Absolute Beginner, need advice!

Ben Craig

Ben Craig

Ben Craig

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7 May 2009
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I am hoping to start a little project for the summer, which is building my own PC. I have never done this before (thogh I have done my own RAM/Graphics card upgrades) so I need advice on what to get.
I know which components I need, I just need to know what fits what, as this is confusing me.
How can you tell which motherboard fits which case?
And which processor fits which motherboard?

Thanks,
Ben
 
Basically youre after a crash course in computers? :p

Best things to do would be lurk the hardware section of this forum and have a look on google to check things.

Also go on the actual shop part of this site and look at things like ram and motherboards motherboards, each motherboard page tells you whats compatible with it what socket CPUs fit and what it can support etc

Also most cases today are compatible with near enough all motherboards, with mounting holes to suit different form factors
 
Motherboard fittings are all standardised: each motherboard will have a "form factor" of ATX, micro/uATX, etc. Each case will say which form factor of motherboard it will fit. ATX and uATX are the most popular, but you get the odd ITX and occasionally one or two others. As long as the case says it fits the same form factor as the motherboard you'll be fine.

Processors and motherboards are generally similar: again, they'll both be labelled "socket X". The most popular are Intel's 775 and AMDs AM2 or AM3. Intel also has a socket 1366, but due to price it's not so popular at the minute. You're best checking the processor against the motherboards CPU list though, sometimes there are exceptions even if the sockets match (you should be able to find the list on the motherboard manufacturers website).

What would make things easier is if you tell us your budget, what the components you have are and what you want to do with the machine. Then we can give you a better idea of what you should be looking at. Knowing you need "a motherboard" isn't too helpful these days, there are that many variations on the theme!
 
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Also if you were to give a budget of the absolute maximum youre willing to spend on your project people will have no trouble in helping you decide what to buy
 
Art said:
Intel also has a socket 1336, but due to price it's not so popular at the minute.
Click to expand...

Youre going to get shot down by the vast amount of people on here who own and favour I7 systems :p

Fair enough theyl get cheaper but for what they are you can get a basic i7 system fairly cheaply compared to what some people fork out on unnecessarily
 
satriani1412 said:
Youre going to get shot down by the vast amount of people on here who own and favour I7 systems :p

Fair enough theyl get cheaper but for what they are you can get a basic i7 system fairly cheaply compared to what some people fork out on unnecessarily
Click to expand...

Yeah well, let them get miffed if they like! :p It might be popular amongst enthusiasts, but looking at computing in general it's not really. And I did say "at the minute", I'm sure when the prices come down and Intel eventually kills off 775 it'll be found more widely, but with a current minimum CPU price of ~£220 it'll not spread too far with anyone but enthusiasts like most of the people here.
 
Thanks for the advice guys, I am looking at buying the Antec 300 Gaming case, and it says that it fits a standard ATX motherboard, but what is the difference between the standard and the micro ATX motherboard? if any?

Thanks,
Ben
 
The micro ATX is smaller (dur). And therefore will have less sockets for things, i.e may have 2 ram ports whereas a normal ATX might have 4. Just a generalisation but its true in most cases.
So it really is up to you and what other hardware you have.
 
You probably want to go for a full sized ATX mobo dude as you'll get higher clocks and better performance over the micro. What is the purpose of your build - gaming/media/music??!
 
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