# Building a PC **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 1, 2014, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-pc/694561 "2014-08-01T07:39:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-pc/694561/1 "2014-08-01T07:39:42Z")
I want to try building a PC. I don’t need a fancy games machine. Just something simple and functional will do. The plan is to get some used parts off eBay. What I want to know is, is there going to be any compatibility issues between CPU and motherboard? If the socket type is correct, and the FSB speed match, are they guaranteed to work together? Or are some models going to be incompatible. Also, does the FSB speed need to be exactly the same? Will a fast motherboard work with a slow cpu? Or vice-versa? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-pc/694561/2 "2014-08-01T07:49:23Z")
NewEgg sells mb and cpu combos > **[motherboard combo cpu memory | Newegg.com](https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?d=motherboard%2Bcombo%2Bcpu%2Bmemory&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=-1&isNodeId=1)** > > Search Newegg.com for motherboard combo cpu memory. Get fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Some are designed for AMD > **[ECS KBN-I/2100 (V1.1) AMD E1-2100 Dual Core processor Mini ITX Motherboard /...](https://www.newegg.com/ecs-kbn-i-2100-mini-itx/p/N82E16813135364?cm_re=motherboard_combo_cpu_memory-_-13-135-364-_-Product)** > > Buy ECS KBN-I/2100 (V1.1) AMD E1-2100 Dual Core processor AMD Kabini (SOC) Mini ITX Motherboard / CPU / VGA Combo with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg! Notice the description and specs. The mb I linked requires DDR3 1333 memory. The specs will Indicate what CPU’s will work. this one will take DDR3L 1600/1333/1066/800 (at any of these bus speeds) > **[BIOSTAR A68N-5000 AMD A4-5000 Quad-Core APU Mini ITX Motherboard / CPU / VGA...](https://www.newegg.com/biostar-a68n-5000-mini-itx/p/N82E16813138412?cm_re=motherboard_combo_cpu_memory-_-13-138-412-_-Product)** > > Buy BIOSTAR A68N-5000 AMD A4-5000 Quad-Core APU Mini ITX Motherboard / CPU / VGA Combo with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg! ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-pc/694561/3 "2014-08-01T07:58:39Z")
heres a Biostar MB for Intel cpu’s you could use either Core i7 or i5 1155 socket [http://www.biostar-usa.com/app/en-us/mb/introduction.php?S\_ID=581](http://www.biostar-usa.com/app/en-us/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=581) Support the Intel 3rd and 2nd generation Core i7 and Core i5 processors in the 1155 package Intel Z77 single chip architecture Support 4-DIMM DDR3-2600(OC)/2400(OC)/2133(OC)/1866(OC)/1600/1333 up to 32G maximum capacity this cpu may work > **[Intel Core i5-3340 - Core i5 3rd Gen Ivy Bridge Quad-Core 3.1GHz (3.3GHz...](https://www.newegg.com/intel-core-i5-3rd-gen-core-i5-3340/p/N82E16819116943?cm_re=i5_1155-_-19-116-943-_-Product)** > > Buy Intel Core i5-3340 - Core i5 3rd Gen Ivy Bridge Quad-Core 3.1GHz (3.3GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Intel HD Graphics Desktop Processor - BX80637I53340 with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg! ``` Intel ``` Series Core i5 Model BX80637I53340 CPU Socket Type CPU Socket Type LGA 1155 ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-pc/694561/4 "2014-08-01T08:11:59Z")
Biostar has a CPU support Tab on the page I listed. Giving the exact models that are compatible. I don’t see the i5-3340 cpu. So the cpu I used as an example isn’t compatible. It’s for the Ivy bridge chipset and this mb uses the Intel Z77 chipset. The cpu’s Chipset support must match the mb. anyway, click the biostar link and click the cpu tab for the list. Anything on the list will work. other brands have a similar list of compatible cpu’s for their mb’s. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-pc/694561/5 "2014-08-01T08:26:44Z")
ok, the i7-3770 one is on the compatible list for that mb. this would be the more up to date cpu > **[Intel Core i7-3770 3.4GHz (Turbo) LGA 1155 Desktop Processor - Newegg.com](https://www.newegg.com/intel-core-i7-3rd-gen-core-i7-3770/p/N82E16819116502?cm_re=i7_processor-_-19-116-502-_-Product)** > > Buy Intel Core i7-3770 - Core i7 3rd Gen Ivy Bridge Quad-Core 3.4GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Intel HD Graphics 4000 Desktop Processor - BX80637I73770 with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg! i5-3470 is on the list too > **[Intel Core i5-3470 - Core i5 3rd Gen Ivy Bridge Quad-Core 3.2 GHz LGA 1155...](https://www.newegg.com/intel-core-i5-3rd-gen-core-i5-3470/p/N82E16819115234?cm_re=i5_1155-_-19-115-234-_-Product)** > > Buy Intel Core i5-3470 - Core i5 3rd Gen Ivy Bridge Quad-Core 3.2 GHz LGA 1155 77W Intel HD Graphics 2500 Desktop Processor - BX80637i53470 with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg! just two examples. Go for what ever meets your needs. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-pc/694561/6 "2014-08-01T08:44:33Z")
