Which mobo do you recommend as a replacement for an old Asus Maximus IV Extreme

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sram

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This has to do with my older build. This link:


https://hardforum.com/threads/pc-de...ootable-help-me-pinpoint-the-culprit.2020511/

It became okay after all I did in the previous thread but it started to act up recently so I guess the fix lasted for one year. It just locks up (Freezes) and you can only restart or turn off the pc to get it back to work. There are no BSOD's at all. Sometimes after restarts, the OS drive goes missing although it is a new SSD drive. I suspect the motherboard again. I think it stops detecting the drive after some time. I stress tested the system and tested the RAM again and it was all okay. Some USB ports are also bad in the motherboard and one NIC is also bad so I just want to replace it. Since I'm not going to overclock the 2700K again, which mobo would you get?
 
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Well, it may be the only way to resurrect this dying PC. Probably with a new case as well.
 
www.ebay.com/itm/186026991761

This looks decent, and probably lived an easy life if that Celeron is the original CPU. Seller has good feedback.

The similar ewaste in my signature plays games like Cyberpunk 2077, Far Cry 6, and Doom Eternal just fine and I built the whole system for less then $150 lol.
 
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70 Polara said:
www.ebay.com/itm/186026991761

This looks decent, and probably lived an easy life if that Celeron is the original CPU. Seller has good feedback.

The similar ewaste in my signature plays games like Cyberpunk 2077, Far Cry 6, and Doom Eternal just fine and I built the whole system for less then $150 lol.
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Thanks for your suggestion. I hate to buy something and throw part of it. I can't do anything with the cpu and ram.

This looks better:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/235139513090?epid=116354327&hash=item36bf683b02:g:-QUAAOSwT9dk3~3x&amdata=enc:AQAIAAAA4G81qtGaXD7tcUtunKravIA22u+MDNswDbND4yXzd0Q50/XeQPf0zfF4r0H7pLrPfhJEWUH3YMogkc6voxNNP0PPSfL6MKLZIJ9gUwZD563KWZi21dsKzNts3wMYiDQpe+wMVwD45DQXrmafNidOq5LZ/ZAMaqBcfHQwBQRdtL101EF7T0NMCi9VgEIFQk8DDrcfrLEIxD3bnIcUw04H7nzuHi3aNp61HsAvmW+KM22x37N17hkkgmEhbqzZ0K806XqllpV7J0sFv8+ZYL+5JMcX4AnXQ4rkga+UrHKrtOYu|tkp:Bk9SR8rN4PjCYg

I can see that it got good reviews in the past:
https://www.expertreviews.co.uk/pcs/motherboards/52440/msi-z77a-g45-review

I may just get it. Thanks.
 
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I would get a Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H. There are a few on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_odkw=gigabyte+z77&_osacat=0

My friend runs a similar board (the GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3) that's been going 24/7 for years and years that they use as a Plex server. The benefits of the Z77X-UD5H are: POST code readout, physical power / reset / CMOS clear buttons, voltage read points, plenty of SATA and plenty of back panel I/O. quick edit: It also has the dual BIOS with a physical switch which is awesome. The newer Gigabyte boards sometimes have dual BIOS but aren't as good because it just decides on it's own when to switch BIOS which is not ideal. I also like the VRM/Chipset heatsink with the large heatpipe interconnecting.
 
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Dopamin3 said:
I would get a Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H. There are a few on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_odkw=gigabyte+z77&_osacat=0

My friend runs a similar board (the GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3) that's been going 24/7 for years and years that they use as a Plex server. The benefits of the Z77X-UD5H are: POST code readout, physical power / reset / CMOS clear buttons, voltage read points, plenty of SATA and plenty of back panel I/O. quick edit: It also has the dual BIOS with a physical switch which is awesome. The newer Gigabyte boards sometimes have dual BIOS but aren't as good because it just decides on it's own when to switch BIOS which is not ideal. I also like the VRM/Chipset heatsink with the large heatpipe interconnecting.
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How many SATA 3 ports does it have? I'll read about it. Thanks.

Edit: It looks like it has 4 SATA 3 ports two with intel chip and the other two with marvell chip. That's good !
 
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I have a 5.25" dual bay XSPC reservoir in this system, which I intend to reuse of course. Are there new cases that can take it? Or should I just buy an old case?
 
Newegg used to be my friend. I have been a customer since maybe 2001. But is it still good? I don't know but I heard it is no longer the best hardware site you can buy stuff from. It used to be the ultimate best but that's no longer the case.
 
