# How to select processor and then matching Board/RAM?



## shaiban001 (Apr 13, 2013)

I have a query. Suppose one want to assemble a desktop. Now how you will select a processor (just ignore the requirement whether I want a gaming PC or multimedia PC. Just start with a descent processor)? After the processor, you have to select Motherboard and then RAM having similar data bus speed. Suppose your processor's FSB is 1333MHZ then will you select Board/RAM supporting this speed? Please elaborate.

There may be number of selection criteria but my focus is on the points that will affect the selection of Motherboard/RAM?

If we are unable to select the processor then lets start with the below processor that is my current processor.
Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe 2.33GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor BX80557E6550 
Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe 2.33GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor BX80557E6550 - Newegg.com

Thanks a lot.


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## Nerevarine (Apr 13, 2013)

Just look for your processor's socket type.. In this case, it is LGA 775..
Find a suitable mobo that has LGA 775 (preferably G41, G31, G33.. etc series)
For selecting the RAM, find out whether the mobo has DDR2, or DDR3 RAM..(Mostlikely DDR3)
Now if you are building a regular home use PC, get a 1333mhz 4GB DDR3 stick from your favourite company (corsair, transcend etc)..
If you are building a gaming PC, 1600+ mhz is preferable
ALthough do note that LGA 775 type processors and motherboards are waaaaaaaaaaaaay outdated..
Get a LGA 1155 type processor (Ivy bridge) and suitable mobo


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## shaiban001 (Apr 13, 2013)

Nerevarine said:


> Just look for your processor's socket type.. In this case, it is LGA 775..
> Find a suitable mobo that has LGA 775 (preferably G41, G31, G33.. etc series)
> For selecting the RAM, find out whether the mobo has DDR2, or DDR3 RAM..(Mostlikely DDR3)
> Now if you are building a regular home use PC, get a 1333mhz 4GB DDR3 stick from your favourite company (corsair, transcend etc)..
> ...



Thanks for the suggestion. but as I have stated earlier also that I am looking for only dependency points. LGA 775 have dependency, I got it. But how you judge 1333mhz for RAM? Then 1600+ mhz? Is it for MB or for RAM? 
How you will select MB based on processor? only socket type matters? I am interested in data bus speed options? Doesn't processor's FSB shouldn't be supported by MB? etc.


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## Nerevarine (Apr 13, 2013)

While selecting RAM, look for the motherboard's description whether it supports higher clocked RAMs.. If it does, and your build is a gaming config.. Getting a 1600+mhz ram makes sense..
1333mhz ram 
1600 mhz ram
Also do note that even if your board doesnt support higher mhz rams, using a higher mhz ram on such mobo will just under clock it to default speeds.. so dont worry, it will work both ways but its just a waste of money...
MB are already preconfigured and you just need to see what category your PC is for and select the appropriate chipset your budget allows u to...
There are several chipsets all current MOBOS come with for example
H61 - Cheapest LGA 1155 mobo, no usb 3, no sata 3, ram upto 1333mhz
B75 - 2nd Cheapest LGA 1155, has usb 3, has sata 3, higher ram supported
H77 - Same as above but may have 2nd PCIE X16
Z68- Same as above, Overclocking supported..
etc etc..
Research a bit and find out
PS: the mobo on my signature is ASUS P8H61MLX ... <-- look closely, you will find it has a H61 in its contents


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## shaiban001 (Apr 13, 2013)

Nerevarine said:


> While selecting RAM, look for the motherboard's description whether it supports higher clocked RAMs.. If it does, and your build is a gaming config.. Getting a 1600+mhz ram makes sense..
> 1333mhz ram
> 1600 mhz ram
> Also do note that even if your board doesnt support higher mhz rams, using a higher mhz ram on such mobo will just under clock it to default speeds.. so dont worry, it will work both ways but its just a waste of money...
> ...



