Index
Purpose
Motherboards
CPUs
RAM
Add-On Cards
Drives

• IDE
  
• SATA
  
• SATA2
  
• FDD
  
• Disc

PSUs
Cases
Proprietary Components


Purpose
More often than not, quite a few of the questions that come through this forum are people literally asking if parts will not only work together, but will they physically fit into each other. That's what this guide is meant to serve. As a basic compatibility guide for the lighter end of things. Every piece of your computer fits into something else just like a puzzle piece. I'm going to try and help you fit those pieces together. Hopefully after reading this, anyone with further questions will now be able to ask them on a more technical level.

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Motherboard
There are tons of different motherboards to choose from when building your own computer. These boards come in differnt size formats. ATX, BTX, eATX and mATX are all somewhat common sizes and formats. This single specification can change how you purchase the rest of the computer's components.

One of the most important things to keep in mind are the features that the motherboard offers and it's stated compatibility with different types of hardware. If it is compatible with everything except for one item, it won't do what you want. Move on to the next option.

The most expensive motherboard isn't always the best one for everyone. Often, unless you are a hardcore computer freak, most of the options on the high-end boards will go unused. Why pay for something that you're not going to use? Match your projected gameplan up with a corresponding motherboard and you will have just picked out the perfect board for your purposes. Hopefully, we can help you develop that gameplan with the information provided here regarding each components compatibility restrictions.

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CPU
With the plethora of processor choices out there, and motherboards to match, it's no wonder that some new builders get confused between all of the options they have. Does this CPU go with this? Or does it go with that? Here's your answer.

The CPU will physically sit in your motherboard. The area that it sits in is called the socket. The socket looks like a square with tons of little holes in it. Each hole lines up with a single pin on the back of the processor or vice versa. Different socket types have different pin configurations which will prevent a CPU from working in the incorrect socket type.

Starting with the newest, some of the recent socket types for AMD are AM2, 939 and 754. Recent socket types for Intel are LGA775 and 478.

The socket type on the motherboard must match the socket type of the CPU for the two to work together. Below are a few pics of the socket and the corresponding pins on the back of the CPU.

S939


S775


Specific processor compatibilities most always are mentioned within the motherboard specifications on the retail site of your choice. Keep in mind though, that just because a certain multi-core CPU isn't listed in the motherboard's specs doesn't always mean that it isn't compatible. It would be worth your while to check out that motherboard further to see if a BIOS flash will enhance it's compatibility with newer processors. This information can often be found by emailing the manufacturer or by visiting their website's support forum.

Another tid-bit you might like to know is that the speed of the processor means nothing if the speed is measured on crappy architecture. Most newer processors can perform three and four times better at noticeably slower speeds than their predecessors just because the architecture is by far better.

For example, a 3Ghz P4 will be far overshadowed by a 2.4Ghz Core2Duo. The architecture is different and the C2D chip is much more efficient. When choosing your processor type, make sure that you are within the current times and not purchasing something that is defined as "out-of-date" technology.

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RAM
The memory choices far exceed the CPU choices. The same with the socket type of your processor, your RAM must match the RAM type of the motherboard. From Newest to oldest some of the most recent and still used are DDR3, DDR2, RDRAM, DDR and SDRAM. The most noticeable difference between the lot is the pin count and "notch" spacing. After that, bandwidth and latencies are the most noticeable differences, seemingly proportional to each other as time goes on. Bandwidth goes up, latencies get higher. Out of the bunch, a few brands shine through with high bandwidth, low latency RAM from time to time.

Just like with the CPU sockets, the RAM must match the motherboard's compatibility. You can't mix and match different RAM platforms. DDR must go with DDR and DDR2 must go with DDR2, ect ect. Aside from a few obscure "converters" and cross-platform motherboards, this has always been true to date. With cross-platform boards only one type of RAM can be used at any given time, either DDR or DDR2. Also, either DDR2 or DDR3. They can not be mixed.

Below are a few pics of the different pin counts and "notching" on RAM and the corresponding motherboard DIMM slots.

DDR


DDR2


DDR/DDR2 Hybrid


When adding RAM to existing RAM modules, it's important to match them up as best as you can. Different sticks run at different voltages with different timings. This can cause problems, but sometimes it doesn't. Play the safe bet with your money and match them up evenly. If you plan on adding more RAM, find out what type and how much you currently have by either downloading a system utility such as CPUz or by using any number of online scans such as the one at www.crucial.com.

