I am about to embark on my first build and one thing I have found lacking is simple comparative performance data for components. Maybe it is because I managed to stay "computer illiterate" for 40 years and therefore just don't understand enough but I feel sure I am not the only numptie out here!
I have found it especially difficult in choseing a mainboard, probably the most important component. You are confronted with a plethera of seemingly meaningless numbers and codes, that I am sure mean something, but there is no obvious way of finding out. I realise that it may be quite subjective compareing say nvidiachips to those of another mnufacturer of the same sort of spec, but it is quite difficult to figgure out which ones are equivalent
Have I missed a site that will give me this sort of information,or is this something that HEXUS could look at, or am I just asking too much?
Windog


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cant go wrong with Tig's spec. I ahve been into computing since the times when you had to park the heads on your computer lol, dos etc and the best windows ever 3.1 but nowadays i can see why your are bewildered. It takes a long time to catch up on this industry. Maybe read micromart its cheap and n00b friendly (me n00b) out every thursday. Good reviews and explanations with jargon explained
Basicly it is the chipset (845PE, KT400, nForce2) which dictates abilities, speed and perf. The diff manus (Abit, Gigabyte, Asus) make the chipsets into mobos which in turn get sold to the end consumer. So when shopping you first need to decide whether to go Intel (Skt478) or AMD (SktA) and take it from there. If you want anything other than top-end stuff AMD are the better choice, if you want that bit more futurability (LOL) then the 800FSB capable Skt478 are more of what you should go for.
After deciding between Intel and AMD the next thing you should do is familiarise yourself with the diff chipsets (eg SktA has SiS748, KT600 and nForce2) and ecide what you want and can afford. Then look at the manus' offerings and take it from there. Alternatively give us your needs (I'll check your other thread) and we'll make our recs to you.
No doubt it's daunting, esp with all the marketing blurb thrown around now-a-days. Only problem with techie forums like these is just that they are generally techie based. These guys tend to want max perf, max quality and plenty of tweakability which aren't priorities for almost all newbies.