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Bought whole new PC and have questions

M

MONTY MASTIFF

Junior Member
Hi I'm a novice PC user in terms of technical knowledge. This is what I have purchased so far (have not put anything together):

athlon II x4 630
biostar a760g m2+ motherboard
xfx 1gb 5770 gpu
4 gb kingston ddr3 1600 ram
samsung f3 spinpoint 1 tb hdd
samsung 2333hd 23" monitor
500w ocz modextreme power supply
antec 300 case
dvd burner drive asus
Windows 7 64-bit oem

i paid $860 for everything

1.) I bought the $99 CPU+MB combo from Micro Center. Turns out the MB instructions say it accepts DDR2 but does not say DDR3. What will happen when I put my DDR3 RAM in it? I'm assuming it just runs at the lower speed DDR2? Also, how big is the difference between the two? Is it so significant that I should get a new MB or does it really not matter? i am not a super hardcore gamer

2.) Will the CPU and MB compatible? The MB seems like it's an older model and it doesn't say Athlon II X4 in the compatible list in the instruction manual but then I'm thinking why would Micro Center make the combo if they did not work together

3.) 500 watt power supply should be enough for those parts? I'm not gonna put multiple hard drives or anything, just what is listed above

4.) In the AMD CPU instructions (very poor btw), it says that thermal compound is required but then it says that it comes in the fan or something. Do I need to buy this compound? It's a retail box cpu that has the fan

5.) Should I buy another fan for the case to put near the GPU? The antec 300 case comes with 2 fans

6.) Any tips before I begin putting it all together? never done this before but i've installed RAM and a cd drive in the past

any other thoughts are welcome, thanks for the help
 
1.) DDR2 is different style slot than DDR3. Therefore, you will not be able to put DDR2 in a DDR3 slot, and you will not be able to put DDR3 in a DDR2. In your case you MUST purchase or use DDR2 in a DDR2 slot.

2.) CPUs come in Sockets, and so do motherboards. If microcenter sold this as a pre-made combo to you, then it most likely is going to work with each other. Do some research and find out what socket your CPU is, and what socket the Motherboard has. If they match, then you're good to go.

3.) Yes, 500W PSU should be enough.

4.) If you have a retail box CPU, there will be a thermal pad on the bottom of the heatsink, and that thermal pad makes contact with the CPU. There will be no need for extra thermal paste.

5.) You will probably be fine with the stock fans, extra fans will never hurt, but just add more noise.

6.) My tips would be go return your DDR3 and buy DDR2 if your motherboard only supports the DDR2 type RAM. Just take your time when putting it together so you don't break anything. Come here and ask questions if you are unsure of how to put the CPU in or something of that sort.
 
Agree that the ram won't work.

CPU will work in the mb, but may require a bios flash to see it properly.

One of our home rigs has that cpu running on a 500w psu just fine.

CPU is retail and does have a thermal pad on the hs. Just take the plastic cap off before installation.

Do a bench test with just the mb, cpu (+hs), ram, and vid before assembly. This significantly reduces any troubleshooting. I usually do my initial bios setup while doing this.
 
1. DDR2 wont' fit into the DDR3 slots.

2. AM2+ MB is fine for AM3 Athlon II, you may need a BIOS update, but it should work.

3. Yup, plenty of power

4. As nboy22 said, it will have compound or pad included.

5. You should be fine on fans unless you are doing overclocking.

6. Plan out cable management before you start installing stuff. Lay out the motherboard and parts in the case, look at cable lengths. See where you are going ziptie and route cables and make sure everything reaches in case you need to do any modifications. Take ESD precautions, don't want to DOA a part before you start. Antec 300 has great airflow for the price, but it's cable management options aren't very good, plan accordingly.

Be careful when installing the CPU heatsink and fan. It's usually easier to install it before it's in the case, as the Motherboard will flex some when it's on the stands.

As Nboy said, get DDR2 RAM. You don't need anything crazy expensive, RAM has very little gaming impact.

I would recommend not installing the video card at first, since you have integrated graphics. Get it up and running first, then add the video card. It will make troubleshooting easier if something goes wrong.
 
A word of caution:

Go to the Biostar site and look up the latest Memory Compatibility List for your MB.
Exchange your RAM for something similar on the list.
 
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