Build Advice Help me with rebuilding PC System !

[sorrybabe]

GUys...I have questions about adding new stuff to my existing PC. I need insight about compatibility.
Current PC with 2 planned items.

-Intel Core i5-6400 2.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor
-Intel E97379-001 CPU Cooler
-Motherboard: Lenovo 30D9 (native). Not much info but picture is https://download.lenovo.com/Images/Parts/03T7454/03T7454_A.jpg
-G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (1 x 16 GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (planned)
-Samsung Green 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) DDR4-2133 Memory
-Toshiba 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
-PNY GeForce GTX 1650 4 GB XLR8 Gaming Overclocked Edition Video Card (planned)
-Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit
-PSU Unit 250 W
-Expected Wattage with planned additions: 246 W

1. 246 estimated x 250 current PSU - is it fine or how risky?
   
   
2. CPU says about RAM type: DDR4-1866/2133. While this G.skill Aegis 16 gb (DIMM 288 Pin, CL16) model has 3000 max speed (tested) but says SPD Speed-2133MHz - is it compatible with cpu and motherboard?
3. Further clarification about RAM: if CPU supports DDR4 in general, does memory stick's form (UDIMM, 288 pins, etc) as well as speed matter?
   can my CPU for instance be compatible with DDR4 of over 2133 MHz or various pins?
4. Any comments about planned videocard compatibility?

best

 

[Obakasama]

1. Risky. Ideally upgrade the PSU.

2. Should be compatible. At worst it would run at a lower frequency, but still work. But it seems you'd be mixing and matching RAM which can cause performance issues.

3. Depends. DDR4 is more a bandwidth standard. For example, you can get DDR4 SODIMMs which are a different physically and won't be compatible with a normal desktop motherboard due to size and pin count.

4. Refer to 1. Best to upgrade the PSU to support the graphics card. Would also allow you more in future if required. Hopefully there aren't hidden issues preventing such an upgrade.

 

[sorrybabe]

1. Risky. Ideally upgrade the PSU.

2. Should be compatible. At worst it would run at a lower frequency, but still work. But it seems you'd be mixing and matching RAM which can cause performance issues.

3. Depends. DDR4 is more a bandwidth standard. For example, you can get DDR4 SODIMMs which are a different physically and won't be compatible with a normal desktop motherboard due to size and pin count.

4. Refer to 1. Best to upgrade the PSU to support the graphics card. Would also allow you more in future if required. Hopefully there aren't hidden issues preventing such an upgrade.

hi..

• when you say risk, about PSU...what issues it may create specifically and under what circumstances?
• according to mainboard picture...the RAM section may accept only memory of this design https://www.gskill.com/_upload/images/153596830310.png? and how is it called, the form?

 

[theoneandonlyfoohyking]

hi..

• when you say risk, about PSU...what issues it may create specifically and under what circumstances?
• according to mainboard picture...the RAM section may accept only memory of this design https://www.gskill.com/_upload/images/153596830310.png? and how is it called, the form?

The PSU will not provide adequate power for your components...

 

[Obakasama]

And at worst blow up.

 

[sorrybabe]

The PSU will not provide adequate power for your components...
[/Q

so, how about replacing with 450 W one

 

[Obakasama]

Oddly the picture of the motherboard didn't show up when I originally replied. But from what I see it doesn't use a standard ATX connection for power, which would be an issue for the PSU upgrade.

 

[sorrybabe]

Oddly the picture of the motherboard didn't show up when I originally replied. But from what I see it doesn't use a standard ATX connection for power, which would be an issue for the PSU upgrade.

can you elaborate please.
this is the desktop. (specs may vary)
https://www.lenovo.com/nz/en/deskto...e/m-series-tower/M700-Tower/p/11TC1MDM70010KM

2. is my board mini-ITX or mini-ATX?

 

[Obakasama]

The 'ATX' I mention is with respect to the motherboard power connector, which is 24-pin by normal industry standards, rather than the form factor of the motherboard itself.

The motherboard picture shown suggests it uses a proprietary power connector (top right, white rectangular block) which an off-the-shelf PSU wouldn't be able to connect to. As it is, you'd be at the mercy of what Lenovo has in replacement parts for the PSU. (It might be possible to 'Frankenstein' it.)

Furthermore, at the bottom of the picture it suggests two set of connectors have been left off from this motherboard from the retail equivalent (reminds me of an old PC which had a Foxconn motherboard).

 

[sorrybabe]

The 'ATX' I mention is with respect to the motherboard power connector, which is 24-pin by normal industry standards, rather than the form factor of the motherboard itself.

The motherboard picture shown suggests it uses a proprietary power connector (top right, white rectangular block) which an off-the-shelf PSU wouldn't be able to connect to. As it is, you'd be at the mercy of what Lenovo has in replacement parts for the PSU. (It might be possible to 'Frankenstein' it.)

