Thread: Hardware Tutorials and Info

Looking for hardware? Don't know *$%@ about hardware?

Go read up.

Excellent tools to use when building a computer, or when choosing one ______ over another:


"TG Publishing is the premiere media company for the technology generation. The company, best known for its Toms Hardware Guide site, targets “grassroots technologists the huge population of technology early adopters who have grown up on video games, computers and gadgets and have an insatiable need for more. They are avid buyers of technology themselves, and influence major technology purchases for the workplace and at home."
'How To Build' Guide
Graphics Card Charts
CPU/Processor Charts
Hard Disk Charts
Router Charts



"the leading IT source for hardware analysis and industry news"



- more gamer focused, less formal and detailed as anandtech and tom's. Less thorough, and more to the point. Their reviews are based on "Maximum Performance" not necessarily an apples to apples comparison. Instead of a bunch of charts and numbers they say; "This is the maximum playable settings we were able to achieve with this hardware in this game". Gives you a fairly accurate idea of what to expect from a given piece of hardware.



Welcome to the tech report, your source for the latest on personal computing technology and culture. We provide fresh news and reviews with our own brand of clear-headed analysis, healthy perspective, and a dash of levity. On top of that, we've made TR a truly interactive experience, with ample room for your own comments on the events of the day.
PC Build guide
Hardware buying guide


OverClocking Basic Guides
If you have never overclocked a system it is highly recommended that you read - A LOT - there are many things that need to be known to properly overclock a system. Most motherboard manufactures are now including some automated Overclocking utility which are usually more than sufficient for normal users needs.
Proceed with caution - You can shorten the life of your hardware and in worse case scenarios destroy components.

TECHREPORT CPU Overclocking Basics
X-Bitlabs Newbie CPU Overclocking Guide

Video cards are fairly simple to overclock and both companies now include tools to do some minimal overclocking on their GPUs.


[size=18px]Major online retailers (or at least the most used/trusted ones):[/size]


Usually no tax, and free shipping for most items. Most items received in less than 3-4 business days, even with free shipping. Newegg is usually the price to beat, as well as has the easiest site to navigate, search, and filter out products.



No tax, fast shipping, pricing and product listings similar to newegg.



No tax, fast shipping, big history in the business.

The most common question I get asked around here is "What CPU should I get?"
Here is a very in depth answer to that question

http://www.techreport.com/reviews/20...s/index.x?pg=1

also check out this interactive chart at Tom's

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html

Happy Shopping!

I highly recommend using tomshardware.com and techreport.com when thinking about building a system.

Both sites put a lot of work into designing excellent baseline systems at a variety of price points very regularly.
I think techreport does their's every month.

You can review what they recommend at the low, mid, high and dream system ranges you will have a good idea of what to start with and what you can afford for the money you are willing to spend. Most of the time I post in one of these 'what should I buy topics?' I find the latest system build from one of these two sites and work directly off of there to post what some one should be looking at buying.

If you want a fairly cheap, but extremely powerful system the "The Sweet Spot" system listed in the techreport articles will almost always fit the bill exactly.

Posting a "Planning on buying x, y, z, any recommendations?" topic helps us help you a lot quicker than having to piece together everything for you from scratch.