Welcome to Guru3D's PC Buyer's Guide. Please note that we'll only cover the "innards" of the PC itself. External peripheral devices like; monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, chassis, etc are not included. We do this for brevity's sake, as there is a huge range of them and personal choice can influence the purchasing of those items. Thus, by sticking to the "guts", you are free to chose whatever "body" you like. However, if you are in need of assistance, feel free to ask in our supportive forums.

Since this site is called "Guru3D", we will target a system primarily intended for gaming while not spending heaps of money. So here are the main criteria that we take into account when deciding what parts to recommend:

Price & Performance: First and foremost, what gives the most bang for your bucks, in terms of gaming of course.
Reliability: Second on the list but just as important. This includes things such as compatibility (ever had RAM that worked on one motherboard but not in another?), trustworthiness of a brand overall (do they have a history of making reliable parts?) in addition to the reliability of the part in question.
Overclockability: Overclocking can help squeeze out that extra performance for free out of a system and can make a big impact on price versus performance (why should you buy a $1000 CPU if you can overclock a $300 CPU to match it?) so this factor may swing our decision.
Heat & Power: Heat is the enemy of any computer and it can affect the stability (and reliability) of it. Performance per watt has improved over time. Thus, having an efficient system for your needs would be better for your wallet and the environment in the long run.