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Add-on Cards
There are many different add on cards that you can add to your computer. Sound cards, GFX cards, USB hubs, NICs, ect, ect. The two main things you need to know are whether or not you have an available slot for that card type(AGP, PCI, PCIe(x1, x2, x16) and if you have enough power to power it. More often than not, non-graphical cards will feed off of power through the motherboard slot they get plugged into and demand relatively little amounts of power. Mid-to-high end GFX cards will most likely require an additional connection directly to your power supply unit. You need to know if you have these extra connections available and if your power supply can supply enough steady power to the card. Power requirements for GFX cards are often found on manufacturer websites giving particular attention to rail amperage, efficiency and wattage.

See the Video Card Guide, courtesy of Tweaker, for more in-depth coverage on the different types of GFX cards and their requirements. When dealing with power connections, more often than not you will be able to find a converter for any type of connection, not limited to graphics cards.

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Drives
There are several different types of drives you can use. From hard drives to DVD drives, they all require something.

Hard Drive

Hard drives come in a few different flavors. These flavors include connection type, speed, bandwidth or transfer rate, cache, and most notably size.

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• IDE

IDE hard drives come in an assortment of sizes and performance capabilities. Your basic requirements for these are an available IDE slot on your motherboard, and an available molex power connector from your PSU to power it. If your IDE slot is already occupied with another device, don't fret. There are IDE cables that have two separate connection plugs in addition to the motherboard connection. This allows you to connect multiple devices to the same motherboard connection port.

In the case where you are sharing a single IDE cable between two devices, you would need to set the hard drive jumpers to "master", and the other device to "slave". Similarly, you can set the jumpers to "cable select" where the device on the very end of the cable is recognized as being "master" and the device in the middle is recognized as being "slave".

IDE and molex cables come in many different shapes and sizes. Round, flat, color and length all can vary depending on your needs.

Motherboard Connection (green)


IDE Cable


Multipe Drive IDE Cable


PSU Molex Connector

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• SATA

Sata drives vary in size, speed and cache also. Your main concern when picking out a SATA drive is whether or not you have available SATA ports on your motherboard and if you have the SATA power connection on your PSU. Once you find that you have the both of these, you will also need a SATA cable to connect the drive to the motherboard for data transfer. The data transfers through at a rate of 1.5 gigabits per second. This shows why these drives are also referred to as SATA/150.

SATA drives are also compatible with SATA2 ports and cables. This means that if your board supports SATA2, a SATA drive will still work regardless of SATA or SATA2 cable type. A SATA drive connected to a SATA2 port will only work at SATA/150 speeds.

SATA Port


SATA Cable


SATA Power

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• SATA2

SATA2 follows the same requirements as the above mentioned SATA. The only difference is the need for a SATA2 cable, a SATA2 port on your motherboard, and a SATA2 drive. The difference from the performance point of view is that SATA2 transfers data at a rate of 3.0 gigabits per second. This shows why these drives are also referred to as SATA/300.

A SATA2 drive will work with SATA connections, but it will operate at only half of the bandwidth. Effectively, your SATA/300 drive will be running at a SATA/150's bandwidth.

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Floppy Drive

Just about every computer still in operation has compatibilities for floppy disk drives(FDD). You need to see if you have an available FDD port on your motherboard(usually located near the IDE ports, and is almost the same size), and if you have an available FDD power connection on your PSU. Once that is in order, you will need a FDD cable(looks similar to the IDE cables).

Be careful as FDD cables are able to be installed upside down. If your FDD light is constantly on and then shuts off once a disk is inserted...your cable is upside down.

FDD Cable


FDD Power

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Disc Device

CD/DVD drives vary in speed and other capabilities typically specified in the add. They can also vary in connection type. These drives typically utilize an IDE connection(the same as the IDE hard drive), but it's becoming more and more common to have these drives in a SATA flavor.

The basic compatibility needs are an available port on the motherboard(either IDE or SATA depending) or an available port on a multi-device cable(IDE). Along with the data connection you will need a power connection as well. This is typically a molex dongle(pictured above). If you don't have available molex dongles, you can buy a "Y" converter. These converters split a single molex connector into two separate molex connections.

Molex "Y" Splitter


These splitters come with 1 to 2, 1 to 3, and all sorts of other configurations.

