Advice please for a value (cheap) Micro ATX upgrade
Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 6:19 am
G'day all,
Having been so helped by SPCR'ers 6 years ago and so satisfied with the quiet results from my bought-in-2005-silenced-in-2006 PC, I haven't upgraded since - just been enjoying quiet computing for light computing tasks. However it looks like I finally need to upgrade as Grumpy can't handle things adequately any more - even some high-res youtube clips cause it grief.
Basically I just want a micro-atx mobo with either an i5 or i7 and 8GB of RAM - I will re-use my Corsair 120 GB SSD, DVD burner (hardly ever used anyway) and initially at least the old case and power supply, which has been nicely dampened and fan-slowed as per the link above.
I have an Athlon64 3500+ with a Scythe Infinity heatsink, not sure what thermal load it is (67W or 89W from what I can google).
1) What mobo do you suggest? I like gigabyte and Asus but am open to other brands. Wouldn't know which model - other than budget to mid-range. I'm not a gamer. I'd be willing to pay a bit more for quality like better caps and heatsinks. I want DVI & HDMI output (probably all do these days).
2) Which CPU? I like the sweet spot good value ones, not the extreme overclockable editions - if SPCR'ers say a particular model is cool and quiet but still powerful and can be overclocked at standard voltages that's a winner for me.
3) Can I re-use the Scythe Infinity heatsink or is there no adaptor to go from the Athlon64 socket and mobo connection to the LGA 1155 the i5 / i7 use?
4) Very happy to use onboard IGP - I hear the 4000 is fine, not sure which chipset mobo to go with, happy to pay a bit extra for better IGP, but not going to bother with a dedicated graphics card. It has to output 1920 x 1080 to my 42" LCD via HDMI (or I can use DVI to HDMI converter at a pinch if no HDMI on mobo).
5) Any RAM suggestions? Other than 2 x 4GB DDR-3 in maybe a "matched pair" I don't have a clue. I'd be happy if the mobo had 4 RAM slots so I can increase to 16 GB in a few years if necessary (I doubt it).
6) Maybe, maybe I might get a small case and ditch Grumpy. I'd just want a small micro-atx basic quiet case with a small (250W?) power supply. Any suggestions? There's such a range I'm happy to leave that for later.
Thanks in advance!
Having been so helped by SPCR'ers 6 years ago and so satisfied with the quiet results from my bought-in-2005-silenced-in-2006 PC, I haven't upgraded since - just been enjoying quiet computing for light computing tasks. However it looks like I finally need to upgrade as Grumpy can't handle things adequately any more - even some high-res youtube clips cause it grief.
Basically I just want a micro-atx mobo with either an i5 or i7 and 8GB of RAM - I will re-use my Corsair 120 GB SSD, DVD burner (hardly ever used anyway) and initially at least the old case and power supply, which has been nicely dampened and fan-slowed as per the link above.
I have an Athlon64 3500+ with a Scythe Infinity heatsink, not sure what thermal load it is (67W or 89W from what I can google).
1) What mobo do you suggest? I like gigabyte and Asus but am open to other brands. Wouldn't know which model - other than budget to mid-range. I'm not a gamer. I'd be willing to pay a bit more for quality like better caps and heatsinks. I want DVI & HDMI output (probably all do these days).
2) Which CPU? I like the sweet spot good value ones, not the extreme overclockable editions - if SPCR'ers say a particular model is cool and quiet but still powerful and can be overclocked at standard voltages that's a winner for me.
3) Can I re-use the Scythe Infinity heatsink or is there no adaptor to go from the Athlon64 socket and mobo connection to the LGA 1155 the i5 / i7 use?
4) Very happy to use onboard IGP - I hear the 4000 is fine, not sure which chipset mobo to go with, happy to pay a bit extra for better IGP, but not going to bother with a dedicated graphics card. It has to output 1920 x 1080 to my 42" LCD via HDMI (or I can use DVI to HDMI converter at a pinch if no HDMI on mobo).
5) Any RAM suggestions? Other than 2 x 4GB DDR-3 in maybe a "matched pair" I don't have a clue. I'd be happy if the mobo had 4 RAM slots so I can increase to 16 GB in a few years if necessary (I doubt it).
6) Maybe, maybe I might get a small case and ditch Grumpy. I'd just want a small micro-atx basic quiet case with a small (250W?) power supply. Any suggestions? There's such a range I'm happy to leave that for later.
Thanks in advance!