Looking at upgrading my rig

[OilSheikh]

I have this weird issue ... if I try to watch a video on VLC or a Flash video, my PC crashes with a constant humming noise. Task manager can't be opened and even the Reset button does not respond. I have to do a hard restart. Googling suggests the motherboard is coming to an end.

I have also been looking at upgrading my PC. I am not interested in the latest and greatest. I am quite happy with my i7 2600 but used Z77 motherboards are quite expensive and cost about £80!
There are a lot of used B150 or Z170 motherboards on Ebay for about £50. Used i7 6700 costs £170ish and 7700 costs £200ish. The problem with these boards is DDR4 RAM . Flipping RAM costs arm and a leg!

Any tips ?

[satrow]

It might be the PSU gone bad, can you access a known good one to swap for testing?

[MrJim]

You could try buying a Z77 motherboard from Aliexpress - although importing from abroad does have added expense & risk. Prices start a bit below £80 though...

https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale...77+motherboard

[OilSheikh]

It might be the PSU gone bad, can you access a known good one to swap for testing?

It's a new Seasonic 620W PSU

[satrow]

Infant mortality?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Are you sure its not your HDD going?? A Samsung F3 is pretty old!! Try unplugging the HDD and seeing if the issue persists?? Also check if you graphics card is OK - media playback can use the GPU. Try some alternate drivers too.

If are changing platform,the SKL 6000 series CPUs like the Core i7 6700 can work in specific DDR3 motherboards but this will probably mean a loss of performance.

If you are buying a DDR4 platform,I would suggest getting a Ryzen 5 2600/2600X with the B450 motherboards when they are released as AMD said they will be supporting AM4 for a few years,and Intel has the habit of changing platforms too quickly and artifically blocking CPUs.

[Biscuit]

Are you sure its not your HDD going?? A Samsung F3 is pretty old!! Try unplugging the HDD and seeing if the issue persists?? Also check if you graphics card is OK - media playback can use the GPU. Try some alternate drivers too.

If are changing platform,the SKL 6000 series CPUs like the Core i7 6700 can work in specific DDR3 motherboards but this will probably mean a loss of performance.

If you are buying a DDR4 platform,I would suggest getting a Ryzen 5 2600/2600X with the B450 motherboards when they are released as AMD said they will be supporting AM4 for a few years,and Intel has the habit of changing platforms too quickly and artifically blocking CPUs.

A lot of the murmurings on reddit have suggested the B450 platform is looking a bit pants. Lot of the VRM designs looking a bit suspect.

[Ice Tea]

* Removed *

[DanceswithUnix]

Are you sure its not your HDD going?? A Samsung F3 is pretty old!!

That's a good call, the last sammy disks I had went flaky just out of warranty causing the machine to lock up as it just keeps retrying bad sectors it will never read. Checking the SMART diagnostics on the drive showed some "pending sectors" which were causing the problems as well as plenty of reallocated sectors the drive had already mapped out as bad.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

A lot of the murmurings on reddit have suggested the B450 platform is looking a bit pants. Lot of the VRM designs looking a bit suspect.

The base AMD reference VRM is 6 phase - the OP has a locked Core i7 2600 so probably does not overclock,so a Ryzen 5 2600 should be fine and probably the 65W TDP Ryzen 7 CPUs. You are probably only needing higher end VRM designs if you are really into overclocking or running the 105W TDP class CPUs.

The OP is having the same issue I had a few years ago when my H67 motherboard went kaput and I was lucky enough to be able to get a B75(with a worse spec sheet),since a year later it would have been impossible I suspect.

That's a good call, the last sammy disks I had went flaky just out of warranty causing the machine to lock up as it just keeps retrying bad sectors it will never read. Checking the SMART diagnostics on the drive showed some "pending sectors" which were causing the problems as well as plenty of reallocated sectors the drive had already mapped out as bad.

IIRC,it happened to at least one of my over 1TB Sammy disks too.

[OilSheikh]

My 860 Evo SSD is new and Windows +all programs are installed on it. HDD only has files.
The RX 580 is also new. I have been replaying CRYSIS Warhead recently for hours and have had no issues

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

My 860 Evo SSD is new and Windows +all programs are installed on it. HDD only has files.
The RX 580 is also new. I have been replaying CRYSIS Warhead recently for hours and have had no issues

That humming noise is a giveaway - if windows for whatever reason tries to access the drive,and it has issues with the spindle or read/write heads,it will make a load buzzing noise.

[satrow]

I can't tie in a drive issue/failure with the failure of the reset button to trigger a power reset.

[OilSheikh]

The noise is like this :
https://youtu.be/KmJFVgOg34E

I unplugged the ancient Audigy card and changed a RAM stick. Let's see what happens.
So, chaps, if I want to upgrade , it looks like I HAVE TO invest in some DDR4 RAM....

[DanceswithUnix]

Have you checked the CPU heatsink for dust? It's been overheaty sort of weather.

[OilSheikh]

Guys, issues still persist and have gotten worse.. the monitor started flashing .. artefacting and then I got the old Trinitron snow no reception screen. Looks like it's the graphics card. Have to RMA it. Don't recommend the RX 580 even more.