Help Needed With New Build

Hi,
I am dithering with choosing a motherboard for my new Pc and have a few queries someone may be able to answer. I am looking at an Asus H170 Pro board and an Intel i5 6600 CPU, firstly will the motherboard fit into a Fractal R5 case? Also will I be able to use a Wifi card on this board? I am not a gamer but I have also been looking at the H170 Pro Gaming board, is it worth paying the bit extra? I also want as many USB ports as possible, I never seem to have enough and although I could use a hub would prefer not to. The back of my desk is like a horrible mess of spaghetti already so don't need any more dangly bits than necessary. I want to stick with an Asus board as I have had seven years trouble free with my Asus i7 build so I have confidence in the brand. I am looking at a Corsair 80 + Gold RM650X PSU as once again I have a Corsair and it is still going strong. My query is whether it is better to go to the Platinum 750i or stick with the Gold. Any help much appreciated. The rest of the build I can muddle through on my own (I hope).

 

It's an ATX 'board so the Fractal Design Define R5 will be fine.

You could use a PCI/PCIe WiFi card, the 'board has slots for either.

The Gaming board presumably allows overclocking (your CPU choice doesn't), it might also have a 'better' NIC (not much use if you use WiFi). There might be solid reasons for you to buy the Gaming version, you'll need to compare them both.

With an ATX 'board, there's nothing to prevent you adding another USBx card and extra front panel USB connections in the 3.5/5.25 bays.

Either PSU would be complete overkill unless you intend adding a GPU of more than ~75W TDP or filling every slot/bay available with cards/drives Platinum is more efficient, at a cost, Gold is my preference, though I'm currently using a Bronze PSU in my main rig. A quality PSU brand is a must - but not every PSU from a big brand is top quality.

I'd begin with a site like this, it'll give you an idea of compatibility and what's available. There are other Country options, link at the top right.

 

Telling us you are not a gamer is great, but it would also be nice if you then told us what the primary use of this computer will be.

Any ATX motherboard will fit in any ATX case and connect to any ATX PSU. That is the whole purpose of the ATX Form Factor standard - to ensure dimensions, mounting holes, slot alignments, screw sizes, data and power connectors and voltages are all compatible. Now you do need to make sure the PSU has enough power and all the necessary connectors you need - but connectors are not normally a problem with current PSUs.

If you are not a gamer, then no, then you don't need to pay extra for a gaming board. But since that board is on sale for $120 at Newegg right now, that is a pretty reasonable price.

Yes, that, and just about any board, will support a PCIe wifi card. I recommend getting one that 802.11ac compatible with external, movable antennas similar to these for maximum range and throughput.

Corsair today puts out a wide range of PSUs, not all the best quality anymore. But the RM series is certainly near the top. Are you using the motherboard's integrated graphics? Since you said you are not a gamer, that board's integrated (with a suitable complimentary CPU and plenty of RAM) is more than enough for good performance when surfing the Internet, using Office applications, email, YouTube, Facebook, etc. And to that, if not using a power hungry gaming graphics card, a 650W power supply is way overkill. You could "easily" get by with a 400W. 750W would just be a total waste of money. If me, I would look at 500 - 550W just to leave enough wiggle room for future HW upgrades and less fan noise. I've been using these EVGA 550W Gold supplies in all my recent builds and love them.

It is not really a matter of which is "better", Gold or Platinum. Assuming both are working properly, both will be very stable, have great ripple suppression and regulation. The primary difference for consumers is the Platinum will at best have 3% better efficiency (87% vs 90%) at 20% load. It would take years of use for that better efficiency to make up for the higher initial cost of the Platinum over the Gold.

It is ESSENTIAL you pick a CPU that is listed on the motherboard's CPU QVL (qualified vendors list) to ensure compatibility. You do not have to buy the exact listed RAM, but you must buy RAM with the same specs as listed on the RAM QVL. I recommend at least 2 x 4GB for 8GB total. But frankly, if me, I would get 2 x 8GB, especially if using integrated graphics.

You don't mention drives, but to avoid bottlenecking that fast motherboard, fast CPU, and fast DDR4 RAM, I sure would use SSDs (which also tend to consume less power than drives and generate less heat too).

