Link:
A1 Approved links
The following sites are my personal bookmarks for various hardware and computing sites. These sites are on here because they all have some special quality to them; trustworthiness, quality of their articles, or even a constant source of good and timely news.
They're a great place to start before you start asking questions on the workshop!
General Stuff
Looking to build or buy a new computer? Read the following two articles:
Tech Report's "How to build a PC", featuring manicured manly hands.
http://techreport.com/articles.x/13671
Need more info about what's currently inside your computer? Try this program.
http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php
Wikipedia - just want to know general information? How something works?
http://www.wikipedia.org/
for example, all about motherboards!
Google is your friend.
http://www.google.com/
Hardware News and Reviews
The Tech Report
http://www.techreport.com/
DailyTech
http://www.dailytech.com/
Anandtech
http://www.anandtech.com/
PC Perspective
http://www.pcper.com/
[H] OCP
http://www.hardocp.com/
Engadget
http://www.engadget.com/
Speciality Sites
Silent PC Review - for silent computing
http://www.spcr.com/
Frosty Tech - for cooling
http://www.frostytech.com/
jonnyGURU - for power supplies
http://www.jonnyguru.com/
XtremeSystems Forums - for the modding and mentally unstable enthusiast community
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/index.php
Virus and Spyware Tools
Microsoft Security Essentials
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/
Malwarebytes
http://www.malwarebytes.org/
Drivers, Updates, etc.
Microsoft Update
http://www.update.microsoft.com/
DirectX - DirectX is updated monthly; run the web installer repeatedly to get the new files
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/e...a-9b6652cd92a3
DirectX 10 should be automatically updated via Vista's updater.
NVIDIA Motherboard and Video Drivers
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
Intel Chipsets
http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/index.htm
ATI Motherboard and Video Drivers
http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html
ATI Mobility Drivers - if you have a laptop with an ATI video card
http://ati.amd.com/online/mobilecatalyst/ (direct link to download)
Realtek Sound Drivers
http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/
Creative Drivers
http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/
