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Your favorite/least favorite brands

zekrahminator

McLovin
Joined
Jan 29, 2006
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Location
My house.
Processor AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Brisbane @ 2.8GHz (224x12.5, 1.425V)
Motherboard Gigabyte sumthin-or-another, it's got an nForce 430
Cooling Dual 120mm case fans front/rear, Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro, Zalman VF-900 on GPU
Memory 2GB G.Skill DDR2 800
Video Card(s) Sapphire X850XT @ 580/600
Storage WD 160 GB SATA hard drive.
Display(s) Hanns G 19" widescreen, 5ms response time, 1440x900
Case Thermaltake Soprano (black with side window).
Audio Device(s) Soundblaster Live! 24 bit (paired with X-530 speakers).
Power Supply ThermalTake 430W TR2
Software XP Home SP2, can't wait for Vista SP1.
You know, I feel like starting a thread where all we do is discuss the PC brands we like/hate :). I'll start...
My favorite brands are Arctic Cooling for making such great and easy to use cooling products, Mushkin for making 1337 RAM, Western Digital, ASRock, AMD, and Gigabyte for making reliable (but not bullet proof) hardware, and Thermaltake for making good products and power supplies.

My least favorite brands are Foxconn for using sweatshop labor (supposedly), Jetway for shipping video cards with dead memory, and Antec for making a squeling PSU that killed a gig of memory and a motherboard (that cost serious money to replace, now I have to buy a new power supply ><).
 

Azn Tr14dZ

New Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2006
Messages
5,288 (0.80/day)
Processor AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Motherboard DFI LanParty nf4 Ultra-D
Cooling Thermaltake Big Typhoon
Memory 2x512MB GeIL
Video Card(s) ATI Radeon X800XL
Storage 2x80GB Western Digital
Display(s) HP vs17
Case SuperTalent
Audio Device(s) Soundblaster
Power Supply Ultra X-Finity 500 Watt
  • AMD for Kick-Ass Processors
  • GeIL for great memory (don't get me wrond here Mushkin/Ketxxx, haven't tried you yet...)
  • DFI for making great overclocking motherboards
  • Wester Digital for great hard drives
  • Thermaltake for the Big Typhoon
  • Zalman for great VGA/CPU coolers

Hey Zek, Jetway makes (a) great motherboard. Mostly/only the 939GT4-SLI. Besides that, yeah....go and hate them.

Check your PM.
 
Last edited:

JC316

Knows what makes you tick
Joined
Jan 24, 2006
Messages
9,397 (1.42/day)
System Name Budget Gaming
Processor AMD FX6300
Motherboard Gigabyte 880GMA-USB3
Cooling Coolermaster Hyper 212+
Memory 8GB Ripjaws DDR3 1600
Video Card(s) HD7850 1GB
Storage 1TB Sata2
Display(s) Acer 24" LED
Case Generic black
Audio Device(s) Stock onboard
Power Supply FSP Aurum Gold 650W
Software Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
1. AMD. For their kick ass overclocking ability
2. Antec. For their rock solid PS
3. ATI. For the best damn video cards ever made
4. Corsair. For a good solid ram at a decent price.
 

zekrahminator

McLovin
Joined
Jan 29, 2006
Messages
9,066 (1.37/day)
Location
My house.
Processor AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Brisbane @ 2.8GHz (224x12.5, 1.425V)
Motherboard Gigabyte sumthin-or-another, it's got an nForce 430
Cooling Dual 120mm case fans front/rear, Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro, Zalman VF-900 on GPU
Memory 2GB G.Skill DDR2 800
Video Card(s) Sapphire X850XT @ 580/600
Storage WD 160 GB SATA hard drive.
Display(s) Hanns G 19" widescreen, 5ms response time, 1440x900
Case Thermaltake Soprano (black with side window).
Audio Device(s) Soundblaster Live! 24 bit (paired with X-530 speakers).
Power Supply ThermalTake 430W TR2
Software XP Home SP2, can't wait for Vista SP1.
Come to think of it, Antec is generally good, I probably just got a bad model (one with pages upon pages of reviews complaining about PSU squealing...for future reference that is NOT normal on ANY power supply guys). ATI is an opinion thing, for example, Nvidia usually has the most eye candy :), and ATI usually has the most realism. And yes Corsair/Mushkin/GEIL all belong in the group of RAM manufacterers that have 1 bad stick of memory in a million.
 

ktr

Joined
Apr 7, 2006
Messages
7,404 (1.13/day)
ecs sucks....

gigabyte ftw!
 
