Websites/Guides for Beginners? I'm a newbie.

[starwars7]

Hey everyone, I've learned a lot at the Anandtech forum, but I'm still a newbie and before I post any more stupid questions I was wondering if you guys could recommend some websites/guides to computer building and PC over clocking?

Thank you so much!

 

[darkswordsman17]

Everyone's got to start somewhere, so don't feel too bad. Not only that, but even the smartest can't know everything, and thats why the AT community works so well, we get people who really know there stuff but each of them in a different area.

mechbgon's guide is very nice (as is he himself). For overclocking I'm trying to think of what the better sites to get started with that on would be.

 

[johnnyMon]

DFI-Street.com is good for overclocking. It's focused on DFI motherboards, but they're great overclockers, so no problem there. There are all sorts of sticky posts detailing how to set up and build systems around their boards. If you won't have more than 4 SATA drives, and won't run two video cards at the same time (called SLI) (i.e. you're not an *extreme* gamer; one really good video card can be very fast), then the DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D is a great board and not too expensive for what it is. But if you go the DFI route you should buy one of their recommended power supplies and memory modules. And you'll have to be very patient. I read the sticky post there on how to overclock at least five times before I understood it, but now I've done the process and it was fun. People there can be gruff sometimes due to the volume of the same questions being asked over and over, but be nice and be persistent and you will get all the help you need.

Here's a link to a good post on there about building your system:

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20832

I would only go the DFI route if you have some computer experience and you're just a newbie to building and overclocking. Or if you're good at figuring things out. If you're really a total newbie at computers, I would buy an ASUS board and use a generic building site to learn how to put it all together.

 

[Buck Naked]

http://www.mechbgon.com/
Great guide by mechBgon

Text
nice and simple OC guide

 

[LOUISSSSS]

jusy read this forum for topics that interest you. tomshardware.com isnt favored around here but that is where i initially got my interest in pc's.

 

[Luckyboy1]

See my sig. Yes, it is written with flight simmers in mind, but nothing will stress test your PC like a serious flight sim game and I mean at all ends. Yeah, the information is dated, but the principles are sound and relavent. Learn the basics and then it's easier to sort through even my nonsense!

 

[OSX]

For the love of God, luckyboy, stop pimping your blasted site. Not even that good.

 

[Luckyboy1]

Well, I'm sure you are no longer just one of us User types, so I'm sorry to have let you down. I mean, now that you're PC smart and all.

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

http://www.rojakpot.com/default.aspx On the left>BIOS Opt.Guide. This will explain in simple language every tiny facet of your BIOS. Highly recomended guide.

http://www.theeldergeek.com/xp_pro_install_-_graphic.htm I guess your going with Windows for an OS. The above link explains a clean install with screen shots. Nice.
Go with XP Pro over the Home Edition, as support will be longer lasting for Pro.

Bookmark both sites and use them.


...Galvanized

 

[starwars7]

thank you guys, these sites all look really great!

I was thinking it could be helpful for a moderator to pin a thread that has a bunch of useful sites like this, a resource like that would be really useful for everyone.

 

[Ausm]

Word of advice,Build a couple systems first so if your O\C'ing burns something up you will know how to fix it


Ausm