[Guide] Asking about buying/building a new computer on the forums.

Okay, there's lots of people coming around asking about new computers on the forums. And, usually, there's a huge spate of Q&A before arriving at an answer.

In the interest of speeding up answering people, I figured I'd post some general guidelines to how to ask about buying or building a new computer on the forums. Answering these questions can make it much easier and faster for the tech-heads here on the forums to answer your questions.

1. What will you primarily be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
2. What's your budget? (Real Dollars) Are tax and shipping included? This is important as it allows people trying to help you to suggest things appropriate to your budget.
3. Where do you live? This is important as it affects what vendors you may buy from and how much shipping costs might be.
4. Are you planning to buy or build?
5. What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need. If you're unsure what exactly you need, say so.
6. If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
7. Will you be overclocking?
8. What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have? What is the resolution?
9. When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
10. What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc.
11. Any specific must-have features? Must be able to max out Ultra-Mode? Must have 6+GB of RAM? Must have an SSD? etc.
12. Are there any vendors/brands you'd specifically prefer to use?
13. Are there any vendors/brands you'd specifically prefer to avoid?
14. Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit? (Note: If your current OS came with your computer, odds are that it is NOT transferable.)

1) What will you primarily be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc 
***



2) What's your budget? (Real Dollars)  Are tax and shipping included?  This is important as it allows people trying to help you to suggest things appropriate to your budget.
***



3) Where do you live? This is important as it affects what vendors you may buy from and how much shipping costs might be. 
***



4) Are you planning to buy or build? 
***



5) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need. If you're unsure what exactly you need, say so. 
***



6) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model. 
***



7) Will you be overclocking? 
***



8) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have? 
***



9) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? 
***



10) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc. 
***



11) Any specific must-have features? Must be able to max out Ultra-Mode? Must have 6+GB of RAM? Must have an SSD? etc. 
***



12) Are there any vendors/brands you'd specifically prefer to use? 
***



13) Are there any vendors/brands you'd specifically prefer to avoid? 
***



14) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit? (Note: If your current OS came with your computer, odds are that it is NOT transferable.) 
***

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

Buying Guides

Okay, first and foremost.
Father Xmas' guide to picking components.
This gives a great run-down on the things you're looking for without needing to name specific brands of component.


Online Stores

Newegg.com
A great site for researching components and pricing. Maybe not ALWAYS the best/cheapest place to buy things. But always a good starting point.

Additionally they have a fairly decent video tutorial on building a system from the ground up.

Part #1

Part #2

Part #3

Newegg.ca
Newegg's Canadian site. For all our Canuck brothers and sisters. Spend your loonies and twonies! SPEND! SPEND!

Tigerdirect.com
Another great site for researching components and pricing. They even have brick & mortar locations too. I'm not PERSONALLY enamored of them, but some people swear by them.

Tigerdirect.ca
Again, Canadian Tiger Direct site.



System Vendors

Dell.com
The 800 lb Gorilla. Okay for general systems and basic components. Not a gaming system vendor. Links to all the various regional and country-specific Dell sites available right from the Dell.com site.

Gateway
The original Cow-box vendor. They're more focused on "multimedia" PCs than gaming systems per-se. Link takes you to the worldwide site. Choose your own locale from there.

Lenovo
A Chinese vendor that took over the IBM ThinkPad and ThinkCenter product lines. While they still make business machines, they're not really recommended for gaming boxes. PERIOD.

Asus
Also a prominent parts vendor, Asus also puts out a line of palm-top sub-notebooks (NOT recommended for gaming AT ALL) and a VERY nice line of notebooks (some of the top-end ones are GREAT mobile gaming platforms). Hit the link and pick your locale.

Alienware.com
Alienware is now owned by Dell and branded as their "Gaming" line. Unfortunately, while you can buy an EXPENSIVE system from them, for general gaming, the systems are pretty poor. Generally for those with more money than sense.

Falcon Northwest
Falcon Northwest is a "premium" system builder. They can build you a super high performance PC (at a super high price). Generally for those with lots of money but at least a shred or two of sense.

CyberPower PC
A "roll your own" system builder. Similar to Falcon, but generally more affordable. Lots and lots of choices. Using their system matrixes, you can actually build yourself a nice system that's VERY zeroed in to your needs and wants.

iBuyPower
Another "roll your own" system builder. Lots of options and a decent rep.

Toshiba
Toshiba also makes several lines of laptops. Their Satellite notebooks are decent every-day machines, while their Qosimo line is geared SPECIFICALLY for gaming. Not PERSONALLY enamored of Toshiba myself (bad experiences), but a lot of people swear by them.


Using Wishlists To Display Choices

Some websites out there allow you to create wishlists that you can store and share with others. This way, if you have a butt-kicking hardware combo or have a neat setup on the cheap, you can share it with others looking to do what you've done.

Newegg
Newegg has three (COUNT 'EM!) methods of making wishlists.

• Temporary Wishlists (Doesn't last beyond the lifetime of your Newegg Session cookie)
• Private Wishlists (The default for all newly created wishlists)
• Public Wishlists (What we're concerned with)

First
Do your shopping. In the upper right-hand corner you'll see the shopping cart indicator with the current pricing.






Click on it to view your shopping cart.


Second

Once in your shopping cart, you'll see a bunch of check boxes next to the items. There will also be one just above all of them (it's essentially a "check all"). Also, above and to the right of that, you'll see a drop-down box.






Check the "check all" box, then go to the drop-down and select "My Temporary Wish List".


Third
You'll need to log in (or create) an account with Newegg to save wishlists.
Once you log in, you come back to the wishlist and see that it has a similar "check all" feature to the shopping cart. Use it.