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sram said:
Newegg used to be my friend. I have been a customer since maybe 2001. But is it still good? I don't know but I heard it is no longer the best hardware site you can buy stuff from. It used to be the ultimate best but that's no longer the case.
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I miss old original Newegg, I’d order something and get a bunch of little free gifts like pens, t-shirts, or toys, etc.
 
Some people say as long you order from newegg themselves it should be. Just don't order from other sellers in their website. I don't know how true is this. I haven't ordered from them since a long time.
 
Dopamin3 said:
Will give you a good idea on what cases would work.
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sram said:
Newegg used to be my friend. I have been a customer since maybe 2001. But is it still good? I don't know but I heard it is no longer the best hardware site you can buy stuff from. It used to be the ultimate best but that's no longer the case.
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I was more suggesting it to get an idea on what cases you could choose from. Their power search is really good for finding specific things you're looking for, like motherboards with certain features, cases with certain features, etc...

I've personally had no issue with them, my last order was 6/12/2023 and a bunch of hard drives (sold and shipped by Newegg). They were packed well and no drives arrived DOA. Just be wary, they're like Amazon/Walmart and they have tons of third party sellers too. Third party sellers aren't inherently bad, just research that third party seller before you order. Note: I haven't had to contact Newegg customer service so I can't comment on that aspect. GN did a four part video series on how bad support was in February, 2022 and the fourth video is actually them meeting with leadership roles at Newegg HQ to address these issues.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fnXsmXzphI&list=PLsuVSmND84QtAQc1-VjA5gT5v6ugM1gdZ&index=1
 
sram said:
Newegg used to be my friend. I have been a customer since maybe 2001. But is it still good? I don't know but I heard it is no longer the best hardware site you can buy stuff from. It used to be the ultimate best but that's no longer the case.
Click to expand...
I just ordered a bunch of stuff from the egg the other day....
 
Dopamin3 said:
I was more suggesting it to get an idea on what cases you could choose from. Their power search is really good for finding specific things you're looking for, like motherboards with certain features, cases with certain features, etc...

I've personally had no issue with them, my last order was 6/12/2023 and a bunch of hard drives (sold and shipped by Newegg). They were packed well and no drives arrived DOA. Just be wary, they're like Amazon/Walmart and they have tons of third party sellers too. Third party sellers aren't inherently bad, just research that third party seller before you order. Note: I haven't had to contact Newegg customer service so I can't comment on that aspect. GN did a four part video series on how bad support was in February, 2022 and the fourth video is actually them meeting with leadership roles at Newegg HQ to address these issues.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fnXsmXzphI&list=PLsuVSmND84QtAQc1-VjA5gT5v6ugM1gdZ&index=1
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Oh I see. At least something is still reliable about them. I'll take a look when I'm free. I'm no longer in the US, and the last thing I bought from them was from their international website, which was two synology NAS boxes. I don't remember when that was but I didn't have any problems with them and they are still kicking it.
 
Dopamin3 said:
I would get a Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H. There are a few on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_odkw=gigabyte+z77&_osacat=0

My friend runs a similar board (the GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3) that's been going 24/7 for years and years that they use as a Plex server. The benefits of the Z77X-UD5H are: POST code readout, physical power / reset / CMOS clear buttons, voltage read points, plenty of SATA and plenty of back panel I/O. quick edit: It also has the dual BIOS with a physical switch which is awesome. The newer Gigabyte boards sometimes have dual BIOS but aren't as good because it just decides on it's own when to switch BIOS which is not ideal. I also like the VRM/Chipset heatsink with the large heatpipe interconnecting.
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Phew....Been very busy. I bought this Giga-byte mobo, and I also bought this case along with it:

https://www.amazon.ae/gp/product/B078K32G27/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

It looks like a good case.

Will put them together when they arrive. It is an old system, but I'm still excited :)
 
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Furious_Styles said:
That's the case I'm currently using for my main PC. Lots of room, I've liked it.
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The case arrived. I'm just waiting for the mobo now. The case looks decent. If you happen to have some photos with everything installed in the case, share it here please. Thanks.
 