Thanks Nerevarine. You have not mentioned about Board? How you will select the Board according the processor? I am not talking about socket type? Should the board support the processor's FSB? What you will look into it?
Actually I am not thinking to build a new PC but I may need to select a new board for my current processor. And new RAM also. That's why list all the points or point me to informative links/references.

Thanks a lot.


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## Nerevarine (Apr 13, 2013)

No need to worry about processor FSB etc.. Like i said, its already preconfigured..
Just select according to slot.. Sometimes, mobos do need a bios update to support newer processors with same slot but you will rarely have this problem 
Post the final build here, so we can help you out if you need
Right now LGA 775 boards are very hard to find.. 
Here's a sample mobo and RAM, you could buy
Mobo: *www.flipkart.com/gigabyte-ga-g41m-...9&srno=t_1&otracker=from-search&query=LGA 775
RAM : *www.flipkart.com/g-skill-nt-ddr3-4...WJ&icmpid=reco_sp_personalhistoryFooter_ram_2
Although I would suggest save up a bit more and buy an ivy bridge type G2010+H61 mobo atleast..
You will have a tremendous performance boost as well as a better integrated GPU


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## shaiban001 (Apr 13, 2013)

Nerevarine said:


> No need to worry about processor FSB etc.. Like i said, its already preconfigured..
> Just select according to slot.. Sometimes, mobos do need a bios update to support newer processors with same slot but you will rarely have this problem
> Post the final build here, so we can help you out if you need
> Right now LGA 775 boards are very hard to find..
> ...



ivy bridge type G2010+H61 mobo. Are they compatible with my processor?

And still I am not sure that you don't need to care about the processor while selecting the board!!!


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## Nerevarine (Apr 13, 2013)

Just sell your current processor and buy
G2010 and any H61 motherboard
The G2010 processor is much more powerful but also very cheap
Total cost 
*www.flipkart.com/intel-g2010-proce...3&srno=m_1_1&otracker=from-search&query=G2010 3.4k
H61 Mobo of your choice ~3K
Ram 1.5K


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## shaiban001 (Apr 13, 2013)

Nerevarine said:


> Just sell your current processor and buy
> G2010 and any H61 motherboard
> The G2010 processor is much more powerful but also very cheap
> Total cost
> ...



Oh man... you sold out my processor also 
But thanks for advice. I will surely think about this. This time my desktop is running fine. But sometimes I feel that there is some problem in MB and because of this PC gets switch off. But it is very intermittent (it happens once in a week). So thought, there may be the case of buying new MB.


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## harshilsharma63 (Apr 14, 2013)

shaiban001 said:


> Oh man... you sold out my processor also
> But thanks for advice. I will surely think about this. This time my desktop is running fine. But sometimes I feel that there is some problem in MB and because of this PC gets switch off. But it is very intermittent (it happens once in a week). So thought, there may be the case of buying new MB.


Does that happen only when stressing the system?


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## shaiban001 (Apr 14, 2013)

harshilsharma63 said:


> Does that happen only when stressing the system?



I would say yes. but I am not sure what type of stress it is. But at that time generally I would be working on multiple tabs and watching streaming videos etc. 
It doesn't happen every time with all this but when happens, it is continuous. I just switch-on the system, will start the work like restoring the tabs etc and then again it will switch-off. Finally I give it a long break and then it is fine again.

Thanks.


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## Nerevarine (Apr 14, 2013)

perhaps it is due to heating up ? have you checked temperatures ?..
This also occurs due to failing hardware ..


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## harshilsharma63 (Apr 14, 2013)

shaiban001 said:


> I would say yes. but I am not sure what type of stress it is. But at that time generally I would be working on multiple tabs and watching streaming videos etc.
> It doesn't happen every time with all this but when happens, it is continuous. I just switch-on the system, will start the work like restoring the tabs etc and then again it will switch-off. Finally I give it a long break and then it is fine again.
> 
> Thanks.


> Install 'HwInfo' and open up the graphs for GPU and CPU temp.

> Run 'Prime95'.

> Keep an eye on the temperature.

> See if the system shuts down (notice the temperature at which it happened).

