General Component Compatibility

[arjunbendre]

Hi all.

I am a new PC builder; I wish to build a good computer some time in the future. I wish to know a few things before starting though:

I don't understand any of the 'industry-standards' in PC Building with regards to sizes and connectors and ports. Can anyone explain them, I know that there are 5.4" and 5.2" drive bays in cases, but that's it. Are there any industry standards for motherboards, HDDs, SSDs, Cases, etc.?

How can I determine the compatibility of each part, for example can a Gigabyte G1.Sniper 5 be compatible with Corsair Vengeance RAM? I'm not looking to buy these components, I just quoted them from random from the manufacturer's websites. Can I just rig any parts up together and it will work? Are there any 'non-compatible' brands?

Please help, I am a new builder.

Thanks so much in advance for any help given!

 

[arjunbendre]

Hi and welcome,

Dont know where to start so here goes,

If a board says it is compatible with DDR3 RAM then that is what you need, DDR2 or sodimm DDR3 (for laptops) won't work.

SSD are 2.5" generally but luckily 3.5" case drive bays will accommodate them or the SSD may come with an adapter plate to make it fit.


Your best bet is to say how much you have to spend and what parts you need (monitor, keyboard, OS etc) and I will spec an awesome rig):

Hi there. Thanks a lot for your help. I have a budget of max. £1500. I would like a good case, USB 3.0, HDMI, VGA, good motherboard, Intel i7, two DVD-R/RW drives, one 300GB+ SSD, very very good graphics card, 16GB+ RAM, Platinum certified power supply and a water-cooling loop cooling the CPU and the GPU, Windows 7 OS.

I do not need a mouse or keyboard or monitor, thanks.

Please post the shopping basket here, so I can see which parts have been selected.

Thanks for all your help, Sir. Much appreciated.