Hello friends....
I am not really a computer guy, but among my group of friends, I am the default person they go to. I am helping my friends update hardware so they can run Windows 11. My friend gave me his full sized ATX case with a full sized 12 × 9.6 in (305 × 244 mm) motherboard inside.
He is not at all a power user. Mostly he surfs the internet, sends and receives email and watches youtube videos. He now has a 4K TV and asked if he could watch YouTube videos in 2K or maybe even 4K.
I am building it for him and buying parts on Amazon and other places. I am trying to keep the cost down for him. I have a few questions:
1) For the most part, can I install a Micro ATX motherboard to save him a little money? Or am I forced to install a full sized ATX motherboard in his full sized ATX case?
2) I already have a 1 TB Samsung 980 Pro PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD. So I would like a motherboard that has at least one PCIe 4 slot for this SSD. He has never gotten close to filling up his 500 GB SS drive so the 1 TB NVMe card I have will work just fine for him.
3) To give him support for watching YouTube in 2K or maybe even 4K, I would like to install a modest video card for him. I have used Nvidia chip set cards in the past and would prefer that as I know how the software updates work. Any suggestions for a Nvidia video card? If the cost to get him to 2K is too high, then I can just give him a video card that will support 1920 X 1080 that is a bit faster than the video chip on the motherboard. He will be fine with that if the cost of a 2K or 4K video card is too expensive (maybe more then $250?).
4) I prefer a motherboard that will support an Intel CPU that supports Windows 11. I know Intel CPUs & motherboards cost a bit more than AMD, but Intel is what I know so I prefer that.
I will use one of the many websites that lets you choose a motherboard, CPU, etc to make sure it is all compatible. Any suggestions on a few that folks here like?
Any suggestions on some or all of the above would be quite helpful.
Many thanks and Happy Holidays to all,
Jack in Oregon
I am not really a computer guy, but among my group of friends, I am the default person they go to. I am helping my friends update hardware so they can run Windows 11. My friend gave me his full sized ATX case with a full sized 12 × 9.6 in (305 × 244 mm) motherboard inside.
He is not at all a power user. Mostly he surfs the internet, sends and receives email and watches youtube videos. He now has a 4K TV and asked if he could watch YouTube videos in 2K or maybe even 4K.
I am building it for him and buying parts on Amazon and other places. I am trying to keep the cost down for him. I have a few questions:
1) For the most part, can I install a Micro ATX motherboard to save him a little money? Or am I forced to install a full sized ATX motherboard in his full sized ATX case?
2) I already have a 1 TB Samsung 980 Pro PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD. So I would like a motherboard that has at least one PCIe 4 slot for this SSD. He has never gotten close to filling up his 500 GB SS drive so the 1 TB NVMe card I have will work just fine for him.
3) To give him support for watching YouTube in 2K or maybe even 4K, I would like to install a modest video card for him. I have used Nvidia chip set cards in the past and would prefer that as I know how the software updates work. Any suggestions for a Nvidia video card? If the cost to get him to 2K is too high, then I can just give him a video card that will support 1920 X 1080 that is a bit faster than the video chip on the motherboard. He will be fine with that if the cost of a 2K or 4K video card is too expensive (maybe more then $250?).
4) I prefer a motherboard that will support an Intel CPU that supports Windows 11. I know Intel CPUs & motherboards cost a bit more than AMD, but Intel is what I know so I prefer that.
I will use one of the many websites that lets you choose a motherboard, CPU, etc to make sure it is all compatible. Any suggestions on a few that folks here like?
Any suggestions on some or all of the above would be quite helpful.
Many thanks and Happy Holidays to all,
Jack in Oregon