Fix or sell the leftovers?

YoungBlade · July 23, 2021

TL;DR - I have an old computer that just died. Currently it would have no use. Should I replace the mobo for $60 just to have it or should I sell off the scraps for $120?

Budget (including currency): $100

Country: United States

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Spare computer, loaned out to friends/family who need it

Other details: Fairly sure the issue is that the mobo is dead. Core parts are Core i5 4440, 4x4GB DDR3-1333, and Nvidia GT 635.

My old gaming PC has bit the bullet. I tried everything I could think of to bring it back to life, to the point that no one here on the forum had any suggestions for other steps. I just tried it with a different PSU in a last-ditch effort and got the same result, so I'm 95% sure that something is broken about the motherboard. The only other component it could be is the CPU, but that seems highly unlikely considering that the first issue was intermittent display out from the graphics card without any crashes or blue screens.

The computer was a Lenovo K450. I was loaning it to my dad, but I found him a refurbished workstation for cheap and set him up with that, so currently no one I know is in need of a computer. If I revive it, it'll just be a spare in case someone I know has a computer die.

B85 mATX boards cost around $55-80 used. H97, Z87, and Z97 are even more expensive. I'd like to use all 4 sticks of RAM if I do this, so I'm not looking at H81 boards.

Another issue is that the PSU only has a 4 pin CPU connector. Considering that the CPU is just a 4440, I think getting a 4 to 8 pin adapter should be fine, but that's another $7 expense if the motherboard I choose requires an 8 pin. Luckily, it has a standard ATX PSU, and not a proprietary one, so I'm free to get any 8 or 9 series motherboard that takes standard power connections.

The remaining core parts are selling for around $105-150 all tolled. (The i5 4440 is selling for $40-50 on eBay. The RAM is going for $40-60. And the graphics card for $25-40.)

I could pocket that money and put it towards building a computer in the future. The case could make for a fun sleeper PC build if I threw an Alder Lake or Raptor Lake i5 in it with some DDR5 G.Skill RAM, as it has an old school "Intel Inside" Core i5 case badge, along with an old G.Skill badge from when I upgraded the RAM. I actually quite like the case - it's easy to work in for such a small case, fairly portable with a handle on top, has reasonable front-panel IO, and has decent airflow for down-draft coolers and graphics cards thanks to a grill on the side.

Do you think I should sell off the working components and look forward to re-using the case in the future, or should I invest in a B85 mATX board to bring it back to life today?