- CostlyAxis
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- Intrepid Mythic Member
Picking Compatible Parts for Your Build
So you've never built a computer, but now you've decided that you want to because you keep hearing great things about custom builds, or something like that. Slight problem, how do you know that you're picking the right parts? No one likes dropping $600+ on something to find that nothing works together.
Well, you're in luck! Most computer parts have compatibility standards, but that doesn't exactly help you directly.
This little guide will go through a simple checklist of things you want to watch for when looking at parts. However, as I have only built using Intel processors my examples will only be directly related to Intel specifications. Nonetheless, you can merely substitute AMD in and whatever its specification is to get the same information.
The first part you're probably going to look at would be the processor you want to use. While it's easy enough to pick out your processor, you now need to find a motherboard that works with it, but how? Well, every processor has a socket type. For instance, take the Intel Ivy Bridge lineup, or more specifically the Intel i7 3770K. If you read the details on the CPU you should find some information about something called a "CPU Socket Type" (or similar). In this case it's "LGA 1155". Another thing to write down as well is the CPU's "integrated memory controller speed" (or similiar wording). For this processor it mentions "Dual-channel DDR3" for 1333/1600. Write this down along with the CPU socket type.
Now that you've written that gibberish down your hunt for a motherboard can begin, sort of. Well, for now just keep that piece of information safe somewhere as we're going to be looking at GPUs (graphics processing units). Why? Because you need to know what to look for in the motherboard you want. Generally speaking though you could probably just pick out the motherboard now, but for you people who want SLI/Crossfire it's best to pick the GPUs out now. So what exactly are we looking for in a GPU (beyond "Will it run Crysis?") is the interface method it has. Or in layman's terms, how it connects to a motherboard. In most cases you'll find that both AMD and Nvidia's cards will connect with PCI-e. Again, more gibberish but write it down anyways. Don't forget to check if the card supports that fancy SLI/Crossfire if you want that, and note its power connectors (if any).
Tip: "My GPU mentions something like 'PCI Express 2.1 x16'. What does the '2.1', and the 'x16' mean?" The "2.1" in this case is version of the interface. The most modern commercial version is 3.0, but from what I know only the Intel Ivy Bridge processors currently support this. The motherboard you choose must also support the 3.0 interface as well. Most processors support 2.1, but 3.0 still works with them, you just don't get its advantages. The "x16" refers to the pin count on the slot. Most GPUs will connect on the longer PCI-e slots.
Okay, we've got the CPU and GPU crossed off our list so what's next? Well, at this point you'd probably want to start hunting down a motherboard, but let's wait just a bit more. Let's go look at some RAM instead. So what are we looking for in RAM? For the most part you'll be looking at its speed and type. In our example, let us look at some G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series RAM. Note that its type is "240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM", and hopefully something in that quote sounds familiar. If not, it's the DDR3 part. Your CPU specified that it works with DDR3 RAM so you're on the right trail if you're looking at DDR3 RAM. However, we're also concerned with its speed, and in this case our RAM of choice is "DDR3 1600" which should again sound familiar. Our CPU of choice supports up to DDR3 1600 RAM (without overclocking). Sounds like we have a near perfect match then! Now just write down how many sticks of RAM you plan to get.
Tip: "How come I see faster RAM like 1866 or the like?" Intel processors lock down the speed of the RAM they will interface with by default, but you can overclock your system to get to faster speeds. From my knowledge, AMD processors do as well (you might want to verify with your CPU of choice before taking my word for it).
We're getting somewhere now, but again, hold off on the motherboard. We're shopping for SSD/HDDs now. Hopefully this will the simplest part of your build in terms of picking a device. Almost all SSD/HDDs sold nowadays interface through SATA, but of course there is SATA II and SATA III. So what's the difference? SATA III is faster than SATA II, but both are compatible with each other. So your main concern here (besides your personal preferences in the SSD/HDD) is if it's SATA, and if you want speed, then SATA III (and a high RPM if it's an HDD).
Tip: "I don't see anything about SATA II or SATA III..." They are also known as SATA 3.0 Gb/s and SATA 6.0 Gb/s, respectively.
