Motherboard died, chance to upgrade

[Glimred]

Hi MMO-Champ,

My motherboard died a few days ago after almost 4 years of service. While that is sad, the good news is now I get to upgrade at least a few parts of my old build. Since it was you guys who helped point me in the right direction when I built the rig, I'm hoping you can once again help me with replacing/upgrading some parts.

For reference, here is the current build:

CPU: Intel i5 - 3570k
Motherboard: ASRock z77 Pro3
GPU: Gigabyte GV-N660OC-2GD GTX 660
Powersupply: Antec HCG 520W
Memory: 8G Crucial DDR3 1600

I am pretty sure with a new motherboard I will also have to switch out the CPU, but since money is tight in the run-up to Christmas (where did the time go when Christmas meant receiving money, not spending it) I was wondering if I can keep the GPU around for a few more months before upgrading it.

Here the standard form:

Budget: Hard to tell, depends on which parts I have to replace right now, I guess around 300 or so Dollars max, not including a GPU
Resolution: have no preferences on this one
Games / Settings Desired: WoW, Witcher 3, Overwatch, Civ 6
Any other intensive software or special things you do (Frequent video encoding, 3D modeling, etc): No, no encoding, streaming or anything of the sort, just gaming.
Country: P.R. China
Parts that can be reused: HDD, SSD, basically a full rig except for the broken motherboard
Do you need an OS?: No
Do you need peripherals (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc)?: No


Hope you guys can give me some advice on what to do.

Thanks

[Fascinate]

First are you 100% sure it is the motherboard? What tests did you do to come to that conclusion.

If it is indeed the board, what i would personally do is buy the cheapest 1155 motherboard you can find on ebay and do the real upgrades when AMD zen/Intel kaby lake release, which is in a couple months.

Quick search on ebay came up with this for under 40 USD:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gigabyte-GA-...X6lp0#shpCntId

Alternatively you could try and find a good quality used motherboard that allows overclocking and keep your CPU, its still a good performer.

[Lathais]

If it really is your motherboard, which you did not really give enough information to say for sure or not, to replace/upgrade it, you really need a new CPU/Motherboard/RAM. To keep performance similar to what you have you'll need to spend about $350-450. I am in a similar situation with Christmas and a kid and could not see spending that amount at this time. If it were me in your situation I would just find a cheap motherboard that matched your current CPU and keep using what you've got. Other than a video card upgrade in the next year or 2, the rest of your parts should last you another 3-6 years so not point spending that much money to replace it all at this time IMO.

[Glimred]

Well my PC from one day to the next simply did not start anymore. What I mean by this is there was no reaction at all to me pressing the power button, no lights, no fans spinning, no beeps, no hard disk sounds, nothing.
My first suspect was of course the power supply, but after a bit of googling I tried the paper clip test in the 24 pin connector and the psu did start. I then tried to eliminate the possibility of a broken power button by connecting the reset button to the power button pins and also touching the pins at the same time with a flathead screwdriver, neither of which produced any results at all.
Next I tried resetting the CMOS, also without results.
The last thing I did was do the paper clip test with everything connected, by reaching the pins through the back of the connector, every fan and device directly connected to the power supply started, except for the CPU fan, which is connected to the motherboard. Needless to say the PC also did not boot during this test.

If there is anything I overlooked, please tell me. Nothing would make me happier than finding out I'm just an idiot and the motherboard is not dead after all.

[Lathais]

Yeah, that does sound like the motherboard. I still wouldn't recommend upgrading, just replacing the broken part. It happens sometimes, but your CPU still has plenty of life in it, so I would hang on to it. I guess if you wanted to deal with the hassle you could sell your old CPU/RAM to recoup some of the upgrading costs, but I don't really think that is worth it.

[the boar]

i'd also recommend getting another board to fit your current components!

[also side curiosity question: do you need to use a vpn to visit this website from china?]

[Glimred]

Alright, thank you guys. I'll try to find a similar board to replace it, I already tried looking for exactly the same one but couldn't find it on jd.com or amazon.cn, which are the big sites for this kind of thing in china.
To answer the side question: you don't need a VPN for this website, but it loads and responds a lot faster if you are using one, especially the forum.

[Sorshen]

Search for a refurbished Z77, doesn't have to be the same model.