I decided to make this topic because i know there are a lot of people out there that don't know what kind of computer they should buy. If you are ready for a new computer either get someone that knows more about computers than you, OR read this topic

1. Choosing your motherboard

The motherboard is the basic thing a computer should have. It is connecting all the other parts to each other. When you are choosing a motherboard you first need to know what graphics port does it have (PCI Express, or AGP). It is better if you have PCIX, because the PCX based cards are faster and cheaper. The second thing you need to know is what type of processor does it support. In this point you should aim for more cores and within them more speed (GHz). Also you should check the audio card, the Ethernet card( Usually these two are on the MB), theusb ports, and that's it for the motherboard.

2. Choosing the Graphics card

the graphics adapter is the most important if you want to play games. You should aim for bigger RAM, and better compatibility(at this time at least for DX9.0c).

3. Choosing the processor

More cores, and bigger speed per core is what you need(make sure its compatible with your motherboard.

4.HDD

get a HDD as big as you can. Sata HDDs are faster than ATA, so i recommend getting one of those.

5.RAM

RAM(Random Access memory) is a card you put on your motherboard, on which the data is applied really fast. It is used forrunning programs to be stored in it. You need as much as possible, so i recommend getting 2 Gigs of DDRII(make sure your MB is compatible with DDRII RAMs)


6.coolers

You get bigger coolers to prevent your computer from overheating. simple as that.

 

 

 

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Usually for motherboards, I usually only stick with ASUS since they are known worldwide as the best motherboard manufacturers. Graphics card, DirectX 10 is the current standard. Don't bother getting any card that isn't DirectX 10 compatible, unless you are only planning to run Windows XP and don't mind losing the extra graphical enhancements. I tend to stick to ATi since right now they have a fantastic offer, a 4850 for $200 and it beats the 8800 and 9800.

Processors, I tend to recommend an AMD Phenom X4 for gamers, and Phenom X3 for regular users. They have the best performance to price ratio and they don't produce as much heat as Intel processors. Yet, in raw power, AMD still lags behind Intel. That's up to you to decide.

RAM, usually, I tend to stick with Patriot or Kingston as they make really really good RAM modules that you can't get better RAM elsewhere. I tend to stay away from OCZ because it's incompatible with some boards.

As for coolers, unless you're overclocking, you can stick with the stock cooler and keep your processor's warranty. Else, you can get a Zalman cooler. They are known to make the best CPU coolers. As for bigger coolers, that only applies to chassis coolers as the most important part of a CPU cooler is the heatsink and not the fan. It could be small, and effective since it's using a copper or any high conductivity metals to quench the heat.

xboxrulz

 

 

 

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I usually choose a motherboard which has onboard audio (most do anyway) because buying a separate audio card costs more and takes up a PCI or PCI Express slot.

The brands I usually have are the following:

CPU - Intel
Motherboard - Gigabyte (running Intel Chipsets)
RAM - Kingston
Graphics card - Gigabyte (running Nvidia Chipsets)
Hard disk - Seagate

I tend to stick the the big name brands because they are more reliable and their support is better.

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Very timely! I am trying to narrow down the choices for a system right now. The minimum essentials are a muscular CPU and full support of virtualization. First, the CPU, then the motherboard.

Intel has a well-organized layout of its CPUs. Pick a processor name, click on it, and go to a table of the processors. Some observations:

• All Xeons have virtualization (VT).
• Lots of Pentium D's don't have VT.
• Ditto Core 2 Duo.
• Every Core 2 Duo that has VT, also has "Trusted Execution Technology."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think "Trusted Execution Technology" is hardware copy protection. That concept is about as popular with me as CPU serial numbers were when Intel tried to introduce them. As I recall, that really gave AMD a spurt in sales! I don't intend to violate licensing terms, but neither do I wish my hardware to tell me I can't move a piece of software from one computer to another.

It doesn't appear to me that AMD is as well organized. They have a page that shows their main processor lines, but this page links to other pages that describe the processors in generic terms. That said, their muscular CPUs, the Phenom and Opteron both seem to support virtualization fully (with several subfeatures described), and do not seem to have hardware copy protection.

Regarding Gigabyte, I haven't used their video cards, but I have had two Gigabyte motherboards, a GA-7ZX-1 and a 7VM400M-RZ. The 7V has died, and the GA is dying. In both cases, Gigabyte used inferior capacitors, and they started leaking not too long after the warranty ran out. The system integrator that sold me those now shuns Gigabyte motherboards and uses MSI and SuperMicro instead. I'll take a look at ASUS.

Thanks for the thread, and the comments!

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Trusted Execution Technology is actually a TPM based technology that is meant to create "secure environments and partitions" which consists of a Trusted Platform Module and a DMA Page Protection.

As for AMD, they have a list of processor that you can choose from. For instance, this is their desktop processor line page which you just choose the processor you're looking for and it will tell you its details: http://products.amd.com/en-us/DesktopCPUFilter.aspx

Usually for motherboards, I would go for ASUS because all my computers use ASUS motherboards (except for the Macbook which has its own motherboard). I highly recommend anything ASUS makes.

xboxrulz

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