Building my cousin a PC. Need advice.

[Starelementpoke]

1 minute ago, PlymouthJoseph said:

So, it's sold? Going with the Xeon with the H81M-PLUS and 2x4GB DDR3 1600MHz? With the upgrade to 2x8GB? And this will be absolutely perfect for what he wants to do? Game, record, edit, render, and general PC use? And this will be better over the i5-6500?

Yes.

[PlymouthJoseph]

Just now, Starelementpoke said:

Yes.

Is that a yes for everything or...

[Starelementpoke]

Just now, PlymouthJoseph said:

Is that a yes for everything or...

Yes.

[PlymouthJoseph]

Just now, Starelementpoke said:

Yes.

Lol, fair enough. £200+ Xeon... Here I come!

[PlymouthJoseph]

Would it be overkill to cool the Xeon with the Cooler Master 212 Evo? Or will the Heatsink that comes with the Xeon be fine?

[stconquest]

23 minutes ago, PlymouthJoseph said:

Would it be overkill to cool the Xeon with the Cooler Master 212 Evo? Or will the Heatsink that comes with the Xeon be fine?

212 EVO is loud.  Try the Cryorig H7, the BeQuiet Pure Rock or the Deepcool Gammax 300.

[PlymouthJoseph]

5 minutes ago, stconquest said:

212 EVO is loud.  Try the Cryorig H7, the BeQuiet Pure Rock or the Deepcool Gammax 300.

Will do. As I'm going bed because it's half 1 here... I will continue this tomorrow... And are they all the same "shape" as the 212? And I was gonna change the fan to a Noctua NF-F12 anyway. 

 

But again... Would it be overkill or would the stock cooler be okay. 

[stconquest]

35 minutes ago, PlymouthJoseph said:

Will do. As I'm going bed because it's half 1 here... I will continue this tomorrow... And are they all the same "shape" as the 212? And I was gonna change the fan to a Noctua NF-F12 anyway. 

 

But again... Would it be overkill or would the stock cooler be okay. 

Quieter than the stock fan by a lot.  How much is that worth to you?  IDK.

[PlymouthJoseph]

5 hours ago, stconquest said:

Quieter than the stock fan by a lot.  How much is that worth to you?  IDK.

Well... He wouldn't hear it as he almost always listens to music... But you don't think it would be OTT getting a Hyper Evo 212? And if not...Swap out the fan for a Noctua NF-F12? And possibly get a 4-pin splitter and use the original as a pull fan, along with maybe using a LNA for it... If it is as loud as you say it is. 

[PlymouthJoseph]

6 hours ago, stconquest said:

212 EVO is loud.  Try the Cryorig H7, the BeQuiet Pure Rock or the Deepcool Gammax 300.

H7... Kinda to expensive at £41, BeQuiet is better, and is at £29 and the Deepcool looks tiny...

[PlymouthJoseph]

Also, upon looking into the Xeon E3 1231 V3 a little deeper... I've noticed that it doesn't support 2 16x PCIe lanes? I remembered that he wanted to save up and get a secondary 960 and have it in SLI... But I don't think he can with this Xeon... Can he? I would maybe upgrade his motherboard in the future, but there would be no point if I cannot give him SLI unless there are other motherboards which have other features to give.

[PlymouthJoseph]

@stconquest Oh, and you sure this is the best motherboard I can get for £43? I've been looking and there are many other motherboards out there for the same price... I just REALLY want to give him 4 DIMM slots so I can use the 4x4GB DDR3 RAM I've already got available to me. Also, if there is a motherboard which has at least 1 PCI (non express) I could give him my old ultra-low end sound card. 

 

I've got these:

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/H81M-C-Motherboard-Socket-Intel-Express/dp/B00EL42XNI/ref=sr_1_6?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1458202760&sr=1-6&keywords=LGA1150

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asrock-Z87-Pro3-LGA1150-90-MXGP90-A0UAYZ/dp/B00DEF3MXU/ref=sr_1_22?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1458202986&sr=1-22&keywords=LGA1150+motherboard

 

 

 

 

[stconquest]

3 hours ago, PlymouthJoseph said:

Well... He wouldn't hear it as he almost always listens to music... But you don't think it would be OTT getting a Hyper Evo 212? And if not...Swap out the fan for a Noctua NF-F12? And possibly get a 4-pin splitter and use the original as a pull fan, along with maybe using a LNA for it... If it is as loud as you say it is. 