one last thing. I always like to read up on the mb’s chipset. See what cpu support it has, and other features. this is intel’s Z77 information > **[Support for Intel® Boards & Kits](https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/products/78586/boards-and-kits.html)** > > Support product highlights, featured content, downloads and more for Intel® Boards & Kits. MB reviews are often grouped by chipset. like this review of Z77 MB’s. A great resource for choosing a MB. > **[Z77 Motherboard Round-Up: MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte, Intel](https://hothardware.com/reviews/z77-motherboard-roundup-msi-asus-gigabyte-intel?aspxerrorpath=%2Freviews%2Fz77-motherboard-roundup-msi-asus-gigabyte-intel%2F)** > > HotHardware takes an in depth look at four Intel Z77 motherboards for Intel Socket 1155 processors, the MSI Z77-GD65, Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H, Asus ---
**Author:** ![FluffyBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@FluffyBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FluffyBob)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-pc/694561/7 "2014-08-01T14:30:02Z")
Compatibility issues are primarily based on the ‘chipset’ used by the motherboard (the controllers that handle communication between the cpu, memory, drives and other parts). This will define the cpu/socket type and memory. Other sockets, for video card and hard drive for example, are pretty much generational; current mother boards are gemerally PCI-E for the video card and SATA for hard drive. The other issue is motherboard form factor - the type of case needed. This will mostly be ATX but there are compact models and server form factors as well. Here is an online[’system configurator’](http://www.memoryexpress.com/SystemConfig/Default.aspx) reference tool offered by a local computer chain. I am sure there are others, but this is the one I am familiar with. You can choose a case or motherboard or cpu and it will give you the compatible products to choose from. It is a great way to see what works together and price comparisons. Canadian dollars - US prices likely to be somewhat cheaper. For your needs you really do not need to worry about big power supply of video card. Lots of cpus and motherboards with integrated video that are more than adequate. There are plenty of online tutorials for assembly. The trickiest part is probably mounting the heatsink on the cpu. It is pretty much screwing the motherboard into the case and plugging stuff in from there. ---
**Author:** ![Ornery\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@Ornery\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ornery_Bob)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-pc/694561/8 "2014-08-01T14:30:20Z")
_is there going to be any compatibility issues between CPU and motherboard?_ Yes. _If the socket type is correct, and the FSB speed match, are they guaranteed to work together?_ No. _Or are some models going to be incompatible._ Yes. The only thing you need to know about motherboard and CPU compatibility is that motherboard makers tell you which CPUs the board is designed to use. You can start by knowing which CPU you want to use and then search for moboards that support it, or you can start with the moboard and then select from the CPUs it supports. Personally, I always start with the moboard. The Tom’s Hardware site has tons of information for system builders and good forums where you can get help. [How To Build A PC: From Component Selection To Installation](http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-your-own-pc,2601.html) ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-pc/694561/9 "2014-08-01T14:55:57Z")
If you are building your PC to save money - it will only work if you are trying to build a gaming PC that will be $2000+ plus to buy pre-made. For a normal everyday PC - you will probably spend more by the time you are done building the PC / installing the OS - which I am guessing will be Windows. If you are on a budget - take a look at the refurbished PCs at stores like microcenter or Lenovo outlet or the same. Here is the price breakdown you should look for : 1\> Motherboard 2\> Memory 3\> Hard Drive 4\> Case 5\> Power Supply 6\> CPU - CPU fan / heat paste 7\> Video card (if you don’t like the onboard video card) 8\> DVD Drive - make sure the DVD drive is compatible with Motherboard (IDE/…) 9\> Fans/Cables 10\> Operating System - Windows $$ or Linux or your choice ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-pc/694561/10 "2014-08-01T16:20:18Z")
