Upgrade path for a computer with problems.

[KopiousKarp]

I'm looking to upgrade my build in the next 6 months, but I'm not exactly rich and so I need to do one upgrade and then hobble along with a bottleneck for another 6 months before I finish it. 

My Current build

PC part picker link :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - FX-6300 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor	$59.89 @ OutletPC
CPU Cooler	Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler	$28.53 @ Amazon
Motherboard	Gigabyte - GA-970A-UD3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard
Memory	Crucial - Ballistix Sport 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR3-1600 Memory	$69.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Kingston - A400 120 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$25.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$44.85 @ OutletPC
Video Card	MSI - Radeon R9 270X 4 GB TWIN FROZR Video Card
Case	Corsair - 200R ATX Mid Tower Case	$59.99 @ Newegg Business
Power Supply	Corsair - Builder 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$48.98 @ Newegg Business
Operating System	Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit	$98.89 @ OutletPC
Wireless Network Adapter	TRENDnet - TEW-807ECH PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter	$29.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$477.10
	Mail-in rebates	-$10.00
	Total	$467.10
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-12-08 21:02 EST-0500

 Notes:

*My case is actually the Corsair Carbide 100R

*Wifi adapter is actually the Trendnet N600

*CPU is overclocked to 4Ghz

*I also use Ubuntu as an OS and I like to switch between the 2 (although Ubuntu is giving me some wifi troubles at the moment)

 

The Problem

For a while now, my computer has had random crashes, the whole screen goes gray and the audio will sometimes continue to play for a few seconds before it either turns off or freezes and plays the same sound. This does not go away until a reset. 

     I mostly run into this issue when watching Youtube videos, but my brother who used it for a while ran into this problem more often then I did during games. 

    Some research has led me to believe that this is cause by a faltering VRAM module on the GPU but nothing has been conclusive and it doesn't really make sense to me. Another thing that came up was a warning from PC part picker that said 

• Some AMD 970 chipset motherboards may need a BIOS update prior to using Vishera CPUs. Upgrading the BIOS may require a different CPU that is supported by older BIOS revisions

The Upgrade

My mission for this upgrade is to find what is causing the issue, and upgrade that first. I intend to upgrade either the GPU or the CPU, MOBO, and RAM.

So my questions are: 

 

What is causing the issue?

What parts should I pick to get this build back to a mid/high-grade gaming machine again?

 

My Use 

Around 70% of what I do on this machine is gaming, I haven't been playing too many mainstream AAA titles lately but I would like that option again. Right now I play:

Enter the Gungeon 

The Witcher 3

Darksouls 3 

Dota 2 

CS-GO

Fortnite

 

Also, when I finally get the wifi working on Ubuntu, I would like to get into gaming on Linux.

 

I dabble in productivity doing a little bit of everything

-using Android studio and playing with Unreal engine

-3D modeling with 3D paint

-using GIMP for small amounts of photo editing

-Video editing with Lightworks

 

 

Any input is much appreciated, 

KopiousKarp

[Fasauceome]

If the productivity tasks you've listed are a high priority for your, you'll notice the difference with a new CPU. Fresh Ryzen chips are on the horizon, so you should wait and save for a new CPU. Of the rumors are to be believed, you can get a 6 core for $100 (but I don't buy that, I foresee $160 being more likely.)

[XR6]

13 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

If the productivity tasks you've listed are a high priority for your, you'll notice the difference with a new CPU. Fresh Ryzen chips are on the horizon, so you should wait and save for a new CPU. Of the rumors are to be believed, you can get a 6 core for $100 (but I don't buy that, I foresee $160 being more likely.)

Ryzen 5 will probably be OP's best bet since it's best price to performance as well as having 6c/12t (2600 has 6c/12t so I don't see why next gen Ryzen chips wouldn't)

[Fasauceome]

Just now, 1kv said:

Ryzen 5 will probably be OP's best bet since it's best price to performance as well as having 6c/6t (2nd gen has 6c/6t so I don't see why next gen Ryzen chips wouldn't)

U mean 6c/12t

[XR6]

Just now, fasauceome said:

U mean 6c/12t

Yeah I updated it lol  

[KopiousKarp]

19 hours ago, fasauceome said:

If the productivity tasks you've listed are a high priority for your, you'll notice the difference with a new CPU. Fresh Ryzen chips are on the horizon, so you should wait and save for a new CPU. Of the rumors are to be believed, you can get a 6 core for $100 (but I don't buy that, I foresee $160 being more likely.)

 I certainly would like the performance boost. But my main priority is to replace the part that is causing the crashes. I'm not really looking forward to a bottleneck and a persisting problem. Do you guys think that the CPU upgrade will do the trick? Do you think the BIOS issue that was mentioned by pcpartpicker is the cause of the problem?

[Fasauceome]

2 minutes ago, KopiousKarp said:

 I certainly would like the performance boost. But my main priority is to replace the part that is causing the crashes. I'm not really looking forward to a bottleneck and a persisting problem. Do you guys think that the CPU upgrade will do the trick? Do you think the BIOS issue that was mentioned by pcpartpicker is the cause of the problem?

I'm pretty sure the CPU is causing the crashes if anything, the FX line is pretty easy to overwhelm.

[KopiousKarp]

2 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

I'm pretty sure the CPU is causing the crashes if anything, the FX line is pretty easy to overwhelm.

Thanks for the insight, I will continue to look into it leading up to when I get parts and post what I find out.  

[Slade_87]

have you ran a memtest?

I bought my desktop cheap from someone running linux mint. He didn't tell me he was having issues, but when I switched the OS to Win10, I started getting blue screens and other issues doing seemingly mundane tasks that would randomly cause crashes.

 

Ran a memtest with one stick in the mobo at a time. (4 x 8GB sticks took a really long time to do a full check)

 

Found the bad stick and replaced it, never had an issue since.

[KopiousKarp]

1 hour ago, Slade_87 said:

have you ran a memtest?

I bought my desktop cheap from someone running linux mint. He didn't tell me he was having issues, but when I switched the OS to Win10, I started getting blue screens and other issues doing seemingly mundane tasks that would randomly cause crashes.

 

Ran a memtest with one stick in the mobo at a time. (4 x 8GB sticks took a really long time to do a full check)

 

Found the bad stick and replaced it, never had an issue since.

I will try this and post what I find out. Another test that I am trying is trading GPU's and seeing if I run into a crash. 

Thank you 

[KopiousKarp]

I ran a memtest on each of the 2 sticks and let it go through 2 passes. I confirmed that the memory is fine. I also switched GPU's with my brothers rig and we both have not encountered a crash like the one I have described, but I have run into some random restarts (that only seem to occur when I'm not there to see it).

 

I've come to the conclusion that the problem that causes the computer to crash has something to do with CPU or MOBO, so I'll be upgrading that first.  

 

UPDATE 12/24: This conclusion was wrong. My brother was gaming on my GPU and ran into the exact crash I was looking for. This is good news to me because that means I'll be upgrading GPU first. What are people's thoughts on used RX 580's? Any other recommendations? 

 

Edited December 24, 2018 by KopiousKarp
previous post was wrong