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Upgrade, its been a while

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 11:30 am
by Jaymon
My hard drive is failing. I know it. The hard drive knows it. And everybody around me knows it, due to my swearing. Intermittent boot failures, slow performance, etcetera.
The drive situation is somwhat complicated. a standard platter drive for the os, and a pair of 500gb ssd, striped together pretending they are one big TB drive.

Couple of times in the past weeks, that drive didn't even show up on boot, and trying to write anything to it has become quite a slow chore.
So clearly, its upgrade time!


I decided, because I am crazy like that, to get one of them new fangled m.2 format drives. Its supposed to be fast and stuff. My mother board has a slot for it, so what could go wrong?

Also, my video card is 4 years old, time for a treat and get a new one, Oh yeah!

Re: Upgrade, its been a while

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 11:35 am
by Jaymon
As it turns out, much could go wrong.
Despite my motherboard having a slot for it, things are not working as well as hoped.
Windows can see it during instll, but won't install to the new m.2 drive.
seems the bios is not recognizing it as a bootable drive. I am suspecting its because the motherboard is a first gen adopter of the m.2 format, and the drive I purchased is 3rd gen.
I was hoping for a simple hard drive upgrade. I know i could just get a cheap ass sata or ssd, but once I got a taste of superfast, now I really really want it.


so, its time for a lot of upgrades.

m.2 drive, windows 10, video card, motherboard, new ram, new proc, and a new cooler. I am excited!

Re: Upgrade, its been a while

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 11:57 am
by Jaymon
Sabrent Rocket 2TB M.2 drive
MSI GeForce RTX 2060 6GB video card
Intel i7-7700 4core 4.2 Ghz
Hyper x Predator 2400 mhz (4x16GB) SDRAM
Gigabyte H370 HD3 motherboard

Re: Upgrade, its been a while

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 12:02 pm
by Exodor
I've started thinking about replacing my current PC (it's built around an i5-4690 and it's starting to struggle a bit). I've already got an RTX2060 and I'll be getting the 1 TB Sabrent Rocket.

Any reason you're going Intel rather than AMD? All the research I've done says the AMD processors are a much better value.

Re: Upgrade, its been a while

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 2:29 pm
by Jaymon
no particular reason. I did not do much research, just picked up a reasonably priced and well reviewed motherboard that should support the m.2 as a bootable drive, and then got a proc from there. ive been using intell for many years, it didn't occur to me to switch.

Re: Upgrade, its been a while

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 2:31 pm
by coopasonic
I appreciate you bringing the Sabrent Rocket to my attention. The prices on those are amazing.

On AMD vs Intel, I do the same thing just out of habit. Same with Nvidia.

Re: Upgrade, its been a while

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 4:09 pm
by Zitterbacke
My habit on CPU is to buy the best bang for the money, which is AMD (3700X for my budget) right at the moment. GFX I'm torn (2060 super, 5700 XT?). I'm going to wait at least for black friday.

Re: Upgrade, its been a while

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 4:15 pm
by Exodor
Zitterbacke wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 4:09 pm My habit on CPU is to buy the best bang for the money, which is AMD (3700X for my budget) right at the moment. GFX I'm torn (2060 super, 5700 XT?). I'm going to wait at least for black friday.
I'm looking at the Ryzen5 3600. Seems to be the best combination of price and performance in my price range.

It will be my first AMD processor since my old Athlon X2

Re: Upgrade, its been a while

Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2019 1:41 pm
by Jaymon
the new parts are supposed to arrive today.
I am giddy. absolutely giddy.

Re: Upgrade, its been a while

Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2019 10:43 am
by Jaymon
boom. failure!

I was not careful enough. The motherboard, despite having the correct socket type, is not compatible with the processor. Its been too long for me I guess, I didn't realize that was a thing. So I ordered an
ASRock Z270 Extreme 4

and now more waiting, while computer parts are strewn about the desk.

Re: Upgrade, its been a while

Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2019 11:12 am
by coopasonic
Jaymon wrote: Thu Nov 07, 2019 10:43 am boom. failure!