As I promised it's time to shop for a motherboard, but what are we looking for in a motherboard? Of course quality and the shiniest board on the market. However, we also need it to work with our parts we've picked out. So hopefully you've been keeping up with that list I keep mentioning because you're going to need it (unless you've got good memory).
We've got the following information so far, at least:
CPU - LGA 1155 socket/ Dual Channel
RAM - DDR3 1600 240 Pin
SSD/HDD - SATA III (or SATA II)
GPU - PCI-e slot 2.1 (or 3.0)
Okay, the first thing to quickly cut down the choices would be to filter out any motherboards that don't support your CPU socket (LGA 1155 in this case). After you've done that you now know that the boards you're looking at will at least work with your CPU. Yay! Moving on, make sure the motherboard has the number of memory slots you'll need, and in this example are 240 Pin DDR3. You should be able to find this information in the memory related section. Also make sure you get something that supports that Dual-channel memory or it'll go to waste.
We now know the motherboards we're looking at will at least support our CPU and RAM so let's cut the choices down some more by making sure it supports our SSD/HDDs. Hopefully you wrote down whether or not you'll need SATA III/II, but in most cases by now the motherboards you're looking at do support both. Just make sure it has enough ports for the devices you're planning to plug in. Nobody likes having to plug their shiny SATA III device into a SATA II port. Finally, we've got that GPU with its "PCI-e x.x x16" interface. Make sure the board has at least one of these slots, and if you're going to do SLI/Crossfire that it has two, and clearly says it supports that setup.
Tip: Alright, it looks like we've got a motherboard chosen, but in our case we want that PCI-e 3.0 because it's so shiny. How do you know your motherboard supports this? Well, that's a little more hidden in some cases (since it's new). In the case of Intel, Ivy Bridge works with the chipset Z77 to bring PCI-e 3.0 support. If your motherboard doesn't have that chipset (or if there is an equivalent for AMD) you won't get the PCI-e 3.0 even if the processor and GPU support it.
So hopefully picking out the motherboard wasn't too difficult (for the record, in my build I used the ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 motherboard), but we need to write down some more gibberish. For what you ask? For the case of course! The motherboard needs to fit into your case of choice. The gibberish we're writing is the "form factor", or basically its dimensions. For the motherboard I mentioned a little bit earlier, the form factor is ATX, and it has a power pin that is 24 Pin. We need that power pin information because we'll need to look at PSUs (power supply units) at some point.
Well, we're almost done so lets look at some shiny cases. Beyond looking for the most awesome looking case, we need to make sure it supports the form factor of our motherboard. For this we look at the case's motherboard compatibility (or similar) which would be ATX in this situation. For a good rule of thumb, if you're looking at "mid tower" cases, it probably supports ATX/Micro ATX. That's basically about the only thing you need to worry about with the case, but there are a few other details you should look into. One is how many expansion slots the case has for your SSD/HDDs since you need to properly secure them. The other piece are ports the case has on the outside. If it has say USB 3.0, make sure your motherboard has that if you want to make use of it. Other than that go for the shiniest case you can find just because.
Lastly we've got the lonely PSU to pick out. Why did I save it for last? Well, you didn't know what your power needs were at the beginning, but now you do, or at least you might. If you don't Newegg has a handy PSU calculator. You might also consider giving the PSU some breathing space as well by upping your wattage by at least 100 Watts in case you have future upgrades, and also that running something at max all the time wears it out. Make sure your PSU has the proper power cables. Remember that 24 pin power thing? If you don't, look at your checklist again because you need your PSU to have that (it probably does). Also make sure if your GPU has power connectors that you can supply power to them. These will be generally be on your high end cards. More than likely your PSU will have all the cables you'll need, and more. Try to go for a modular PSU if possible since you can simply plug in the power cables as you need them.
That's it! Hopefully you haven't walked away yet, but if you've followed through reading this I hope you'll have a better understanding of what to look for in parts for compatibility. Again, if you go with AMD the details are going to vary, but look for the same type of information. There are several details I've left out of this little guide because it's just that, little.
There's always room for questions/errors, but I hope this has been informative.