Picking Components II: pcpartpicker.com Filter Tutorial
This is the second part of a two part series. Check out part I if you haven't already.
Go start a system build on pcpartpicker right now. You can play along. I'll wait.
...
Back? Good.
Say you want to start with a motherboard. Because it's the part that everything else is going to connect to, it's usually a good place to start. Click "Choose a motherboard" and it will take you to a list of every motherboard in their system. Clicking the word "Motherboard" will do the same - useful if you have one chosen and want to change it.
Because you haven't picked a CPU or case - or anything - yet, everything is compatible. But if you're like me and prefer something in a small form factor, you'll want to limit your search to mini-ITX. Note that micro-ATX is a good choice for a midsize build, but it's quite a bit larger than mini-ITX. That said, going tiny is not great for beginners, but this is just a demonstration. If you sort by price, you'll see some very cheap mobos at the top of the list.
When you click on the mini-ITX button, it will substantially reduce your options. Tell PCPP to "Add From Filter" by clicking on the link right above the price list and you'll be taken back to your parts list, with the cheapest mobo from your list added to the motherboard line.
Now if you were to go pick a CPU, you'd see that the list includes just about every processor. Oops we forgot to filter the motherboard by socket type - which would limit the types of CPUs we see based on their shape. Look back at the past two pictures. Both of them reference "Socket/CPU" on the left side. The last picture even shows us we have a mix of motherboards with a bunch of different socket types. So from the parts list, click "From parametric filter" directly underneath the name of your motherboard and it'll take you right back to your search, saving the filter you've already added. Don't click the word "Motherboard" here, or it'll take you to the list of all compatible motherboards again, erasing any filters.
Under the filter for socket/CPU, select "LGA1151" and it'll limit you to mobos compatible with Intel's newest lines of mainstream processors. Click "Add From Filter" again and you'll have a motherboard! Of course, you could have just selected LGA1151 socket type when you were on the CPU page, but this is a contrived example here, cut me a little slack. And this may still not be the motherboard you want, because of the chipset (which determines the features the motherboard can support) and the rear ports where you plug in your monitor and USB devices and everything.
Then you can add the rest of the items on the list. The build list is organized in a top down manner, where you will usually pick the parts at the top first, and then they will inform the rest of your picks as you move down the line. Some of the parts are unnecessary (most CPUs come with a cooler that is sufficient for an average user's needs, for example) and some allow you to pick more than one (like hard drives).
Here's the current build list for the great Distracto:
You can see that if you have parts that aren't entirely compatible, they give you a warning at the top. In my case it's because the power supply isn't very high quality and doesn't support the graphics card. Since I won't be using the graphics card right away, I'm not worried about it right now.
So go fill out your own build list and have fun! Yay computers!
Go start a system build on pcpartpicker right now. You can play along. I'll wait.
...
Back? Good.
Say you want to start with a motherboard. Because it's the part that everything else is going to connect to, it's usually a good place to start. Click "Choose a motherboard" and it will take you to a list of every motherboard in their system. Clicking the word "Motherboard" will do the same - useful if you have one chosen and want to change it.
Because you haven't picked a CPU or case - or anything - yet, everything is compatible. But if you're like me and prefer something in a small form factor, you'll want to limit your search to mini-ITX. Note that micro-ATX is a good choice for a midsize build, but it's quite a bit larger than mini-ITX. That said, going tiny is not great for beginners, but this is just a demonstration. If you sort by price, you'll see some very cheap mobos at the top of the list.
When you click on the mini-ITX button, it will substantially reduce your options. Tell PCPP to "Add From Filter" by clicking on the link right above the price list and you'll be taken back to your parts list, with the cheapest mobo from your list added to the motherboard line.
Now if you were to go pick a CPU, you'd see that the list includes just about every processor. Oops we forgot to filter the motherboard by socket type - which would limit the types of CPUs we see based on their shape. Look back at the past two pictures. Both of them reference "Socket/CPU" on the left side. The last picture even shows us we have a mix of motherboards with a bunch of different socket types. So from the parts list, click "From parametric filter" directly underneath the name of your motherboard and it'll take you right back to your search, saving the filter you've already added. Don't click the word "Motherboard" here, or it'll take you to the list of all compatible motherboards again, erasing any filters.
Under the filter for socket/CPU, select "LGA1151" and it'll limit you to mobos compatible with Intel's newest lines of mainstream processors. Click "Add From Filter" again and you'll have a motherboard! Of course, you could have just selected LGA1151 socket type when you were on the CPU page, but this is a contrived example here, cut me a little slack. And this may still not be the motherboard you want, because of the chipset (which determines the features the motherboard can support) and the rear ports where you plug in your monitor and USB devices and everything.
Then you can add the rest of the items on the list. The build list is organized in a top down manner, where you will usually pick the parts at the top first, and then they will inform the rest of your picks as you move down the line. Some of the parts are unnecessary (most CPUs come with a cooler that is sufficient for an average user's needs, for example) and some allow you to pick more than one (like hard drives).
Here's the current build list for the great Distracto:
You can see that if you have parts that aren't entirely compatible, they give you a warning at the top. In my case it's because the power supply isn't very high quality and doesn't support the graphics card. Since I won't be using the graphics card right away, I'm not worried about it right now.
So go fill out your own build list and have fun! Yay computers!
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