One thing I learned when building a new PC recently: Don’t mix memory speeds (ie, 1600 MHz with 1333 MHz). The motherboard will go with the slower speed, and the faster memory will be wasted. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-pc/694561/11 "2014-08-01T16:30:43Z")
Amazon has some sort of thingy where the recommend a motherboard when you buy a CPU ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-pc/694561/12 "2014-08-01T16:34:10Z")
I agree with **am#####** : if you’re not trying to play cutting edge games at max resolution, and aren’t doing protein-folding calculations professionally or rendering Pixar’s next movie, your best bet is just buying a refurbished PC for $120 from the local computer store. It will work guaranteed, include an operating system (which for Windows would cost $100 bucks right there), and be plenty good enough for web surfing (even watching movies), writing stuff, ripping/listening to MP3s, looking at photos, or whatever else you want to do. If you try and get separate parts, you’re either going to spend way more than $120, or spend tens of hours and untold anguish tearing apart junked systems trying to find parts that are not broken in some hard-to-discover way, and don’t have incompatibilities that only show up after hours of work putting things together. Really, unless your time is only worth pennies an hour, it’s not worth it. And you don’t even need to look at specs. Anything a reputable store sells you will be good enough for what you want to do. Well, you could look at RAM: 2G is probably a minimum and more is slightly better, but don’t pay more than $20 for more. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-pc/694561/13 "2014-08-01T17:14:50Z")
Theres not many things in this world better than the feeling of selecting the components and building a pc. I’ve always read reviews and researched every component that I used. I know the Intel chip set on my MB, the type of CPU, video card etc. All the reviews were printed off and saved with the mb manual. I do it because its fun and extremely satisfying. I started in 95. My research always started with [Computer Shopper.](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3357/3344549422_3993b1ffe7.jpg) It was like thumbing through a Christmas catalog. Back then the mb did very little. The IDE disk controller was on a separate expansion card, video,sound, and extra IO ports were all expansion ISA cards. There was a tremendous sense of accomplishment in building a 486dx pc and getting it working. Its still fun and if someone really wants to learn how a pc works then building your own is a good idea. yeah I geek out over pc’s. Its one of the few tech areas that captivated me. I changed my college major after taking my first class in GW Basic. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-pc/694561/14 "2014-08-01T17:39:26Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > I want to try building a PC. I don’t need a fancy games machine. Just something simple and functional will do. The plan is to get some used parts off eBay. That’s like buying a used vehicle that you cannot test drive before you own it. You get what you pay for. Wanna buy a horse, slightly used? 🙂 There are plenty of places where you can buy new and be comfortable knowing it will all work, or have some recourse if it doesn’t. Newegg and TigerDirect are two that immediately come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-pc/694561/15 "2014-08-01T18:03:19Z")
you can save money if you are reusing already owned parts like case, power supply, hard drive, dvd drive and memory. if you need to buy most of the above then buying a whole PC from a store is cheaper. if you have parts then buying a combination motherboard and CPU from a vendor like Newegg or your local computer store will let you know those parts will work together. new motherboard use SATA for hard drive and DVD drive. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-pc/694561/16 "2014-08-01T18:05:57Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > If you are building your PC to save money - it will only work if you are trying to build a gaming PC that will be $2000+ plus to buy pre-made. For a normal everyday PC - you will probably spend more by the time you are done building the PC / installing the OS - which I am guessing will be Windows. Having done both (buy and build), this reflects my thinking. Aside from abstractions like “learning” and “satisfaction” the major reason for building a PC is to customize it to your needs in high-end applications like gaming performance, rather than being at the mercy of whatever tradeoffs the manufacturer feels like making at any given price point. For the OP’s requirement, it would not only be easier and