Will this PC work?

[joeyintense]

I'm not good with PSU's and stuff so I was wondering if anyone could confirm if my PSU had enoguh power connectors for my system. I have a $250 AUD budget so if anybody could make improvements I'd appreciate it:

Going to buy

CPU: Quad Core Xeon X3460 ($56.88)
CPU Cooler: Intel LGA1156 Cooler ($10.85)
Motherboard: Lenovo ThinkCentre M90 M90P SFF Socket 1156 Motherboard 71Y5975 ($41.00)
Memory: 4gb ddr3 1333mhz ECC Registered Server Memory ($30.00)
Storage: Western Digital - Green 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($36.00 @ Centre Com)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.50)

Total: $229.23 (AUD)

Already Purchased

Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 160GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: Gainward - GeForce GTX 960 2GB Phantom Video Card
Power Supply: Corsair - 450W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply
Old Case from an HP Prebuilt Machine

 

[schaft]

Oh wow, nice build for those budget, its basically an 4 core 8 thread A$56 cpu. Its a new knowledge for me since my information is very limited for Aussie region. You cover most fundamental build that even I am not aware of. But make sure the motherboard can support the cpu as Lenovo web vaguely said only support LGA1156 processor. Also make sure it fit the case you bought.
All I can recommend will cost you more money but should be worth it:
1. add more ram. 2x 4GB is the minimum, 4x4Gb is the best but it seem the motherboard cannot hold it.
2. SSD should at least 240Gb. 120Gb will get you suffocate in no time. The price of 240Gb is a minimum and should have dropped a lot.

Good luck

 

[DSzymborski]

There are some fairly serious problems here.

First, the motherboard. That's not an ATX motherboard, which means you have to make sure that the HP case is BTX like the motherboard. It's also a small form factor motherboard, which means you're not going to be able to fit that particular GPU. Nor is that Xeon explicitly supported by the motherboard -- which is a problem with used OEM motherboards -- and you won't find support for the ECC RAM either.

https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/pd000829

The case is also a complete unknown and also should be avoided. It may be BTX. It may have proprietary connectors for things like the power buttons and port connections.

If you really want this to work (and want to use the Xeon) you need to find an aftermarket motherboard with documentation that supports the CPU *or* an actual server motherboard from an OEM with explicit documentation that the Xeon in question was used with that motherboard. You also want a new or used aftermarket case, that conforms to ATX standards, not one from a pre-built unless you're *very* experienced with this. You also need normal RAM.

When scavenging together a PC, you need to choose parts that are as standardized as possible unless you're *very* experienced at this (to the level you wouldn't be asking the question in the first place). Dealing with parts scavenged from pre-builts that heavily rely on proprietary hardware and vendor-locked BIOS is a path you generally want to avoid.

As for the power supply, you need to tell us the specific Corsair power supply. 450 isn't enough information. Including the lines with hardware variants, I count 11 Corsair power supplies rated at 450W.

 

[joeyintense]

There are some fairly serious problems here.

First, the motherboard. That's not an ATX motherboard, which means you have to make sure that the HP case is BTX like the motherboard. It's also a small form factor motherboard, which means you're not going to be able to fit that particular GPU. Nor is that Xeon explicitly supported by the motherboard -- which is a problem with used OEM motherboards -- and you won't find support for the ECC RAM either.

https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/pd000829

The case is also a complete unknown and also should be avoided. It may be BTX. It may have proprietary connectors for things like the power buttons and port connections.

If you really want this to work (and want to use the Xeon) you need to find an aftermarket motherboard with documentation that supports the CPU *or* an actual server motherboard from an OEM with explicit documentation that the Xeon in question was used with that motherboard. You also want a new or used aftermarket case, that conforms to ATX standards, not one from a pre-built unless you're *very* experienced with this. You also need normal RAM.

When scavenging together a PC, you need to choose parts that are as standardized as possible unless you're *very* experienced at this (to the level you wouldn't be asking the question in the first place). Dealing with parts scavenged from pre-builts that heavily rely on proprietary hardware and vendor-locked BIOS is a path you generally want to avoid.

As for the power supply, you need to tell us the specific Corsair power supply. 450 isn't enough information. Including the lines with hardware variants, I count 11 Corsair power supplies rated at 450W.

Sorry for not stating the PSU. It's a Corsair VX 450 and I copy/pasted most of this from PC Part Picker xd. Is there any way I can get this machine to operate by sticking to my $250-$300 AUD price budget? The case is from an HP Pavilion Elite m9250f and I have all the parts from that PC if that helps.

 

[schaft]

A$300 is super tight budget. I knew Aussie have IT parts prices premium even compare to Indonesia. DSzymborski already gave you the warning regarding incompatibility of those part. From me, the main concern is whether the motherboard will support the cpu and power supply.
For casing, most of the case, you can get any old case that can fit it in.

My last year experiment when buying used xeon E5-2xxxL V4 for US$128, I make a deal with my frequent store (25 years), that when it run on $325 Asrock X99 taichi motherboard, then I will purchase every part necessary for it (total of $550 for motherboard, 4x 4 Gb ram for quad channel and intel heatsink). We only test it until it get into bios and checked it didn't go hang after a few minutes then we make the deal. The cpu is only 1,7GHz but has 12 core and 24 threads and only 65 watts, normally its cost $1300+ brand new.

its risky and you are the only one who can decide.