New MB query

Looking for a not-expensive, reasonably modern motherboard that is
known to be reliable in operation; gaming NOT an option,overclocking NOT
an option.
Would the Asus Z87-Pro be reasonable? Something else?
Win XP the "lowest" OS to be used,maybe Win 7 at "best".

 

You can check out the drivers here. And yes, Windows 7 seems
to be the first OS with full support. It doesn't mean you
absolutely can't run WinXP on it, it would just be a pain
to dig up drivers and even research the topic. There's
a lot of hardware on the board.

http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=Z87-PRO&p=1&s=45

The VIP forum may have some threads of interest.

http://vip.asus.com/forum/topic.aspx?board_id=1&model=Z87-PRO&SLanguage=en-us

Your choice rates 4 stars here. And it's a $200 aircraft carrier.
It has Wifi and Bluetooth on it, which I guess is part of
justifying the price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131979

Read the reviews to see if there are any "failure themes", like
common problems seen by users.

CPU support info is here.

http://support.asus.com/cpu.aspx?SLanguage=en

It'll take a Core i7-4770K. Of course, you're free to
select something cheaper.

http://support.asus.com/Cpusupport/List.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=Z87-PRO&p=1&s=45

The CPU is $340, but it'll last you a while.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116901

The processor has Extended Page Tables, so you can run Hyper-V
when Windows 8 is installed. For whatever that is worth.

http://ark.intel.com/products/75123/Intel-Core-i7-4770K-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-3_90-GHz?q=4770k

Paul

 

Checked the ratings site and found something a lot better with lower
price; PortaTech quotes:
Qty SKU Description Unit Price
cb-intel Combo w/ Intel Core G / Core i3 (Socket 1155)
w/ Core i3 3240 (2 x 3.4GHz CPU +1050MHz Graphics GPU)
Intel H61 MB
2GB DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 2GB - Single Module)
Systems - Cooling Package 2
Premium Assemble, Setup, Pretest, & Set CPU FSB & Power / Cooling
Combo - 1 Year $240.65
plat-del Platinum Deliv. Plan (Full Insur. - Heavier Packing - On
Time Guarantee) $6.75
hdd-500GB-7200-sata3 500GB 7200RPM SATA3 6gb/sec - Hard Drive $49.95
Total around $350.

"Reviews" i saw indicated fan not needed, nil on reliability; drivers
for XP, 7 and 8 included.
Going to give it a go.
Thanks.

 

That's a 55W processor. There should be a fan on it. (The package
is probably including the retail fan that comes with the Intel
processor.) The back of the case should have a fan as well.
I was not able to determine who makes their "generic" bundled case.
When your new build is running, use HDTune to check the hard
drive temperature, and add cooling if the hard drive is over
50C operating temp.

http://ark.intel.com/products/65690/Intel-Core-i3-3240-Processor-3M-Cache-3_40-GHz?q=i3-3240

http://www.portatech.com/catalog/viewitem.asp?ID=75627&O=75614

The H61 board has one expansion slot, so limited expansion capability.
(Consider whether the interfaces provided, are sufficient and
future-proof.) By being ITX, the power supply that comes with the
system, will likely have relatively low peak power output. (So you
can't necessarily fit a $500 video card to this package, without
changing the power supply.)

The lack of details on what power supply is in the case,
means I can't buy it. I don't know if my build has
enough power or not. Or, whether the power supply
is easy to change out, if it fails.

Mini-itx systems can use PICO supplies. You start with
a 12V or similar wall adapter. A 12V cable runs to a barrel
connector on the unit. Inside, a DC-DC converter board
mounts right on top of the main ATX connector. It converts
the incoming 12V to 5V and 3.3V for the onboard logic. Such
a PICO concept, saves space inside the chassis, but has an
upper power limit when it comes to powering components.

This is an example of a PICO 150W. That's the power chain
inside the case. This is one of the highest power
PICO units you can get. Many target lower power levels,
similar to laptop power levels.

http://static.mini-itx.com/store/images/1867-picopsu-150-xt.jpg

An external laptop-style adapter provides DC to run the PICO.
If the nominal 12V from the adapter drops slightly below
11V, the hard drive stops spinning. To give some idea what
tolerances are involved. (The motherboard VCore can be
a bit more tolerant than that.)

http://static.mini-itx.com/store/images/1897-01-192W.jpg

A careful system builder needs a bit of detail, to de-risk
the build. Portatech isn't providing engineering services
here. An Intel processor won't overheat, because it has
throttling to protect it (and also THERMTRIP). But the
power distribution chain could shut off, if it overheats
or doesn't have the power needed for the additional components
you add to your build.

When I think computers, I think larger units, to de-risk
the build. Standard ATX supplies are easy to find replacements
for. I can't buy a PICO at my good computer store. I can buy
a standard ATX for a mid tower larger build. A mid tower
has room for a decent motherboard, with plenty of expansion
slots. My current system has these cards installed at
the present time:

Video card (7900 family - old)
PCI Express parallel port (for JTAG cable)
PCI Express USB3 card (just added a couple weeks ago)
TV tuner card
Sound card

Just to give you some idea what a six-slot
motherboard buys you - a lot of convenience.

