Replace failed motherboard or upgrade?

DeepBlue

I built my PC with guidance from here about 8 years ago - https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=79619953

Eboggles wrote: »

Item|Price
AMD FX-8120 Prozessor, Boxed, Sockel AM3+|€146.15
ASRock 970DE3/U3S3, AM3+, ATX|€58.25
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€35.94
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W|€40.91
LiteOn iHAS124-19 schwarz SATA|€18.89
Samsung SSD 830 64GB SATA 6GB's Paper Box|€68.01
Seagate Barracuda 7200 500GB SATA 6GB's|€60.26
LogiLink Wireless LAN 300 Mbps PCI Karte 802.11n 2T2R|€14.36
FRACTAL DESIGN Gehäuse Define Mini|€81.59
Arctic Alpine 64 Plus Sockel 754/939/AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+|€8.99
LogiLink USB 2.0 all-in-one Card Reader, für 3,5" Einbauchschacht|€4.14
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€556.48

The motherboard has failed. I believe I can replace it with https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/hRBrxr/asrock-motherboard-970mpro3

The form factor for my (now failed) motherboard was mATX. I think it was ASRock 960GM U3S3 FX AM3 mATX

While replacing it should get my PC back up and running I wonder should I take the opportunity and do a mini-upgrade while I'm at it and get a new motherboard (mATX) with new processor and 16GB RAM in order to futureproof it a bit?

Budget wise I'd be ok with putting approx 300-350 euro into it and re-using the remaining components.

z0oT

It would be a bit of a shame to put any money into such an old platform now, but it depends on how much money you want to spend.

The cheapest option is to just get a cheap replacement motherboard on ebay or something. It'll get you up and running at lowest cost for another while. Here's an example of a really cheap option.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GIGABYTE-GA-970A-DS3P-Rev-2-0-ATX-AM3-DDR3-Motherboard/184268848365?hash=item2ae7477ced:g:nt0AAOSwgrxepb8y

If you would like more performance you'll want an upgrade, maybe something like the below. You'll need a new motherboard, processer and memory. The below comes in under your budget and it should give you a very big upgrade in performance than your current 8120 for anything video editing related.

It would be good to add your PSU to the parts you would upgrade too given it's 8 years old. I wouldn't be too much of a fan of using them for 5/6+ years outside the warranty if I'm honest.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (14nm) 3.2 GHz 6-Core Processor (£96.94 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus PRIME B450M-K Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£60.99 @ AWD-IT)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£74.98 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: SeaSonic CORE GM 500 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£67.26 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £300.17
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-30 16:40 BST+0100

I'm sure there'll be other suggestions, but the above for a basic system will do the job nicely.

DeepBlue

Thanks z0ot,

Yep, I was thinking the power supply might be a bit past it's sell by date too after I posted. Good idea to add that to the list of upgrades.

Btw it no longer needs to do video editing. The most strenuous thing it would be doing now is a bit of light gaming.

Homelander

Definitely time for an upgrade. The FX line were poor processors to begin with but are now extremely outdated. If you can willingly afford the budget it is well worth it.

Personally while a new PSU is worth it if again, you want to spend the money, your old one is fine really.

However, if you are really not wanting to spend, a new motherboard would cost very small money 2nd hand and the FX is still an OK processor for desktop/non-gaming/lower end editing tasks.

If you got 8 years out of it though, definitely worth getting a new platform. Make sure to get Ryzen 1600AF version, not the original 1600. The 1600AF is the same as the Ryzen 2600, the 1600 non-AF is slower (but still a major improvement on FX).

If you really want to go all in, I would suggest keeping your PSU and getting a Ryzen 3600, 16GB DDR4 3200mhz and an A320M with confirmed Ryzen 3x support. It would come to about €350 and is the best CPU available at that price point.

Example:

CPU: Ryzen 3600

Board: Asrock A320M-HDV

RAM: 16GB 3200Mhz

Comes to well within your budget. Ryzen doesn't have integrated graphics but the FX mostly didn't either apart from a few motherboards so I assume you have a dedicated graphics card.

Also consider spending the full €350 and get yourself a newer and bigger SSD. Especially if you're using editing from your drive. These days even a 480GB SSD costs relative peanuts.