Legit Reviews

Have a link or two to share? This is the place. I will update this post periodically with everyone's contributions, catergorized appropriately. If you find any errors and/or broken links, please shoot me a PM or email.

These links have been compiled without prejudice. Please decide for yourself how useful each one is and whether they are biased or not. With the vendors, be sure and research thoroughly before buying. Having a vendor listed in this thread does not necessarily mean that they are reliable.

Review Sites
New - GameGavel
3dChipset
3dGameMan
3dXtreme
8Dimensional
Ace's Hardware
AMD Board
AMDZone
AnandTech
ArsTechnica
Beyond3D
BigBruin
Bjorn3d
ClubOverclocker
Daily Rotation
ExtremeOverclocking
ExtremeTech
FiringSquad
FrostyTech
GameSpot
GamePC
Gear.IGN
GotFrag
Guru3d
HardCoreWare
HardOCP
Hardware Analysis
Hardware Zone
HardwareLogic (I write reviews for this site - Paul Lilly)
Hexus
HotHardware
InsaneTek
The Inquirer
LAN Addict
LegitReviews
LostCircuits
MadShrimps
MBReview
MaximumPC
Motherboards.org
Neoseeker
OCPrices
OCTools
Overclocker Cafe
Overclockers
PCGamer
PC Perspective
PCStats
Rabid Hardware
Rage3d
Sharky Extreme
StorageReview
SystemCooling
The Register
Tech-Report
Tech Power Up!
TechARP (Formerly Rojak Pot)
Tom's Hardware
Trusted Reviews
Tweak3d
TweakTown
ViperLair
XBitLabs

Once you've looked up your hardware and are ready to buy, dive into the following:

DEAL SITES, COUPON CODES
AllTechDeals
BensBargains
DealCatcher
Deals2Buy
FatWallet
GotApex?
SlickDeals
TechBargains
XPBargains

PRICE COMPARISONS
BizRate
DealTime
Froogle
MySimon
PriceWatch
PriceGrabber

VENDOR FEEDBACK
ResellerRatings
Epinions

COMPUTER PERIPHERAL VENDORS
CaseCooler
ChiefValue
ComputerHQ
CrazyPC
CyberGuys
DealSonic
Directron
eXcaliberPC
FrozenCPU
FuturePowerPC
GameVE
Geeks
InfotechNow
Intrex
Jab-Tech
Monarch Computer
Micer
MWave
Newegg
Outpost (aka Fry's Electronics)
Performance PCs
PlasmaMods
Plycon
Silicon Valley Compucycle (SVC)
Sidewinder Computers
TigerDirect
UltraProducts
VoyeurMods
Xoxide
Xtreme Gear
ZipZoomFly (Formerly GoogleGear

NON-US COMPUTER PERIPHERAL VENDORS
AdpMods (CA)
Anitec (CA)
Argon Computing (UK)
Auction Depot (CA � bids in USD)
AutDirect (UK)
BigfootComputers (CA)
ByteWizeComputers (CA)
BTE Computers (CA)
Canada Computers (CA)
Dabs (UK)
Dangeo (CA)
EBuyer (UK)
Kelkoo (UK)
Komplett (UK)
KustomPCs (UK)
MemoryExpress (CA)
MeshComputers (UK)
Ncix (CA)
Novatech (UK)
OEMExpress (CA)
Overclockers UK (UK)
PC Canada (CA)
PCUpgrade (UK)
PCW Component Center (UK)
PCWorld UK (UK)
Planet Micro (UK)
PriceNetwork (CA)
Real-PC (CA)
Tiger Direct (CA)
SavaStore (UK)
Scan Computers (UK)
Simply (UK)
TechFever (UK)
VFXWeb (CA)
Whisper Computers (UK)
XCase (UK)

ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS
Digi-Key
Mouser
Newark

MODDING SITES
CaseModGod
The Best Case Scenario
ModTheBox (Canadian based)
MNPCTech (Modding Supplies)
MVKTech (GPU BIOS Resource Center)
PimpRig

MISC
3dChipsetSpecs (A WEALTH of video card specifications � very extensive)
Broadband Reports (formerly DSLReports) (Broadband Info/Tools)
Commport (MaximumPC�s former forum home with chat)
CPU Decorder Ring (A WEALTH of CPU information/specs)
DPreview (Digital Cameras)
Dilbert (Office humor)
E-Tronics (Electronics Vendor)
First Adopter (Site for early tech adopters)
J&R (Electronics Vendor)
Jinx (T-Shirts)
Penny Arcade (Geek oriented cartoons - may contain adult language)
Portable Apps (Bunch of portable apps that can fit on thumb drive)
ThinkGeek (All kinds of cool geek stuff)
TinyURL (Make long links manageable)
Offline T-Shirts (T-Shirts)
WikiPedia (Community created/maintained encyclopedia)

ANTIQUATED LINKS
DriverGuide
Fraw.org
FreeDOS
OldVersion
TinyApps
XLR8YourMac

Not the 'hands-on' type of person and prefer a prebuilt machine? No problem. Have a peek below:

PREBUILT COMPUTERS
ABS Computers
Alienware
CyberPower
Dell
Falcon-Northwest
Gateway
Hewlett Packard / Compaq
IBuyPower
PlanetComputers
VelocityMicro
VoodooPC

