drivers motherboards New Build advice from a Newb!! HELP!!

Doubelclkr · September 9, 2016

Hello all! First time posting here!! Linus is a hoot!!

I'm Joseph F, and I've decided I am going to build a computer. I am a total newb when it comes to building, but not a total technical novice. My current computer was built about 6 years ago, with my friend basically just giving me options that would work. His dad was the one who put it together. I decided to upgrade, and after completing a 200W transportable bluetooth boombox, (I'm super proud of it. Had to really my soldering level up.) I thought, if I could do that, why not do this myself too. ANYWAYS, I was hoping you guys who are not newbs can look over a few parts and make sure there aren't any major red flags I'm not picking up on, and maybe be able to answer a question or two.

I have put together a wish list on Newegg, titled "JF personal PC". Feel free to have a look. I think I have all the parts I want. The only things you won't see that's going into it is A.) the GPU. I found an EVGA Titan X Hybrid on Craigslist for very cheap. And B.) I have a Kingston 120GB SSD that I have my OS (Win 10) and a few programs on.

-------QUESTION 1

I put an 850 EVO M.2 SSD rather than the 2.5", as I heard from Linus that they are much quicker. HOWEVER!, I'm noticing in the specs of Newegg that they are spec'ed the same. IS THIS RIGHT?? Could this be a misprint?

-------QUESTION 2

When I have everything screwed and plugged in, and go to "post" for the first time, Will this motherboard (Z170-A) need me to install any drivers for the motherboard. I.E., from a thumb USB drive, or from a CD drive? I figure either that, or it will use the Ethernet connection to download and install current drivers for the motherboard, or at least enough to get it going.

-------QUESTION 3

As stated earlier, I have a Kingston 120GB SSD that has my operating system and preferences already running and working well. Can I simply unplug that SSD and put it into the new build? Will there be any problems with previous drivers for my old system, lets say? I suppose that I'll need some sort of program that goes through and deletes old drivers, but as far as getting it up and running, and access to windows? I already have a licensed copy of Win 10 when they were doing the "free upgrade" period. Will I need to buy another copy of Win 10? Is there any way to make all that work? This is what I need the most help with. I think i'm good on the actual construction of the PC, on the hardware side, but past that, I need the help of the fine, knowledgeable, kind people here.

SteinerW · September 9, 2016

For question 1, I'm not sure.

For question 2: You shouldn't need any drivers for everything to work fine. If you use windows 10, you probably wont have to download any drivers accept your video drivers.

For question 3: It might deactivate windows due to hardware change, but most of the time you can just reactive it through windows or just by calling a number. You may want to uninstall the old drivers, but you probably don't need to. You might want to if you're running an AMD build, but I doubt their drivers would cause crashing.

Electronics Wizardy · September 9, 2016

q1 M.2 allows for SATA and PCIE drives. The 850 evo is a sata drive and the same speed in m.2 and 2.5. The 950 pro is pcie and much faster

q2 You don't need any drivers to install windows. Windows 10 should install all the needed drivers. Ehternet should work out of the box with windows 10 and linux

q3 It should work, but sometimes the drives and bootloader can make it not work right. Id try it and see what happens. You can reenter your windows key and it should work

For the build, id get a smaller psu(550w is more than enough)

You also don't need the fan filters and the thermal compound.