Last edited:

stealthfighter

New Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2006
Messages
557 (0.09/day)
Location
at my pc
Processor P4 2.8
Motherboard Intel D865PERL
Memory 2x512 Ballistix DDR400
Video Card(s) GeForce 5200
Storage Maxtor 120GB
Power Supply Allied 300w 10A
1. Intel for great processors and they invented dual core and are coming out with 4 core tech next month (and they make pocessors AND motherbords so if you have intel cpu and intel mobo it results in best compatibility)
2. Ballistix for making fast/high performance ram w/ heatsinks
3. Nvidia for CoolBits and the 6800 I'm getting christmas :D
4. Maxtor cause I've used a really old 8gig from them that worked but its really just hard drives so whatever
 

JC316

Knows what makes you tick
Joined
Jan 24, 2006
Messages
9,397 (1.42/day)
System Name Budget Gaming
Processor AMD FX6300
Motherboard Gigabyte 880GMA-USB3
Cooling Coolermaster Hyper 212+
Memory 8GB Ripjaws DDR3 1600
Video Card(s) HD7850 1GB
Storage 1TB Sata2
Display(s) Acer 24" LED
Case Generic black
Audio Device(s) Stock onboard
Power Supply FSP Aurum Gold 650W
Software Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
I don't like ASrock or Aopen. I don't like the 939 Dual Sata 2, the only reason I got it was because I was running an AGP, but knew I was going to get PCI-E. Aopen is just cheap crap.
 

pt

not a suicide-bomber
Joined
Mar 11, 2006
Messages
8,956 (1.36/day)
Location
Portugal
Processor AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile TL-60 (Trinidad)
Motherboard ASUS F3Ka (ATI RS690M)
Cooling stock
Memory Nanya 2x1GB ddr2 667@5-5-5-15-2T
Video Card(s) ATI Mobility Radeon HD2600 512MB DDR2@ 580mhz/486mhz
Storage 160GB on laptop+250GB external
Display(s) ASUS 15.4
Case Asus Laptop F3Ka chassis
Audio Device(s) on-board
Power Supply 1:30minutes battery
Software "genui xp", 'cause i hated vista
favorite / least favorite
CPU - AMD for Kick-Ass Processors :) /Intel, 'cause they are too hot (p4)
RAM - G.skill, before that i only had infineon and kingston / Kingston (big timmingsat ddr400)
MB - DFI for (never had one, but i would like to) / Asus (grab a new board and you will see)
HDD - Seagate for silent and reliability / none realy
Cooler - Thermalright (the best) / Intel P4 stock cooler :p
GFX - ATI / Nvidia
case - Aerocool / hp cases :p
PSU - LC POWER / generic
 

randomperson21

New Member
Joined
Dec 28, 2005
Messages
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Location
San Luis Obispo, CA
Processor AMD Athlon64 X2 3800+ @ 2.4Ghz
Motherboard ECS NForce4 A-939
Cooling CPU: Zalman CNPS7000B-AlCu GFX: Zalman VF-700AlCu, 2x120mm+5x80mm w/ Ultra 7ch Fan Controller
Memory Kingston 2x512MB DDR PC3200 Dual Channel 3-3-3-8
Video Card(s) EVGA Nvidia 7900GT KO Superclocked
Storage 2xSeagate Barracuda 7200.8/9 160GB SATAII NCQ in RAID0: 300GB total capacity
Display(s) Samsung SyncMaster 941BW (19" widescreen, 1440x900)
Case Antec P180B
Audio Device(s) Built in. 5.1Ch Logitech Z-5500 500w soundsystem, digital Coax connection
Power Supply Spire 500W
Software Windows Vista Ultimate
favs:
AMD ! !! !!
Nvidia -lovin my 7900gt
Asus- pretty good mobos
thermaltake and zalman for cooling

