How to shop for awesome and compatible PC parts the easy way

This is part six of a timeboxed series. [ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ]

I'm no hardware guru, but I have assembled a dozen or so PCs. I recently upgraded most of the guts of my computer and spent a little time developing a simple and straightforward way to find compatible PC parts without having to know many technical details.

1. Use Newegg

First, do all of your shopping through Newegg. If you're a real penny pincher, you might be able to find better deals by scouring the net, but it's just not worth the extra effort for whatever marginally better price you may find.

Newegg is on the level, and will always be within the same ballpark. Newegg is reputable, reliable, and other words that start with the letter R. Newegg rocks. And I am a big nerd, so you should believe what I say!

2. Leverage knowledge of what most other customers bought

If you're dumb as a bag of hammers when it comes to PC hardware, a really good way to hone in on compatible parts is to find a popular and highly rated motherboard that you like and let all remaining decisions be driven by the "Customers Also Bought" feature.

3. Lean on the nerds.

In computer programming, the phrase "Lean on the compiler." is used to help remind us that we can leverage our compilers for many types of hide-and-seek grunt work and save ourselves a lot of time.

In searching for compatible PC parts, you need to "Lean on the nerds." Most of the people spending money on Newegg know what they're doing. If people who buy one highly rated motherboard also buy a certain other highly rated CPU, there is an extremely high chance those parts are compatible.

4. [Freedom to] Ignore the bad comments

If you shop this way and only consider 4 or 5 star products, you are able to (and should) ignore the bad comments. The people crying foul are in the minority for one, so it is unlikely you will experience their difficulties. Additionally, my observation from reading many of these comments is that most of these people are simply buying incompatible parts. Slightly incompatible or huge incompatible, but incompatible.

5. Find "buying buddies" in the good comments

You will find themes in the good comments, and those are what you want to feel out. This is like looking for apartment roommates. You may have some requirements, or maybe you'll know it when you see it, but you'll want to get a feel for what you're getting yourself into before you commit. And the comments that are in the majority will tell you that.

So, be smart. And by smart, I mean lazy. Lean on the nerds!