The Store Next Door

PC service from the big guys is in free fall, but our exclusive report says customers who buy locally are happy. Here's how to find a great independent dealer--and steer clear of the fly-by-night operators.

PC Component Shopping: Resources Galore

The Web is a great place to hunt down buying advice on PC parts. Here's where to start.

Time for a new PC? If you're thinking about picking and choosing your own components, let specialized Web sites help you with your research.

Check out PCWorld.com's Reviews for our evaluations of the latest hardware and links to the most up-to-date prices. There are dozens of other independent hardware review sites as well, and many are enhanced with discussion forums and consumer reviews.

Whether you're planning to build a new computer yourself or have a local retailer put it together, the resources here will point you toward the most reputable manufacturers and help you refine your hardware selection.

Be forewarned: The geek factor can be pretty high at a lot of these sites--especially if you hover in forums.

At PCWorld.com

You'll find reviews of the latest hard drives, CD-RW drives, graphics boards, and more. You can check out our charts, complete with product rankings and highlights of the pros and cons. You'll also find our benchmark results and detailed capsule reviews.

CD-RW Drives, Along With CD-ROM, CD-R, DVD-ROM, and DVD Rewriteable

Graphics and Video Cards

PC Hardware Sites

AnandTechFind terrific advice on a host of PC components, including motherboards, CPUs and chip sets, graphics boards, and storage. Each review has a handy chart summarizing the pros and cons. Many reviews come with very useful explanations of what the specs mean. Scroll through topic-specific postings at the AnandTech Community until you find the area you want.

FiringSquadA haven for geeks and gamers alike, FiringSquad includes reviews of graphics cards, sound cards, and motherboards, along with mice and joysticks. The site's message boards are also useful.

HardOCPThe latest CPUs, memory, motherboards, and video cards go through rigorous testing. Here you'll find reviews galore and even bug reports. Get recommendations and problems tackled at the Hard Forum.

Hardware CentralCheck out the reviews on CPUs, motherboards, networking hardware, gaming hardware, sound cards, graphics cards, monitors, peripherals, and computer cases. At the same address, click Tutorials to access helpful explanations of tech terms and acronyms.

Hardware OneThe site is heavy on motherboard reviews and analysis, but you'll also find reviews of graphics cards and sound cards. You're bound to find something of interest at Jawbreaker Chat, Hardware One's discussion forums.

NeoseekerYou'll find "Pro Reviews" by experts on motherboards, storage devices, graphics, monitors, input devices, audio, and multimedia hardware. Neoseeker conveniently links each product review to its corresponding discussion thread. You can also browse through Neoseeker's postings of user reviews.

PC MechanicGet the lowdown on motherboards and CPUs, memory, graphics cards, other expansion cards, PC cases, floppy drives, and hard drives. You can jump into the action in the site's PC-Media Tech Forums, which cover overclocking and PC assembly, graphics and gaming, and a bunch of peripherals including modems, mice, and keyboards. PC Mechanic also provides a useful guide called Build Your Own, which provides step-by-step instructions on assembling your own PC (as well as your own server and home network).

SysOpt.comFind reviews of motherboards and chip sets, graphics boards, networking equipment, storage, audio, operating systems, and memory. At SysOpt Forums you can jump into dialogs about motherboards, CPUs and overclocking, storage, graphics cards, and monitors. You can also tap into the searchable pool of user reviews.

Tom's Hardware GuideBookmark this site. You get a series of in-depth guides that cover motherboards, CPUs, graphics, audio, storage, and monitors (including a great primer on CRT displays). You can access tons of newsletters, archives of reviews, and columns by experts. And be sure to hang out in the enormous community.

More specific research areas

3D Sound SurgeIf sound is your thing and you want thorough reviews, check out this site's evaluations of sound cards and computer speakers. The 3D Sound Surge Forums focus mainly on sound cards, speakers, home theater, consoles, and music (MIDI hardware and software, for instance).

Motherboards.orgOddly enough, this site's not just about motherboards. You'll also find some reviews of graphics cards, sound cards, and monitors. Its discussion area, aptly named Mother Board, is reachable via its home page (by clicking Forums) and includes specific hardware recommendations.

Sharky ExtremeAimed at gamers, this site focuses on new graphics cards and sound cards. You'll find plenty of other subject areas, including motherboard and CPU reviews. Don't miss out on the lively discussions at SharkyForums.com.

StorageReview.comYou'll find reviews of hard drives, DVD-ROM drives, CD-RW drives, and other storage products, as well as discussions on storage-related issues. At the same address, click Reference to find a very interesting history lesson about hard drives and other useful background information. The site's forum area (reached by clicking the Discussion tab) offers just one general category for computers, however. You can search the forum using keywords, but the discussions aren't organized by topic.

How It Works

Hard drives, graphics boards, monitors, CPUs, DVD, CD-R, CD-RW... If you're interested in hearing about the various technologies at work behind the scenes, check out How It Works. Tackling a host of different products (along with services and industry protocols), each How It Works package is a detailed tech primer that explains how specific pieces of hardware function, demystifies acronyms, and provides a lot of background information on the topic. You also get the skinny on shopping gotchas along with plenty of buying advice.

How It Works: CD-R, CD-RW

How It Works: CPUs

How It Works: CRT Monitors

How It Works: DVD

How It Works: Graphics Boards

How It Works: Hard Drives

How It Works: Ink Jet Printers

How It Works: LCD Monitors