General component guides

[unreal25]

Hi all,

I thought it would be helpful to summarize in one post all the useful links I go through before I am purchasing any PC component. Typically I go over more or less "techy" guides, as I want to at least get some rough idea what I should be looking for when I am purchasing components, rather than just blindly following the sexy numbers that manufacturers like to put out and brag with. These are not review links, but links that should help buyers understand what is it they are buying and what to look for. Some of them are opinionated posts and contain recommendations for specific products. I am kind of picky when it comes to components, so I often (time-permitting) do a lot of research.

SSD

How SSDs work: Solid-state revolution: in-depth on how SSDs really work | Ars Technica

This article goes into tech details of how Flash memories in SSD work, what an SSD controller actually does, what is TRIM, garbage collection and all that cool stuff.

SSD reviews thread: SSD Reviews Thread - Storage Forums

Links to tons of review articles for tons of SSDs.

SSD info - http://thessdreview.com/category/ssd...ginners-guide/

Mice

The Truthful Mouse Guide: The Truthful Mouse Guide

Great guide explaining the technical stuff about mice, why DPI is pretty much irrelevant, talk about different sensors and sensor types and give some opinions on particular mice.

Overclocking the USB port to 1000 Hz polling rate: vexed.ca: a whole new way of wasting your day » article » MOUSE optimization – 1000 hz mouse polling on 64 bit systems.

These are the generic USB mouse drivers that can be overclocked for high polling rates -- mainly useful for improving the performance for older mice.

Network

SmallNetBuilder: Router Charts - WAN to LAN Throughput - SmallNetBuilder

Here they test do all kinds of funky tests with wireless routers, helpful when choosing a new router. Benchmarks galore! And lot's of it!

Monitors

LCD Monitor guide: LCD Monitor Buyer

I think this is the best LCD guide I found online. They explain how different LCD matrices work, differences between TN, IPS and PVA, monitor response times, and so on.

Monitor info - Monitor Specifications

More monitor stuff - http://www.flatpanelshd.com/

Sound

This is the most helpful thread I found online about gaming headphones and headsets, but it mostly just includes very short reviews on lots of headphones, speakers, sound cards, etc. They are also sorted based on whether they are used for music, gaming, or a bit of both.

In-Ear-Monitor (Earphones) reviews of 240 products: Multi-IEM Review - 240 IEMs compared (Spiral Ear SE 3-way Reference added 06/03/12)

Head-Fi Shootout reviews of 102 headphones: Shootout: 102 Portable Headphones Reviewed (Panasonic RP-HTF600 added 04/29/12)

Frequency responses of headphones: Frequency Response Of Headphones - Head-Fi.org Community

Techy stuff. Mhm.

I'll keep updating this if/when I find more stuff, hopefully someone else finds it useful.

EDIT (Oct 31st 2012): As per suggestion of sgogeta4 I made this thread sticky. If you'd like to add something just post it below and I'll update this original post.

Thanks to sgogeta4 for links as well.

EDIT (May 05th 2013): Removed links to unfriendly forums.

[Michael]

Excellent resource @unreal25! Loved the mechanical keyboard site, news to me!

Cheers!!!

[mw86]

Great thread Unreal. They are all winning resources. Thanks for posting these, I'm out of thanks till tommorow

[sgogeta4]

A few good links:

SSD info - http://thessdreview.com/category/ssd-guides/beginners-guide/

Monitor info - Monitor Specifications

More monitor stuff - http://www.flatpanelshd.com/

edit: more to come I realized that most of my list is already up there.

[unreal25]

I love the links, very informative with lots of techy stuff (keep in mind that in this community this is like posting porn).

[sgogeta4]

Definitely agree with you haha but sorry, this thread is ALMOST as good as the hot chicks thread

[Centurion]

Helpful & Great thread , thanks.

[grantmarcum55]

Monitor guide is top notch! Been looking for a good one 

[LFS1992]

Nice guides, thx.

[cuapy]

Thank you for this guide, I need to replace my dead deathadder  so this will come in handy, since the omrons used in new razer mouse are crap.. 

[Webshooter38]

I didn't realize you could "OC" your usb ports. I'll have to try this. I have my mouse plugged into a 2.0 port right now because I need the 3.0 ports for flash drives and whatnot. Thanks!

[agentcool]

can i ask whats Hard Disk 7200 difference than normal ones

[GoMati]

On 3/22/2019 at 2:58 AM, agentcool said:

can i ask whats Hard Disk 7200 difference than normal ones

 

Not sure whether you still need answer (as the thread seems pretty stale) but generally Hard Drive Disks tend to operate on different speeds, most notably 5400 and 7200 RPM. Of course most of the time you want to have the fastest, which would be 7200 in that case.

 

Ofc you can still invest in SSD ;-)

[holiday]

Thanks for the links. The monitor info was refreshing.

[humbertoarima]

Very useful topic