The Fractal Design R5 is a great, but expensive case. But IMO, worth it. However, since you are not a gamer, most likely will not be overclocking to the point you need a bunch of radiators for water cooling, or space for 10 hard drives and 7 expansion cards. So it is probably a lot bigger than what you need.

Last, "new" computers require new Windows licenses. You cannot ever "legally" transfer a "System Builder/OEM" license that came with or was bought for a different machine to a "new" computer. Since I recommend at least 8GB of RAM, you need to ensure you get a 64-bit OS. And since Windows 10 is faster and more secure (reason enough to go with W10), I recommend 64-bit Windows 10 Home or Pro.

 

Thanks for your replies, Always good advice on MG. My current PC is still perfectly good but I want to upgrade the Motherboard and it goes on from there!. I use my machine for all the usual things and I use it a lot! My grandson plays his games on it when he comes over (he comes over a lot) and I will keep this PC and just swap out the graphics card to a better one so he can play bigger and better as he gets older. I am pretty impatient so I like a fast machine, I hate noise so I want a quiet one and I like to have the best components I can afford. Over time the financial pain becomes a distant memory. My son has the Fractal case and that is the one I want so cost is not a factor. It is quite heavy and big but whisper quiet so that will be okay. I don't mind a bit of extra power, probably get the 650w. I am very nervous about the PSU being reliable as an early computer was nearly totalled when the PSU blew up and took out nearly all the components with it. As we are installing solar power electricity panels running costs will be negligible, living in one of the hottest places in the world we get plenty of sun power.
I will go with the 2 x 8gb RAM, and I can source either of the Wireless cards you mentioned here in Perth.

I already have only SSDs and I realise about the Windows licence, I will be keeping Win 7 (which is 64-bit) on the current box, I didn't want to upgrade it.
This little exercise will cost me but it is my main source of entertainment and buying quality is always what I strive to do. My current machine was expensive back in the day but apart from changing to SSDs and going from Vista to Win 10 it has had no glitches at all. This will probably be my last upgrade so it needs to be a good one!
I really appreciate you both taking the trouble to help me, I always do a ton of research as I enjoy it but I need the seal of approval from those with better knowledge than myself. I won't be physically building the machine myself, we have very good stores here to do that but I choose all the bits and pieces.
Best regards, B.

 

That's actually why I switched from Corsair to EVGA. Sadly, Corsair started living on their name and failure rates started to increase. Seasonic is also highly recommended. But regardless, until Man can create perfection 100% of the time, there will always be units that fail pre-maturely. And while a failed PSU still poses the potential to take out any component connected to it, that is very rare these days. That said, I always recommend all computers be put on a "good" UPS with AVR for the best protection from power anomalies. Note it is the AVR (automatic voltage regulation) that makes a "good" UPS so valuable. The battery backup feature during a full power outage is just a bonus.

W7 was certainly a great OS, but it is already 7 years old. IMO, you should update to W10. You can easily make W10 look and feel like W7 with Start10 Start10 which brings back the familiar W7 Start menu and desktop.

Back to the Fractal Design cases - I agree with you. I have the R4 on this computer and the only fan noise I ever hear is the central AC blower noise coming from the basement through the AC vent! So I agree with your desire to stick with Fractal Design, I am just saying they make other top-quality cases that are no so big or costly, but just as quiet.

 

Sad to hear that about Corsair, I am the type of person who finds a good thing and sticks with it, however I will certainly look at the EVGA units, if not I know we can get Seasonic brand here. I did upgrade to W 10 but for what were probably trivial reasons I just couldn't love it although I did try. I rolled back to W 7 and although my new build will be W 10 I should like to keep at least one Win 7 machine. I have upgraded my laptop and my husband uses a MacBook so we have it all covered!

I haven't actually seen the Fractal R4 in the flesh, looking around at the various stores I have only seen the R5. My current tower is the Antel Sonata 500 which is a lovely quiet case but I would like a bit more space inside, the Sonata is quite cramped to work inside.

Back to the hunt for the perfect machine!!

