New Build Guides?

[Brian_B]

Looks like the last round was summer (April/May)

Granted - you could probably had summed up Fall with "All this new hardware is about to drop, wait for it!"

And then summed up Winter with "Yeah, probably shouldn't have waited. Now your really going to wait"

But I'd still like to see this section not just wither and die - it was useful and informative.

 

[Nspace]

I second this. I'm looking to build a new system soon and would love to have an updated build guide.

 

[Space_Ranger]

Problem with doing a build guide right now is that NONE of the parts that are desirable are even AVAILABLE! The over-inflated market value on components makes one of these guides difficult to **** near useless to put together.

 

[Brian_B]

Problem with doing a build guide right now is that NONE of the parts that are desirable are even AVAILABLE! The over-inflated market value on components makes one of these guides difficult to **** near useless to put together.

I think an article even talking about that would be beneficial.

 

[Dogsofjune]

If you can get it, we would suggest this....

Hopefully this all mellows out. I'd hate to think this is the future of new releases.

 

[Endgame]

I find it incredibly useful to have a trusted place where I can look up what they would recommend for some things, as I just don't get to handle nearly the amount of hardware I used to. For example, I was just contacted by one of my friends that he wants to do another build in late march to early April. Now the thing about this friend, is these builds last a looong time, as he doesn't have tons of money to burn and has 3 boys (ages 12 to 7) and he passes hardware down the chain (essentially upgrading when one of the kids wants his own PC). His current set of systems are all ones I've suggested the hardware for and helped him build, and while they get the occasional "easy" upgrade of ram, vid card, or disk, most of the system stays the same. The systems are:

i7-920 @ 3.8ghz w/ 12gb ram, GTX 670
i7-2600k @ 4.6ghz w/ 8gb ram, GTX 970
i7-6700k @ 4.8ghz w/ 16gb ram, GTX 1080

The 920 will go to the youngest, and there isn't exactly much room to upgrade it anymore, but its had one heck of a run, and will probably be around 3+ years yet. The question is, what do I build today that is going to have that kind of longevity? I haven't looked at air cooling in ages, but I don't think I can really recommend an AIO to last 10+ years. If I suggest a mammoth heatsink (d15?) what case works best with it. I'll probably recommend a Ryzen this time around, and am thinking that if its going to last 10 years, I should probably go with a 5900 - should I have him spring for an expensive motherboard to make sure it lasts?

This is where these build guides come in really handy....

 

[David_Schroth]

So.. how useful would the refresh be given the availability of the hardware?

 

[Endgame]

So.. how useful would the refresh be given the availability of the hardware?

Its still useful, especially if your list is something like - Best "Bang for the Buck" X570 MB: MSI Tomahawk, Runner Up: Gigabyte Aorus Elite (or whatever). This way, if there is a runner up or two, I can read why you suggest the runner up and say, well, I can't get the Tomahawk, but I can get the Aorus Elite and the only reason it was the runner up was it was $10 more (or whatever), so I'll buy it knowing I'm getting something good.

I'm patient, and when building for someone that will keep a host for 10 years, they will be patient too especially when given a few options of things to watch coming in stock. For my build, I've gotten everything I wanted for my current build by spreading out purchases since August and getting things as they came in stock, excluding Video Card and Motherboard. MB wise, I wanted an Asus Dark Hero, and settled for the Hero viii Wifi because it was the only thing I could buy. Video Card wise, I wanted a 3090 through October, and then said if I can't get one, I'll take anything I can get... and I'm still waiting to find something.

 

[LazyGamer]

I really don't think that there's a point at this time.

I can provide lots of ideas for when product availability starts ticking back up, but right now, people are really just lucky to get anything!

 

[Brian_B]

I think you should put some articles up there that are pertinent — it could be “this is what we like” or “this is how we are finding components to buy” or “we like X but in our reviews we found A, B, and C are close and here’s why” or even “may want to hold off because of Y and Z”

I think the important thing is to have pertinent and useful content and not let that particular function just wither.

 

[LazyGamer]

I think you should put some articles up there that are pertinent — it could be “this is what we like” or “this is how we are finding components to buy” or “we like X but in our reviews we found A, B, and C are close and here’s why” or even “may want to hold off because of Y and Z”

I think the important thing is to have pertinent and useful content and not let that particular function just wither.

Dan's reviews point some of this out, such as ASUS' fan controller software and the poorer performance of Realtek NICs versus Intel.

That's kind of the direction I'd suggest as well. Generally, unless something is fundamentally broke with a particular model (or even revision), that product will perform much like its counterparts up and down the manufacturer's product range, plus or minus a few features or capabilities.

