major Brand Powered by AMD or NVIDIA

Motherboard Gigabyte GA-H55M-S2

Power Supply 800 Watt -- Standard

Primary Hard Drive 2 TB HARD DRIVE -- 64M Cache, 7200rpm, 6.0Gb/s - Single Drive

Optical Drive 24X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive - Black

USB Expansion NZXT Bunker 5.25" USB Locking Device (4 x Ports)

Sound Card ASUS Xonar DG

Network Card Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)

Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium + Office Starter 2010 (Includes basic versions of Word and Excel) - 64-Bit

#2 Flapdrol

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Posted 30 January 2016 - 04:13 PM

1156 boards are hard to find.

best replace the board and the cpu with something more modern, keep the memory.

Edited by Flapdrol, 30 January 2016 - 04:15 PM.


#3 xWiredx

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Posted 30 January 2016 - 05:55 PM

You can probably find a replacement P55 motherboard on Amazon if you're short on cash. If you've got a few hundred to spare, an upgrade to Haswell or Skylake is in order. The only thing to remember with Skylake specifically is that you would want to grab a DDR3-specific motherboard since Skylake platforms support both DDR3 and DDR4.

If you're going to just replace the motherboard, all that's required is to find the one you want (socket LGA 1156, P55 chipset is usually preferred) and buy it. When it arrives, simply unplug everything, remove the old board, mount the new board, and plug everything back in.

If you are going the upgrade route, let us know what the budget is and we'll throw you some build ideas.

#4 Oderint dum Metuant

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Posted 31 January 2016 - 02:41 AM

Out of what you have you'll need to replace the board, CPU, GPU,PSU, and probably the cooler unless it came with all the bits.

What's your budget?

#5 Flapdrol

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Posted 31 January 2016 - 04:18 AM

View PostDV McKenna, on 31 January 2016 - 02:41 AM, said:

Out of what you have you'll need to replace the board, CPU, GPU,PSU, and probably the cooler unless it came with all the bits.

What's your budget?

Just board and cpu should be fine right? If the psu can power a 560Ti it probably has enough to spare for the slight power increase from 1156 i3 to 1150 i5.

1156 has the same formfactor as 1150, so the cooler should be reusable too.

Edited by Flapdrol, 31 January 2016 - 04:18 AM.


#6 Bill Lumbar

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Posted 31 January 2016 - 06:11 AM

If you know which part came off.... cap, transistor, etc etc, you could have it soldered back on or do it yourself with a soldering gun. Its not hard to do, and a gun cost very little. Posted Image

#7 Warpig1227

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Posted 31 January 2016 - 06:17 AM

My budget is set right at "We have a newborn" so not too high unfortunately (for a very fortunate reason though!). Ideally sub $200 for any upgrade/replacement parts but I could stretch it to $300 worst case.

I've been able to find some other 1156 boards online but I'm not all that confident in my build abilities beyond replacing the board with an identical model, knowing where everything goes, troubleshooting, and whatnot.

In terms of a new board I think I'm limited to MicroATX as that's what the tower seems to support. I spent some time last night digging through reviews of CPUs and motherboards but most of them seemed to be out of my price range. Certainly don't need bleeding edge performance, just consistent framerate so I can actually respond to threats at 138kph.

View PostDV McKenna, on 31 January 2016 - 02:41 AM, said:

Out of what you have you'll need to replace the board, CPU, GPU,PSU, and probably the cooler unless it came with all the bits.


Should the GPU be replaced for technical reasons, or just for added graphics quality? I remember this system running CRYENGINE games at pretty stunning levels by my standards, though I don't know what updates have been made to it in the past few years...

Thank you for the help! Everyone on the forums say that this is a very supportive community and now I see there's truth to it.

#8 Flapdrol

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Posted 31 January 2016 - 06:36 AM

I'd go for a gigabyte/msi/asus/asrock H81 board and an i5-4460, that should be a little over $200.

Otherwise maybe a skylake i3 like this one:
http://www.newegg.co...=2MN-0004-00002

and a motherboard that uses ddr3 like this:
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813132688

View PostWarpig1227, on 31 January 2016 - 06:17 AM, said:

I've been able to find some other 1156 boards online but I'm not all that confident in my build abilities beyond replacing the board with an identical model, knowing where everything goes, troubleshooting, and whatnot.

There won't be a real difference between exactly the same type or some other board. They all have roughly the same layout and the same connectors.

#9 Warpig1227

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Posted 31 January 2016 - 08:26 AM

View PostBill Lumbar, on 31 January 2016 - 06:11 AM, said:

If you know which part came off.... cap, transistor, etc etc, you could have it soldered back on or do it yourself with a soldering gun. Its not hard to do, and a gun cost very little. Posted Image


Thought about this too. I soldered a component back on to my Voodoo2 card which got it going again but the mess of solder left over just wouldn't fly with the tight confines of this board.

I actually brought it to a local PC repair shop once but they didn't want to risk damaging the motherboard, which seemed odd to me considering it was already busted...

#10 Oderint dum Metuant

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Posted 31 January 2016 - 08:49 AM

View PostFlapdrol, on 31 January 2016 - 04:18 AM, said:

Just board and cpu should be fine right? If the psu can power a 560Ti it probably has enough to spare for the slight power increase from 1156 i3 to 1150 i5.

1156 has the same formfactor as 1150, so the cooler should be reusable too.


In theory yes, however a no name PSU that's been in a build for several years and unused for however long the PC has been broken..... I wouldn't but that's just me.

I obviously did use a 560ti to play although it was the 448 version under water and overclocked the 1GB Vram will be a quickly reached limit.

