Including a Floppy Drive - my dilemma

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EvanBerrett

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Mar 18, 2013
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Hey guys. I'm building a computer my dad. He needs very little and is on a low budget, but I'm trying to give him what I can. He has a number of floppy disks he still wants to be able to use, and therefore I need to find a way to incorporate IDE/PATA obviously into this build.

So first question, is it more cost effective/efficient to find a motherboard with IDE/PATA connection, or to get a normal motherboard that is probably more modern and get a controller card?

Second question, In either case, the floppy drive needs an IDE/PATA data cable obviously, but are the power cables for it Molex? Or is it something different? And if it's different, is the cable supposed to connect to the motherboard?

Finally, If I'm getting just a motherboard with an IDE/PATA connection, I'm trying to do an AMD build to keep it cheap, but I'm noticing all I can get for motherboards is those with an AM3+ socket, instead of an FM2. Will that be very limiting soon? Is not FM2 the flagship for new processors of AMD?

Thanks in advance.

- To Clarify -

I'm looking for floppy drive to be installed into one of the 3.5" slots in the case, not an external drive.
 
Solution
bucknutty
Old Floppy drives are not IDE or PATA. They are floppy. They look like the same ribbon cable but have less pins. They normally use the smaller molex connector, normally you only see this connector on floppys or 8 year old gpus.

I would go with a USB floppy drive. You can get them on sale for like $15.

http://www.nullmodem.com/Floppy.htm
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Onus

Onus

Titan
Jan 27, 2006
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I agree that a USB floppy drive is probably a good idea.
If your father has no interest in games, but watches videos and uses flash and other accelerated content, an AMD APU is probably a good choice for him. If he does want to play some games, please provide his monitor resolution, budget, and types of games he wants to play.
 
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nostall

nostall

Splendid
Nov 28, 2012
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For an AMD build, FM2 is not a 'flagship', their most powerful cpu's are AM3+

If Dad isn't going to be doing a bunch of gaming, then a good build for him might be an FM2 board (ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte, BioStar all have relatively inexpensive boards) and an A seriers APU.
Here are 2 suggestions;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128586
Gigabyte board; $65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113281
A8-5600K APU w/radeon 7560D graphics $100
Won;t need a video card with this set-up. If you find LATER that he needs more graphics power you can add a card.
Again, assuming he isn't a serious gamer. The integrated graphics will work for quite a few casual or low resolution games.
For his floppy drive, this will work. That mobo has 2 USB headers and this would connect to one of them
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820192022

Good luck, hope this helps.
 
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nostall

nostall

Splendid
Nov 28, 2012
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You sure?? The given specs on the Newegg page state "Internal USB.."
Sorry, you are right. I just looked at the pictures. Rather misleading information.
TRANSON, disregard my suggested floppy reader, Onus is correct, you will probably need an external drive.
 
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EvanBerrett

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Mar 18, 2013
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Check the reviews. That USB will make the Flash readers work, but you'll need separate connections for the Floppy
 
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nostall

nostall

Splendid
Nov 28, 2012
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Evan, please see my update.
Transon, I just did a quick search at Newegg. There are no boards, either Intel or AMD listed that have a floppy drive connector. Unfortuneately that tech is pretty much dead.
You might have to bite the bullet and go external.
OR
Use another PC with a working floppy drive and copy all of dad's floppy info onto a flash drive or some CD's/DVD's.
 
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