OT: Hardware Review Sites?

[Sand]

I build my own PCs -- which I don't recommend unless you intend to make a hobby/business of it. The following places will give you a good idea as to what components are important, which can help when buying a pre-built system.

Arstechnica.com Posts decent buyers guides, as does anandtech.com. I go to hardocp.com for detailed info (they have a buyer's guide as well), but that is a hardware enthusiast's site and not for the faint of heart!

For buying components, I heartily recommend newegg.com.

[Aikamun]

Sand, thanks for the sites. Exactly what I need.

Endoperez, upgradability is not in my Word Book or Dictionary. Should have said "ability to upgrade". I have heard or read "upgradeable" many times in reference to computer products.

Aikamun

[ March 16, 2004, 15:55: Message edited by: Aikamun ]

[Norfleet]

I tend to eschew "prebuilt" computers for several reasons: Firstly, because prebuilt computers are often sold to the unwary, more often than not they're built with substandard parts: Cases that can't even withstand low-caliber ammunition, hard drives that aren't given shock-resistant mounting, and other more subtle things, like the lower-quality Versions of cards. Do YOU want your computer being accidentally destroyed by stray gunfire?

Also, you can often cut costs yourself by cannibalizing your old computer: Parts go obsolete at different rates, and when upgrading a computer, it's not always absolutely necessary to simultaneously upgrade your CD-ROM(which hasn't changed in ages), your floppy drive(which hasn't changed in even longer), and perhaps your hard drive, if you are satisfied with its present capacity.

Upgrading your CD-ROM drive may not even be advisable: The new, high-speed CDroms have been reported to cause low-quality CDs to explode into deadly pieces of shiny pLastic shrapnel from spinning them too quickly. Naturally, if this happens, your CDROM drive will be destroyed, your computer will likely be damaged, and you could be injured and/or killed, particularly if you used a shoddy case that could not contain most of the shrapnel.

[Tricon]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
Upgrading your CD-ROM drive may not even be advisable: The new, high-speed CDroms have been reported to cause low-quality CDs to explode into deadly pieces of shiny pLastic shrapnel from spinning them too quickly. Naturally, if this happens, your CDROM drive will be destroyed, your computer will likely be damaged, and you could be injured and/or killed, particularly if you used a shoddy case that could not contain most of the shrapnel.

-ponders name of this company. nah.-

[ March 16, 2004, 19:49: Message edited by: Tricon ]