I want to try building a PC. I want to buy a motherboard, CPU and RAM on eBay. I already have pretty much everything else. I'm having trouble telling which chips are compatible with which motherboards. Is there a good database of the specs for various models? Basically, I need to know for a given motherboard a list of supported CPUs, maximum RAM, and RAM type. I've been Googling the various names, but often can't find any information at all.
Research .... There is no easy way to find what you want... You have to look up the motherboard first and then look up CPU's supported and then the ram...
Well, as you've discovered, there are many products, and they have their uses depending on the situation and cost. What you intend to use the system for is critical. If you're just using this for email, internet and office software (word, excel, etc.) an 8-core Xeon or top-end i7 is way overkill in the same way a Hummer is for a pizza delivery boy. Without a purpose, it's very hard to zero in on your needs. Additionally, besides hardware, you should factor in the OS if you don't have a copy ready to install. If you have Windows XP, support may not be available for the latest hardware, so you may need to budget for a copy of Windows 8 (or 7, if you can find it) or consider a Linux distribution if appropriate. But, yeah, decide what you want to use the machine for and a potential budget.