safer just to buy a prebuilt system, but probably cheaper, too. Don’t forget to factor in the cost of Windows, especially the retail edition, which can be considerable unless one is going down the Linux route. In a prebuilt, the OEM license granted to large manufacturers is so heavily discounted that it’s practically free. If you build it yourself you’ll probably end up with higher quality components at a higher cost, but that doesn’t seem to be the tradeoff the OP is looking for. Anecdotally, the first PC I built did have great quality components including a particularly well-regarded heavy-duty PSU. Within a year the PSU had failed. (I replaced it and everything’s been working fine since). Meanwhile I have a mass-market Gateway that’s going on about 13 years old that I’ve hardly ever had a problem with. Don’t think they’re even around any more, but Dell makes pretty solid products for the average consumer even though purist technocrats are always criticizing them! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-pc/694561/17 "2014-08-01T18:08:53Z")
The days where a part-assembled cheap PC beats a retail cheap PC are long gone. Individual parts retail are too specialized to get a “deal” on the pieces. It’s cheaper to build in a factory, with guaranteed compatible components, and a test after assembly. Plus, there’s the hassle of you debugging the built device if it turns out to not work. For example, I find this at Best Buy: > [@](#): > > HP - Pavilion Slimline Desktop - 4GB Memory - 500GB Hard Drive > Model: 400-314 SKU: 5815013 > Only at Best Buy > •Windows 8.1 64-bit > •Technical details: AMD E-Series processor; 4GB memory; 500GB hard drive > •Special features: Built-in wireless networking > $239.99 (On sale down from $249.99) How could you possibly beat that? Plus, many of the features - video, network, wifi, disk controller, USB - are built onto the motherboard, which means there’s a lot less pieces to buy and add than maybe 10 or 15 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-pc/694561/18 "2014-08-01T18:53:05Z")
I’d agree with the people that are saying “don’t do it”. If you want an office type PC, there’s always a glut of PCs, usually with operating systems, coming off lease. If you want something specialized like a gaming PC or Home Theater PC, or just want the experience, than use new parts so the chances of it actually working are greater. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2014, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-pc/694561/19 "2014-08-02T02:06:04Z")
Ditto what everyone is saying about \*\*NOT \*\*doing it. I started building PCs in the mid-90s and back then it made sense, at least money-wise. You would save quite a bit by doing it yourself (and you’d learn a whole lot along the way!) One of the first big impediments to this came with Windows XP product activation. Now, along with every thing else, you always had to add another $100 to the price of the build to pay for the OS. Then by the early to mid 2000s PCs had essentially become commodities. IOW they were cheaper to buy than to build all round. The only exception is the highest end gaming machines. Think of it this way: A PC has about two dozen or so key pieces of installable hardware. Each of these devices can be made by any one of dozens of different manufacturers. And each device can have dozens or hundreds or even thousands of discrete settings to manipulate. Multiply them all together and you get several \*million \*combinations. Sure most will work, but a lot of them won’t and you can spend weeks (and lots more money) trying to figure it out (some PCs I built I could \*never \*get completely stable). The major PC makers (Dell, HP, Acer etc.) do all this work for you. They either make all the components themselves or work closely with their parts supplier’s engineers to ensure compatibility. They also do literally thousands of hours of ‘burn-in’ testing to ensure as few problems (and therefore expensive returns) as possible. Go to [TigerDirect.com](http://TigerDirect.com) or even [BestBuy.com](http://BestBuy.com) and look for refurb units. They are inexpensive and as good as new. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2014, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-pc/694561/20 "2014-08-02T03:38:27Z")
Just another voice agreeing with the crowd. Don’t do it. It’s a waste of time and money. Building a PC is little more than snapping cards into slots and screwing things in, and it’s not a particularly scintillating experience. Not worth it at all unless you’re a gamer. If you want to get into hobbyist electronics, play with an Arduino or a Raspberry Pi. Non-gaming DIY desktops are expensive and pointless. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-pc/694561.md?page=2)