#11 Catamount

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Posted 31 January 2016 - 09:03 AM

That PSU probably won't be in much more dire need of replacement than it would be just running the same hardware without breaks/replacements, however that said, I agree with DV here. That PSU is still about due for replacement, and with something decent.

For the moment, a motherboard and an i5-4460 is a good way to go. If you can't spare the money for a PSU at the same time, fine, just be aware that it should be replaced when possible, and not doing so can have consequences. There are plenty of 430-500W units in the $40-$50 range that would work just fine.

#12 Flapdrol

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Posted 31 January 2016 - 02:38 PM

View PostCamron Lyraus, on 31 January 2016 - 07:29 AM, said:

Going Skylake would IMHO only make sense if you go to DDR4, no sense spending the money for the new stuff if its halfassed.

Does it make much difference in performance though. in this article
http://www.anandtech...th-generation/7

ddr3 1600 has the same "true latency" as ddr4 2133, and an i3 is only half an i7, so I don't think it'll be bandwidth limited.

View PostCatamount, on 31 January 2016 - 09:03 AM, said:

That PSU probably won't be in much more dire need of replacement than it would be just running the same hardware without breaks/replacements, however that said, I agree with DV here. That PSU is still about due for replacement, and with something decent.

For the moment, a motherboard and an i5-4460 is a good way to go. If you can't spare the money for a PSU at the same time, fine, just be aware that it should be replaced when possible, and not doing so can have consequences. There are plenty of 430-500W units in the $40-$50 range that would work just fine.

i5 4460 is probably the best choice yes.

But is replacing the psu really that important, it's an 800W unit, probably never seen 1/3 load.

I mean what's next, you guys going to tell me running a 4.4GHz 4670K on my H81 board is a bad idea?

#13 Oderint dum Metuant

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Posted 01 February 2016 - 06:50 AM

View PostFlapdrol, on 31 January 2016 - 02:38 PM, said:

Does it make much difference in performance though. in this article
http://www.anandtech...th-generation/7

ddr3 1600 has the same "true latency" as ddr4 2133, and an i3 is only half an i7, so I don't think it'll be bandwidth limited.


i5 4460 is probably the best choice yes.

But is replacing the psu really that important, it's an 800W unit, probably never seen 1/3 load.

I mean what's next, you guys going to tell me running a 4.4GHz 4670K on my H81 board is a bad idea?


It's unlikely to have ever been an 800W unit. Are we going to pretend OEM PSUs are good and reliable?

#14 xWiredx

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Posted 01 February 2016 - 08:08 AM

First off, Skylake on DDR4 is only better than Skylake on DDR3 once you push past the DDR4-3000 mark, so that guy's "opinion" is just that. Well, that and factually not worth considering.

Second, OEM PSUs are not trustworthy so even if it is an 800W unit and never has seen more than 33% load, it should still be replaced if its several years old.

#15 Warpig1227

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Posted 01 February 2016 - 09:26 AM

Haha I opened quite the upgrades can of worms here with my post. From all of your advice and talking to a friend in real life today I'm going to go with the upgrade to the i5-4460. Future proofing my machine isn't a huge priority as almost every game I enjoy playing comes from GOG with the exception of MWO, which I only found out about after starting MW4 Mercs up again on my laptop a few weeks ago.

View PostDV McKenna, on 31 January 2016 - 08:49 AM, said:

In theory yes, however a no name PSU that's been in a build for several years and unused for however long the PC has been broken..... I wouldn't but that's just me.


It's a Coonix 800w PSU which only ran for two years if memory serves. The motherboard broke while I was deployed and I've been so busy since then that I haven't really had an opportunity to get back into gaming. The PSU will probably be the next component I replace based off what everyone has been saying, then maybe the GPU in a year or two.

One upgrade I am adding now is an AC wifi card. I play on my huge Samsung TV which is located up a story from my router so I need wifi to get online. I've looked at this Asus card and it seems alright but I don't think it hurts to ask what this group's verdict is on such things.

ASUS PCE-AC56 802.11ac Dual-band Wireless-AC1300 PCI-E Adapter

#16 Oderint dum Metuant

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Posted 01 February 2016 - 02:09 PM

View PostWarpig1227, on 01 February 2016 - 09:26 AM, said:


It's a Coonix 800w PSU



Posted Image

#17 Bill Lumbar

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Posted 01 February 2016 - 03:27 PM

View PostWarpig1227, on 31 January 2016 - 08:26 AM, said:


Thought about this too. I soldered a component back on to my Voodoo2 card which got it going again but the mess of solder left over just wouldn't fly with the tight confines of this board.

I actually brought it to a local PC repair shop once but they didn't want to risk damaging the motherboard, which seemed odd to me considering it was already busted...

It is not hard to do with the proper tip.... and the right solder. Google it.... practice on something else if you can... it is well worth it. With the wrong size tip it can be a nightmare, but I have gotten to the point that I can open up a macbook pro and solder with great results if needed. Working on a laptop is much harder then a PC motherboard. Posted Image

#18 Figure 11

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Posted 01 February 2016 - 06:45 PM

Slap an 1150 motherboard in there, slap a pentium G3258 in there and overclock the balls off it.


Guessing you are in 'MURRICA! so

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813128727
http://www.newegg.co...=9SIA24G3RH7923

If your cooling system can handle a i3 550, it'll handle the G3258, plus the 3258 is dramatically more powerful stock (passmark scores of 2900 for the i3 or so to 4000ish for the 3258 stock). Overclocked it should push MWO along about as well as anything else.

I pushed mine to 4.6ghz no problem. There is no detectable difference in performance between the 4790k i currently have and the overclocked 3258 in most games.

Edited by Figure 11, 01 February 2016 - 06:49 PM.






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