Hate:
Dell (Duh)
ECS --crappiest motherboards around
Dell again
and Dell
 

Ketxxx

Heedless Psychic
Joined
Mar 4, 2006
Messages
11,521 (1.75/day)
Location
Kingdom of gods
System Name Ravens Talon
Processor AMD R7 3700X @ 4.4GHz 1.3v
Motherboard MSI X570 Tomahawk
Cooling Modded 240mm Coolermaster Liquidmaster
Memory 2x16GB Klevv BoltX 3600MHz & custom timings
Video Card(s) Powercolor 6800XT Red Devil
Storage 250GB Asgard SSD, 1TB Integral SSD, 2TB Seagate Barracuda
Display(s) 27" BenQ Mobiuz
Case NZXT Phantom 530
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar DX 7.1 PCI-E
Power Supply 1000w Supernova
Software Windows 10 x64
Benchmark Scores Fast. I don't need epeen.
least favs;

ocz
corsair
abit - suck in general, or as i like to say, abit are a-bit shit :D
dfi (picky mainboards - too picky)
nvidia (their drivers suck)

favs

asus - crosshair seriously owns all
mushkin - gods of memory :D
gigabyte - reliable high quality stuff
western digital - awesome hdds
ati - like i really need to say it :p
 

GLD

Joined
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Location
City 17, California, U.S.A.
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5700X, AMD Wraith Prism.
Motherboard ASUS TUF X570-Plus (Wi-Fi).
Cooling Antec 120mm RGB case fans.
Memory 4x8gb, G.SKILL F4-3600C16D-16GVKC.
Video Card(s) Sapphire Pulse RX 6700.
Storage PNY XLR8 CS3040 2TB 4.0x4 NVMe ssd with Vantec ICEBERQ heat sink.
Display(s) ASUS VP278QG 27", 1080p, 75hz, FreeSync.
Case Antec GX202.
Audio Device(s) Onboard sound, Logitech Z625 THX 2.1's, Logitech G430 headphones.
Power Supply Seasonic Prime GX-750.
Mouse Logitech G203 Prodigy.
Keyboard Logitech G213.
Software Windows 11 Pro, @ Day 1.

JC316

Knows what makes you tick
Joined
Jan 24, 2006
Messages
9,397 (1.42/day)
System Name Budget Gaming
Processor AMD FX6300
Motherboard Gigabyte 880GMA-USB3
Cooling Coolermaster Hyper 212+
Memory 8GB Ripjaws DDR3 1600
Video Card(s) HD7850 1GB
Storage 1TB Sata2
Display(s) Acer 24" LED
Case Generic black
Audio Device(s) Stock onboard
Power Supply FSP Aurum Gold 650W
Software Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
least favs;

ocz
corsair

favs

mushkin - gods of memory :D
:p

I think that is slightly biased, seeing as how you are a mushkin tech rep :wtf: . If they are so good, then shouldn't you be out of a job?:D j/k.
 

i_am_mustang_man

New Member
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Feb 7, 2006
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Location
Boston
Processor AMD X2 AM2+
Memory 2GB DDR2
Video Card(s) 7900gto
Storage 80GB+120GB 7200RPM IDE + 250GB SATA2 + 500GB SATA2
Display(s) 26" 1920x1200
Case Antec Nine Hundred
Audio Device(s) OnBoard
Power Supply Ultra 600W with X-Connect
Software Vista Ultimate
i effin hate albatron

but i love arctic cooling like whoa

silencer and freezer 64

i'm frosty :)
 