Furthermore, at the bottom of the picture it suggests two set of connectors have been left off from this motherboard from the retail equivalent (reminds me of an old PC which had a Foxconn motherboard).

thank I see. I checked 24 to 10 pin adapter is available though it says on Lenovo, psu would still be on after shutting down with Windows. one should manually swtich off psu then.

anyways, I wanna clarify sth. What if I replace my mainboard with normal ATX, or micro-ATX compatible one but keeping the CPU, hard disc and all other components, would I need to re-install OS? I wanna keep everything as it was despite mainboard replacement.

 

[geofelt]

What is your objective?
From the inclusion of a GTX1650, I might guess gaming.

Love those thinkpad units.
Thoughts on your planned upgrade:

1. There is no guarantee that adding a second 16gb stick is going to work. Ram must be matched.
I put your odds of success at 80%. If it works, the matched 8gb on each channel will operate in dual channel mode. The odd 8gb will operate in single channel mode. That is not all bad.
But, 16gb is normally plenty. I suggest you instead target a 2 x 8gb ram kit which will cost the same and assure compatibility.
Ram speed means little for intel processors. The ram controller is very good at anticipating ram needs.
I might suggest 2400 speed. If needed, it will run at 2133 by default.
Among 2400 speed kits, look for lower latency.
Cas 15 will cost about $65. Cas 14 might be $75.

2. GTX1650 looks to be a very good 75w graphics card and entirely appropriate for your processor.
It does not need an aux 6 pin pcie power connector and will run entirely on slot power that is a max of 75w.
Your i5-6400 is a 65w tdp processor so the 250w PSU you have should be OK.
You could simply try things and see how well they work.
A lenovo psu should have adequate overload protections in case you draw too much power.

In the event that you want to upgrade to a stronger PSU, check the dimensions of your current PSU.
A standard ATX psu will be 85mm x 150mm.

A good replacement might be a seasonic focus 450w.
They are not cheap, but a PSU is the last place to buy cheap.
https://www.newegg.com/seasonic-focus-450-gold-ssr-450fm-450w/p/N82E16817151204
Your motherboard does not use the standard 24 pin power but uses an 10 pin power instead.
For that, you can buy a 24 pin atx to 10 pin power adapter like this:
https://www.amazon.com/COMeap-Adapter-Braided-Sleeved-Servers/dp/B06WV9Z9QT/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2I0201RVUY6S0&keywords=24+pin+to+10+pin+atx+psu+main+power+adapter&qid=1570285792&s=electronics&sprefix=24+pin+to+10+pin+,electronics,165&sr=1-1

 

[sorrybabe]

What is your objective?
From the inclusion of a GTX1650, I might guess gaming.

Love those thinkpad units.
Thoughts on your planned upgrade:

1. There is no guarantee that adding a second 16gb stick is going to work. Ram must be matched.
I put your odds of success at 80%. If it works, the matched 8gb on each channel will operate in dual channel mode. The odd 8gb will operate in single channel mode. That is not all bad.
But, 16gb is normally plenty. I suggest you instead target a 2 x 8gb ram kit which will cost the same and assure compatibility.
Ram speed means little for intel processors. The ram controller is very good at anticipating ram needs.
I might suggest 2400 speed. If needed, it will run at 2133 by default.
Among 2400 speed kits, look for lower latency.
Cas 15 will cost about $65. Cas 14 might be $75.

2. GTX1650 looks to be a very good 75w graphics card and entirely appropriate for your processor.
It does not need an aux 6 pin pcie power connector and will run entirely on slot power that is a max of 75w.
Your i5-6400 is a 65w tdp processor so the 250w PSU you have should be OK.
You could simply try things and see how well they work.
A lenovo psu should have adequate overload protections in case you draw too much power.

In the event that you want to upgrade to a stronger PSU, check the dimensions of your current PSU.
A standard ATX psu will be 85mm x 150mm.

A good replacement might be a seasonic focus 450w.
They are not cheap, but a PSU is the last place to buy cheap.
https://www.newegg.com/seasonic-focus-450-gold-ssr-450fm-450w/p/N82E16817151204
Your motherboard does not use the standard 24 pin power but uses an 10 pin power instead.
For that, you can buy a 24 pin atx to 10 pin power adapter like this:
https://www.amazon.com/COMeap-Adapter-Braided-Sleeved-Servers/dp/B06WV9Z9QT/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2I0201RVUY6S0&keywords=24+pin+to+10+pin+atx+psu+main+power+adapter&qid=1570285792&s=electronics&sprefix=24+pin+to+10+pin+,electronics,165&sr=1-1

mate..when you say RAMs must match, what exactly you mean, which specs must match?
what worng with 16GB+8Gb bothbeaing 288 pin UDIMMs?

 

[geofelt]

Ram is sold in kits for a reason.
A motherboard must manage all the ram using the same specs of voltage, cas and speed.
The internal workings are designed for the capacity of the kit.
Ram from the same vendor and part number can be made up of differing manufacturing components over time.
Some motherboards, can be very sensitive to this.

