Building PCs - How do you Choose Your Components?

ATP asks: "It's been a few years since I built my current system by ordering parts from the cheapest vendors I could find. Everything went smoothly with very little research, and my system is still running great today. I'm now looking into building another desktop system, but I've become quickly overwhelmed by how complex components have become. In particular, motherboard/CPU compatibility are confusing (think: single/dual, socket 478/604/754/939/939pciExpress/940/LGA775, OS compatibility, memory types, etc). Is there a guide to the not-so-novice PC guru somewhere that would help me catch up on the developments in the last couple years?"

Comments

Re:tomshardware.com

[harrkev]

I second this opinion. But here is the strategy that I would use:

1) Pick your processor company. Are you am AMD or an Intel guy? I tend to prefer AMD myself, but you have to make up your own mind..

2) Choose your socket. This should be an easy one. For each company, you have a budget and a premium socket. This should be an easy choice -- just look at your budget. Over $1000 = premium. Under $500 or so, go budget. In between, you will have to decide. Once this is nailed down, choose a processor based on your budget.

3) Chipset selection. You might have a couple of choices here, depending on which processor you choose. To me, a couple of percentage points on a benchmark is not worth much. I look for such things as the interfaces supported (some value mobos do not have firewire, for example). Do you want to run two vid cards (for the rich only)? How many SATA ports will you need. If you are a Linux type of guy, will your chipset be supported by your OS? This is probably the hardest choice to make.

4) Mobo selection. Once you know which chipset you want, then you have to choose a manufacturer. Everybody has favorites here. My only advice is to choose a larger manufacturer. Look at the review web sties to get an idea for the stability of the board (this is a big deal). Note that a long warranty is REALLY nice to have.

5) RAM is easy. All you have to really decide is how much. Get budget RAM from one of the big names (OCZ, for example). Do not get premium RAM. Buy budget RAM and use the difference to upgrade to a faster processor or vid card. Premium RAM is for people who have unlimited budgets and already have top-of-the-line everything else. 1GB is a nice number. If you are on a tighe budget, go 512M, but no lower!

6) Vid card. This is another personal preference thing. Choose ATI or nVidia. I chose nVidia because of Linux support. If you are not a Linux type of guy, then either one will work. Here is where the hardware review sites really become valuable.

7) Hard drives. If you are in the mainstream price range, you have several choices. There is a little difference between different manufacturers as far as speed goes, but I still think that it would be hard to get a bad hard drive. Just make sure that it is large enough. If you have the money to go for NCQ (and your mobo supports it), then do it.

9) Case. This one is a matter of personal preference. Even a cheap case will work great, as long as it has enough cooling capability. Paying more for smooth internal edges is nice, but if you build it once and then do not open it up, sharp edges can be lived with for the cost savings.

10) Power supply. DO NOT SKIMP HERE. Always go for a good name brand with enough watts. I chose Antec. There are others out there with a good reputation.

11) Optical drives. There are so many good choices here, it is hard to go wrong. Even the worst drives are good. But there are a few favorites that keep coming up. Benq and NEC make good DVD burners.

Some more general advice. If you are a gamer, skimp a little on the processor to get a good vid card. If you are a code monkey, get the best processor that you can afford.