Joined
Dec 2, 2005
Messages
704 (0.11/day)
Location
Chicago
System Name Woot
Processor AMD FX-9590
Motherboard ASUSTeK m5a99fxpro r2.0
Cooling Corsair H100i gtx
Memory 24GB G.SKILL PC3-12800
Video Card(s) MSI GTX 970GTX
Storage 2X 256GB SANDISK SSD 3X1TB MIXED HD
Display(s) 2x 32" Sony LCD
Case CoolerMaster Storm Trooper
Audio Device(s) 5.1 Surround Onboard
Power Supply Corsair 750W
Mouse Junk
Keyboard Junk
Software Windows 10 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores Anti-Gigabyte rig!
1.amd
2.dfi
3.ati
4.ultra
5.seagate
 

Azn Tr14dZ

New Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2006
Messages
5,288 (0.80/day)
Processor AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Motherboard DFI LanParty nf4 Ultra-D
Cooling Thermaltake Big Typhoon
Memory 2x512MB GeIL
Video Card(s) ATI Radeon X800XL
Storage 2x80GB Western Digital
Display(s) HP vs17
Case SuperTalent
Audio Device(s) Soundblaster
Power Supply Ultra X-Finity 500 Watt
Corsair is good too I guess, not for DFI though.
 
Joined
May 27, 2005
Messages
3,651 (0.53/day)
Location
Little Rock Arkansas, United States
System Name Monolith
Processor Intel Xeon E3110 Wolfdale@3.5GHz
Motherboard MSI P35-Neo
Cooling Active Air
Memory 4GB DDR2 800
Video Card(s) Sapphire HD 3850 512MB PCI-E
Storage 1 x 80GB Internal, 1 x 250GB Internal, 1 x 40GB External
Display(s) Acer X203w
Case Generic black case with locking front bezel
Audio Device(s) Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS
Power Supply 500 Watt Seasonic M12
Software Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Love:
OCZ
Mushkin
Abit
ATI
Sapphire
Logitech
Seagate
Intel
AMD
Creative
Linksys

Indifferent:
Nvidia
Asus
DFI
Gateway
D-Link
Maxtor
Thermaltake

Hate:
Rosewill
Dell
 
Joined
May 20, 2004
Messages
10,487 (1.45/day)
CPU - Intel
Mobo - Something like Iwill, Tyan or Supermicro
Videocards - PowerVR, they seem to be coming with a new desktop chip after all those years. (Athena)
HD - Used to love Seagate for staying quite cool, though that's not true anymore.
Portable media player - Archos
Sound - Terratec
Toothpaste - Aquafresh

Also
Epox for their great support
And I hate Asus for their crapy service
Toshiba are suckers too, they don't update firmwares.
 
Joined
Apr 29, 2006
Messages
5,105 (0.78/day)
Location
Sydney, Australia
System Name UltraPC
Processor E8500 Core 2 Duo, 1333Mhz FSB, 3.16Ghz @ 4.5GHz (got into Windows @ 4.75GHz)
Motherboard ASUS P5Q-e
Cooling CPU Cooler - TT V14 Pro, 2x120mm CM Blue LED fans, 1x90mm CM Blue LED fan
Memory G.Skill Pi 4GB (2x2GB) Dual Channel DDR2 PC8000 (1000MHz), 5-5-5-15
Video Card(s) Sapphire HD4850 512mb with ASUS EAH4850 BIOS
Storage 2x 500GB Seagate 7200.12 Raid 0
Display(s) Acer AL1912, 19" LCD screen
Case Thermaltake Soprano Black ATX case
Audio Device(s) Onboard 7.1, Speakers - 5 + Sub + Monitor speakers
Power Supply Thermaltake 850W Toughpower Cable Management - Quad (2x18A and 2x30A) 12V rails
Software Win 7 Pro x64, MSN, CS:Source, etc etc
like:
ATi
intel
arctic coolers
abit
seagate
gigabyte
fujitsu (have a 10GB HDD thats 7 yrs old and still going :D)
Epson
HP
Microsoft
Acer monitors
LG
SMC
creative
soloman
samsung
and dell (whats wrong with dell?!?)

dislikes:
SiS!
Foxconn (my current mobo is crap)
generic
Vdata (ram stick just randomly stops working one day)
stock P4 heatsinks :p
no-name brand stuff
infineon
 

