I have always put together my own computers, because I can buy only what I need and don't have to pay markup for a full system. I really don't enjoy following every PC hardware trend. Historically, every few years, I would pull up the system guides from Ars Technica and buy all the parts for one of their systems. It appears that this guide has gone away and the closest thing I can find is a ton of articles from Tom's Hardware which don't really compare.<p>Is there anything online that just tells me what to buy.<p>I'm looking for the equivalent of a friend that keeps up on all the hardware trends that can tell me what parts he would buy if he had $500 to spend.
Your profile doesn't have a contact e-mail address. Drop me an e-mail at (my username) at gmail.com if you'd like, because I have some interest in discussing this a bit.<p>I had begun working on a site that tracks current hardware trends, pricing, shopping, and recommendations but I haven't looked at the project in a while. If anyone is interested in collaborating on something like this, please feel free to contact me as well.
a) <a href="http://www.anandtech.com/tag/guides" rel="nofollow">http://www.anandtech.com/tag/guides</a> has guides that are updated frequently and are pretty good.
b) You can also head to www.hardforums.com and get recommendations from techies themselves. People on hardforums are extremely helpful and knowledgeable.
What's wrong with the articles at Tom's Hardware like "System Builder Marathon, June 2010: $550 Gaming PC" -
<a href="http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-gpu-overclock,2659.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-gpu-overclock,2659.h...</a><p>I found it very clear and informative. They also have $1000 and $2000 guides.
It's right in front of you, everywhere, even at the supermarket -- MaximumPC magazine, in print and online. It's all there, building machines from $500 to $3000. I'm building a new one right now and picking up all the hints that the experience people will share in their articles even though I've done it many times before.
The Ars Technica guide is still there. Here's the most recent one: <a href="http://arstechnica.com/hardware/guides/2009/10/ars-system-guide-october-2009-edition.ars" rel="nofollow">http://arstechnica.com/hardware/guides/2009/10/ars-system-gu...</a>
This book might be of interest to you: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Computing-Systems-Building-Principles/dp/026214087X" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Computing-Systems-Building-Pr...</a>
this will certainly help you<p><a href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/the-idiots-guide-to-building-your-own-computer/" rel="nofollow">http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/the-idiots-guide-to-building-yo...</a> (MUO)