Highly useful apps:

FREE SECURITY
AdAware - spyware scanner
AM Browser - (IE shell with tabbed browsing, pop-up blocker, formerly known as CrazyBrowser)
AntiVir Personal Edition
AVG Free Edition - antivirus scanner (recommended)
FireFox - (alternative browser) Maxthon Browser � (IE shell with tabbed browsing, ad hunter)
Spybot - spyware scanner
ZoneAlarm - firewall
Windows Defender (Microsoft�s free spyware scanner, currently in beta)

TWEAKING INFO/UTILITIES
Adrian's Rojak Pot (Various articles, awesome resource)
AnswersThatWork � Task List (Repository of Task List Programs)
Ask Marvin (Internet tweaking tips, Canadian based)
Bios Optimization Guide)
BlackViper (Optimization Tips)
CCleaner (Cleans temp files, history, cache, etc)
Computer Glossary (Tons Of Computer Terms)
Corsair�s System Building Guide
Download.com (Various Apps)
FlyakiteOSX (Transforms WinXP into an OSX lookalike)
Folding at Home (Distributed Computer � cure diseases!)
FunWithXP (A Boatload Of Windows Links!)
MajorGeeks (Various Apps)
MechBgon (System Building Guide)
Pinouts (Hardware pinouts, cable schemes, etc!)
PSU Calculator (Calculate required wattage)
RaceLineCentral (Optimizations Tips)
SnapFiles (Various Apps)
Software Patch (Various WinXP Updates/Patches)
SourceForge (Various Apps, Open Source)
SpeedFan (System Vitals Info)
The Free Country (Various Apps)
Tucows (Various Apps)
Tweak Guides
TweakXP

BENCHMARKING/BURN-IN/SYSTEM INFO
3dMark01SE (System Benchmark, somewhat dated)
3dMark05 (Video Card Benchmark)
3dMark06 (Video/System Benchmark)
Everest (Complete system information, has memory benchmarking)
HD Tach (Hard disk drive benchmark)
Memtest86 (RAM stress tester)
PCMark04 (System Benchmark)
Prime95 (CPU Stability)
SiSoft Sandra Lite (Complete system information, some benchmarks)
Super Pi (System Benchmark)

LINUX/OPEN SOURCE
Distro Watch
Freshmeat
IceWalkers
Linux Gamers
Linuxgames
Linux.org
Linux-On-Laptops
Linux Weekly News
OpenOffice (Free MSOffice Alternative!)
OS News

IMAGE HOSTING
ImageCave
ImageShack
PhotoBucket *Recommended
TinyPic
VillagePhotos

And finally, the number one link that should be in everyone's arsenal:

GOOGLE

wow, dude. great work

thanks!

do you know if any of those uk vendors ship to the us?

audiophile wrote: do you know if any of those uk vendors ship to the us?

I really have no idea on those. Counting this forum, I have this list posted on four different sites, one of which is PCGamer. PCG is where the bulk of the UK links came from, so many in fact that I added the 'Non-US' category.

If you're looking for UK vendors that ship to the US, short of clicking each one individually, you could try posing the question on PCG and see who they recommend. I was suprised by the number of UK based members they had over there.

Yeah, it definitely seems a lot of work went into it. I keep thinking of a site that I go to, and sure enough, its in the list. Nice job! Thanks!

thats a big ol' list. that will take a bit of time to go through.

~UPDATED~

Various links added:

http://www.dangeo.com
http://www.ccleaner.com
http://www.vfxweb.com
http://www.firstadopter.com
http://www.bytewizecomputers.com/

Couple of updated URLs:

CaseModGod (previously listed incorrect URL)
Linux Gamers (had an extra http:// in it)
MaxPC Commport Chat Room (updated URL to start page)

http://www.redflagdeals.com

Deals and coupon codes for Canadians.

Hey, you should add the following to your COMPUTER PERIPHERAL VENDORS section:

Performance PCs
Sidewinder Computers
SVC (Silicon Valley Compucycle)

I've ordered from all of the above and every time has been great!

Updated - thx fellas

very useful, thanks!

I noticed you have some browsers listed. I use Firefox but before I knew about Firefox I used Avant Browser and it's quite nice. It's basically an IE version of Firefox in that it has tabbed browsing and cool themes and pop-up blocker and stuff.

Awesome resource. Thank you for the links.

Hi,

You may want to add http://www.trustedreviews.com on to that list.

~UPDATED~

Various links added:

Computer Glossary
FunWithXP
Software Patch
SpeedFan
Trusted Reviews
TweakGuides

why is froogle listed twice ?

supplement some links I have checked for well
Review
Cnet

Deals, Coupons
Dealunion
Deals2buy

DeusEx wrote:why is froogle listed twice ?

I wondered the same thing... One4 must like Froogle.

Man, that is a pretty huge list! Thanks a lot for taking the time--it blows my mind just looking at all those sites.

pcrobot wrote:

DeusEx wrote:why is froogle listed twice ?

I wondered the same thing... One4 must like Froogle.

Well hey, you never know when you might want to search for an item twice.

Updated...

I like to look at item multiple times before I buy it...