Above the "check all", there is an area to create a new private wishlist. Give the wishlist a name then click the "create new" button.
If you have an existing wishlist and just wish to add to it, further to the right, there's a drop-down to select a pre-existing wishlist and a button to tell it to save items to it.


Now you've essentially created a new wishlist. But nobody but you can see it yet. Here's what we do.


Fourth
Click on the tab that says "My Saved Wish Lists"


Drop a check next to your newly created wishlist and then push the button that says "Make Public"






Fifth
Now click on the link for your wishlist.
Look up in the address line and you'll see a link that looks like this:


https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/M...px?ID=19288966


Now you can't use this to share with other people. What you do is copy the 8-digit ID number at the end ("19288966" in this case). This is the identifier for your wishlist.




Sixth

Now head back up and click on the Public Wishlists tab.


Visit one of them. It doesn't really matter which one. Copy off the address in the address line, it'll look something like this:


http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...umber=19281746




Seventh

Now we find your wishlist's public URL. Chop off the 8-digit ID number of the public wishlist you brought up. Replace it with the 8-digit ID number of your personal wishlist and hit ENTER on your keyboard.


For example:



Random Public Wishlist

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...umber=19281746


The edited wishlist URL

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...ishListNumber=


Your Public Wishlist

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...umber=19288966

Eighth
When your public wishlist pops up, run a quick eyeball over it to make SURE it's yours. Then copy the contents of the address line and share that address with whomever you want to give the wishlist to.

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

Great idea for a guide, Hyper!

I'm not currently buying/building a new computer, but when I am, I will hunt down this guide.

If they are using the pc as the preferred platform for gaming specifically, the number of games played can help determine drive size. A small ssd is plenty for many players.

I also figure that this would probably be a good central location for those who maintain hardware suggestions (like Father) to maintain a post.

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

You should use monitor resolution instead of size. It doesn't matter if your 1920x1080 monitor is 17" or 60", it's still 2 megapixels to render.

Updated guide to include links to several vendors, guides and online stores.

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

I didn't see a note to include price for software, may want to add that.

Also, do you feel a note about the addressable RAM difference with 32/64 bit would be beneficial?

I think 1, 2 and 5 should cover all budget costs.

Given HP's announcement that they are getting out of the Desktop/Tablet markets you might want to consider whether to include them. OTOH if you want a great deal and can be *very* quick there are some excellent deals on atm - they won't be there next week (or possibly tomorrow)


Some UK based suppliers

Eclipse

http://www.eclipsecomputers.com

I've had excellent turnaround on their mail order - ordered at 5pm had a knock on the door the next morning at 8am from the courier - not bad when I had only paid for a 3 day delivery - its usually 2-3 days.
They have their store in Coventry - but it gets very busy so expect to queue.
Staff are reasonably knowledgeable and happy to help (which may have something to do with the queue) and prices are very competitive


Stak Trading
http://www.stak.com

Again good mail order response. Very small shop hidden away on an industrial estate in Rugby if you can find it but very knowledgeable staff and extremely good pricing - more suited to purchasing components than complete systems though.

Overclockers
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/

Targeted primarily at the performance and gaming market. Supply both systems and components and will provide systems or kits with a guaranteed overclock. Prices are good but can be beaten and staff are very knowledgeable.


Dabs
http://www.dabs.com/

Excellent range and fair pricing. I haven't used them myself but know others who have had a good experience with them.

EBuyer
http://www.ebuyer.com/

Some of the best prices about and a very wide range. Others have had a good experience with them but mine was tarnished by poor after sales service following them dispatching the wrong item.

PCWorld
Part of the Dixons/Currys group - general PC superstore - Systems are mainly Packard Bell PCs but also a range of Apple systems. They have a fair range of components although their pricing does not compete with the mail order sites. Good to go in and see what you want though.

What's your opinion of Digital Storm's customized systems?

Digital Storm should be ok. I just took a look over there at one of the "cheaper" desktops. Pricey, (well, they do have to make money) but not too bad.

No experience with Digital Storm myself.

Then again, I've always been a "build it yourself" kinda guy.

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

What about IBuyPower?

For those of you who like to buy parts/components in the retail environment i highly recommend you look into Microcenter. If you are lucky enough to have one in your area, they are a great resource. I find their processors to be very competitive and often beat out the likes of newegg/tigerdirect as they are giving out discounts often. While they aren't cheaper on everything i consider them one of the only retail stores that is primarily focused around systems/components that can compete with the online stores. You can use their website to get some pricing and arrange in store pick up.

There isn't a Fry's or Microcenter within 500 miles of where I live. They aren't in my state or the states adjacent to mine or the states adjacent to those.

All I have locally (<50 miles) are Mom and Pop shops, a large computer refurbishers (want to buy a Core 2 based machine, they have a couple of pallets of them) and Best Buy/Staples/Office Depot. We don't even have an Office Max in that radius.

I'm a lucky SOB. I live just outside of Chicago. There's multiple MicroCenters around me and a Frys and a MicroCenter within a 10 mile drive.



Sorry if that came across as gloating. But it was meant to.

MicroCenter offers online ordering. But for new CPUs, one of the most valuable offerings, they're in-store pickup only.

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

I moved out here over 15 years before I started playing here, primarily for the dark skies (I'm also an amateur astronomer), 7 years before I built my first PC from scratch.

There was a time where there were quarterly computer shows with dozens of small shops selling everything from CD audio cables to complete systems. This was back in the day when Computer Shopper was over an inch thick, Windows 3.1 just arrived and UPS drivers hated all the large heavy cow spotted boxes they were delivering. The unleashing of the Internet with Netscape/Win 95 basically killed the shows, Gateway is now owned by Acer and Shopper is now just another web site with really old articles.