freind needs help to build computer

[JoeDirt]

my freind wants to build a computer. he is looking at pricewatch.com.

need help. like what should he look to buy first? whats good whats bad?

what she he know how to do before he builds how will he know the right power supply ?

[Kieran]

The real critical choices are the motherboard, CPU, and case. The motherboard will be determined/will determine the CPU you use, and these will in turn make your power supply choice. The case will have to be able to accept the power supply and motherboard, you will have to have adequate ventilation, etc. After that, it's a matter of what sound, video, CD, HD, and floppy, which doesn't amount to that much trouble. Your RAM will be dictated by the motherboard as well.

I would spend my time looking at the specs of motherboards first.

[Sandman]

What Kieran said... spend $$$ on the mainboard. If you go cheap, you'll probably regret it.

[moose]

If you are going to use Pricewatch, then do yourself a HUGE favor and use http://www.resellerratings.com in conjuction with it.

Resellerratings keeps reviews of most all the companies on Pricewatch and you can save yourself time and aggrevation later on if you spend the extra 5 minutes checking out a company's past.

For instance, never buy Accubyte, and personally, never buy anything from Monarch Computer. I just got a bad Geforce 4 4600 from them and they will not honor their 30 day warrenty on the card, they are making me send it back to the manufacturer.

Monarch has a high seller rating (7 or so) but I didn't check the individual details of that rating. If I had I would have seen that their customer service at saletime is great, prices are low, but god forbid if you need to return anything. Rating is about a 2.5 for that. Needless to say, Resellerratings is a very useful tool and I will rant and rave about it every time someone brings up Pricewatch. The two site's should be married.