Using my limited knowledge of computers, I’ve picked out all the important parts I want except for a motherboard.
CPU - AMD A10-6800K Richland 4.1GHz
HD - SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-7TE120BW 2.5" 120GB SATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Motherboard - ???
I need a Motherboard that’s compatible with all the above, and has on board HD video. The only problem is I do not know how to check if a motherboard has HD video or how to check if it’s compatible with the above SDD drive/RAM/CPU.
Help?
Lakai - go to PCPartPicker, here. This site let’s you build a machine starting from any component, and adding it to a “build”. As you add things and go to another component type, only components that are compatible with the other components in your build will be shown.
For example, click on “CPU” in the icon at the top of the page. Pick AMD A10 6800K (9th entry from the top) then click the “Add” bottom on the right side of that entry. On the right side, your “Part List” will now show that CPU. Next, click on the “Motherboards” icon, and you’ll be shown a list of motherboards that are all compatible with the AMD CPU you picked. Add that. Rinse-repeat for cooling system, power supply, case, etc.
The site doesn’t sell you any of the components, but you can tie each piece to some vendor that does, choosing a vendor you’re comfortable with and/or has the best price. When you’re done, go to that list and order all of your components from those vendors.
As far as determining if a mobo does onboard video, PCPartPicker won’t help more than filtering out ones that don’t, and onboard video support sometimes depends on the processor. For that and other features I’d need on a mobo, I’ve had to just find several picks in the PCPartPicker list, then google that part name and find the manufacturer’s site.
For example, the mobo list that PCPartPicker showed that was compatible with your AMD A10 included an ASRock
FM2A78M-ITX+ for $85. I googled “ASRock FM2A78M-ITX+” and found ASRock’s product page, then clicked on the “specifications” link to take me here. That page says the FM2A78M-ITX+ has “Integrated AMD Radeon™ R7/R5 Series Graphics in A-series APU”, which sounds very much like if you have an AMD A-XXXX CPU that can do video, this motherboard will take advantage of it.
As far as RAM, I wouldn’t start from that, I’d pick a motherboard and CPU combo that you think well of, then find RAM that the mobo will support, at whatever size/speed you want to pay for.
As far as the SSD, just make sure the MOBO has SATA III and you’re done; SATA II would also work, but your SSD transfer rate would drop from (SATA III) ~500MB/s to (SATA II)~250MB/s (which is still pretty darned fast, as a single HDD probably tops out around 40MB/s @ 7200 RPM). The case is also a consideration, as you need to have a place to mount 2" drives, or purchase a 3.5->2" adapter.
I’ve had consistently good luck with ASUS. Choose a motherboard from their lineup that matches your above components and has the features/price set you want, and you’re very unlikely to regret it.
Other brands are either not as good across the board, or very hit-or-miss, with completely killer models next to buggy junk. I quit guessing a long time ago.
I’ll chime in that I’ve also had good luck with ASUS, but little experience with non-ASUS.
Nice.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: AMD FX-4300 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor ($86.47 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($49.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($90.98 @ OutletPC)
Case: Logisys CS301BK ATX Mid Tower Case w/480W Power Supply ($35.98 @ OutletPC)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32/64-bit) ($94.99 @ B&H)
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill RNX-N150UBE 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter ($12.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $466.34
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-22 15:50 EST-0500
Just be aware that the ASUS mobo you listed is SATA II, not III.
Hmm, that motherboard also appears to max out at 8GB, which is an odd limitation these days. Setting that aside, can I suggest DDR3 1866 memory for a skosh more performance? The price difference between that and 1600 is not great.
Your biggest issue between what you first suggested and your PC Part picker is that the A10-6800k has graphics integrated into the CPU and they are relatively reasonable - enough to play games at better than last gen console settings. What you have picked now has graphics integrated into the motherboard - utter crap and useful only for 2d office type tasks.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: AMD A10-6800K 4.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($128.99 @ Directron)
Motherboard: MSI A78M-E45 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($37.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP600 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec VSK-3000 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $451.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-22 17:45 EST-0500
I ran one through for you, the biggest problems your existing one has is:
FX4300 is a lesser processor, and has no integrated graphics - so it is neither fast enough for a later dedicated graphics card or balanced enough to use decent integrated graphics. Replaced with your original A10 which has high quality integrated graphics, and very suitable for a cheap, all around PC.
RAM speed up to 2133- the integrated graphics use the extra speed, you want at least DDR3-1866 on an A10 processor
Power supply - VERY IMPORTANT - unlike most of the other choices where you can’t really pick a “BAD” one, not at all true for the power supply. First, none of the cases with a power supply integrated are worth buying - the power supply is absolute garbage. You have the cheapest power supply I would recommend on this build (CX430 is also plenty, but was the same price when I did this part pick)
Motherboard, cheapest one I could get that seemed decent, and had 4 ram slots.
Case, Cheapest name brand one, you don’t need anything fancy in terms of being huge/lots of cooling with no graphics card and one SSD.
SSD, cheapest 128GB - while some are “better” it makes no real difference in day to day usage - stick with one of the cheapest ones you can find that is brand new.
Jacobsta811, nice work! Same price I had, but much better quality. I’m very impressed.
Any recommendations for a wireless adapter?
I haven’t had good luck with wireless adapters, IMO they all suck. If you can, run a wire or go powerline wireless instead.
If you have to, the best one I’ve had is: http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Wireless-AC-Bluetooth-Adapter-7260HMWDTX1/dp/B00EKQN2KK/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1416714951&sr=8-5&keywords=intel+wireless+ac+7260
Way better quality when it was working, but I had one of these die on me (I had two in service). Didn’t have to turn it on/off or unplug it all the time like damn near every USB wireless adapter i’ve ever had though. When it worked it was great.
Seconded, the USB thumb-WiFi’s I’ve used have all been flaky as hell. Every day you need to pull them out of the USB to reset them. Every damned day. Ugh.
My son’s computer has been operating happily on some cheap-ass 1394 PCI card I got from PCConnection like 8 months ago for like $15ish. I remember it was a “Rosewill”, but this is the closest thing I can find to it. If you don’t mind some driver hide-and-seek on the internet, something of this sort is cheap and can be made reliable, but it’s all hit-or-miss. But I’d do that before a USB adapter given my previous experiences.
What about a built in wireless connection to the motherboard? Would that work better?
Never used a mobo wirless one before, they usually cost quite a bit more than a cheap motherboard + separate one. A lot of motherboards that have it “built in” don’t even really have it built in - they just have a mini pci-e slot and preinstall a pci-e wireless adapter (like this one: Intel Ultimate N 633ANHMW Mini PCI Express Ultimate N 633ANHMW Wireless Adapter - Newegg.com).
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What about this build?
Senior Beef set it up for me. Doesn’t it need a fan of some sort?
The Intel i5 comes with a cooling package, so use that and you’re probably fine. I don’t see any other heat concerns in that build.
I used to build my own systems in the late 80’s, throughout the 90’s and early aughts. It’s been at least 10 years. We walked into Fry’s a week ago and I ventured into the motherboard area. I was totally overwhelmed. Didn’t recognize half the acronyms. I suspect with some ramping up I could create a killer Linux workstation, or maybe a small Beowulf cluster. Are Beowulf clusters still constructed? Where can I find the latest scoop?
I remember wire wrapping my own Motorola 68000 boards (Sigh…).