> If the system shuts down while running Prime95 and the temp at that instance way >85 or 90 degree Celsius, it's a heating issue; else, a hardware issue.


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## shaiban001 (Apr 15, 2013)

Nerevarine said:


> perhaps it is due to heating up ? have you checked temperatures ?..
> This also occurs due to failing hardware ..



I am not sure but if it is because of heating then it should happen daily. Because I generally use the system continuously around 8-9 hours. This time also, CrystalDiskInfo 5.0.5 is showing hdd temperature of 46 C!



harshilsharma63 said:


> > Install 'HwInfo' and open up the graphs for GPU and CPU temp.
> 
> > Run 'Prime95'.
> 
> ...



I downloaded the 'hwinfo' from this link *www.hwinfo.com/download32.html    (portable zip utility instead of installer)
How to open the graph for GPU/CPU? and where is Prime95 in this? Please explain.

Thanks.



harshilsharma63 said:


> > Install 'HwInfo' and open up the graphs for GPU and CPU temp.
> 
> > Run 'Prime95'.
> 
> ...



I think I found it. I opened the Sensor Status in HWinfo32 that was showing temperature for CPU/MB.
Then I ran the Prime95's torture test "Blend (test some of everything, lots of RAM tested)". It kept continued then finally I stopped it after 2 hours! MB temperature reached to max 80 and CPU to 84.
But for how long I need to run it? I think should select other stress test "In place large FFTs (maximum heat, power consumption, some RAM tested)". Please suggest.

Thanks.


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## shaiban001 (Apr 17, 2013)

shaiban001 said:


> I am not sure but if it is because of heating then it should happen daily. Because I generally use the system continuously around 8-9 hours. This time also, CrystalDiskInfo 5.0.5 is showing hdd temperature of 46 C!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I ran other test also partially and temperature went till 90 but nothing happened. Means it must be hardware issue. But how to detect


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## Nerevarine (Apr 17, 2013)

Hardware issues are very hard to fix.. usually they can occur due to faulty RAM, MOBO or CPU or even PSUs..
RAM is not the issue in this case as it results in BsODs rather than hard shutdowns..
Which PSU do you have btw ? DO you have voltage fluctuations in your area ?


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## topgear (Apr 18, 2013)

@  OP - let's start with the basics .. your cpu C2D E6550 has 1333 Mhz FSB. Now that Intel LGA 775 mobo chipsets has pre defined memory ratios to work with cpu FSB so you can't just use any memory module with any cpu on a mobo using Intel chipset. For your cpu memory modules like DDR2 667, DDr2 800 and DDR3 1333 Mhz will work just fine but it all depends on the mobo as well.
You can even run 1333 Mhz memory module at it's full speed with a cpu having 800 Mhz FSB as this depends on the ratio of mem bus and cpu fbs and the mobo chipset plays the major role here .. like I said before but some 3rd party mo manufactures using non Intel chipset for their mobo for LGA 775 platform has no such limitation ... But for normally for most users this chipset, ratio things does not mattter unless you are stepping into the world of OCing.

But if your are looking for mobo upgrade you'll find only G41 mobos with DDr3 ram support and this is what you should get with DDr3 1333 Mhz ram module .. this will work just fine with your cpu but for mobo make sure it's it's a non Intel mobo meaning the mobo is manufacturerd by 3rd party manufacturers like Asus or some other manufacturer as they generally do have better bios support and some tweaking option for running cpu and memory at optimal speed if the auto settings is not enough.

Now coming to the issue you are facing .. you said 



> it is. But at that time generally I would be working on multiple tabs and watching streaming videos etc.
> It doesn't happen every time with all this but when happens, it is continuous. I just switch-on the system, will start the work like restoring the tabs etc and then again it will switch-off.



the pc automatically starts restoring tabs if there's hibernate option is enable .. make sure you to disable this option and have good look in your power settings of the OS. Make sure Hibernate/Shutdown after X minutes of times is disabled.


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