How to Shop for computer Equipment and Hardware parts!

(5 most Common Mistakes to avoid!)

Vendors in general (Not all of them), make extra profits by capitalizing on people's lack of knowledge of computer parts and equipment.

They will sell you an unbalanced machine, making a little profit by selling you some low end parts mixed with high quality computer parts that they advertise to the consumer.

Pay special attention to the following points when buying a PC or computer parts and equipments in general.

1 - Consider ALL the specifications of the product.
Which one is better: 1 GB RAM at 133MHZ or 512MB at 400MHZ? (Answer: 512MB at 400MHZ processes a time and a half more data per unit time)

2 - Consider the quality of the product. By from established manufacturers. For computer hardware parts, I recommend ASUS, MSI, INTEL, NVIDIA, MAXTOR, DIGITAL WESTERN, ATI, EDGE.

3 - Every part is important! I have seen computers acting up, crashing giving hard drive errors because of a cheap power supplie that became unstable. I have seen people throw their computers out because of a failed CPU fan.

Even the computer case! Yes the case. I have to clean the inside of my computer every few months to keep the dust away from the electronics and specially the CPU heat sink.

But my new computer has a case with Air filters. It costs 20$ more but keeps your electronics safe from dust that leads to overheating!

4 - Consider Bottle-Necks! The RAM, Motherboard, CPU and video card must work together to compute. If one of them is trailing, then the other ones will be limited too. A complete waste of money.

Good rule of thumb! To avoid learning everything about computer hardware parts and equipment, buy the parts that are from the same generation (no more than a year of difference between the times they came out on the market).

Also buy in the same price range. If you buy a part that is the most expansive, then do the same for the other parts!

5 - If you are shopping for a PC then pay special attention to the motherboard that comes with the computer. As the name suggests, it is the most important part of your computer. I have never heard a vendor publicise the quality of the motherboard in the computers they sell.

Also, make sure you get a video card! The onboard cards are extremely limited. It can also be a sign that the vendor is trying to mix in cheap stuff (power supply, case, CPU fan, RAM,...)