Help me rebuild my Gaming Rig.

Vinny Vite Vichy

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Canada eh?
So like I said in my introduction thread, I have a gaming rig I had built, from Tiger Direct almost 4 years ago.
I am not too computer savy, but I want to rebuild this computer with your guys' help.
But first I need to check which parts are good. I saved each box, that each part came in so I will post pictures of it all at the end. First, what happened, what's wrong now, and what I plan to do:


It ran amazing and worked fine for years, then last year I had a problem with one of the graphics cards.
It's a crossfire so I plugged the HDMI cable into the second graphics card and it ran fine. At this point both graphics cards are in, but only one in use. The one that had the trouble started making loud humming noises about 3 months ago so I removed it. Not inspecting it at all, or noticing the damage...
I kept on playing and about a month ago the same thing happened. I couldn't figure out why but chalked it up to needing new graphics cards. In the mean time I plugged the monitor (not HDMI) straight into the motherboard and not a graphics card, it was running decent enough for me to run League of Legends and Facebook... until.

It started randomly shutting off.
When it would, turning it back on would take 5-10 tries. At the time I knew I could be doing damage but for RL reasons, I needed the computer to run.

I tried to restart it one day about a week ago and it never turned back on. Only doing a beep followed by a bunch of beeps then shut off. Over and over if I tried. So I finally inspected the graphics cards and I realized the problem:
The liquid cooling unit was leaking. Slowly dripping down, burning threw the first graphics card, then after removing it, it did the same to the second. Also it could have (not sure) damaged the processor and maybe the motherboard also?
After I realized this I removed the liquid cooling unit. And have found a fan cooler inside the box the processor came in.

This is where you guys come in:

I want to:
1. Know kind of roughly, what I have in terms of "current times" parts.
Is this stuff garbage?
1. Determine what is damaged and what is salvageable. (I Know for sure I need a new graphics card(s) and possibly a cooling unit if this fan is not enough.
2. Buy a new case (possibly) for a smaller unit.

I think what I need to do first, is install the fan cooler to the processor. To see if it runs. Will it run without a graphics card? The bracket for the liquid cooling unit to the motherboard is much different. I need a different bracket for the fan cooler. It looks like it clips onto a square bracket. I can take a picture of it. It's the fan that came with the processor in the picture above. Can someone tell me if I can get that piece separately and where, also what it is called?

I will be updating and checking often. To hopefully build this computer with you guys 😃

I want to use it for gaming. I want to be able to play any game, but doesn't have to be on high settings.

I am not on a big budget, and also want to buy local used parts through retailers or kijiji.

Thanks everyone.



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One of the two graphics cards that

**do not work**:
ImageUploadedByTech-Forums1425103085.933705.jpg
The liquid cooling unit
*removed and does not work*
ImageUploadedByTech-Forums1425103116.366615.jpg

The case:
ImageUploadedByTech-Forums1425103171.718759.jpg
ImageUploadedByTech-Forums1425103247.467084.jpg

Inside before I removed the graphics card and liquid cooling unit:

ImageUploadedByTech-Forums1425103222.834524.jpg


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Was your PSU on the bottom of the case? Did the fluid drip on the motherboard at all? Idk if you tried posting pics but none are there, so without text I literally have no idea what you have for PC parts for any further comment.

Edit: Guess Carnage approved images lol.

Ok, CPU and motherboard, will need upgrading. Don't bother beating the dead horse if budget is no issue. Will need at least 4GB more of RAM. Getting another 2x2 kit like yours now would be fine or you can get a 2x4GB kit to add. Up to you.

How long ago was the leaking? I'd take the PSU out and let it dry 48 hours without power in a ventilated area to make sure it'll be fine. It's a good PSU.

GPUs, chunk them. Same with the tired H50. I've had my H50 since 2009 and even though they are good units I expect if I tried using it again it might leak too. Sad days.

How much "no budget" is "no budget"? I'd say get a GTX 980 or 2 GTX 970s.

I'd also get yourself an SSD to add to the 1.5TB.
 
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Was your PSU on the bottom of the case? Did the fluid drip on the motherboard at all? Idk if you tried posting pics but none are there, so without text I literally have no idea what you have for PC parts for any further comment.

Edit: Guess Carnage approved images lol.

Ok, CPU and motherboard, will need upgrading. Don't bother beating the dead horse if budget is no issue. Will need at least 4GB more of RAM. Getting another 2x2 kit like yours now would be fine or you can get a 2x4GB kit to add. Up to you.

How long ago was the leaking? I'd take the PSU out and let it dry 48 hours without power in a ventilated area to make sure it'll be fine. It's a good PSU.

GPUs, chunk them. Same with the tired H50. I've had my H50 since 2009 and even though they are good units I expect if I tried using it again it might leak too. Sad days.