 

[Brian_B]

Yeah I like the reviews, I just don’t want to see the Build Recommendations section die, and it would be a good place to cross promote the review content

 

[Endgame]

Here is an article from Anandtech that covers what I really like to see, but I think they could have done a little more - https://www.anandtech.com/show/12072/best-motherboards

Reviewers get to handle dozens of models of whatever (in this case motherboard). Given that whole range of experience, they can typically say "Hey, the sweet spot is X, and its what I would use if I were recommending a board to a friend". That kind of article and advise is really the most valuable to me, presuming I trust the reviewer / site.

Note, I think the Anandtech article could be done better. For example:
I think it would be more valuable to most people to have a High End category instead of money is no object. In the linked article, is the Aorus Xtreme really the best board above $250, or does it just have the most stuff thrown in? Is there, say, a $450 board that essentially covers what the Xtreme does but shaves $250 off the price?

I would prefer to see two (maaaayyyybbe 3) recommendations at the sweet spot, but not from the same manufacturer. That way if I happen to hate, say, Asus boards for example, I can get a recommendation at the sweet spot for another brand. Additionally, I really want the sweet spot to just be the sweet spot - Anandtech seems to have some unmentioned price bracket for this recommendation. If the sweet spot really is $300, then its $300 - Given the rule that I'm recommending this to a friend, I'm going to have him spend the extra 75-90 on "the sweet spot" motherboard than save a few bucks just to hit a price bracket. If I have to when making a full build recommendation, I'll cut back on Ram, SSD, or even video card as those are dramatically easier to change a year or two down the line than a motherboard (or power supply or CPU).

At the value end, I would like a little more explanation on exactly what I'm compromising on - feel free to cut / paste out of the mother board review.

If FPS review had a few of these "best" articles, the build recommendations would come together really easily. I would say, go for "Best Motherboard, Best Power Supply, Best SSD, Best Case + Heatsink (those two seem to go together a lot - ex, I need a case that will fit a D15, or a case that will fit a 360mm rad)". IMO the rest of the decisions are pretty easy - Video cards are all approximately the same regardless of manufacturer, processors mostly choose themselves for a particular budget / use case, and ram generally boils down to "Capacity + Speed + latency + RGB or no RGB".

 

[David_Schroth]

I'm absolutely interested in the "best of" articles. I haven't pushed forward with them as we quite frankly have not seen a high enough volume of stuff on the review bench to make a legitimate article. Maybe we have at this point though, but what I don't want to have is a listicle that's basically a desk review of paper specs for boards OR use other site's reviews for us to judge them with.

Sadly.. listicles get clicktickles....

 

[LazyGamer]

I'm absolutely interested in the "best of" articles. I haven't pushed forward with them as we quite frankly have not seen a high enough volume of stuff on the review bench to make a legitimate article. Maybe we have at this point though, but what I don't want to have is a listicle that's basically a desk review of paper specs for boards OR use other site's reviews for us to judge them with.

Sadly.. listicles get clicktickles....

If you reference other sites, the reader still saw the articles on FPSReview... so don't you still get 'paid'?

Asking because that's how I think it works, and because I realize that that's probably pretty naive.

Anyway, you have the whole internet to fill in blanks with. Main point is to get the 'framework' done, get the traffic and reputation established, and then fill in the blanks so that you become that 'one stop shop', right?

 

[Dan_D]

I'm absolutely interested in the "best of" articles. I haven't pushed forward with them as we quite frankly have not seen a high enough volume of stuff on the review bench to make a legitimate article. Maybe we have at this point though, but what I don't want to have is a listicle that's basically a desk review of paper specs for boards OR use other site's reviews for us to judge them with.

Sadly.. listicles get clicktickles....

I've done "best of" or "worst of" articles in the past. They did very well in the past. However, I don't think they are as much useful as they are entertaining.

 

[Endgame]

I've done "best of" or "worst of" articles in the past. They did very well in the past. However, I don't think they are as much useful as they are entertaining.

Worst of is entertaining, I think. Best of is actually something to consider for a build. If you and, say, 2 other sites agree with Anandtech about the best sweet spot board, then it’s a slam dunk to use. If everyone has different opinions, I now have 3-4 boards to read reviews about instead of dozens.

 

[Dan_D]

Worst of is entertaining, I think. Best of is actually something to consider for a build. If you and, say, 2 other sites agree with Anandtech about the best sweet spot board, then it’s a slam dunk to use. If everyone has different opinions, I now have 3-4 boards to read reviews about instead of dozens.

Well, my lists / articles were about the best and worst of all time up to the time I wrote them. I've never done a "best of at the time" article. Anandtech and those sites have tons more personnel than we do and data on many more boards than we do. At best, I can give you a best of or worst of out of what we've tested. At this point, I could probably do that for X570 boards as we've tested so many of them.