 

[sorrybabe]

Ram is sold in kits for a reason.
A motherboard must manage all the ram using the same specs of voltage, cas and speed.
The internal workings are designed for the capacity of the kit.
Ram from the same vendor and part number can be made up of differing manufacturing components over time.
Some motherboards, can be very sensitive to this.

i put together these specs on pcpartpicker incl those 16 + 8 gb...showed up no compatiblity issues. donnow, i may just insert one 16gb module...

 

[geofelt]

i put together these specs on pcpartpicker incl those 16 + 8 gb...showed up no compatiblity issues. donnow, i may just insert one 16gb module...

If you have already bought, go ahead and install.
If it fails, it can't hurt.
You can stress test ram with memtest86.
You should be able to complete a full pass with NO errors.

 

[sorrybabe]

If you have already bought, go ahead and install.
If it fails, it can't hurt.
You can stress test ram with memtest86.
You should be able to complete a full pass with NO errors.

i havnet bought yet. I will see.

btw, what confuses me is this: there are RAM modules that say DDR4 - 4000 speed...while highest Intel Core CPU ram speed is DDR4-2666 and 2nd generation XEON is 2933 MHz (as I know these are limits of CPUs)...so whats point of 4000 boosted speed? am i missing sth

 

[geofelt]

The 2666 and 2933 speeds are the speed at which the motherboard will boot.
DDR4 ram faster than 2400 or so is technically ram that is overclocked and needs more than the default 1.2 to run.
To get the higher speeds you need to get into the bios to select the overclock options.
Usually this is done by selecting a XMP profile in the bios.
It takes a better or more sophisticated motherboard to allow ram overclocking.
The maximum speed will be determined by the motherboard.

 

[sorrybabe]

The 2666 and 2933 speeds are the speed at which the motherboard will boot.
DDR4 ram faster than 2400 or so is technically ram that is overclocked and needs more than the default 1.2 to run.
To get the higher speeds you need to get into the bios to select the overclock options.
Usually this is done by selecting a XMP profile in the bios.
It takes a better or more sophisticated motherboard to allow ram overclocking.
The maximum speed will be determined by the motherboard.

thanks mate.
anyways, I wanna clarify sth. What if I replace my mainboard with normal ATX, or micro-ATX compatible one but keeping the CPU, hard disc and all other components, would I need to re-install OS? I wanna keep everything as it was despite mainboard replacement.

 

[Obakasama]

You would need to reinstall the OS when changing the motherboard. In the case of a prebuilt this isn't officially supported, though it is said there is a way around it if the Windows 10 licence is digitally linked to your account:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/20530/windows-10-reactivating-after-hardware-change

Though in most cases, changing/upgrading the motherboard is such a 'large' upgrade it's usually accompanied with a CPU upgrade (and depending on age of the system, RAM upgrade).

 

[mdd1963]

I'd not sink any more money into this....

Plan your R5-3600/B-450 implementation....

Let that rig go the way of a home NAS running OpenMediaVault...

 

[geofelt]

What do you expect to gain by replacing the motherboard?
Performance will not change.
A new motherboard is likely to need a 24 pin psu connector, so plan on a new psu also.
And... a ATX motherboard will not fit; you need M-ATX size.

You might be able to avoid a clean install if you can boot with a new motherboard. If you can get into windows on a new motherboard, you will need to install the new motherboard drivers.

 

[sorrybabe]

What do you expect to gain by replacing the motherboard?
Performance will not change.
A new motherboard is likely to need a 24 pin psu connector, so plan on a new psu also.
And... a ATX motherboard will not fit; you need M-ATX size.

You might be able to avoid a clean install if you can boot with a new motherboard. If you can get into windows on a new motherboard, you will need to install the new motherboard drivers.

mainboard replacement is for being able to add videocard. Lenovo has proprietary UPS 10 pin thing, which makes it impossible to upgrade PSU. it is 250 max now.

I know my case is micro-atx. I am just thinking to drop new video card thing and add extra RAM. either two 8gb or 8GB+16GB.

 

[geofelt]

I might try the GTX1650 first so long as it is not one of those highly overclocked versions that need aus 6 pin power.

If you want to buy a better psu, the seasonic focus in 450 or 550w will be very good.
Just spend an extra $12 for a 24 pin to 10 pin psu adapter. A darn sight cheaper and easier than a new motherboard
https://www.newegg.com/p/284-005T-00003

 

[sorrybabe]

I might try the GTX1650 first so long as it is not one of those highly overclocked versions that need aus 6 pin power.

If you want to buy a better psu, the seasonic focus in 450 or 550w will be very good.
Just spend an extra $12 for a 24 pin to 10 pin psu adapter. A darn sight cheaper and easier than a new motherboard
https://www.newegg.com/p/284-005T-00003

yeah I am aware of that adapter...Although,a maker of this suggests that PSU kinds is in operation after you shut down pc in windows (for Lenovo models).