[Build Log] Mini-ITX PC - Middle School

[Novuake]

I have had great luck with ASRock boards. Some people dislike them and call them "cheap". Never understood why.

I agree, been using an Asrock Z77 near 3 years now and still going strong with a 4.7GHz OC.

The ONLY issue I have with it that is thinner than boards I am used to. So it feels a teeeeeeennnnnsy bit flimsy, but that matters very little.

 

[hackintosh777]

The H97N-WIFI has been a great mobo for our needs, especially for hackintoshing, but you need to replace the WiFi card to get internet going in OS X.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

What are you replacing it with (in case one of my students wants to 'hack')?

I'm using the slightly cheaper ASRock Wifi board and it's been great so far.

 

[hackintosh777]

What are you replacing it with (in case one of my students wants to 'hack')?

I'm using the slightly cheaper ASRock Wifi board ant it's been great so far.

We are replacing it with an AzureWave CE123H ($35). I'm not sure if your board is hackintoshable though...

 

[DonkeyOatie]

No it isn't (AFAIK). But they could with your board and the WiFi now that you have told me Thanks.

 

[tiny voices]

Pretty much any Gigabyte board is Hackintosh-able. They usually work the best and are most popular for the job.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Some success at last. My external CD/DVD drive works properly on only one of all the USB ports and, of course, I was trying it on one of the others 🙁

Windows 7 does not load properly. It asks for drivers I do not have, and it puts me into Nero Boot Loader 6.0 which looks like it's a DOS of some sort.

 

[Novuake]

Then there is something odd with the Windows copy you are using, is it an original DVD? Or are you using an image with a unique key?

 

[DonkeyOatie]

It a 'open' disk I was given at my last school with a complete OS for my netbook. I had to use it once before about four years ago to restore my Netbook after students used it an got a bad virus, but now the Netbook is no more I'm hoping to reuse it.

 

[Novuake]

Pretty sure its damages and the Windows corrupt on it.

You seem to have a lot of badluck...

 

[DonkeyOatie]

It's EXPERIENCE!

'Experience is the name I give to my mistakes so that I will recognize them when next we meet'

I have a Window 8.1 I can try.

 

[Novuake]

Whatever helps you process it.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Windows 8.1 installed! Wireless keyboard and mouse works. Now I need to load the drivers from the ASRock disk because I need Internet access to activate the OS.

Computer goes from reset to ready in just under six seconds. SSD is wonderful.

 

[tiny voices]

Glad it's working!

 

[Novuake]

That will increase to about 9 secs after updates on Windows and whatnot. Nice, I know...

Glad you are up and running.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

The last hardware thing I need to do is to connect the HDD. I wanted to make sure that everything went to the SSD, so I have not connected the HDD's SATA cable, although it is connected to power.

The system reports that one of my fans is running at 16000 rpm (a ludicrous speed) any idea why?

 

[Novuake]

What fan? On what header? Screenshot the report.

Obviously a missread.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

The case fans on the motherboard header. The CPU fan reports at a sensible 1200 RPM.

 

[Novuake]

Definitely a missread by the BIOS, if it bothers you, a BIOS update might fix it.

 

[tsuneo6]

Shouldnt worry about it to much, my BIOS misreads one of my fanheaders aswell. pops to 32000 or 136000 or so 😉 but I checked and they work and they get adjusted right.(I actually measured the voltage over the fans, not just guessing )

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Tomorrow I'll load the drivers and see. Once I get connected, I can get a Screen shot off the machine.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Got drivers loaded (left camera at school 🙁 ) Boots now at close to 9 seconds as predicted. Loaded my old Microsoft Office and have connected to the Internet, but cannot log in to here. Next I'll put a game or two on it and test is on Minecraft too, just to prototype the process.

I got some crazy info today that I need to check out because I just don't get it. I've been told that the cost for the 'competing' course was $375!!! (Including the hardware) They aren't giving their time away, and they won't be giving the hardware and software away, so the hardware must cost around $250. I don't see how that is possible.

I can't even get close!

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-4300 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor ($88.97 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M LX PLUS Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($42.49 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($50.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec VSK-3000 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $381.41
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-05 18:00 EST-0500

and this is voer before the OS and still has no GPU at all. ?????

 

[zeyuanfu]

Actually, that setup is impossible as FX CPUs don't have integrated graphics.

 

[RazerZ]

I'm not sure if this was already suggested, but at that price point he's probably doing an AMD A8 based build. The triple monitor pic might just be a stock photo. BF3 was shown on my A6 5400k's box and by no means was it capable of running that game (with the igpu and fps above 30 @1080p).

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Even so. This still does not have the advertized GPU unless they are counting the APU itself. AND it's about $100 over price.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD A8-6600K 3.9GHz Quad-Core Processor ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI A58M-E35 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($39.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($50.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec VSK-3000 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $369.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-05 18:41 EST-0500

Just to remind what they claimed.

You will build and take away with you this computer:
Modern Quad core processor with over-clocking.
Eight Gigabytes of system memory.
One thousand Gigabytes of storage.
Powerful 450 watt power supply for future upgrades.
Case and motherboard.
Operating systems.
Modern dedicated graphics processor.
Play - the latest games
- work and game on three monitors at once with Eyefinity.
- 1080p
- 60+ FPS

Will an APU do Eyefinity??
Do APUs overclock?
What's the CPU only version of this APU?