Old Machine - might need some upgrades

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paulof

Member
Hi All,

I bought the below spec sometime in 2014. It is almost seven years.

It seems like the PSU is about to expire and that has got me thinking about other upgrades or replacements that are needed. Actually the ethernet stopped working several years ago and I switched to a WiFi dongle.

It has served me well. I haven't used it for gaming for quite sometime and don't really need that in the future either. I have used it extensively for running Virtual Machines but my employer now provides more powerful work machines meaning there is less need for that.

At the moment I would say I am using it as a personal office machine and media center as I've moved from place to place quite a lot and can pipe all media through the PC and out to various monitor and speaker setups.

Let me know any thoughts - Thanks in advance.

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE R4 BLACK PEARL QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor i7-5930K (3.5GHz) 15MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® X99-S: ATX, HSW-E CPU, USB 3.0, SATA 6 GB/s
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X PREDATOR QUAD-DDR4 3000MHz X.M.P (4 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 2 x DVI, HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
250GB Samsung 840 EVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive
1TB WD BLACK 3.5" WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st Storage Drive
3TB WD GREEN WD30EZRX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW & SOFTWARE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H60 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Single Licence
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 7 Professional (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
AOC G2460PQU 24" LED 144Hz Gaming Monitor - HDMI, DVI, DP, VGA
Keyboard & Mouse
Razer® Black Widow 2014 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
Keyboard & Mouse
Cyborg R.A.T. 7 Wired Gaming Mouse
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 14 to 17 working days
Promotional Item
FREE HOS: KAIJO DIABLO BUNDLE with GTX 950 & 960 GPUs!
Price: £0.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-x99-pc/yvEbvS!28t/
 
AgentCooper

AgentCooper

At Least I Have Chicken
Moderator
If it’s served you well and you’re using it purely for those purposes, I don’t think you really need to do anything. You could faff around with upgrading storage options but for your uses it doesn’t need anything major. You’re probably better off squirrelling your cash away for a replacement until it eventually dies and goes to silicon heaven.

What signs is it giving you that the PSU is starting to bork? And have you given the internals a clean out over the years? You’d be surprised what a new lease of life a good dust out can bring to an old beast.
 
BlessedSquirrel

BlessedSquirrel

We love you Ukraine
AgentCooper said:
If it’s served you well and you’re using it purely for those purposes, I don’t think you really need to do anything. You could faff around with upgrading storage options but for your uses it doesn’t need anything major. You’re probably better of squirrelling your cash away for a replacement until it eventually dies and goes to silicon heaven.

What signs is it giving you that the PSU is starting to bork? And have you given the internals a clean out over the years? You’d be surprised what a new lease of life a good dust out can bring to an old beast.
Click to expand...
I would very much echo the agent, I'm running a similar period machine, I've upgraded the graphics card for gaming, but for everything else, it just goes to show how good that periods i7's were because it still handles all the uses I use it for.

I'm considering an upgrade but under no push to do so thankfully as the machine copes with everything fine aside from gaming. But with the market the way it is at the moment, I'm holding off for a full rebuild probably next year when things have quietened down and **fingers crossed**, COVID is out of the way.

The network failing is almost certainly driver related, not hardware, it's almost impossible for a port to actually fail.

Similarly, PSU's rarely fail this long in, it's usually within the first year you'd face a failure.
 
AgentCooper

AgentCooper

At Least I Have Chicken
Moderator
And apologies if the comment about dusting seems patronising but I associate with many technical geniuses, some of whom have been known to neglect the dust situation. I won’t name names.

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paulof

Member
AgentCooper said:
If it’s served you well and you’re using it purely for those purposes, I don’t think you really need to do anything. You could faff around with upgrading storage options but for your uses it doesn’t need anything major. You’re probably better off squirrelling your cash away for a replacement until it eventually dies and goes to silicon heaven.

What signs is it giving you that the PSU is starting to bork? And have you given the internals a clean out over the years? You’d be surprised what a new lease of life a good dust out can bring to an old beast.
Click to expand...
I have cleaned it out every couple of years. The case filters have done a good job so it is normally just those that need a clean to allow for airflow.

The machine has always been pretty silent. Over the last few days it started to make noise so I unplugged everything and opened it up. Cleaned the filters, internally was fine. Checked the case fan, cooler fan and PSU fan for ease of turning / see if there were any obstructions.

Fired the machine back up and the sound is definitely coming from the PSU which exhausts out of the bottom of the case.

One thing I didn't mention is that a lot of runtime over the years has gone to programs like SETI at Home and Prime Number searching, which might have a 'bearing' on the failure.
 
P

paulof

Member
SpyderTracks said:
I would very much echo the agent, I'm running a similar period machine, I've upgraded the graphics card for gaming, but for everything else, it just goes to show how good that periods i7's were because it still handles all the uses I use it for.

I'm considering an upgrade but under no push to do so thankfully as the machine copes with everything fine aside from gaming. But with the market the way it is at the moment, I'm holding off for a full rebuild probably next year when things have quietened down and **fingers crossed**, COVID is out of the way.

The network failing is almost certainly driver related, not hardware, it's almost impossible for a port to actually fail.

Similarly, PSU's rarely fail this long in, it's usually within the first year you'd face a failure.
Click to expand...
I didn't realise how long it has been since I got the machine.

Agreed on the i7. It was overspec for what I needed back then but it has paid for itself over the years. Also the GTX 970 has put in a lot of work and is still going strong.

I'll check the network drivers when I get it running again. Cheers.
 
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