Suggestions whether I should upgrade my motherboard or no

Buying Advice Desktop & PC Buying Advice
1

Hey everyone, this is the system I have:

PSU Cooler Master MWE 650w

CPU Ryzen 5 3600x

RAM G.Skill Trident Z 8GBx2 3200hz c16s 

GPU Zotac GAMING RTX 4070 Trinity 

Motherboard MSI Tomahawk Max B450

A week ago it started giving a lot of issues. It wouldnt turn on. Sometimes it would turn on and off immediately. After lots of cleaning and removing & putting things back it finally started turning on. But it would be EXTRMELY laggy. A right click on the desktop would take me 5 sec, forget doing any intensive task. Even tried changing GPU to lower PCIE slot. Did not make a difference.

I dont have spare parts to test against so I took it to a local pc shop who has experience with gaming pcs.
He tested it and said the power supply became faulty and affected the motherboard and both needs to be replaced. He tested both independently. Both are out of warranty at this point.

He is offering me a second hand B450 motherboard (same brand). And a Silverstone VIVA Gold PSU (750W).

My question is: Do you think I should take that offer. I was thinking of buying a new B550 mobo and a new MSI MAG A750G power supply. Would that make sense or would I wasting money.

2

Try to get your board repaired by msi service on charge basis

3

Depends on your use case and the reliability of the vendor. If he is reliable I’d advise you to get the mentioned parts as long as you’re staying with AM4. If you wanna upgrade to AM5 then it would be a different matter altogether

1 Like
4

What’s your location @daVinci ?

5

Location is Mumbai

6

i own a similar setup with an asrock b450m pro4 mobo, and honestly its been serving me well for the past 4 years. Havent really heard of issues like this, but if you’re sure its due to a faulty mobo (which im sceptical about), then go for a new one instead of a used one because of future upgrades and good warranty.

This seems like a power issue and i’d be more doubtful about the psu, but even then id suggest to go for a new one (and a solid rated one at that). Psu or mobo, you dont wanna cheap out on either of them.

Also, your gpu should always be plugged to the top slot because usually the lower slot is reserved for lower speed cards. Your particular mobo has 1 upper pcie 3.0 x16 and 1 lower pcie 2.0 x4 (has 16 lanes but electrically 4), which will severely reduce the bandwidth for your gpu, so its never worth it to switch slots.

7

I changed my mobo now my pc is going to mars .:rocket:.

You forget to say how many years old is your mobo?

8

that mobo with rtx 4070?

9

PSUS are so vigorously tested, they are generally the last point of failure.

Mostly it could be a faulty mobo issue b450/b550 are notorious for causing troubles.

Get a cheapo replacement mobo and try for yourself.

10

I’m having a hard time believing both PSU and motherboard got faulty together. Take second opinion if possible because changing both parts will be costly. If they are both indeed faulty then I’d just say to upgrade to AM5 but with RAM prices.. I don’t know if its the right choice.

11

Hey bro,
Could you snap some high-res photos of the VRM area on your motherboard? I’d also love close-ups of the PSU’s PCB to see how clean it is. (Quick heads-up: Don’t open the PSU—serious shock hazard!)
If you’re up for cracking open the PC, pull out the GPU and CPU to get a good look at the motherboard PCB for any blown SMDs. Those are usually an easy fix, running just 600–1,200 INR.
Before firing it up again, peek inside the PSU for dust buildup, debris, or those pesky dust bunnies—and give it a sniff test for any burnt plastic smell. Better safe than sorry!