Thinking of Building a PC

I’ve been thinking about upgrading my home server machine and using it as my main system. I’ve always used a laptop as my main home system, and have a small-form-factor desktop machine that runs as a server at home which I occasionally use for web browsing or other light tasks.

But since I’m not using the laptop’s display since a long time now, it makes no sense to have the laptop as my main system. I might as well use the home server.

In that regard, I’m considering upgrading my home server, which is currently a Dell Optiplex 7010 small form factor machine.

I like Optiplex machines and was looking at possibly trying to upgrade to a 7060 however they aren’t cheap and the i7 CPU on this is an i7-8700. That’s ok, but I thought it might be possible to do better. Also, I’m not particularly keen on Intel.

So I’m investigating what’s available in terms of AMD CPUs and motherboards that support them. To say that it’s overwhelming is kind of an understatement. Diving into the world of trying to figure out which CPU, motherboard, and graphics card to get can be an overload of info.

But I’m slowly managing to piece together things and getting a picture of what the options are. I see that just as Intel has its i3, i5, i7, and now i9 lines of CPUs, so AMD has its Ryzen 3, 5, 7, and 9 lines.

If you’re looking for a motherboard for an AMD CPU you want one that has an AM4 socket type. You can select this on the eBay page for Motherboards under their “Computer components & parts” section.

As far as graphic cards go they are broken down according to the amount of video memory. Radeon is the line of AMD graphics cards so you can search online and see a variety of 4GB, 8GB, and even higher cards.

In addition to motherboard, CPU, and graphics card I need a case and a power supply. Again, at this stage I’m only aware that one needs a power supply that can power whatever CPU and graphics card on is using, so that decision will come later. For case I would want a basic one, not one of those glitzy ones with flashing lights.