Motherboard issues?

[Zervife]

A friend of mine has an H61H2-MV board from ECS with an i3 on it. Computer freezes a lot and when playing games makes this "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered" then "Application has been blocked from accessing graphics hardware" error randomly. ASUS RX460 graphics card, 4+2GB RAM.

 

What I tried (Stage 1):

• Setting TdrDelay to 8 on regedit
• Updating graphics driver from the official RADEON site
• Uninstalling graphics driver and reinstalling
• Uninstalling graphics driver from safe mode with Display Driver Uninstaller from guru3D and reinstalling (both the up to date one and the one from the box (CD))
• Checked temperatures (during the time the game was running after >3 minutes) nothing above 80 and mostly around 60s.
• Reseated RAM, ran Windows' RAM check thing, thing says nothing wrong
• Reinstalling chipset drivers

(Stage 2):

• Took off the 2GB RAM, problem persists, placed it back
• Took off the 4GB RAM, problem persists, placed it back
• Took off the RX460 and ran computer with internal graphics, problem persists
• Opening the case and thoroughly checking for dropped screws or short-causing things
• Switched PSU from his 380W(?) to a 500W I had, problem persists, switched back
• Switched HDD, problem persists, switched back
• Computer freezes when trying to reinstall Windows 10 (5 times) (was able to finally reinstall)
• Placed RX460 back after Windows reinstall

My conclusion:

• PSU safe
• Graphics card safe
• RAM safe
• HDD safe
• Potential cause: Motherboard (likely) and/or i3 (unlikely)

So, do I change the motherboard? Friend has a really tight allowance but I think an H61 board isn't that pricey, but if this might be able to be solved without having to buy anything please tell me.

 

[RadiatingLight]

Your conclusion is correct.

Maybe just get a G4560 + H110 board?

[Zervife]

3 minutes ago, RadiatingLight said:

Your conclusion is correct.

Maybe just get a G4560 + H110 board?

Thanks for the quick reply. I am thinking to keep the i3 and get another H61, would getting both G4560+H110 be worth the price? Friend has about $80 max.

[RadiatingLight]

2 minutes ago, Zervife said:

Thanks for the quick reply. I am thinking to keep the i3 and get another H61, would getting both G4560+H110 be worth the price? Friend has about $80 max.

it's honestly not really worth spending $80 for such an old platform, especially since the CPU might be the problem anyway.

a G4560 would not only give him a pretty nice performance bump, but it would also open up a better upgrade path.

it would cost about double what he has, but then he can sell his old CPU and RAM to try make up some of that price difference.

[Zervife]

11 minutes ago, RadiatingLight said:

it's honestly not really worth spending $80 for such an old platform, especially since the CPU might be the problem anyway.

a G4560 would not only give him a pretty nice performance bump, but it would also open up a better upgrade path.

it would cost about double what he has, but then he can sell his old CPU and RAM to try make up some of that price difference.

Thanks for the advice. That $80 is currently all he has, and he's thinking of getting only a motherboard change. I told him your advice but he said it isn't possible. What are the odds the CPU is the problem?

 

Also he said this is emergency and he needs a quick fix (this is his only PC for now). He said he will in the future build a whole new Ryzen rig when he has better income so he doesn't care too much about what eventually will become of this one.