How does PCChips stay in business?

[morriswindgate]

If you have seen my other post, you will know that I am replacing an Amptron (rebadged PCChips) M754LMR (M = Motherboard, 754 = $7.54 USA as the total cost to manufacture it, and LMR = Likely Material Return). Over the years I have worked on about 5 systems for people based on these boards, from new ones to old ones with problems, and in all but one case I have had to replace the board due to hardware related mobo problems.
As an example the system tonight. It was a machine that was bought at a computer show a year or so ago, and it started having problems. When I booted it up the first time I found it full of spyware, webshots, cursors, and all the other garbage you can get from a pop-up. And since it had corrupted Win98 files, I decided to do a clean install. So as a part of that, I opened the case to clean it out. During this I noted that the hard drive and CD-ROM were on the same cable with the hard drive jumpered as neutral on the center plug and the CD-ROM jumpered to slave on the end plug (60 conductor IDE cable). So I decided to seperate the drives to HD on IDE1 and the CD on IDE 2. Well I found out then that the IDE2 channel was defective meaning that it was bad when it was built and they connected it that way to cover themselves. Then I set the floppy to first boot device to zero out the HD and the controller chip had failed.
This has been typical of the problems that I have seen with these boards and for the longerst time I have wondered how these people stay in business putting out crap like this. Do they even make a quality product?
Anyway,just to let anybody who reads this, that we, on this forum, are serious when we tell you to avoid PCChips and the rebadgers of their boards.

[Xayd]

How does emachines stay in business? ;)

There's a market for cheap crap, always will be.

[Mac Medic]

I have an e-machine in the house, 667 celeron, bout 3 years old. Never a single problem. Cheap does not always equate to crap. Linux is cheap, is it crap too?.

[LawyerRon]

There will always be a market for the $50 motherboard.

[morriswindgate]

So you are lucky. You did notice that I stated all but one PC CHips board had been replaced. The one that is still running was a fully intergrated Socket Super 7, but this was known as an extremely bad board with a high failure rate.
The best way to put it is, remember the Chevy Vega? For every few hundred of them that fell apart there would be one that kept chugging along. But based on the total fleet they were crap.
AS to Linux, it isn't crap. Instead it is a nerd system that has been kept alive by people who cannot afford to switch to a MAC, but want to think that they are making a statement by not using Microsoft. I am sure Bill Gates walks the floor worrying about Linux.
And by the way an E-Machine should last forever running Linux since it doesn't get that much of a workout, given the amount of popular software for it.

[Mac Medic]

I agree, Linux isnt crap, but the statement prior to mine implied cheap = rubbish. By that reasoning we should all be using Macs, after all they're hellish expensive. According to PC World magazine polls, E-Machines have a lower rate of failure than some highend custom jobs and a higher service and support rating than HP/Compaq. You should'nt count out the underdog until he's really down. For people on a budget, which most are, I still continue to recommend e-machines as my personal experience has been top notch, had it been otherwise, I may think twice. But of all the ones I have recommended, Not one has had a failure, and these go back to 300mhz cele's. One company I set up for a friend who had a real tight budget has 6 of them and loves them. I don't know where this bad opinion of e-machines comes from because i've never seen the evidence. Hell I've seen more g4 power macs fail than PC's but I still love my Mac. Maybe I'm just wierd.

[morriswindgate]

Highend custom job, does not alway mean quality and from what I have seen, most of the time it means gadgets and the words NVidia, GForce, and Pentium all in capital letters and lots of profit built in.

[Mac Medic]

Originally posted by morriswindgate
most of the time it means gadgets and the words NVidia, GForce, and Pentium all in capital letters

Lol, no kidding. IN FACT I'M GONNA RE-DO MY SIGNATURE LIKE THIS.

[glc]

PC Chips is one of the largest OEM's in the world. You might be surprised at some of the name brand stuff that comes out of a PC Chips factory. ECS is a PC Chips company. Shuttle production is all ECS now. Abit's OEM boards (not retail boards) are made by ECS.

[Statica]

At the quality of its products, it doesnt take too much money to translate into a profit, given how much they probably spend on Q/C or even R&D or on quality components.

[whargoul]

I think the K7S5A is the #1 selling motherboard of all time. It's sold millions.

[Nuclear Krusader]

PC Chips is taking advantage of uneducated users that want cheap over anything.

Here those mobos are sold like fresh bread everyday. You hear lots of arguments from the unethical ppl who sold them:

+Ppl don't have enough money for a "high end" system. (Those ppl end up paying more money in repairs and loss of time than they woulda paid by buying a "high end" system).

+This man wants the computer only for office work. Why should I "scam" him by selling him a "high end" system? (I am not talking of they selling the man a gaming rig, but almost all of the good brands have economic solutions).

+Why should we bother with installing independent cards when you have all onboard and for 50 bucks!? (Oh my, not only are you dumb but lazy too).

+This mobos are good, pretty and cheap. (That is the argument they use with the clients. I wonder how can they sleep well at nite).

+Why should you, dear client, "waste" over 150 bucks more in that system the competition offers when this one with PC Chips inside can get the job done just as well and costs way less? Even if you are rich there's no need of wasting money.

+PC Chips is the company that solds more mobos worldwide! If they weren't good they woulda disappeared by now, don't you think? (As a matter of fact they sell millions of boards because bargain hunters that regret later buying one. As we say here: "cheap becomes expensive later on").

I always use quality componenents. And there are some clients I haven't seen in years. You wanna know why the haven't called me? Because those old P2 systems I sold using Shuttle mobos are still running strong.


PS: By "high end" system ppl here are referring to any system that packs MSI, ABit, Intel or any other mobo that costs over 10+ dollars more than PC Chips.