An old PC is like putty in your hands. Tim Dean looks at how you can shape it into a new system with a few easy upgrades.

Looking to build your dream machine? We explore the latest components on the market, and give you advice on which ones to hunt down, along with the general price you can expect to pay for each major component.

Want to break free from a Microsoft world? Leigh Dyer looks at the alternatives.

The choice of motherboard is also very important, because its the nervous system of your PC, communicating with all the peripherals, memory and processor. Look for a healthy number of PCI slots (five

Our full guide to saving cash-saving secrets is here, from how to get discounts on PCs, to SIM only phone contracts, the best DSLR cameras deals, and discount licensing from Adobe, Microsoft and others.

Cutting edge technology is bringing powerful enterprise-grade solutions to the small and medium business sector. Read on for tips, analysis and tutorials about how you can take advantage.

Its powerful, great value and comes with a superb lcd.what more could power users want?

A big brash, powerful pc with loads of features and a giant screen. It’s a good thing, because the orange case distracts from the DDR5’s true purpose: performance.

The cheapest system to be submitted for review in our performance roundup, it just goes to show that even $4000 will get you a hell of a lot of PC for your money. PCQUEST has also opted to go with a CoolerMaster case, both for its attractive looks and functionality, this housing able to hold a massive five optical drives and four hard disk drives, erring on the side of more is better.

We provide the commentary on a bruising eight-round battle between Vista and Tiger.

Stack your system full of software without paying a penny, with our guide to essential downloads

An large capacity extrenal drive that looks like something out of the Guggenheim.

It's expensive, but the YES Box successfully marries high-end and consumer features in a flexible and scalable device.

At first glance, the Seagate Pocket Hard Drive appears very similar to a yo-yo in both size and mechanics. No, you won't be able to perform tricks with it, but … the attached USB cable does wrap around the device in a stringy sort of way.

While hard disk drive speed is commonly one of the last considerations when putting together a new machine, its importance is more than just a place to store your files and operating system.

In an unusual combination of styles, DigitalStar has used a silver Cooler Master Centurion full size ATX case, but coupled this with a black optical drive and floppy disk drive. If you're finicky about that sort of thing, there are additional face plates available that attach to the front to keep the colours consistent.

The core of SATOs SS51G is an incredibly tiny Shuttle XPC. These bare-bones boxes have been on the market for close to six months now, and have proven effective (if not over-whelming) performers and a very popular choice for building a lounge-room PC for playing music and DVD movies.

Not great value for money, but the XPS 700 offers plenty of power and striking looks.

Unlike many of our performance-based Labs, business workstations are a whole different world of PCs, focusing not on the maximum number of frames per second, or how many overall points they can churn out in any given benchmarking utility.

Intel has promised that Hyper-Threading (HT) will deliver increased efficiency and decrease the amount of time taken to accomplish multiple processes. But is it really all that it's cracked up to be?