AshenSugar

New Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2006
Messages
1,998 (0.31/day)
Location
ashentech.com
Processor Athlon64 3500+(2.2gz)@2.94gz(3.03gz)
Motherboard Biostar Tforce550 (RMA) (m2n-sli delux)
Cooling PIB cooler
Memory 2gb ocz 533 +1gb samsung 533 4-4-4-12
Video Card(s) x1900xtx 512mb+zalman vf900 cooler(kicks stock coolers arse)
Storage 80gb,200gb,250gb,160gb
Display(s) 20.1 in dell 2001fp + KDS visual sensations 19"
Case Codegen briza seirse
Audio Device(s) ADI SoundMax HD audio onboard,using Ket's driver pack
Power Supply FSP 400watt SAGA seirse w/noise killer
Software Windows 2003 ent server as workstation(kills xp in perf and stab)
Ok im a noob to this forum, tho i been a fan of TPU for a LONG time, since i started getting ati bios/bios tweak programs here for my 9600 way back when it didnt suck :p

i have to comment first about people bitching about SiS,ECS and Foxconn

first off any board you choose can have problems, do your research, I have a few tips that will help you choose a good board from any brand.
1. avoid via chipsets at all caust, amd+via=headakes
2.avoid via chipsets especly on "value" brands of boards, ECS and Foxconn have both made some pretty sticky board based on via and to a lesser extent the cheaper SiS matx boards(foxconn admits they had a bad cap problem, if your board has bulding/bad caps conntact them, even out of warr boards have gotten replaced by them for me(not to far out of warr, 6-8mo or so they just replaced them and appologized)
3. look at what your getting and what you want to do with it, dont buy an ecs SiS 755/756 based board and expect to overclock with it, You cant because ECS didnt make those boards to support overclocking(no multi level voltage controls for starters), sames true for any brand.

I have had worse luck with gigabyte,asus,and MSI then ecs and foxconn, and on a truely sad point, i have gotten FAR better and more responcive service from them as well, foxconn sent me a new bios chip for my 755 based winfast board(good server board for 754 chips), ecs sent me a top hat flasher for my l7s7a2 when a beta flash they sent me to fix a dual video card problem dissabled the board(flash file was flawed) no charge from eather, the top 3 i listed all wanted 20-30 for new bios chips when they had bad flashes or had the chips die(msi had a whole seirse of boards whos chips would die if flashed more then 3-4 times)

SiS has a bad rep because of the boards they are put on, en large the boards u find them on are EXTREAM budget boards cut down as much as possable to meet a price point, there where a few gems made with SiS over the years for axp tho, the k7s5a rev1 and 5 where good, some of the middle revisions where buggy and had bad runs, they also needed a psu with VERY clean 3 and 5v lines to use pc1xx ram(sdr) because the ram voltage was pulled dirrectly from the psu and not cleaned in anyway.
The l7s7a2(ecs) was and still is one of the best darkhorse socketA boards you can ask for, it dosnt have alot of extra fetures like firewire or sata, but it makes up for that because it was 1.cheap, 2. VERY overclockable with cheapo bios, 3, ROCK SOLID STABLE 4. LOVES memory deviders, just like A64 chips onboard memory controler the sis memory controler dosnt/didnt suffer from poor perf/latancy when using memory deviders, nvidia,ali, and VIA all lost perf if you had to take the ram out of 1:1 mode.

via chipsets are the bain of an amd tech's excistance, via has never worked all the bugs out of there chipset since the MVP line(socket7) they still have some things they havent changed/fixed properly.


Now as to brands i like, well thats quite a list

seagate,hitchi(not ibm, the ibm deathstars where made with cheaper parts then the hitchi branded drives), and maxtor have all treated me well

motherboards, these will be listed in no real order and some of the companys dont make boards anymore.

