Guru3D PC Buyer's Guide Summer 2008

<http://www.guru3d.com/category/pcbuyguide/>
It is time to build that dream PC before you head off for school!
Surely you do not have to take our advice for granted, but at the
very least let us help you a little. Guru3D's guide will only cover
the box. Monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers are not included. I do
this for brevity's sake, as the monitor alone would require its own
guide, especially if I were to cover LCD monitors. Since this site is
called "Guru3D" this guide will target a system intended for gaming
primarily.

So what sort of criteria do I take into account when deciding what
parts to recommend?

Price and Performance: First and foremost, what gives the most bang
for your buck, in terms of gaming primarily of course.
Reliablity: Second on the list but just as important. This includes
things such as compatability (ever had RAM that worked on one
motherboard but not in another?), trustworthiness of a brand overall
(do they have a history of making reliable parts?) in addition to the
reliablity of the part in question.
Overclockability: Overclocking can help squeeze out that extra
performance out of a system and can make a big impact on price versus
performance (why should you buy a $1000 CPU if you can overclock a
$200 CPU to match it?) so this factor can always swing my decision.
Heat and Power Issues: Heat is the enemy of a computer and it can
affect the stability (and reliablity) of your machine. Performance
per watt has become a buzz word and as power requirements for
computers rise I eye this more and more closely.

Check it here:

http://www.guru3d.com/category/pcbuyguide/

Small note - Guru3D will be reporting live from the Games Conference
in leipzig and next week we'll coiver the massive NVISION08
conference in San Jose California.

Stay tuned !



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