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Power Supply Units
When choosing a power supply unit(PSU), it's very important that you get one that is wired to your appropriate platform. Power supplies come wired for ATX, BTX, and some other unpopular choices. You also need to consider if the unit has the appropriate motherboard power connections such as 20-pin, 20+4-pin and 24-pin. In addition to that, you also want to ensure that you have enough connections for the entire computer, paying attention to the special connections required for SATA devices and GFX cards. Finally, you want to ensure that your unit has strong 12v rails(the higher the amperage the better) and a high efficiency rating, as well as the appropriate wattage recommended for your set-up. A nice free calculator to figure out these numbers can be found at Extreme Outerversion

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Computer Cases
Your computer's case is probably the last thing that gets picked out for purchase. Once you have all of your specifications down, you can then select from an array of accommodating cases. The most obvious choices are between form factors ATX, mATX, eATX and BTX. The differences between these standards are pin configuration in the main motherboard power points, physical PCB size and mounting hole alignments.

After that, you can choose full tower, mid-tower or micro case. An mATX board will fit in all three types of ATX cases. An ATX board will fit in a mid-tower or full tower. An eATX(extended ATX) will fit in a full tower only.

Depending on your case size, you will want to verify that you are getting the appropriate length of your assorted cables for each device in your computer. A 10" SATA cable will probably do no good inside of a full tower.

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Proprietary Components
Some retail computers are manufactured in a proprietary fashion. This means that certain replacement components will not work and will possibly destroy other components if the user attempts to use them(they are designed and wired on that specific company's standards rather than on the universal standard). Be cautious of this because a mistake like this will certainly void any manufacturer's warranty on your computer.

Common proprietary parts are cases, motherboards and PSUs. Cases often have different mounting hole alignments which will prevent you from using just any average motherboard and also they might have odd dimensions which can prevent you from using standard size PSUs. Likewise, with the motherboards, mounting holes are aligned differently so it will be difficult if not impossible to mount your retail board in any random case. Power supplies can be wired completely different from the common standard of ATX. A PSU that is wired differently will most likely fry several components on the initial power up.

It is best to go through the manufacturer to assure that you will be receiving a correctly formatted replacement part.

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Images taken from Google/Yahoo and independently hosted.


[color=#666666]This message was edited by Anonymous on Aug 04 2007.

The guide is so good, theres no reason for anyone to post on it or comment on it ^^ just a view at it helps i think even the novice

good job slayer and anonymous!

Here's a virtual pat on the shoulder "pat pat, good job old boy" It should help noobs all across the galaxy.

About time we got some comments on it

If anyone has some recommendations for it, or adding a section/more information (like DDR3 or PCIe 2.0), send me a PM about it and I'll work on adding it in.

Thanks for the comments

This guide helped a lot. I'm still a little unsure about hardware compatablity but it the specs of a motherboard you can find that all out. I have one question though. How would you find out if you can update your bios to run a duo core processor?

vargaman, glad the guide helped out. Out of curiosity, how did you find it? Did you do a google search, and this was one of the results?


I'm pretty sure that all LGA 775 motherboards are fully compatible for all the current LGA 775. The duo core is a bit out dated compared to the core 2 duos (I recommend going with the core 2 duos instead of core duo), so it should work on it. If you find that the bios wont support it, then you probably need to send it off to the manufacture to update the bios, because you cant update the bios with out a processor.

If you are unsure whether or not you can upgrade, an email to the motherboard manufacturer will settle what CPUs are compatible with your board. Visiting the motherboard manufacturer's website will usually show you if you have an available BIOS update. You'll probably have to look for that info...but it will definitely be there. If the info isn't there, then there's no available update.

yeah I googled this site out and I have built a computer from scrapped parts for fun... multiple times. I'm looking to build a gaming computer and I was thinking of going with a microATX case because I don't have a lot of space. Anyway great post.

Thanks for this

I read this a while ago and joined to ask a question about a hw problem and to say thank you. this guide really helped me. I think I broke my cpu but it was my fault. Anyway, thank you very much, anon!

NEW BUILD, just bought the coolermaster cosmos 1000, and ultra x31000 PSU, was about to get the rest and BAM new processors came out, looking for advice 1386 versus 775 and boards I am partial to ASUS DDR3? and how much do I need for graphics?

What a professional guide. One question, how do you know if you need a better power supply?

you can use the PSU calculator linked in the thread, or you can look at the minimum power required for your video card, then add some watts (i usually add 50 to 150, depending on the performance of the system) as a buffer.

I just bought a motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130228
and it's power pin is 24 pin. But my PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341017
is 20+4 pin.

Well, 20 + 4 =24. So these will work together, right?

yes. a psu with a 20+4 pin is basically a 20 pin, with a loose (separate) 4 pin to work with all boards (20 pin boards and 24 pin boards), unlike the 24 pin power supplies, which have the extra 4 attached onto the 20 pin.