Bitfenix Prodigy M motherboard

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JanBe

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Nov 21, 2013
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Dear community,

I have recently ordered the bitfenix prodigy m case together with the following components for my budget gaming build.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/25U8B

I have decided to change the motherboard since it is business oriented. I also don't plan to use dual gpu's in the future. Single GPU's get the job done for me. I don't overclock as you can tell by the non K processor. I'm going for quiet parts as much as possible (Twin Frozer + cheap but more silent cpu fan + silent psu). Also going for one recycled HDD + one SSD used as bootdrive.

My worry and problem is finding a good motherboard that will fit in this case easily and will provide me with everything I need. The case has USB3 headers for example. This is my first build and I'm becoming aware of the complexity of this case. It's hard finding recommended 1150 mobo's.

I'm excluding Z type mobo's since I don't overclock. I need a cheap motherboard that won't bottleneck my system in any way and provide me with the functionality my components/case need. I'm not very tech savy.

Thank you!
 
Solution
Rammy
As a totally unrelated thought - who on earth decided that this -
Q: Will the XYZ Power Supply or ZYX Video Card fit inside the Prodigy M?
Video cards at 9.5inches or less will have 200mm of power supply clearance
Video cards at 11 inches or less will have 160mm of power supply clearance
Video cards at over 11 inches will have 150mm of power supply clearance.
Click to expand...
Was a sensible way of stating dimensions? :D


Back on topic.
Which motherboard you pick shouldn't have any bearing on what stuff will fit. mATX is a defined size, and while the layout of the components varies, the expansion slots have to be in the same place. On ATX boards there is some flexibility, on mATX, they follow a fairly predictable pattern.
There is nothing wrong...
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J

JanBe

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Nov 21, 2013
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I was considering that one. Will it fit easily with my gpu in that case?
 
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jimthenagual

jimthenagual

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According to Bitfenix's website, the gpu clearance is related to PSU size. They say:

Q: Will the XYZ Power Supply or ZYX Video Card fit inside the Prodigy M?
Video cards at 9.5inches or less will have 200mm of power supply clearance
Video cards at 11 inches or less will have 160mm of power supply clearance
Video cards at over 11 inches will have 150mm of power supply clearance.
Click to expand...

The psu you are looking at is 7.09" x 5.91" x 3.39"
The GPU you are looking at is 10.24" x 5.08" x 1.50"

You will have 160mm of power supply clearance, so.. doing the math... with a shot of jack daniels... total comes to..

Your PSU is 178 mm long. It ain't going to fit. Double check my math.
 
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J

JanBe

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Nov 21, 2013
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Hey sorry I forgot to add that I linked the wrong psu in there. I couldn't find the one I ordered. It's the Be Quiet System Power 7 500w with these dimensions:
86 x 150 x 140mm.
 
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Rammy

Rammy

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Sep 3, 2012
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As a totally unrelated thought - who on earth decided that this -
Q: Will the XYZ Power Supply or ZYX Video Card fit inside the Prodigy M?
Video cards at 9.5inches or less will have 200mm of power supply clearance
Video cards at 11 inches or less will have 160mm of power supply clearance
Video cards at over 11 inches will have 150mm of power supply clearance.
Click to expand...
Was a sensible way of stating dimensions? :D


Back on topic.
Which motherboard you pick shouldn't have any bearing on what stuff will fit. mATX is a defined size, and while the layout of the components varies, the expansion slots have to be in the same place. On ATX boards there is some flexibility, on mATX, they follow a fairly predictable pattern.
There is nothing wrong with the B85M, it has all the modern basic features you need, USB3.0, plenty of SATA6. Just because it's "business" doesn't mean it's bad, in the same way that just because something says "gaming" doesn't mean it's good. Having said that, the ASRock H87M Pro4 is very similarly priced, so it's probably the better buy.

With regards to PSU/graphics card compatibility. As jimthenagul said, your graphics card is fairly long at 260mm. As your selected PSU is only 140mm long, you should be fine. What I would say is that because it's not a modular PSU, you will have a cable bundle to route which may effect the length provided. At a glance it seems like the cable is on the fan side (so front of the case) so this shouldn't be a problem. (edit, should actually look quite a lot like this promo pic http://bitfenix.img.bgcdn.net/products_images/973.png?1375339459)

Personally, I'm not a fan of the Prodigy M, for this (and a few other) layout issues, and I own two standard Prodigy cases.
 
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Solution
jimthenagual

jimthenagual

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Apr 8, 2012
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Oh good, had me worried there!
The Asrock H87M Pro4 would be a good board for your build I think. Make sure when you're done you post some pictures!
 
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J

JanBe

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Nov 21, 2013
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I finished the build using the B85m in the end. I figured it has everything I need on it, but thank you for helping out! I have to say building it was a small nightmare. The case is extremely tight. Maybe I didn't build in the right order but getting the HDD and SDD tray in and connecting the front panel on the mobo required a steady hand and lot's of patience.

First boot up it started without the USB ports working and no image. Reopened the case and looked if I had plugged in everything correctly. Didn't find anything but pushed everything in a bit better. Now it boots up to the windows loading screen with everything working. (First boot up was a hell of a lot of noise, scared me, but has been quiet on following boots) Once at the loading screen it goes in a loop. Now I'm pretty sure I'm causing this by having my old HDD unformatted in there. It's trying to boot up from that HDD but the hardware changed completely. I lost the Windows 7 disc a few years ago. Tonight I'm going to try removing the HDD and booting from the empty SDD with a Windows 8.1 disc. Hopefully that will work.

I also had a minor heartattack when the CPU cooler came loose in the beginning of the build. I managed to put it back in place as fast as I could and tighten it but have been scared of having damaged the mobo since. In fact I seem to believe anything I'm touching is going to be destroyed. It's a steep learning curve!
 
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J

JanBe

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Nov 21, 2013
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I'm afraid the inside of my case looks quite messy and is not as clean looking as the picture Rammy linked. Since my PSU is not modular I've had to practice the lost art of stuffing cables in a corner. In my case the spot with most room is actually next to the front panel. I will however try to get it as clean looking as possible and post a picture. If I get it working by tonight at least. :)
 
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J

JanBe

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Nov 21, 2013
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Hey jimthenagual,

The build is coming along slowly. (only have a few hours a day) I did some better wire management and installed windows 8.1. I talked to some IT store owner who told me they receive a lot of destroyed Asrock motherboards but says I should be fine if I don't overclock. I'll go for Gigabyte next time. My motherboard has all the functions, speed and ports I wanted though so as long as it doesn't die out of the blue I'll be fine. I have to say the case looks amazing and the combination of windows 8.1 with an SSD is truly amazing! I think the login screen pops up after about 2-3 seconds. The problem I have right now is my Belkin wireless usb adapter not working. I found some people online able to solve the problem but I'm considering getting a network card instead. I'll make pictures soon. :)
 
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