TR Forums

So the system guide hasn't been updated since a year ago. Where do you guys go for trustworthy and reliable guides and benchmarks nowadays? I'd worry about talking about competing sites, but is TR really competing since they don't seem to do this work any more?

There are a few similar articles around the web. e.g.: Hot Hardware.

What do you want to do with your new PC?
Do you have any specific applications or games that you use the most?
Do you have any existing components that you want to re-use?
Where will you be sourcing new components?
What is your budget?

In case it's a gaming PC you are after: https://www.pcgamer.com/ibuypower-rdy-elibg205-review/

https://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Gaming-RDY-ELIBG208

3-year warranty you won't get if you DIY.

Other options: https://www.pcgamer.com/best-gaming-pc/

If you're wanting someone else to assemble it for you, check out https://www.cyberpowerpc.com/

Thanks for the suggestions. I was just wary of sites that would plug their own biases or base recommendations on affiliations.

I build my own systems. In this case I'll just have to replace the motherboard, cpu, and ram. I'm not worried as much about what chips to pick, but which boards are reliable and which parts will work together. It looks like pcpartpicker.com has some good recommendations and when people post their builds it kind of proves compatibility for stupid junk like the cooler being too close to the RAM.

Usually, you can find dimensions for the cooler and in the motherboard manual to tell you what is compatible. PCPartPicker's compatibility warnings are a decent heads up to potential issues, too.

Bummer that the System Guide hasn't been updated. I used to read every time they came out.

whm1974 wrote:

Bummer that the System Guide hasn't been updated. I used to read every time they came out.

Just for reading? I don't see the point of that. It's good for someone wanting to build a system. What do you gain from that if you aren't planning to build? Staying up to date? That would make sense only if you don't keep yourself abreast of the latest and greatest by reading other tech websites like Anandtech or Techpowerup or Hothardware.

slate0 wrote:

Thanks for the suggestions. I was just wary of sites that would plug their own biases or base recommendations on affiliations.

So what did you settle on finally?

Igor_Kavinski wrote:

whm1974 wrote:

Bummer that the System Guide hasn't been updated. I used to read every time they came out.

Just for reading? I don't see the point of that. It's good for someone wanting to build a system. What do you gain from that if you aren't planning to build? Staying up to date? That would make sense only if you don't keep yourself abreast of the latest and greatest by reading other tech websites like Anandtech or Techpowerup or Hothardware.

The Tech Report used to be quite good before the current owners...

Igor_Kavinski wrote:

whm1974 wrote:

Bummer that the System Guide hasn't been updated. I used to read every time they came out.

Just for reading? I don't see the point of that. It's good for someone wanting to build a system. What do you gain from that if you aren't planning to build? Staying up to date? That would make sense only if you don't keep yourself abreast of the latest and greatest by reading other tech websites like Anandtech or Techpowerup or Hothardware.

I used to skim it to stay up-to-date. I don't have time to read all of the tech sites any more, and the TR System Guide provided a nice summary of the state of the market.

just brew it! wrote:

I used to skim it to stay up-to-date. I don't have time to read all of the tech sites any more, and the TR System Guide provided a nice summary of the state of the market.

Well, unfortunately, all good things come to an end. That is entropy, after all. That's not to say there aren't other good system guides available. Anandtech's "Best of" isn't half bad.

Hi All. Guru 3D has a new one from a few days ago. (Your call on its quality)

Maybe in the Virus slowdown TR could do a system guide? They were useful to guide noobies and all of us, and to point out some reasonable combos of parts.

I miss them and wish for an update - is annually too much to ask?

Be well.

Kind of annoyed that the system guide feature has been dropped; it was what led me to Techreport and was my primary source of, uh, inspiration.

Registered just to state my desire for it to return.

Guru 3D newly added. I suppose TechReport share in the future.

Mellifluid wrote:

Kind of annoyed that the system guide feature has been dropped; it was what led me to Techreport and was my primary source of, uh, inspiration.

Registered just to state my desire for it to return.

Unfortunately the people who used to do the guides (Scott Wasson and Jeff Kampman) are no longer with the site.

Maybe forum geeks want to add a topic about it.

You're already in the right topic.

So where is guide on this topic?

Pauls Hardware does build guides.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvWWf- ... 50iYai8WgQ

Robotics wrote:

So where is guide on this topic?

Seems like none have been found to recommend so far, but this is the thread for it. (Well at least no written guides.)