Everyone at some point or another has bought computer hardware only to find out it wasn’t powerful enough, or that money could have been saved because too much was purchased. Sometimes it’s tough to find that happy medium where you get what you want without spending too much.

This is a quick true-or-false list on some of the more common computer hardware items. Feel free to add in your own with a comment or two.

"The bigger the monitor, the more you need a better graphics card."

False

Physical size of a monitor doesn’t count when it comes to a graphics card, but the native resolution does. For example, if you upgrade from a 21.5-inch monitor to a 23-inch monitor, and both have a native resolution of 1920×1080, it’s not necessary to upgrade your graphics card if it worked just fine with the 21.5-inch.

If on the other hand you have an existing monitor with a 1920×1080 resolution and upgrade to one with 2560×1600, then yes, you may want to entertain the idea of using a more powerful graphics card to accommodate for the increased resolution.

"All case fans are the same"

False

This is so false it’s not even funny. It amazes me that some people put so much money into building a PC but skimp on the case fans and go with the cheap-o’s, then complain why their PC is so loud when running afterward.

Should you spend good cash on fans? Always. Should they be the kind with variable speed control, better bearings and super-quiet operation? Always.

"7200 RPM hard drives are better than 10000/15000 RPM hard drives"

True

The reason why the 7200 RPM is better is because it will typically last longer. High-speed HDDs usually live a short life (sometimes less than a year) by literally burning themselves out.

Yes, high-speed HDDs are quick and great to use for gaming. But for everything else you’re better off using the tried-and-true 7200.

For laptops, 5400 RPM is the HDD of choice because it emits the least heat for a platter-based HDD.

"If it’s EXTREME, it’s crap."

True (mostly)

Use of the word extreme is something I avoid like the plague for any computer hardware – and I mean any. The vast majority of the time it denotes a product that is expensive simply for the sake of being expensive. The product is also usually accompanied by "cool" packaging, such as a black box with lightning stickers or some other Saturday-morning-cartoon style crap on it.

Also, a telltale sign that the product is on the crappy side is if something else is given (but not really) away with it, such as, "Buy X product, get Y game FREE!" This begs the question: If the product was so EXTREMELY good, why would it be necessary to throw out a bone like that just to sell it?

Only on rare occasions will you see an EXTREME labeled product that’s actually worth the price. One such example of the Intel Core i7 Extreme 6-core. Yes, six cores. It’s the only game in town at the moment if you want that many cores. Aside from the cartoony black box, free game giveaway, blah blah blah, it does deliver.

"If it lights up, it must be good."

False

I fell for this myself, but fortunately didn’t lose my shirt over it.

Swayed by the coolness of using a backlit computer keyboard, I bought a Saitek Eclipse that had blue LED backlights. The paint started to rub off the keys in under a year. Sure, it still works fine, but now it’s fugly looking. Fortunately it only cost me $29 on a holiday special, so it was an inexpensive lesson to learn. However I’ve read about other backlit keyboards that are far more expensive that suffered similar fates.

We as computery people like things like light up; it’s like candy to us. Try your best not to go googly-eyed over, "Oooh, aaah.. pretty lights.."

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