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Bad luck. So the mobo arrived and spent a day moving the parts from the old case to the new case with the new mobo. My watercooling kit didn't fit because the radiator was too thick for the case. I had to buy an AIO cooler which is Corsair H100 CPU cooler. When I finished installing the cpu, its cooler and the RAM and video card I tested the system and it tested fine and I was able to get into BIOS. Things were detected properly. I disconnected it from power and went to install the 4 ssd's I have and when done closed the case and went to try it after all is done, but to my surprise it didn't turn on at all. The fans didn't even start spinning. No beep codes, no nothing except that the power button in the motherboard is red and some lights in the video card.

I really hate it when this happens. I mean it was working, what could have I done? I suspect the power supply just went bad. I don't know. Please help.
 
Okay, so to be more precise here is what happens. When I connect the PSU cable, the internal on/off switch in the motherboard turns red and there are also two white LED lights on the video card where you connect it to power. This happens before switching on the machine. When I turn on the system, the Debug LED flashes red for a millisecond before turning off again and that's it. If I turn off the power supply, the white LED lights on the video card and the red light on the on/off switch goes off. What does that tell you?

Somebody familiar with the board should be able to help. Dopamine3 you may know something?

For the rest. The mobo is this one: Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z77X-UD5H-rev-10#ov

I have yet to enjoy this mobo.

I'm googling now myself. Thanks to all in advance.
 
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That's weird that you had it working, installed 4 SSDs, and now it's doing that behavior. Maybe try disconnecting the 4 SSDs and see if you can get it to POST again? Verify all cables are plugged in good, both on the power supply end (assuming it's modular) and onto the motherboard (24 and 8 Pin) and onto the SATA drives.

It could also be a grounding issue? Did you use all the standoffs and install the motherboard properly? Take it out of case and just put it on motherboard box or whatever and see if it POSTs with just the bare mimum (RAM, CPU, 24/8 PIN, Video output, no drives connected at all). Then start adding the drives back in one by one to see if one of them is for some reason causing that behavior. If it tests good then install it back in the case.

Ultimately that behavior does sound like either a power supply or grounding issue. Last resort try a different PSU.
 
Thanks for your reply Dopamin. Here is an update. I disconnected all cables from the power supply except for the 24-pin, and used the paper clip trick to test it. No go. It doesn't turn on at all. The PSU has smart zero fan operation but I can turn it off and I did, still no go. The fan doesn't spin at all. However, when I connect it to the motherboard, its internal on/off switch turns red and two LED lights on the video card turn red also (was white before). I wonder what that means. Maybe it means no sufficient power is provided.

Anyways, it is most likely the PSU. This is the PSU:

https://www.thermaltake.com/smart-pro-rgb-750w-bronze.html

It is a good unit. But if it is the PSU, what could have killed it? I'm afraid I have done something stupid that killed it, although highly unlikely because I know what I'm doing. Maybe it is just bad luck. It is relatively new so it is weird.

I'm buying a seasonic prime this time around.
 
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Couldn't find a seasonic in my local area, so I bought a corsair HX1000 which is overkill for my system but I got it for the lack of a better option and also for a good price I think(200$). I installed it and turned the machine on and guess what? Nothing happens. Nothing at all as if nothing is connected. Tried the paperclip method again to test the PSU and it didn't turn on. I can't believe I bought a DOA PSU. Either that or my case is a power supply killer.
 
Here is an update guys. I bought a power supply tester to double check the two PSU's I have.
https://www.amazon.ae/SKEIDO-Digita...9&psc=1&mcid=c8791dd2d9ef39a2830716a3f798282f

The new corsair HX1000 is dead and shows no signs of life so I'll have to return it. However, the old thermaltake which I had before turned out to be okay!!! I must have have used a bad jumper when I did the paperclip trick. It wasn't a paperclip actually. It was a wire for breadboard. Maybe it wasn't thick enough to short the two pins. This is what I got:



PSU tester.jpg


So that should it is good ? Right? The three green lights in the left are not lit though, should they lighten up?

So now maybe it is a grounding issue preventing the motherboard from turning on or maybe the motherboard just died! I'm going to sleep now but tomorrow I'll try to disconnect everything and keep only mandatory parts (CPU, RAM, and Video card). I will try the on-board video as well. I'm lazy to try it with the motherboard outside the case but maybe I'll end up doing it. If it works outside the case what should I do? How do I solve the grounding issue?

I'll clear the CMOS also and switch to the secondary BIOS and see if that helps.

What else do you think I should try?

I will hate it if the mobo died. I'll have to return it and wait for the other one to come. But I have to test everything before I declare the mobo to be dead. Thanks.

Edit: The three lights are for SATA connections. So that's fine.
 