ECS, yes ecs, but only there FULL atx SiS and Nvidia boards, a coupld of there matx sis 76x chipset boards, there ati chipset boards are good in my limited exp(only used/tested 6 boards using them so far so no concrete oppenion is formed yet)

Chaintech, the VNF3-250 is one of the best socket 754 boards u can get, very clockable, very stable, great communit behind it, onboard sound thats above avrage, all in all a very good board.

Biostar Tforce line, i have setup a good number of Tforce boards, they are quite impressive really, the componants used in my oppenion are of higher quility then there msi,asus,gigabyte,abit,exct equivlants, the bios on these boards are EXTREAMLY good for overclocking, and the supports pretty good as well, tho you need to be willing to wait a couple days for a responce to an email form a real tech, these boards are DFI expert class for overclocking fetures but without the extream price, also they arent picky about ram at all ^^

Epox, i have used epox for YEARS and they are as a company VERY responcive to costmers, as long as the costmer is polite that is, if you are rude in an email they tend to ignore you. Overall i have had very few problems with epox.

Abit, use to be good(nf7-s was my 2nd fav axp board, just under the l7s7a2, tho they are in diffrent classes) now days i wouldnt grab an abit board, maby i will once they settle into there new surroundings(buyouts tend to lead to problems at first)

Foxconn for full atx sis 755/756 boards and nf2/3/4 boards, anything else i avoid due to large problems in matx boards with bad caps, this hit a few other makers such as msi and asus/asrock OEM boards(for dell/hp and such) foxconn support was VERY helpfull, the guy sent me a new bios chip when mine got crupted during a flash(power went out during flash) no problem and he even sent it 2nd day :)

i have some other boards i like such as the FIC au13(fic version of the nf7 boards) very good clocker but hard to find even in its prime.


Ram
PQI, used them for years, only ever had to rma 2 sets of ram and they took care of it super fast, with the 2nd set they payed shiping both ways(long story) neither where things i could blame on poor design or build, just those "sh!t happens" kinda situations.

Kingston ValueRam(hyperX sux)pc2700(ddr333) most of these sticks can do 400+(3200 or better) easly unlike corsair value ram and it comes cheap, the elpida(sp) chip based sticks tend to beable to hit 466 or better clocks with a little extra voltage.

Gskill, good stuff in my exp, never had to return a set to them.

A-data, vista is GOOD stuff, i have put 4 of their 2gb ddr1 kits into systems and every time i got ddr500+ clocks out of them with ease, the smaller size kits are in my exp very good as well, never had to return a set of them.

Patriot, simlar to gskill and a-data but i have had to rma to them, it was a little slow because they where out of the kit i had, they did however endup calling me and offering me a better kit since they where out of stock on the one i had sent back and it was looking to be weeks b4 they would have more, good deal they sent me ram rated for 2-2-2-x in place of 3-4-4-7 stuff i sent back, tho it did take it a couple weeks to get to me(3.5 weeks total down time on that system due to ram)

gigram, carsair, crutial, geil all where good for me tho i have had to rma stuff to them all more then once due to diffrent issues.

ocz, well i have only used 2 kits from them the first one was ok, didnt clock for sh!t tho and caust to much(ocz gold crap,,,,,*grummble*)

Mushkin, here where i got mixed feelings, i had a few great kits from them back in the day, then i had a HUGE problem with an RMA on a kit of ram that had both sticks just DIE, both sticks got so hot when pluged in that they would burn ur finger, well i got an rma number and shiped them back, was sent a confermation of recevial(sp?) and then NOTHING, after sending multi emails and trying to call them i gave up, it just wasnt worth the hassle, since then i have avoided them, i dont need to loose another 200+$ on a kit of ram that go's bad then never comes back from rma.
but i cant list them as bad because the other kits are still working fine in systems i sold after alot of heavy use.