 

I'm sorry!

And yeah, the Sonata's are great cases too. In fact, for many years, Antec cases were all I used. I am not really into fancy cases. So a conventional case that is well-built, sturdy, functional, great cooling (with removable, washable air filters), and is quiet is what I go for.

I never go for fancy lighting either. Case lights do nothing for performance, add some heat, consume some power, and do nothing for performance (worth repeating!). I like my cases to sit quietly and discreetly off to the side and NOT draw attention to themselves. After all, it's what's on my monitors (and coming through my speakers) that I want to focus on.

I do like side panel windows, however. Not so I can gaze admirably into my case interior, but so I can easily inspect the interior to ensure all fans are still spinning and it is not full of heat-trapping dust without removing the side panel.

Then I really do recommend you check out Start10 (or Classic Shell). They really do make W10 look and feel like W7 while keeping the advanced hardware support and better security features of W10.

Yeah W10 does intrude more into your privacy but do NOT confuse "privacy" with "security". Microsoft is NOT trying to steal your passwords, read your emails, access your bank accounts, assume your identity, copy your personal contacts, learn your home address, or compromise your system with malware!

If privacy is the concern, be more worried about your ISP. They already know where you live, your billing information, personal information, and everywhere you go on the Internet. And for sure, if you have a smart phone, your carrier knows all that about you, but also where you've been, where you are currently standing within a couple yards, (including which aisle in the store you are standing in!) and they know the direction you are heading and how fast you are moving!

The most Microsoft knows about your physical location with your PC is your PoP (point of presence). That's where your ISP connects your computer to the Internet backbone. In my case, that's 10 miles away in the next town over!

For sure, I liked W7 too. It was the best OS since XP. I could not stand W8.x until I installed Start8 on it but still preferred W7. But now W10 is the way to go. Any idiosyncrasies that seem odd are quickly learned and become intuitive.

 

I have no problems with Windows 10 compromising my security, never entered my mind. It was a lot of silly little things that put me off and because I didn't really have to get used to it I didn't persevere. For one thing I didn't like Edge, I can't even remember why but when I start playing around with my Laptop it will all come back to me. Another thing was losing Mahjong in the games, I play a lot of online bridge and when I am dummy I always play a game whilst waiting for my partner to finish the hand. I have other mah-jong games but the Microsoft one was the best for my purposes. This is very trivial of course but important to me. Why did they stop all the games, seemed a funny thing to do, I can't see the reason really unless they want to be a games vendor and force us to buy from Microsoft.
I am upgrading the HDD on my laptop to a SSD and when that is all over I will check out Start10 and play with that to see if I can develop some love for W10! I rarely use my laptop, the kids use it mainly for games so it doesn't really worry me which OS is on it.
thanks again.

 

That's just it. It is great at NOT compromising our security. Privacy is another issue, but that can be buttoned up pretty good too.

Most people (including me) don't. But IE11 is still in W10 and can easily be set as the default. The biggest problem with Edge is it clearly was an incomplete product.

I hear you there. I'm hooked on Spider. But there's a great fix for that too (works with W8 too). See Get Windows 7 Games for Windows 10. Ignore the "RECOMMENDED" link to fix Windows. That's just an ad for the free site to get some revenue for their efforts.

You will be amazed at the overall performance gains. I will never go back to HDs.

 

There's also the free Start Menu 8 for Windows 8 and 10.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/start_menu_8.html

 

I did put IE11 on W10 but it constantly crashed, in the end I canned it and used Firefox which I am not enamoured with either but better than Edge. I will fire up the laptop and check out the Get Windows 7 games etc. The Start Menu was not such a bother to me but I would prefer the one I am used to.
I have been using SSDs on my PC for years and love them but haven't bothered until now with the laptop, am interested to see what difference it makes. It is only an Intel i3 so is not very powerful but good enough for the kids to play with. I am also looking to upgrade my modem router so the old hip pocket is getting a hammering just now!

 

IE11 is built in to Win 10 by default. If you follow all the troubleshooting steps it should end up working fine.
http://winsupersite.com/microsoft/q...-explorer-11-crashing-so-many-times-every-day