I disconnected the SATA cables from the mobo and everything worked. Connected 1 SSD and it worked. Then connected the 2nd SSD which is the boot drive and it worked and I was able to boot to windows. I then wanted to close the case so that I can continue at a later time because I have a trip that I need to do but the side glass cover shattered into tiny pieces while being held by my hands. I got injured a little. This is one of weirdest things that happened to me. It is like it self-destructed.

I don't know if I can find another case cover, but at least the pc worked.
 
Update BIOS to the latest available (F16j) if it already isn't. That's weird but glad it's working. That's one of the nicest Z77 boards IMHO and I hope it serves you well and lasts a long time.
 
I think the BIOS is updated. Look at the glass:

IMG_5818.jpeg

IMG_5819.jpeg


It was really weird. How can I cover the case now? Are there customized side covers. This one uses hinges. Those who do case mods should know.
 
The BIOS is F14.Dopamine, do you have a reason to update to F16j as it is a Beta BIOS? It is risky. I wouldn't update unless it is necessary. Thanks.
 
sram said:
The BIOS is F14.Dopamine, do you have a reason to update to F16j as it is a Beta BIOS? It is risky. I wouldn't update unless it is necessary. Thanks.
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Updating a BIOS is never necessary if your system is already working. It's your choice.

After some brief research on this board, f16j provides NVME support even though it's not listed in the changelog. Then there is version f16k available which still supports NVME and includes the patches for Spectre/Meltdown. Even a modified version exists of f16k with a bunch of improvements (listed in the rar file there is an excel sheet.) I think the performance hit for patching Spectre/Meltdown varies between workloads, so again it's ultimately up to you if you would upgrade to f16j, f16k, or the modded f16k.

I would run the modded f16k personally. I'm currently running a modified BIOS on a CWWK Mini PC that runs my firewall for Internet access and other critical things 🤷‍♂️
 
Hmmmm. I experienced the same symptom I used to experience with the old board. It happened after I did some changes to the BIOS but I don't think it is related. The ssd's will just decide to disappear after some restarts. So they sometimes get detected and sometimes don't! When the boot drive goes undetected the system of course becomes unbootable. I go into the BIOS and the drives don't appear there too. Sometimes after I swtich off the pc, they come back to life. HDtune and crystaldiskinfo doesn't show anything wrong with them. I suspect my sata cables as I used the old ones. I'll replace them and see what happens.

Another thing that is weird also is that my cpu turbo speed is 3800 MHz in the BIOS although it should be 3900 MHz for the 2700K as I remember. I wonder why it defaulted to 3800 MHz as the turbo clock. I can overclock the cpu but I don't want to because its performance degraded and it no longer can hold an overclock. Maybe 39 multiplier is fine though. I used to have at 49 multiplier when the system was new. CPU temps are great ranging from 27 to 33 and up to 50 at full load.
 
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Dopamin3 said:
Updating a BIOS is never necessary if your system is already working. It's your choice.

After some brief research on this board, f16j provides NVME support even though it's not listed in the changelog. Then there is version f16k available which still supports NVME and includes the patches for Spectre/Meltdown. Even a modified version exists of f16k with a bunch of improvements (listed in the rar file there is an excel sheet.) I think the performance hit for patching Spectre/Meltdown varies between workloads, so again it's ultimately up to you if you would upgrade to f16j, f16k, or the modded f16k.

I would run the modded f16k personally. I'm currently running a modified BIOS on a CWWK Mini PC that runs my firewall for Internet access and other critical things 🤷‍♂️
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A modded BIOS. Interesting. Well, supposedly the 2nd BIOS can save me if things go south, right? Can you flash the other BIOS while running one of them? Thanks.
 
sram said:
A modded BIOS. Interesting. Well, supposedly the 2nd BIOS can save me if things go south, right? Can you flash the other BIOS while running one of them? Thanks.
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You can flash any version, even downgrade. 2nd BIOS will certainly save you if a bad flash occurs. If the system works normally but you have some issue with the new BIOS you don't even need to switch slots, just flash the older BIOS.

In terms of SSDs not detecting, or rather the SATA ports not working: you can try a newer BIOS (unlikely to fix, incredibly small chance I'd imagine), or I've seen one person claim it was caused by too much mounting pressure on the CPU. Also maybe try turning off hotplugging on the ports to see if that makes any change.
 
