Open mic: I want YOU to tell me what YOU want!

Mathieu Bourgie | November 13, 2008 | View Comments

Today, I’m taking a step back on this blog and I’m letting you speak.
My role is to help you out with computers in various ways and to do that better, I want your feedback. After all, this is your blog, it is you who form the community which drives this blog. Without you, I’m simply talking into the void. No point in that.

Let’s get started:
First of all, what do you think of the new look for parts for the Computer Systems posts?
Here’s an example coming from the latest post, the High-end Gaming Computer.

As you can see, on the left, you have a picture of the product, a link to get to a page to enlarge the image, the price when I wrote the article, with a link to check real-time pricing, the number of reviews on NewEgg, as well as the customer rating based on those reviews, from 1 to 5.

On your right, you have the name of the product, various specifications and a link for real-time price, additional specs and all the reviews.

At the end of each post, I resume the entire system in a simple table.

From left to right, you have the type of components, my recommendation of which part to buy for that particular component and the price.

Following that, you have various ratings regarding performance in a few aspects, power consumption, overclocking potential and value for the money. You’ll notice that for each computer system, I include only the parts that are necessary to build the PC, along with the operating system.

Your part:

This is where I want your feedback. I want your opinion on what you think could be improved? What should be added?

I also want to know if you want me to include other components as well, such as the monitor, the keyboard, the mouse, speakers, controllers, etc.?

If yes, which one(s)?
If no, why not?

Hardware Revolution will be going through a major update, coming to you soon so this why I’m here. This is your blog and through your feedbacks, you can help improve not only your experience on this blog, but also everyone else’s experience here. I will implant good ideas suggested by you, so here’s your chance to make a difference!

If it’s your first time here, let us know of what’s your first impression of this blog? What do you think need improvement? What did impress you?

I invite you to take the time to write a comment, right under this post. It’s free, all you have to put in is your name, e-mail and if you wish, a website url that you would like to promote. Speak loud and clearly, for this is your blog!

Category: News

About Mathieu Bourgie: Hi, nice to meet you! I’m a computer enthusiast with 10 years of experience in building, fixing and modifying computers. I opened up my first computer case over a decade ago, to see what it was made of, how it works and over time I’ve developed a great passion for computers, especially for all the hardware and bits that makes it happen. In the month of April 2008, I launched Hardware Revolution and ... Read more at my about page. .

  • Rich
    Just stumbled upon your blog ... looks like something I'llvisit more often. Something that I'm doing just now is looking to build a video/still editing platform ... suggestions?
    rock on!
  • TLynx
    Hey! Been reading this page for a couple weeks now and love everything about it. I'm fairly new to building computers, so this page has been a real help. Now for what I would like on the blog is some info on keeping my system cool. I've been looking for something that uses air conditioning and keep it dust free as well. I've seen a few places that sell boxes that do that, but you're looking at a thousand or more to buy it. Any help on protecting my comp would be great.

    Thanks again for the site and keep up the good work.
  • Hey Sid, thanks for leaving a comment.

    I understand your situation, importation fees, lower competition, exchange rate and many other factors influence prices.

    It will be a pleasure for me to design a gaming PC based on an AMD platform. Just let me know what is your budget, any particular requirement(s) and I'll make the best gaming system that I can out of that budget.
  • Glad to hear that you like it. I agree that anyone can build a fast $4,000 computer, just pick some of the best for every component. Will it be fast? Sure. You probably just wasted 2 grand too.

    In these times of economic slowdown, the budget builds are more popular than ever and finding the right balance of power between all the components is really important.

    Why? Because if for example, you buy a really fast video card (GTX 280 say) but team it up with a slow processor (AMD Sempron LE-1250), the processor will be a bottleneck for the video card and your system won't perform to the level you expect from it.

    That's just an example, you also have to consider the RAM, the power and amperage required for the power supply and much more. I'm not saying that it's really hard, but you do need experience and a deep understanding of the interrelation between all the components to design efficient systems, with a good price tag that is. ;)

    Not to mention, some people just want to browse the web. You don't need the latest quad-core with 8GB of RAM for that, just a bare minimum system will do and it will leave more benjamins in your wallet!
  • I use whatever part is the best depending on the budget that I use for a particular design. I don't see brand, I see whatever part offers the best bang for the buck ;)

    Of course, some may say that I favor Intel, but I can't help it but say that their cpus have the edge in many situations lately.

    I could recommend peripherals items in a separate section and also do a full comparison at various price ranges every so often, what do you think?

    Thanks for the kind words, I appreciate :)
  • infinite0light
    first of all , nice blog here , very good way of viewing contents ...

    i think this computer price and components r excellent , although i'd prefer a core 2 quad one for myself ... the 4x2 GB DDR is an excellent choice , would last for couple of years ... i'd just need a multi-touch support screen for my next operating system (win 7) , ,, screen supporting multi-touch is like ASUS which is gonna be released at the start of the upcoming year with the win 7 release date ...
    this is just what i know for the moment , and i'm sure many companies r gonna fight with the multi-touch technology for the updoming days ...

    i'd like a to add some cool and comfortable mouse and keyboard , a mouse should support my needs with shortcuts and so on ...
    about the speakers , make a cool sound system for ur needs ...

    i think $1.5k is a very good price for such components - so GL ;)
  • This is a great resource for system builders, keep up the good work. Now, if you could only tell me where to find a pile of money to finance my next build...
  • Sid
    smart build for gaming pc, but can you make a system using a amd processor?

    in my country, Indonesia!!. The pentium Motherboard and AMD motherboard had a very different pricing...

    So please can u make a sistem suggestion using an amd processor and motherboard?
    thx..
  • i want quad-core mac!!! can u digg it?
  • Matt,
    I really like the site. I like the detailed builds that you lay out. It's nice to have the pricing too. I'm glad that you do a variety of builds from high to low end.
    Anyone can make a $4,000 machine fast, but doing it on a budget is really helpfu.
  • Feragola
    Glad to see you are using a ATI Video card. I got sick of reading articles that were still pushing NVidia, with some even blatantly stating that they know that the new ATI cards are fast, but they are not as cool as the NVidia cards or some stupid reason like that.

    Commenting on the layout of the review, it looks very professional. There are links to look at additional information and a few pictures and graphic design so that it doesn't look like a block of words.

    I think that including peripherals items in a system like the one shown above, mice and keyboards, etc. may be better served if talked about in a separate section, maybe a shoot out comparison.

    Overall, the reason I love this site is that you cover all the bases without some of the bias that I have seen in other forms of hardware review. Keep up the good work.
  • Hey Mat! I like your blog - the look and feel of it. It is clean and easy to read. Personally, I think you should include other components as well. In fact, all the ones you mention in your post.
  • Thank you, although I'm looking for feedback on how the page look, the page design, not the actual system.

    As for the why of the dual core, it's because the vast majority of games use either one or two cores, so two of the 4 cores on a quad core would be left unused. Thus why you are better with a faster dual core for gaming. Here's an excellent review: http://tinyurl.com/47mos3
  • Great system. The only thing I would change would be the processor. Possibly a core 2 quad, couple extra bucks, but nothing is worth doing unless you do it right. Cheers.
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