OT: Hardware Review Sites?

[Aikamun]

What are the best sites for hardware/technology reviews and recommendations? Looked at www.tomshardware.com but the site was not thorough.

Need a new computer and cannot decide on all the different technologies, i.e. SATA/IDE, 64/32 bit, numerous chipsets and motherBoards. Main considerations: #1 Performance, #2 Stability, #3 Upgradability for at least three years. I am leaning towards purchasing a pre-built computer from www.monarchcomputer.com with a 3.2 GHz P4 or Athlon 3200+.

Thanks for any guidance,
Aikamun

[ March 16, 2004, 15:44: Message edited by: Aikamun ]

[Endoperez]

I, also, am pondering about getting a new computer. I don't think I will need very powerful computer as, excluding Dominions II, all games I play work on my own computer with 166 MHz processor... But there are some that I would like to try, most of them mentioned in the OT: Recommendations thread I won't bother linking to. As Aikamun, I value stability and "ugradability" (always when I think I know the english grammar well enough someone has to post a word like this... ) pretty high. I am more interested in getting the parts one by one, though, as that would help me to learn the insides of computers.

Thanks in advance,
Endoperez
-----
Still playing DomIIdemo, Dominions 1, ADOM, Master of Magic and X-com 1: Ufo Defence...

[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 ]