Lots of time and some money spent on that old system and it's still having issues. SMDH
 
DooKey said:
Lots of time and some money spent on that old system and it's still having issues. SMDH
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Not too much money spent. The older case was broken, and the older motherboard had some ports go bad. Replacing them wasn't a mistake. The system is working as I'm posting from it now, and to be frank with normal use you can't distinguish between this system and the newer system you see in my sig. The system has got a good CPU, RAM, and a gaming video card, why would I throw it away. SSD's not being detected could be because of the old cables or the SSD's themselves which I didn't replace. Many variables but I minimized them now. Factor in the fun you have when building a system and troubleshooting it (It is like building a new system) and it will turn out as a not bad decision at all. Heck I might even try to overclock it a little! And I only work on it when I'm free.

The rest of my family can also veiw it as a brand new system as they are seeing a new case and have no idea what's going on inside ^_^ 😁

If I run linux mint on this, it will be as fast as a rocket.
 
Dopamin3 said:
You can flash any version, even downgrade. 2nd BIOS will certainly save you if a bad flash occurs. If the system works normally but you have some issue with the new BIOS you don't even need to switch slots, just flash the older BIOS.

In terms of SSDs not detecting, or rather the SATA ports not working: you can try a newer BIOS (unlikely to fix, incredibly small chance I'd imagine), or I've seen one person claim it was caused by too much mounting pressure on the CPU. Also maybe try turning off hotplugging on the ports to see if that makes any change.
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Okay. I'll flash the modded BIOS. I have a feeling replacing the cables will fix the ssd's detection problem. Wish me good luck. I'll report back soon. Thanks to all again.
 
Hi ! I know some people here blamed me for trying to resurrect this old system but it is mine at the end. To be frank, I got disappointed yesterday. I updated the BIOS and replaced all the SATA cables but the SSD's detection remains and I can't really draw a good conclusion from the sequence of events. Sometimes it will just work very nicely and I would think this specific combination of the SSD, the SATA cable, and the SATA port on the board are all fine only to realize later that they aren't. You will take the cable which you would assume is good because it just worked and try it with another disk and it wouldn't work! This means the disk is bad but it turns out it is good because it worked with a different cable and port. Stupid. Anyways I managed at the end to make three SSD's work at the same time. I left the system stress testing overnight and it is fine. Ironically, the 4th SSD is my data drive for fast access and it is the newest one!. It is a 2TB SSD. It was working before when I first built the pc but yesterday I couldn't get it to work at all. Maybe it is just dead I don't know. I'll try it in another system in a computer shop and see.

I think what I'm having is a combination of problems with SSD's, cabels, and motherboard and that is making hard to pinpoint the culprit when you don't have another system/spare parts easily available to test with.

You know what? Maybe it is the PSU failing and causing all these funny problems? I have all 4 SSD's connected to one PSU rail, that should be fine, right? SSD's don't draw much power anyways.

Too many variables.
 
Hi....Here is an update and it might be the last one. The system is fully operational now with all SSD's detected, but I'm extremely worried about few things. One time while I was in windows 10, a message popped up and said something along the lines: Your disk has errors and needs to be repaired, restart your pc to complete the repair process. I restarted and it repaired itself. This was the oldest SSD with the most usage so that's to be expected and I think it is fine. It shows 66% health in crystaldiskinfo.

Now the other thing is bad and I'll really appreciate it if somebody can provide some helpful comments. I think I found one culprit. When I tried to add the last SSD, I used another SATA power cable and connected the disk but! The PC didn't turn on! Which brought me to my original problem. I was like what happened I didn't do anything as I just connected an SSD. I then disconnected the SSD and tried to turn on the machine but no....It didn't turn on also! It is getting sickening. I then turned off the power switch on the PSU, and turned it back on again and it worked and the computer booted fine. I connected the SSD again but this time connected the SATA power cable to another PSU rail. Same thing! It won't turn on. I got crazy. Why would connecting an SSD will prevent my pc from turning on??? I tried many times. Whenever you connect the SSD it won't turn on and you will have to toggle the switch off and back on again to make it work. I tried another disk laying around but same thing happened. Something power related is acting funny here. I then decided to change the SATA power cable. Guess what? It worked and the last SSD got detected. So I think it was the damn power cable causing problems. At the very beginning when the system didn't turn on, I must have been using this faulty cable. But, could a bad cable really do this and prevent a PSU from turning on? Or should I also suspect the PSU itself? This is what I want to know. It will decide whether I should buy another power supply or not.

Anyways, it is a weird behavior. Any comments or input will be valuable. Thanks
 
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