I was not careful enough. The motherboard, despite having the correct socket type, is not compatible with the processor. Its been too long for me I guess, I didn't realize that was a thing. So I ordered an
ASRock Z270 Extreme 4

and now more waiting, while computer parts are strewn about the desk.
https://pcpartpicker.com/

Re: Upgrade, its been a while

Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2019 7:01 pm
by JCC
coopasonic wrote: Thu Nov 07, 2019 11:12 am https://pcpartpicker.com/
Seconded. Impossible to make that kind of mistake if you use their site.

Re: Upgrade, its been a while

Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2019 12:31 pm
by morlac
coopasonic wrote: Thu Nov 07, 2019 11:12 am
Jaymon wrote: Thu Nov 07, 2019 10:43 am boom. failure!

I was not careful enough. The motherboard, despite having the correct socket type, is not compatible with the processor. Its been too long for me I guess, I didn't realize that was a thing. So I ordered an
ASRock Z270 Extreme 4

and now more waiting, while computer parts are strewn about the desk.
https://pcpartpicker.com/
Ohh, great link. I am strongly considering building a new gaming PC this winter with my Daughter. It would be my first build from scratch one in about 10-12 years. I figure between Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas and some patience we should be able to gather top quality components from Online/Microcenter. I don't expect to save a ton of money over a prebuilt but it should be a fun and good learning exp for the 10 year old.

Re: Upgrade, its been a while

Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2019 10:59 am
by Jaymon
well it works. but it took some doing.
you have to dive into the bios to make the M.2 drive bootable and set it up so windows 10 will install to it from the USB

but, I am going from cold boot to windows desktop in about 4 seconds, so thats pretty good. I am pleased. so pleased.




now, does anybody want a motherboard? gigabyte H370 HD3 almost new

Re: Upgrade, its been a while

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2019 5:22 pm
by raydude
Well, I finally pulled the trigger. I have had my i5-2500 CPU for 8 years and 1 month and it has served me well. But, even with a GTX 1070 graphics card I finally saw signs that it was struggling when playing Jedi: Fallen Order. So I ordered the following from Newegg:

i5-9400F Coffee Lake 6-core 2.9GHz CPU
Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro motherboard
4 x 8GB DDR4 SDRAM

I was hoping to be able to keep my DDR3 sticks and transfer them over but alas I could not. Of course, after the upgrade I'll be left with a motherboard, CPU, and DDR3 RAM, but I'll need a case and graphics card for them. I guess I'll store them as best I can until I can scrounge up a case and card.

Re: Upgrade, its been a while

Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2019 3:45 pm
by raydude
My new CPU+mobo+RAM came in. Given that the last time I did a mobo + CPU installation was 8 years ago I can honestly say I'm impressed with how Windows 10 was able to cope with the fact that it had new components. All I had to do was tell the bios what the boot drive was and windows popped up, said "please wait, configuring devices" and BAM! I was back at my desktop and playing my games.

I remember Windows being a lot harder to configure back in the day.

Re: Upgrade, its been a while

Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2019 12:49 am
by hitbyambulance
raydude wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2019 3:45 pm My new CPU+mobo+RAM came in. Given that the last time I did a mobo + CPU installation was 8 years ago I can honestly say I'm impressed with how Windows 10 was able to cope with the fact that it had new components. All I had to do was tell the bios what the boot drive was and windows popped up, said "please wait, configuring devices" and BAM! I was back at my desktop and playing my games.

I remember Windows being a lot harder to configure back in the day.
you kept the same HDD/SDD and replaced the motherboard? and Win10 was ok with that?

Re: Upgrade, its been a while

Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2019 10:51 am
by raydude
hitbyambulance wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2019 12:49 am
raydude wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2019 3:45 pm My new CPU+mobo+RAM came in. Given that the last time I did a mobo + CPU installation was 8 years ago I can honestly say I'm impressed with how Windows 10 was able to cope with the fact that it had new components. All I had to do was tell the bios what the boot drive was and windows popped up, said "please wait, configuring devices" and BAM! I was back at my desktop and playing my games.

I remember Windows being a lot harder to configure back in the day.
you kept the same HDD/SDD and replaced the motherboard? and Win10 was ok with that?
So I followed the steps to prepare Windows 10 for a hardware change, noted that my Win10 is a digital license, upgraded my hardware, then rebooted. So, yes.