Video cards.
Ati based cards from
power color
ati
msi
asus(yes msi and asus sell/support there video cards decently, just not there mobos)
elsa(miss them alot :/)
HIS(iceq=the pwn)

Optical drives
BENQ
Optorite

PSU
Fortron sorce power(fps) also known as sparkle
Epower/tagen
Enermax

Epower has some of the best price/perf/quility psu's around check out there 500/550 watt psu's with 20+20 amps on the 12v rails, steller units, Any of these brands will deliver.(all are or are made by top OEM's)

and last but not least Vantech for there chipset coolers, the coper icberq 1(orignaly for video cards) these units work for YEARS and cool motherboard chipsets as well as units selling for 3-4x the price, and they are SILENT.


the bad

Motherboards
ECS, yes they are a favorite but they are also a HATED company by me for there via chipset based boards.

asus,msi,gigabyte: these i lump togather because i have had the same or simlar problems with them all, poor bios support, tech reps that want to blame user error for everything or blame other companys when a bios bug is found they dont want to fix or dont know how to fix, then they put out a fix months later quietly and never admit they where WRONG to blame users. they also are SLOW and unreliable for RMA, asus is HORRID about just cleaning boards off and sending them back as "repaired" after posting them 1 time, i got the same board back 4 times in a row NOTHING WAS FIXED, they finnly gave in and sent me a new boxed delux board i proceded to sell to a buddy and replace with an abit board.
gigabyte sent me bios 4 diffrent times for boards to fix issues i found, each of those times the flash killed the board(had successfull flashes between them on diffrent boards tho) and then wanted to charge me 30bucks a pop for new bios chips or i could spend 26bucks to FedEx them the boards( they wouldnt take usps.......)

HDD
WD, i have had ALOT of problems over the years with WD drives dieing or buggin out, i have been a tech for over 14years, i started at 12/13 building my own systems with parts places/schools where throwing out, or ppl would give me systems they didnt want, then i started working for a local computer shop, i saw more dead WD drives then all other brands combine, that includes, seagate,ibm(yes deathstars died less...),toshiba,fujitsu,masxtor,quantium,micronics,conner,maxgate(rare but good drives)...think i missed a maker or 2...but the point is that all the other brands we sold didnt have as many deaths as WD had, since then i have had or seen 30+ dead raptors that cooked themselves dispite acctive cooling being on them.....just bad stuff.

Ram
mushkin: as stated can say they are all bad, but having a 200+$ ram kit go in for rma and just dissapear puts a sour taist in ones mouth.......

Corsair valueram, nasty stuff, over heats in sff systems to much and has no headroom for clocking at all.

psu, anything thats not made by a top OEM, any case that comes with a common case(got enermax psu's with my enermax toolless cases that are still going 5years later dispite being HEAVLY overloaded the whole time :) )


video cards,
s3/via poor driver support
sis poor driver support, but very stable....so its not all bad i guess :p
nvidia, long story as short as possable, i LOVED nvidia till the fx5800ultra they sold me that sounded like an 80's dustbuster and was slower then a 9600 256mb(non pro) at dx9 beta games i was officaly testing, the 9600 was less then 1/4 the price mind you........
the 6800gt was dissapointing to me as well, driver issues with Image quility and studders(known issue nvidia admits happens but cant seem to fix) just got sick of it, use to hate ati because of poor driver support(rage128=useless in anything but windows 9x) but someebody brought me around and showd me how ati grew up and started to make driver support a real priority :)




oh and another note on the look at what your buying for what you want to do thing, dont buy a cheap entry level board for overclocking, you will just be dissapointed, you can however buy a relitivly cheap board such as the tforce 550(80buck new on the egg) and get a board spicificly made to overclock, do your research, dont just read review sites, read forums, ask questions, look into things b4 you buy parts of any kind, its a lession most true enthusists learn early on, we talk to eachother and find out what there is to know about diffrent parts befor we buy them.

my current system was build to be cheap as possable whal still being very overclockable and upgradeable(holding out for the new x2 256k 65nm chips or k8l(quad core) b4 i upgrade the cpu)
and it is very clockable, very stable once u workthe best way to clock with am2(little diffrent from 754 and 939 ;) )
 
Joined
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What a story. PFFF. Go write a book.
 
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wow nice typing :p...

:eek: 2200+ words :eek:
 

zekrahminator

McLovin
Joined
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