Motherboard + CPU recommendations

[UBT - Timbo]

Hi all

I suspect my home PC needs an upgrade, as it is limited to 8Gb of RAM (which in its day was massive) but some newer programs are taking a lot of time to load up. (I cannot spare my own blushes as far as how old my current mobo is, as CPU-Z reports the BIOS is from February....2008 !!!!!!!!)

So I need to look for something better and I'm more than happy to use my existing case, graphics card and high quality PSU, if I can save a bit of dosh.

Options are:

Intel or AMD mobo?
Which CPU?
Best option for memory, obviously more is better as this will be running Windoze ( ) but maybe 8Gb or 16Gb to start and with the ability to add more later on?

Most newer mobo's will probably have all the required inputs and outputs, like multiple USB v3.x sockets, Gigabit LAN port(s), SATA disk drives (either spinning rust or SSD) and maybe even support for on-board RAID and maybe even built-in wifi/bluetooth?

So, over to you...what is your suggestion and keeping this to sensible costs, as this is at my own expense, so no chance of getting work to cover it (even if I'll do some work on it at home).

regards
Tim

[UBT - Mikee]

Hi

2008?! Wow - Using Windows XP as well? 16 years old? I suppose if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Hard drives must be about to die by now so just replacing them with SSDs instead would vastly improve startup time

The days of building my own PC were a long time ago! Probably 2012 thereabout. Since then I've used PCSpecialist. I've had 2 custom builds from them. Choose your own parts and if they're compatible they'll give an all in price. Typically 10 day turnaround or quicker.

For comparison I have an AMD Ryzen 7700 8 core, Prime X670-p, Nvidia RTX 3060 and 32GB memory plus all the other bits - came to £1400 inc VAT - (Can you claim VAT back as you sometimes would use it for business use?)

If you want to build it yourself use the PCSpecialist site to spec up and it'll tell you if the components are compatible with each other. I originally was going to fit an optical drive but the site said the case selected would accept one, so it's quite good for that.

Maybe buy a newer used one from EBay? Replace the HDs and/or SSDs before switching on though! Just had a quick look and there's a good selection around £500 to £700 mark.

Mike

[UBT - Timbo]

Hi Mikee,

Thanks for the tips and suggestions

Well, the motherboard might be getting on a bit and the CPU is just a 2 GHz (but 3 Ghz when pushed !) quad core, but the HDD and GPU have been updated over time and of course the OS is NOT XP, but actually WIn7 as later versions of Windoze does not support some of my other software and some accessories (by way of drivers).

But I might just keep this PC on the network and just use it as and when I need to use said programs and peripherals and just copy the home and work data over onto a new PC.

And I've not really kept up to date with the costs and features/benefits of newer CPUs and the motherboards required for them. Hence my question as to what might be a suitable upgrade route.

One thing I have noticed (on my recent searches) is that motherboards now are very feature laden but are quite cheap too, with some decent boards costing less than 80-100 quid. And it seems that it is the CPUs that now costa fortune.

But here again, I'm happy to get a lower spec CPU for now, get some use out of it and then get a higher spec CPU (that fits the same socket) when the next iteration comes along and older CPUs are sold off cheap to clear stocks.

I could start this project off, using one of these:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/295966433570

a cheapish LGA 1200 socketed micro-ATX board, listed as NEW for just over 60 squid (and yet I'd get the VAT back !).

But for a few quid more:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256370862852

and at least this is branded unlike some of the other boards available from Chinese suppliers which are no-name brands

regards
Tim

[wbiz]

Likewise my Windows desktop is ancient but I hardly use it, core 2 duo but I have got an N100 based mini-pc lined up to eventually take its place..

I buy quite a few things from CEX online, 2 year warranty on everything, grade A is pristine, in fact most grade A's I've bought were brand new unopened. Grade B is spotless, usually marked grade B because cables, original packaging or manuals are missing. They used to sell motherboards but don't appear to any longer. Systems, CPU. RAM and GPU's are all there.

[UBT - Mikee]

Hi

Those 2 might be a bit limiting with lack of ports. I've got 8 ports so that the 3 HDs I have fitted can connect and 3 16bit PCIe slots. Suppose you could use inbuilt graphics, but a decent, separate graphis card would use 1 slot, wifi card another. Make sure you get one with correct style M.2 SSD slot, though I didn't and ended up getting a riser card to correct as well as the correct version.

Mike

[UBT - Timbo]

Likewise my Windows desktop is ancient but I hardly use it, core 2 duo but I have got an N100 based mini-pc lined up to eventually take its place..

I buy quite a few things from CEX online, 2 year warranty on everything, grade A is pristine, in fact most grade A's I've bought were brand new unopened. Grade B is spotless, usually marked grade B because cables, original packaging or manuals are missing. They used to sell motherboards but don't appear to any longer. Systems, CPU. RAM and GPU's are all there.

Hiya

Thanks for the input

Yup, I've used CEX in the past, but mainly from their shops as where I lived until about 2 years ago, there was a store in my local town. And they sold all many of techy, electrical stuff, including loads of low end hifi and some tools too.

I'll take a look and see what they have, but I think the only things I might be interested in are CPUs and SIMM modules.

regards
Tim

[UBT - Timbo]

Hi

Those 2 might be a bit limiting with lack of ports. I've got 8 ports so that the 3 HDs I have fitted can connect and 3 16bit PCIe slots. Suppose you could use inbuilt graphics, but a decent, separate graphics card would use 1 slot, wifi card another. Make sure you get one with correct style M.2 SSD slot, though I didn't and ended up getting a riser card to correct as well as the correct version.

Mike

Hiya

Yup, I think I just need to figure out how much I can afford and what my future needs might be, as the current PC, albeit long in the tooth, has been a solid and dependable workhorse for some time and even now, it still works perfectly well. BUT, I need to upgrade the OS and therefore, getting a new mobo+CPU makes a lots of sense.

However I'm quite prepared for the old Intel/Microsoft "two step dance routine", where a NEW version of Windows swallows up lots of the advances made in NEWER CPUs speed and power, so instead of getting say a 200% increase in performance, you only get maybe 50% (if you are lucky).

However, many newer CPUs feature even more cores (through Hyperthreading), so it should be possible to get a bit more oomph out of the new hardware.

And yes, the number of ports on the smaller micro-ATX boards is a bit of a concern, but there seems to be fewer normal "ATX size" mobos available at a sensible price, as the market seems to have shifted towards gaming mobos which cost an arm and a leg for all the extra features.

So, I'll keep an eye out and see what's what and I might just wait until Black Friday (29th November) and see what deals might be available then,a s I'm not in a mad rush for getting the upgrade down PDQ.

regards
Tim