DISCLAIMER: This review covers 3 main items (CPU, MOBO, RAM). Links to the other parts are included (all available at Amazon for good prices). You'll read this review on each of the other parts as well.
WHY DID I BUY IT?
I recently built and absolute beast of a computer and kept my older one as a backup. Unfortunately, it decided to take a dive this past week with the motherboard failing catastropically. Given that it was 10 years old, I decided to replace the "brains" with something a little more modern, but not overkill. Because I had spent a LOT of money on a computer recently, I was trying to keep the repair under about $400 and here's what I did...
The BRAINS...
Intel i3-10100 Processor ($100): www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086MMRW87
MSI Mag B460 Motherboard ($110): www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08GXVP1DM
TeamGroup 16GB DDR4 ($60): www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WNQVBZ6
*** These are the main parts that MUST be compatible.. and they are ***
I was worried about my hard drive, so I went ahead and splurged on a TeamGroup 1TB SSD ($75 -- www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PX2KKHM) bringing my total to just under $400. I could have kept my old Seagate 500gb 5400 RPM drive but I had a little extra to spend and that greatly sped up boot and wait times.
For what it's worth, I also kept my existing Antec Power Supply (550W) that was replaced about a year ago, my case, and my now very old graphics card (R9 380 - 4gb). I already had a good monitor, mouse, and keyboard so those carried over as well.
So how did it go together? Pretty seamlessly with just 2 little hiccups.
HICCUP #1
RAM: I did not realize the motherboard I purchased has a standard RAM speed of 2666. It can get up to a max of 2933. So the RAM I purchased (3200 speed, CL 16) is overkill and I could have saved another $20 or so. But, I didn't... and it's my first build with TeamGroup RAM and I'm happy with it.
HICCUP #2
LAN/AUDIO: Once I got everything installed, the LAN would not connect to my network (wired, ethernet connection). A little troubleshooting found out YOU MUST TO UPGRADE THE LAN DRIVER for it to work. This means having another computer with internet and a flash drive. Likewise, I went ahead and updated the Audio driver and the sound was much crisper. So... take a moment and download all of the drivers in advance from the MSI website.
FIRST POWER ON: The computer started up, then turned off immediately. It then restarted on it's own and said the motherboard had detected changes so I needed to configure the BIOS. Entering BIOS found that everything was recognized. So I changed the first boot device to USB flash drive and plugged in my Windows 10 install flash drive and restarted.
Bottom Line: The Intel i3-10100 is a great little chip (not overclockable). The MSI 460 Torpedo is a decent motherboard (just update the LAN and Audio drivers) that boots quickly. In fact, it boots so quickly, I don't even see the POST screen. From cold to Windows is easily under 30 seconds.
The RAM is stable at 2666 and fast enough that I probably won't even push the 2933 setting. The SSD is very fast (functionally almost as fast as the M2 drive I have in my beast at a savings of $20-25). Even with the aging R9 graphics card, I'm easily hitting 60 FPS on modern titles at 1080 in medium to high settings. Sometime next year when graphics card prices drop to a reasonable level, I'll update that and have a second gaming rig ready.
Overall, I'm very happy with this setup.
| Processor | 3.6 GHz core_i3 |
|---|---|
| RAM | DDR3 |
