Question Can you help me out with a build list and some compatibility ?

3point14

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Decision made, I want to build my first PC :)

I already have multiple WD Black HDs but could probably do with a SSD. I'm thinking about a 500GB size for applications etc. 240GB just seems way too small (currently using just under 200GB).

I have a PSU at 600W EGVA so sorted there.

I could cannibalise a DVD writer if required from another machine.

So by my reckoning, I need:

A big case (will run minimum 4 possibly up to 8 HDD in it)
Motherboard
CPU
RAM (min 16GB)
Not bothering with a GPU just yet - but can perhaps be convinced
1 x parallel port
1 x serial RS-232 port

I like bang for buck stuff with likely long term use rather than expensive cutting edge. These new Intel Skylakes don't seem a huge improvement but my main uses, where I get bottlenecks now are in multi tasking (say 6+ applications and 30 browser windows open), rendering graphics across these and Visio / Illustrator and lots of Excel.

Wifi would be useful as well.

Can someone help with some ideas for matched components ?
 
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Skylake isn't a huge amount of extra money either. It depends on exactly what motherboard features you're after but the CPU is the same price and the memory is £10-15 more.

Your usage scenario isn't one that gets tested much so it's difficult to know what'll benefit you. I would say an i5-6_00, i5-5675C and i7-6_00 would be your best bets.

Memory type makes little difference generally so I'd just buy whatever's fastest within, say, £5 of the cheapest price. Are you hitting maximum memory commit when you get slowdowns right now?

Motherboard-wise I'm guessing 8 SATA ports are required. Or a ninth for the SSD? Four memory slots are probably a good idea for future upgrades so we can discount H81/H110 boards. You can get motherboards with parallel and serial ports but it's worth looking at expansion cards that provide them too as they're pretty niche these days.

You don't need a particularly big case for ~8 hard drive bays, there are medium sized options available circa 35 litres (a traditional full tower is around 60L).
 
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I have space so airflow doesn't need to be constrained by a small case.

Parallel and serial can be on card if required.

Memory is an issue so 4 slots would be good.

I'd like to understand which motherboard and any compatibility issues and get cracking !

Also, how do I know how many cables I'll need and which type ?
 
You're not putting many hundreds of watts worth of heat generating hardware in there so airflow isn't a big deal generally.

Cable-wise cases come with their own cables so no need to worry there, you will need a motherboard with appropriate headers for front panel ports but Audio and USB ports are ubiquitous (although a few motherboards only provide USB2 headers).

Power supplies also come with their own power cables but you may want to make sure there are sufficient connectors for all of the hard drives. Although hard drives are fairly low power so using splitters/adapters is often no big deal.

The only other cables commonly used would be hard drive data cables and you presumably already have one per drive and a motherboard will typically include a couple more.

There's a huge variety of motherboards and manufacturers don't explain their ranges. The way I generally go about it is start at the bottom and see what the cheapest board is that has all the features I want and then consider the slightly more expensive options to see if they have anything to offer.

I had a quick check on the CCL Online store site as they allow you to filter motherboards by SATA port count and it appears that the Intel boards with 8 SATA ports are fairly expensive, starting at £110. This will be because Intel chipsets only support 6 SATA ports themselves, so extra ports require a third party SATA chip as well.

It's worth mentioning that AMD's A85X and A88X support 8 SATA ports although whether the fastest CPU for those, the A10-7870k, would be acceptable I'm not sure.

It's the socket that determines motherboard chipsets and CPU support. Skylake CPUs and 100 series chipsets go together because they use the LGA 1151 socket.
 
Cheers for that.

I have a good PSU - just checked it is a fully modular 750w EGVA one - near as silent.

I could get away with 6 HDs to be honest as I want to build out the NAS to something more professional thank the NL41 I have at present.
 

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