The EVO is 27 pounds, and the fan costs more.  This will do:  http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/be-quiet-cpu-cooler-bk009

3 hours ago, PlymouthJoseph said:

H7... Kinda to expensive at £41, BeQuiet is better, and is at £29 and the Deepcool looks tiny...

The Gammax 300 has a smaller heat sink but you don't really need more with the Xeon.  The fan is a 120mm.  Actually the 300 is too expensive.  The S40 is better:  http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/deepcool-cpu-cooler-gammaxxs40 

3 hours ago, PlymouthJoseph said:

Also, upon looking into the Xeon E3 1231 V3 a little deeper... I've noticed that it doesn't support 2 16x PCIe lanes? I remembered that he wanted to save up and get a secondary 960 and have it in SLI... But I don't think he can with this Xeon... Can he? I would maybe upgrade his motherboard in the future, but there would be no point if I cannot give him SLI unless there are other motherboards which have other features to give.

You don't need two x16 PCI lanes for SLI.  Two x8 is the required bandwidth.  Crossfire works with x4 lanes even.

 

SLI 960 is not the best idea.  If he is saving for a new GPU, he should not be spending money on a Maxwell card right now.  960s/970s/980s/980Tis have a major disadvantage moving forward.  There is a good chance they will die a quick death a year from now.

3 hours ago, PlymouthJoseph said:

@stconquest Oh, and you sure this is the best motherboard I can get for £43? I've been looking and there are many other motherboards out there for the same price... I just REALLY want to give him 4 DIMM slots so I can use the 4x4GB DDR3 RAM I've already got available to me. Also, if there is a motherboard which has at least 1 PCI (non express) I could give him my old ultra-low end sound card. 

 

I've got these:

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/H81M-C-Motherboard-Socket-Intel-Express/dp/B00EL42XNI/ref=sr_1_6?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1458202760&sr=1-6&keywords=LGA1150

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asrock-Z87-Pro3-LGA1150-90-MXGP90-A0UAYZ/dp/B00DEF3MXU/ref=sr_1_22?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1458202986&sr=1-22&keywords=LGA1150+motherboard

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-b85me45

 

He won't need the sound card.

 

[PlymouthJoseph]

45 minutes ago, stconquest said:

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-b85me45

Well... That is almost perfect! But then... Why not this one?

 

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-b85g41pcmate

It seams the exact same, but with a PCIe x4 (I believe) So he could SLI, even though I've told him that if he is gonna do that... Sell the old 960 and get a 970... But he wants SLI "Because it looks cooler" 

This also has a heat spreader on the VRM along with an 8pin ATX power connector. 

And it is only £4 more expensive... but £13 more from the Asus H81M-PLUS... Is it worth it though? 

[stconquest]

7 minutes ago, PlymouthJoseph said:

Well... That is almost perfect! But then... Why not this one?

 

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-b85g41pcmate

It seams the exact same, but with a PCIe x4 (I believe) So he could SLI, even though I've told him that if he is gonna do that... Sell the old 960 and get a 970... But he wants SLI "Because it looks cooler" 

This also has a heat spreader on the VRM along with an 8pin ATX power connector. 

And it is only £4 more expensive... but £13 more from the Asus H81M-PLUS... Is it worth it though? 

Price is why I picked the mATX board.  It was the cheapest one.

 

You need a minimum of two x8 PCI lanes for SLI.  Neither of those boards support SLI.  The one you have linked does support dual Radeon cards because x4 is all AMD requires.

 

Nvidia are "dickheads".

 

@PlymouthJoseph  Tell him if he wants to stare at his PC all day, he can just install the second GTX 960 in the x4 slot.  It won't work but it will look "cool".  SLI and mid range cards is not a good value decision.  Save up for a better tier GPU.

[PlymouthJoseph]

18 minutes ago, stconquest said:

Price is why I picked the mATX board.  It was the cheapest one.

 

You need a minimum of two x8 PCI lanes for SLI.  Neither of those boards support SLI.  The one you have linked does support dual Radeon cards because x4 is all AMD requires.

 

Nvidia are "dickheads".

 

@PlymouthJoseph  Tell him if he wants to stare at his PC all day, he can just install the second GTX 960 in the x4 slot.  It won't work but it will look "cool".  SLI and mid range cards is not a good value decision.  Save up for a better tier GPU.

Ah well... 

 

So, other than the PCI slots... what's the differences between them? 