Naturally, everyone has a different philosophy
on computers. One size doesn't fit all. Considering
how "piggish" modern OSes are, I would not shop
for less than a 4C 4T or 4C 8T processor today.
I have a 2C 2T E8400 right now, and it is showing
its age. Your purchase is 2C 4T, faster than
mine by a good bit, but still going to be
slow if you 7ZIP a 500GB file. Your antivirus
uses a core, your OS maintenance thread wastes
a core, so having a couple more cores to get
real work done, is nice. OSes are not headed
in the efficient Win98 direction. Even web browsers,
to pretend they're "fast", are offloading part
of the browsing experience to the video card.
It's a way of getting more "power" out of the
hardware at their disposal.

The graphics core (GPU) inside the 3240 is:

Processor Graphics Intel HD Graphics 2500

The 2500 has 6 E.U. or execution units.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_graphics_processing_units

Some pictures here, show an Intel GPU being used
for multimedia purposes. Whether QuickSync
can be used, has some conditions on it. A lot
of early motherboards did not properly support
it (as the GPU needed to be connected to a
monitor, to allow video decoding for some
reason). Things like your web browser, might
eventually be using those facilities. My video
card, being older, can contribute nothing
to that effort.

Can you go with that build ? Sure. But be
prepared to have to change something out,
if it runs too hot, doesn't have the expansion
or I/O you need and so on.

HTH,
Paul

 

This is to replace a zapped MB in a full tower.
Got that system ages ago and do not remember specifics (CPU, supply,
etc); it has been in Addis Ababa, where it died from power surge.
General use is to edit and create info for various local agencies and
international orgs.
I just pray that this uneducated replacement will be useful for the
next 5 years.
I expect that Win XP will be used,as that has been their mainstay.

Thanks.

 

The board will be plenty good for text editing.

The thing about ITX systems, is you probably don't get
good at it, until you build your second one. After you've
had a chance to review any mistakes on the first one.

You should probably check that the graphics connector
on the ITX box, matches whatever you plan to use for
an LCD monitor.

Paul

 

In Ethiopia, "LCD? What is that?" "Oh, you mean laptop."

They will use the built-in (on board) video to drive a CRT monitor.
How in the heck do you know the MB is ITX?
The baby bird indicated fanless, natural convection design for a
mini-ITX enclosure. Certainly a full tower that has fans in front and
back will more than do the job.
Problem is power connectors from the old PS..anything special other
than the SATA ones?
And if i need to get another PS, how in the heck do i ensure the
mounting will work in the old enclosure?
The less i must ship, the less the bribes (err--duty).

 

Are you planning on fitting a mini-ITX motherboard in
an ATX tower case ? I thought you were buying a small case
for it as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini-itx

"The four mounting holes in a Mini-ITX board line up
with four of the holes in ATX-specification motherboards,
and the locations of the backplate and expansion slot
are the same (though one of the holes used was optional
in earlier versions of the ATX spec). Mini-ITX boards
can therefore often be used in cases designed for ATX,
micro-ATX and other ATX variants if desired."

If you look at the board photo, you can see it has an
ATX power connector. Your tower power supply can go there.
On modern computers, a potential issue is the motherboard
drawing too little power from the power supply, and not
meeting the minimum load. I doubt that is going to be the
case with this build. It might be more of an issue with a
Haswell generation build.

I guessed it was mini-ITX, upon seeing a single expansion
slot. Instead of the three expansion slots of a microATX,
or the six expansion slots (or more) of a full sized ATX.
The number of full sized ATX slots can vary, if the
chipset heatsink happens to protrude into the slot
area.

In the mini-itx article, you can see there are several
sizes of ITX. As well as the Intel NUC format, which
is also a smaller kind of computer. The NUC usually
comes with the box in place, and is equivalent to
the base of a laptop, sort of.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_nuc

If your "IT helper" in Ethiopia is not prepared to do
the work of a system builder/integrator, it may be a
mistake to just ship some raw motherboard as a replacement.
The drivers will be different, the OS could need to be
reinstalled. If I had a field problem like that to solve,
I would build and ship a complete and tested computer
case (OS and all), to the site. Expecting my IT helper
to plug in the CRT, keyboard, mouse, power cable, and
up it comes. Just shipping a mis-matched motherboard,
is asking for troubles.

If you must limit yourself to sending a motherboard,
why not use the power of Ebay to locate an exact
replacement ? Perhaps that will have fewer
side effects, and stress out your "IT helper".

And for that matter, how have you confirmed the motherboard
is bad, and not the power supply ? Were you on-site to
verify the failed component ? Maybe the mobo gets there,
and your helper reports "no joy"...

Paul

 

There are three helpers working together which adds to the
reliability of the reports.
But your idea of a complete system is slightly better.
"Slightly" comes from the fact that if customs "sees" a complete
useable computer, they will double (at minimum) the fee/duty, which
could then be in the region of $1000.
Guess i will do the dirty trick of a) put complete system together
(w/case, PS), b) set-up OS & do needed driver fiddling, c) take it apart
enough to look like junk/scrap, d) ship pieces separately at different
times.