General Component Compatibility

arjunbendre · 25 Dec 2013 at 14:42

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!

stulid · 25 Dec 2013 at 14:55

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):

kefan77 · 25 Dec 2013 at 14:58

it goes pretty much like this

MB and CPU = same socket, then chipset for specific features
cooler and CPU and maybe MB = same socket (support), enough clearance
MB and memory = size (240 pin) type (DDRx) and frequency support, channel support (2,3,4)
storage devices = SATA2, SATA3
Cases = size according to MB - mITX, mATX, ATX, 3.5" bays for HDDs, 5.25" bays for optical drives

if you want more info, google and wikipedia are right there, if you need help building, just ask in appropriate section.

Fulax · 25 Dec 2013 at 15:06

5.25" bays are for optical drives. Desktop hard drives are 3.5", SSDs are 2.5". Most cases these days have 3.5" bays that double as 2.5" bays.

Compatibility issues to look out for (off the top of my head):

CPU/motherboard: brand (AMD or Intel); socket type (e.g. Intel's latest generation, Haswell, is socket LGA1150)
Case/motherboard: size. Three common sizes: ATX, mATX, and ITX
Case/CPU cooler: CPU cooler height
Motherboard/CPU cooler: socket type
Case/GPU: GPU length
Motherboard/RAM: speed (motherboards have maximum frequency RAM can run at); generation (e.g. DDR3); channels (single, dual, triple, quad)

When you're closer to buying, start a thread on these forums stating your budget and the kind folk here will help you out.

Danny75 · 25 Dec 2013 at 15:12

There are three main sizes of motherboards. In order of size (largest first):

1. ATX

2. M-ATX (Micro ATX)

3. ITX (Mini ITX)

There are also other sizes such as E-ATX and XL-ATX but these aren't too common.

The motherboard size must be compatible with the case. If you look at the OcUK website under "Cases" you will find the means to list them according to motherboard size capability. A large case will usually be able to handle more than one size of motherboard, e.g. ATX and M-ATX. Mini-ITX cases will only handle ITX motherboards.

The motherboard must also be of the same socket type as the CPU, e.g. the Intel "Haswell" CPU's released in June 2013 are for LGA1150 socket-type motherboards.

So what you could do is go to the OcUK website and search for "Components > Processors - Intel" (for example). And then select the socket-type from the list on the left of the page. Then you could go to "Components > Motherboards - Intel" and choose the same socket-type from the list of the left.

As for Memory, I think all of the DDR3 Desktop memory listed on OcUK will work on any desktop motherboard listed. Make sure to find out how many RAM slots the mobo you're interested in (the minimum is always two, I believe), so that you don't buy more RAM sticks than your mobo will fit.

The best thing to do is to put together a test basket, and paste it here, and then we can have a look and confirm to you what's compatible and what isn't, and add further comments/tips so that you start getting a better idea. You can use the following extension to copy your basket onto your clipboard and then just paste here:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ocuk-shopping-cart-viewer/empfloiadabicdlgahhamannadefhehj

Once you click on View Basket, you will see a new icon in your URL address box, on the right. Clicking it will copy to your clipboard. Then when you paste it here on the forum it will appear like so:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 780 Lightning 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £455.99
1 x MSI Z87 XPower Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £349.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £245.99
1 x SuperFlower Leadex Platinum 1000W Fully Modular "80 Plus Platinum" Power Supply - Black (NESF-010) £209.99
Total : £1,271.56 (includes shipping : £8.00).

arjunbendre · 30 Dec 2013 at 09:57

stulid said:
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.

Doomedspeed · 30 Dec 2013 at 09:59

arjunbendre said:
I have a budget of £1000. 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.

Ill tell you now, No Chance, a rig to your 'spec' will come in £1.5-2k easy..

You're best to tell us what you're using the PC for then we can spec something accordingly.

EDIT: just noticed your budget increased.

£1500.. Ill give that a go. I may make a few deviations though.

Doomedspeed · 30 Dec 2013 at 10:15

Thought this deserved a new post so it gets noticed:

YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 780 EX OC 3072MB PCI-Express Graphics Card (78XNH5DN8MSU) £395.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £245.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £137.99
1 x NZXT Hale Power 90+ 850W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £119.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-D3H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £119.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance C70 Midi Tower Gaming Case - Arctic White £99.95
1 x Silverstone Tundra Series TD02 Liquid CPU Cooler £94.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £71.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £65.99
2 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV "Frost Edition" 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit £59.99 (£119.98)
2 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £11.99 (£23.98)
Total : £1,518.23 (includes shipping : £17.85).

Not all watercooled by the CPU is.