 

And this is gonna sound like another "noob-ish" question... But since the ATX board has 8pin ATX power, that doesn't mean it'll eat any more electricity... Right? And that would also explain why it has a heat spreader on the VRM? Also... What phases are the VRMs on all 3 motherboards? Just curious since I cannot find it anywhere

 

That's fair enough - lol

And so you think I should try and tell him that once he get's the money for the other 960... He should sell his current 960 and buy a 970? Also, what Gen is the PCIe 16x? Because wouldn't gen3 be better since the 9XX series cards have PCIe Gen3... Right?

 

@stconquest The ATX also has 2x CPU fan headers and 2x 3-pin System a 4-pin system. Would be better than using Molex adapters... 

[stconquest]

3 minutes ago, PlymouthJoseph said:

Ah well... 

 

So, other than the PCI slots... what's the differences between them? 

 

And this is gonna sound like another "noob-ish" question... But since the ATX board has 8pin ATX power, that doesn't mean it'll eat any more electricity... Right? And that would also explain why it has a heat spreader on the VRM? Also... What phases are the VRMs on all 3 motherboards? Just curious since I cannot find it anywhere

 

That's fair enough - lol

And so you think I should try and tell him that once he get's the money for the other 960... He should sell his current 960 and buy a 970? Also, what Gen is the PCIe 16x? Because wouldn't gen3 be better since the 9XX series cards have PCIe Gen3... Right?

The G41 is more robust.  VRM cooling, more available power to the CPU as you mentioned.  It has more PCI slots and such.  It is a more well rounded board.  I won't go into how well it is made (chip set, traces, architecture, pcb thickness) because I simply do not know.

 

The G41 has 6 phases.  Count the chokes.

 

The x16 PCI-E lane is gen3,  the x4 is gen2.

 

 

[PlymouthJoseph]

3 minutes ago, stconquest said:

The G41 is more robust.  VRM cooling, more available power to the CPU as you mentioned.  It has more PCI slots and such.  It is a more well rounded board.  I won't go into how well it is made (chip set, traces, architecture, pcb thickness) because I simply do not know.

 

The G41 has 6 phases.  Count the chokes.

 

The x16 PCI-E lane is gen3,  the x4 is gen2.

 

 

Okay, my mind is made. I'm getting him the MSI B85-G41-PCMate motherboard. Now... Do you know if it officially supports the Xeon E3 1231 V3? 

[Starelementpoke]

3 minutes ago, PlymouthJoseph said:

Okay, my mind is made. I'm getting him the MSI B85-G41-PCMate motherboard. Now... Do you know if it officially supports the Xeon E3 1231 V3? 

B85 is haswell. 1231v3 is haswell. Your good.

[stconquest]

Just now, PlymouthJoseph said:

Okay, my mind is made. I'm getting him the MSI B85-G41-PCMate motherboard. Now... Do you know if it officially supports the Xeon E3 1231 V3? 

Chances are it is okay, but I don't rely on chances.  I would call the retailer and ask them if this board is updated to Haswell Refresh specification.  Or ask for the bios revision version, it should be printed on the box.

[stconquest]

1 minute ago, Starelementpoke said:

B85 is haswell. 1231v3 is haswell. Your good.

Not quite.  The 1231 is a Haswell Refresh.  If the mobo is old stock with an old bios, the CPU won't work and you can update the bios without a working CPU.

[Starelementpoke]

Just now, stconquest said:

Not quite.  The 1231 is a Haswell Refresh.  If the mobo is old stock with an old bios, the CPU won't work and you can update the bios without a working CPU.

True.

[PlymouthJoseph]

1 minute ago, stconquest said:

Not quite.  The 1231 is a Haswell Refresh.  If the mobo is old stock with an old bios, the CPU won't work and you can update the bios without a working CPU.

So... If the BIOS is updated enough... It'll work, if not... I'm gonna have to borrow a 1150 CPU to get him able to boot, then update it from a USB? Maybe? My college most likely has a 1150 socket CPU lying around somewhere I could borrow for a day.

[Starelementpoke]

Just now, PlymouthJoseph said:

So... If the BIOS is updated enough... It'll work, if not... I'm gonna have to borrow a 1150 CPU to get him able to boot, then update it from a USB? Maybe? My college most likely has a 1150 socket CPU lying around somewhere I could borrow for a day.

Not even a day, more like 30 minutes.

[stconquest]

Just now, PlymouthJoseph said:

So... If the BIOS is updated enough... It'll work, if not... I'm gonna have to borrow a 1150 CPU to get him able to boot, then update it from a USB? Maybe? My college most likely has a 1150 socket CPU lying around somewhere I could borrow for a day.

Yeah.  If you have access to a original Haswell CPU you can update the bios if needed.  Chances are the motherboard is not over a year old, it will probably have a newer bios revision.