What should I do to this PC?

[MikeMike]

I have a few year old PC that I built sitting waiting to be brought out to where I live now.

The specs are:

• GIGABYTE GA-G1.Sniper M5 LGA 1150 Intel Z87 SATA 6Gb/s Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
• SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold (SS-650KM Active PFC F3) 650W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready ...
• SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-7PD128BW
• Mushkin Enhanced Redline 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model 997104
• Seagate BarraCuda STBD2000101 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Retail Packaging
• I5-4670K

Sitting in an old Antec full tower case.

I believe it needs a new PSU but not sure. It stopped working before i moved and I haven't had a chance to play with it to determine needs.
No GPU used onboard at the time

What would you do, for <$800 to refurbish and bring up to current specs?

I'm thinking about a micro ATX tower, new PSU if that is what is bad, and maybe a 1080?

 

[wingman04]

Sounds good. What screen resolution are you running?

 

[MikeMike]

3440 x 1440 U3415W

 

[whm1974]

Your system is fine as far as CPU and memory goes. A new case, PSU, and a GTX 1080 video card will be worthy upgrades to do.

 

[Compman55]

Try the psu, hold off on upgrade, or maybe a video card. The performance gains of a complete new build will not yield you with much joy. I would bet you couldnt feel the difference.

 

[mnewsham]

FYI that PSU has a 7 year warranty and the computer appears to be at most ~3 years old. Should be able to get it replaced for free if you contact Seasonic.

 

[MikeMike]

FYI that PSU has a 7 year warranty and the computer appears to be at most ~3 years old. Should be able to get it replaced for free if you contact Seasonic.

I need to figure out what it is when i get the PC to me.

Do not believe I get anything when powering on. no beeps, no boops, but i think the fan whirled. it's been two years since i tried to power it on.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Are you telling us that the system worked fine for some two years before it went on the fritz with the symptoms you describe?

There's such a thing as infant-mortality in electronic components: if the item is going to fail, there's higher probability that it will fail in the early hours of use. That is the only thing different about our experiences regarding the Seasonic X-series X650 Gold model.

I bought it at Egg a week ago, went through two power-cycles. Very careful about connecting wires or handling components to avoid static discharge or anything of the sort. After I plugged in the last SATA 6-pin cable, it wouldn't fire up.

Question: Do motherboard indicator lights illuminate after you toggle the PSU rocker switch to "on" position? I'm assuming that when you press the computer power switch or any onboard power-switch of the motherboard, there is no change -- no fans spinning, no sign of activity.

I removed the new unit and reinstalled the old one -- as 5.5-year-old Seasonic X750 X-series Gold. All systems "GO." I was able to deliver the X650 to FedEx for RMA in a matter of hours.

Indications that the motherboard is getting power because of LED lights can be misleading.

I'm wondering if there isn't some sort of flaw with the X650 sub-model. Or that we both got units with the same sort of flaw. But mine failed 20 minutes after initial installation.

Seasonic is still a favored choice of mine, since so many other touted PSUs are really re-badged Seasonics. There's a list for cross-reference available on line. Sometimes, there may be a bad model or simply defective units rolling off the assembly-line.

 

[EliteRetard]

Most of those parts are still of good quality, as mentioned look to RMA any part that went bad.

The one thing I would replace is the 128GB SSD. The 840 Pro was/is a pretty decent drive...but it's just on the small side today.
I'd go for at least a 512GB drive, and something midrange like the 850 Evo can be had for $150 or less, and it's a nice drive.
If you wanted a high performance drive, you could get a PCI-E to M.2 adapter and get a NVMe drive (like a 960 Evo or MP8e).

I'd almost say get the rest of the system fixed/figured out before you buy a case/GPU...it might be the MOBO that went bad.
There might also be some new GPU announcements/releases early next year (like at CES in Jan)...along with AMD Zen CPU info.
So I think waiting just a bit to see how things shake out might be worthwhile, before you drop $600 on the GPU.

 

[MikeMike]

So an update.

1: Everything made it fine through the airport in bags from mcmaster carr
2: psu only clicks and the fans only slightly spin when powering on. then it shuts off
3: i pulled the psu and tried to jump it. Nothing happens when I jump it except a very faint click. No fans, nothing.
4: I have started an RMA process with Seasonic. Waiting on their response.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Two things:

1) If that PSU is an "ECO" model, or one that only spins up the fan when it gets above a certain wattage load, then the "PSU test", to see if the fan spins or not to tell you if it is working, is going to be inconclusive.

2) Try reseating the RAM, and / or GPU. Transport of PCs tends to cause those two connections to get askew. I had to re-seat the GPU when I transferred a low-end gaming rig from my friend's place to mine, because it wouldn't boot.

 

[wingman04]

So an update.

1: Everything made it fine through the airport in bags from mcmaster carr
2: psu only clicks and the fans only slightly spin when powering on. then it shuts off
3: i pulled the psu and tried to jump it. Nothing happens when I jump it except a very faint click. No fans, nothing.
4: I have started an RMA process with Seasonic. Waiting on their response.

When you jumped the PSU did you have it connected to a fan or fans?

 

[MikeMike]

Two things:

1) If that PSU is an "ECO" model, or one that only spins up the fan when it gets above a certain wattage load, then the "PSU test", to see if the fan spins or not to tell you if it is working, is going to be inconclusive.

2) Try reseating the RAM, and / or GPU. Transport of PCs tends to cause those two connections to get askew. I had to re-seat the GPU when I transferred a low-end gaming rig from my friend's place to mine, because it wouldn't boot.

The PSU has two settings "Hybrid" and "Normal"
- I tried in both hybrid and normal.

The only items attached to the motherboard was the CPU (and heatsink) and the PSU. Everything was taken apart for transport.

 

[MikeMike]

Ignore me. I'm just an idiot that forgot to plug in a cable and the PSU works fine...

Now i'm getting windows 10... a new wireless card and then hooking up all the case based buttons once i've got windows 10 installed... fun times

 

[wingman04]

I'm glad you figured out the problem.

 

[whm1974]

Ignore me. I'm just an idiot that forgot to plug in a cable and the PSU works fine...

Now i'm getting windows 10... a new wireless card and then hooking up all the case based buttons once i've got windows 10 installed... fun times

Don't sweat it, I've done this too. This is very common.