<< Solved >> My CPU broke. Should I buy new CPU, RAM, and motherboard, or just replace the CPU?

[TonyTech]

The motherboard was about 6 years old (Z87 chipset).

The CPU is i7-4790K, and there's about 16 GB of DDR3 RAM.

To be honest, I don't really need more performance... it was good as-is, if not slightly overkill.

If you do recommend I buy, would the discount I get from buying used components from the past 2-3'ish years be worth the "improvements" in performance in the newer models? Particularly the 10-/11-series Intel CPU and the upcoming Ryzen series

Edit: Found out that my CPU has given up (tested it on another motherboard) and not my motherboard as originally thought (after all, motherboards fail way more often than CPU's). A replacement LGA 1151 i7 CPU would cost about as much as a new set of CPU, RAM, and motherboard (and selling the RAM and motherboard), so I decided to buy a new set.

 

[Jamesbond007]

The motherboard was about 6 years old (Z87 chipset).

The CPU is i7-4790K, and there's about 16 GB of DDR3 RAM.

To be honest, I don't really need more performance... it was good as-is, if not slightly overkill.

If you do recommend I buy, would the discount I get from buying used components from the past 2-3'ish years be worth the "improvements" in performance in the newer models? Particularly the 10-/11-series Intel CPU and the upcoming Ryzen series

What is the version of MacOS you are running on your system before the motherboard breakdown?

If you decide to replace the motherboard, CPU and RAM, you may also have to upgrade your MacOS as older versions may not be compatible with the new hardware.

If you don't need more performance, I think there will be no need to spend quite a lot of money for new hardware, especially since you will need to replace almost everything except the graphics card.

Personally, I would just find a second hand 8 or 9 series Gigabyte motherboard to replace the broken one and be done with it. That way your system should be able to boot up directly once the correct BIOS options are set, assuming that there are no problems with the other hardware.

 

[TonyTech]

What is the version of MacOS you are running on your system before the motherboard breakdown?

If you decide to replace the motherboard, CPU and RAM, you may also have to upgrade your MacOS as older versions may not be compatible with the new hardware.

If you don't need more performance, I think there will be no need to spend quite a lot of money for new hardware, especially since you will need to replace almost everything except the graphics card.

Personally, I would just find a second hand 8 or 9 series Gigabyte motherboard to replace the broken one and be done with it. That way your system should be able to boot up directly once the correct BIOS options are set, assuming that there are no problems with the other hardware.

10.15.7

 

[phunguss]

Your cheapest bet is to just replace the mobo (used off eBay). I have plenty of older hardware running Catalina. Well, unless you have money to burn, then upgrade everything.