Spec Check & Advice

foreright · 27 Mar 2014 at 14:48

Need a general home PC for browsing, emails, office etc.
I have case, PSU, HDD and OS. Need spec check on Mobo, cpu and GPU (which is discounted today) and suggestions for memory and SSD if you would oblige please. Need a MB with PCI slot for sound card.

i3-4130, Gigabyte H87-HD3, MSI HD 7770 1Mb, + recommended memory and 120Mb SSD.

Danny75 · 27 Mar 2014 at 15:35

YOUR BASKET
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £71.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (SH103S3/120G) £65.99
1 x Toshiba SSD HDTS212EZSTA 9.5mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £61.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan GOLD 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLYD38G1600HC9DC01) £49.99
Total : £259.56 (includes shipping : £8.00).

Three SSD options to choose from. All at good prices right now.

8GB 1600MHz memory with decent timings, which is the fastest that a H87 mobo can run. Also at a good price. 8GB overkill for what you need (right now) but worth going for it, for the price.

hohum · 28 Mar 2014 at 01:06

I would consider looking at a B85 or H81-based motherboard also. Recently upgraded my PC for general use and games (after using a Q6600 setup since 2007), and found a cheaper B85 solution was perfectly up to the task. H87 has two extra USB 3.0/SATA 3.0 ports and ability to RAID hard drives, but I didn't need those features.

I personally went for Gigabyte's B85M-HD3 board, decided I didn't need full-ATX anymore with just a graphics card and additional PCI sound card. Can be had on OCUK for about £50.

www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-468-GI

foreright · 28 Mar 2014 at 07:54

I have an unbranded case that I use that is many years old. It is a full ATX and currently houses an Asus ATX mobo.
Will a micro ATX card be housed OK or would it have needed extra mounting points.

t31os · 28 Mar 2014 at 09:25

ATX cases typically/usually support M-ATX also. Check any of the ATX cases on OCUK, i think you'll be hard pressed to find one that doesn't also support M-ATX.

Considering your post count and date of registration, you likely have access to the members market, you could get something cheaper or perhaps even faster, by sourcing parts second hand.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=17

foreright · 28 Mar 2014 at 12:30

hohum said:
I would consider looking at a B85 or H81-based motherboard also. Recently upgraded my PC for general use and games (after using a Q6600 setup since 2007), and found a cheaper B85 solution was perfectly up to the task. H87 has two extra USB 3.0/SATA 3.0 ports and ability to RAID hard drives, but I didn't need those features.

I personally went for Gigabyte's B85M-HD3 board, decided I didn't need full-ATX anymore with just a graphics card and additional PCI sound card. Can be had on OCUK for about £50.

www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-468-GI

Thanks for the recommendation.

hohum · 28 Mar 2014 at 19:11

As has been mentioned above, generally any full-ATX sized case will support Micro-ATX motherboards. I'd be surprised if you came across one that didn't actually as the mounting points are in the same places, just you will end up using less of them due to the smaller size of the board.

You might have to move one or two of the motherboard standoffs in the case to line up with the holes underneath on your new motherboard (which is easy enough to do as they just unscrew), but that's about it. I'm using mine just fine in an old full-ATX case I bought eight years ago.