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Ask HN: Looking for a guide to build a PC

17 points by snowbird122 ↗ HN
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.

Is there anything online that just tells me what to buy.

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.

16 comments

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dman
a) http://www.anandtech.com/tag/guides 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.
jat850
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.

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.

jasonlbaptiste
There's probably significant value in building something that works like a DELL build your own PC tool, but pulls in components from all the sites over the net, then puts together the shopping cart for you:

1) Takes you through each component choice: memory, case, cd/dvd, hd,etc.

2) As you choose the size for each one. 1tb hd? 8gb of ram?, it pulls together the lowest price, and sets up the shopping cart for you.

Problem I see- getting orders from multiple vendors.

jat850
Roughly what I had in mind - along with other shopping options, such as (mentioned by the OP) "what is the best computer for application X for $Y?"
pcarmichael
I've actually been working exactly that as a side project. Not only will it walk you through the component choices, it will also allow you to limit choices to components compatible with what you've already picked out.

If anyone is interested in beta testing when it is ready, drop me a line and let me know.

thefool
You could do it exclusively on newegg initially.

Their service and selection is great, and prices are pretty fair.

zokier
Also something that would aggregate benchmark results from different sources would be awesome. Then it could interpolate results for arbitrary hardware combinations and search for bottlenecks.
MarkHernandez
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.