Hey guys,

I'm having to face facts that my current system is slowly dying. Not entirely sure why at this stage, but current indicators are pointing to the mainboard starting to flake out.

Current setup is as follows:

i5-661
Asus P7P55D-E LX
8GB (2x4GB) G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3-1600
Samsung 1TB Spinpoint F3
Gainward GeForce GTX650 Ti 1GB
Creative Audigy X-Fi Fatal1ty Pro Series

Currently running Win8 Pro x64

I'm thinking that it's the mainboard because over the last few days I've seen issues with both video and sound cards (which could have been drivers), but now I'm also seeing problems with drives being detected properly at the BIOS level.

So, I gather that the best bang for buck processor to go for at this stage is the i5 3570 (considering that I'm not overclocking it)?

I'm looking at Asus mainboards because after the problems I've had with Abit and ASRock in the past, I'm never going to trust them again. (Before anyone decides to get smart and point out that my current Asus mainboard may not be that reliable either considering it's just died, I think the cause for my Asus dying is from power issues we've had over the last few weeks that culminated in/were caused by our hot water system dying)

Anyway, I'm thinking of upgrading to the following:

Asus P8Z77-V-LX Motherboard $135.00
Intel Core i5 3570 3.40Ghz Quad Core CPU $209.00
120GB OCZ 2.5" Vertex 3 Low Profile 6Gb/s SSD $109

My questions are:

1. Is it worth upgrading the mainboard to a higher variant?
2. Do I want the Vertex 3 SSD or do I want to pay an extra $10 for an Intel 330?
3. Do I want to re-use my Audigy or just go with the 7.1ch onboard sound? (Keep in mind, I have a 7.1ch surround sound system hooked up to my PC, so it's not like I'm going to only be using headphones all the time etc)

not criticizing, just wondering what your rationale behind a samsung spinpoint is. Good reviews? good past experiences?

I just ... http://www.ausgamers.com/forums/general/thread.php/3242939

Really? 2 months later? Did everyone get repaid or something?!

but current indicators are pointing to the mainboard starting to flake out.

ebay link

$89 replacement

Hoggy, I'm not going to go into the details here, but there's an arrangement in place for that.

You could then arrange $364 back into your mothers redrawn mortgage.

2. Do I want the Vertex 3 SSD or do I want to pay an extra $10 for an Intel 330?

You do not want an SSD from OCZ or Corsair, trust me.

Extra $16 to go Crucial M4, which is pretty damn good (with extra 8GB). The Intel 330, despite being a budget model is still more reliable than any OCZ/Corsair .. so if you're budgeted, go that.