How much "no budget" is "no budget"? I'd say get a GTX 980 or 2 GTX 970s.

I'd also get yourself an SSD to add to the 1.5TB.





No the PSU is vertical? If that's the right way to put it. A small amount of liquid collected onto the blue rectangular piece directly under the processor. But it looks like it's been there for awhile, I brushed off the hard chunk and there are no actual circuits exposed on that blue piece.
So I don't think it harmed it. The computer has been off in a ventilated area for a few days. And will stay that way for now.

The gpu and h50 are already in the garbage. Done.

Can I test run my unit by just attaching the heat sink I have and no gpu?

My budget is $300-$500.
Even just enough to even get her running for now. And then I can upgrade the ram and/or the gpu later.



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At a quick glance it looks like you do have a onboard GPU although it may not be game worthy it should be able to get you going to see what works. Great PS so hopefully it's still working. The CPU is a weaker link in the system but should still do ok for gaming. IF the rest of the system runs you could get a single GPU, It does not look like your MB can do SLI but does do cross fire but that is really a mute point. Right now the best price per performance is a Nvidia card. AMD had it for a while but with the GTX900 series Nvidia pulled ahead. The GTX 960 goes for about $200 and the GTX970 is roughly $330 and is a beast of a card for gaming at 1080P and I've yet to come across a game that really makes it work with maxed settings at 1080P. It does fall short with higher res monitors like the newer 4K monitors but I don't have one so it keeps me happy. So if you can get it running and everything checks out I would get another 4 gigs of memory and the GPU
EVGA 02G-P4-2962-KR GeForce GTX 960 Superclocked
2GB GDDR5 128bit, PCI Express 3.0 2 x Dual-Link DVI-I, DP, HDMI, SLI, HDCP, G-SYNC Ready Graphics Card - Newegg.com

this is the ram I think you have but just get what matches. This is here for price point.
CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model TW3X4G1333C9A G - Newegg.com

this comes to less than $250 but if you decide to get the GTX970 it will be about $375 for GPU and ram.
 
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If the fan came with the processor then yes it's more than perfectly capable of running your processor at stock settings for testing or simply running it regularly.
 
@Dauntae-
You answered every single question I have at the moment, aside from PP Mguire who promptly added my last question/answered in right below.

I thought my PS was a better one.
That's a keeper.
So it seems my motherboard and CPU is outdated. For now to get running, hopefully I can salvage them.
Although I plan on slowly adding and expanding. Kind of irrelevant but:

Which one should I update first? Probably the CPU?

The GTX 960 looks great for now unless I find a cheaper alternative. I think I will go it until I upgrade the motherboard, and research SLI.
Also, is crossfire being a mute point mean it's garbage?

I should also post what monitor I use. Even my gaming mouse and keyboard if it helps? Want to rebuild this setup slowly but nicely.

Should I definetly upgrade my ram?

Thank you very, very much for your reply. And if anyone else can answer these questions that would help, I don't mean to put that all on you😓


@PP Mguire-

Thank you also, I thought so and am going to research quickly what I need. Because the bracket for the motherboard is not with it. And also need the right tools.

I also want to thank you for your advice about removing and drying out any parts.
Simple things like that I would need to be told and advised about.
"Grounding" myself before I touch the motherboard was a huge thing I did not know while removing the liquid cooling unit. So I am scared I might have fried the motherboard.


--I will update soon with my monitor/peripherals. And also I will post pics of the damaged GPU's. Pretty sad how the liquid burnt right into them--
Viewer discretion advised.
 
To the CPU, motherboard, GPU ect question. If you don't have much of a budget like you made me assume from before the 1090t will be fine and the GTX 960 is a great little card to get you updated quickly. I have a 955BE in my server now and when I tossed a 7970 in it, it ran games nicely. So don't let that ward you off BUT the 1090t is dated so don't expect it to run perfectly either. Although a lower end card now, the GTX960 is still GTX 680 speeds (7970 so you can reference that to your 5770s from yesteryear) and paired with the 1090t will run things way better than before.

If anything, yes I do think you should at least get another 4GB of RAM. It can be a cheap single stick or another dual channel kit. Doesn't matter really.
G.SKILL NS Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-1600C11S-4GNS - Newegg.com

Here's a link to the GPU if you will.
EVGA 02G-P4-2963-KR GeForce GTX 960 2GB 128-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready SLI Support ACX 2.0+ Video Card - Newegg.com

As to zapping your stuff, really that's only a major deal to new parts. Did you zap your board when you touched it to remove the H50? If not, don't worry about it. Just from now on before touching any parts tap the metal side of your case.
 
It was only a mute point because it being a dated system and a single GPU will out live the dated motherboard and CPU Most systems now run both crossfire and SLI if it has the slots. There actually the same thing but SLI is what Nvidia calls using 2 cards.
 
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