Hardware I dun'goofed.

[Catastrophic]

I need some advice right now concerning PC hardware...

Here's my story: I was installing a new CPU cooler onto my motherboard and when I was screwing the motherboard back into the case I had to use an unusual amount of force to screw it all the way down. When I plugged everything back in and turned it on, all fans started spinning and I could hear the drives turning on, but nothing showed up on screen. I decided to remove the motherboard again just to find that a screw bit had gotten under the board without me noticing that pressed against the board as I screwed it down, which probably resulted in it tearing or short-circuiting. Either way it doesn't work anymore no matter how I plug it...

What kind of motherboard do you suggest getting that has a 1150 socket, how do I check if any other components might've been damaged and lastly can I just connect my Windows 7 SDD straight onto the board? Any answers are highly appreciated.

 

[trumpet-205]

Well is there any specific feature you want on your motherboard? Have you consider RMA your broken motherboard?

And you should install motherboard first before you install the cooler. Doing it in the opposite and you might risk bending the motherboard.

 

[Originality]

Some cases make it difficult to mount certain coolers after mounting the motherboard, so depending on your specific choice of parts, you may have to install the CPU/cooler first before mounting the motherboard.

For the choice of motherboard, I will simply say one that matches your processor. Tell us your processor, and your budget, and we can make suggestions.

The easiest way to check if any components were damaged is to put them into a working computer to test. Generally speaking, if the damage is only caused by bending/scratching/shorting from that trapped screw bit, then it's likely only the motherboard was damaged and everything else is fine.

You can connect your Windows 7 SSD straight into any motherboard and it should work. You may encounter driver issues (you'll need to reinstall any motherboard or device drivers) and Windows may require reactivation (depending on where you got Windows from), but I don't see any other issues that would come up.

 

[Catastrophic]

You should install motherboard first before you install the cooler. Doing it in the opposite and you might risk bending the motherboard.

I had to take out the motherboard as the cooler required me to screw on a fastener at the back of the board, but I'll keep that in mind. Thank you.

For the choice of motherboard, I will simply say one that matches your processor.

The processor I'm using is an Intel i7 2600k. It was rated at 3.4GHz with no overclock and stock fan. As for features, a board with two PCI-E 3.0 16x connectors that are SLI compatible would definitely be nice, although I'm mostly looking for one that has a good balance between quality and durability within a 250$ budget. Anything ring a bell?

 

[Originality]

2600K? Z77 motherboard. Quality? Asus. Durability? MSI. Here's a partpicker link to make it slightly easier for you (in USD, but at least it'll help give you ideas to search for in your local market/websites).

EDIT: Note that the motherboards linked are socket 1155. Core i7-2600K is a socket 1155 CPU. 1150 is for Ivy Bridge and Haswell (ix-3xxx and ix-4xxx).

 

[trumpet-205]

EDIT: Note that the motherboards linked are socket 1155. Core i7-2600K is a socket 1155 CPU. 1150 is for Ivy Bridge and Haswell (ix-3xxx and ix-4xxx).

Ivy Bridge is also on 1155.

1150 is for Haswell and upcoming Broadwell.

But yeah, 2600K is Sandy Bridge and that's on 1155.

 

[Catastrophic]

2600K? Z77 motherboard. Quality? Asus. Durability? MSI. Here's a partpicker link to make it slightly easier for you (in USD, but at least it'll help give you ideas to search for in your local market/websites).

EDIT: Note that the motherboards linked are socket 1155. Core i7-2600K is a socket 1155 CPU. 1150 is for Ivy Bridge and Haswell (ix-3xxx and ix-4xxx).

I'm having a sad time finding any 1155 compatible motherboards in any of the stores around here. Some of them have literally none. I guess the 1155 has become obsolete now.

One of them has the following board: MSI Z77IA-E53. I think I might go with that one.

 

[GoldenSun3DS]

Could try adding all of your parts to PCPartPicker and then picking out a motherboard with the Compatability filter on so that only compatable motherboards are displayed.

Or you could just get the exact same motherboard again.