Building a computer? Read this list first

[Nuclear Krusader]

Forum,

Based on constant questions by the members, I think it would be nice if we make a list of computer parts manufacturers from best to worst. This way members would have a quick reference and will know which brands to buy and which ones to avoid.

DrZaius has already made a list of mobos. What if we also include a list of PSUs, CD drives, HDs and other hardware?

Looking forward to your cooperation. TIA.

[DrZaius]

Here's my contribution.

Motherboards

Good: Abit, Asus, AOpen, EPoX, IWill, Soyo, MSI, Tyan, Intel, Shuttle, Soltek, and Gigabyte*

Average: FIC, DFI, Chaintech, and Biostar

Bad: PC Chips and ECS

* Was average, but is getting better.

Video Cards

Good: ATI, Leadtek, Visiontek, Gainward, PNY, MSI, Abit, Asus, eVGA, Guillemot/Hercules, Powercolor, Sapphire, and Matrox

Hard Drives

Good: Maxtor and Western Digital

Bad: IBM

Power Supplies

Good: Antec, Enermax, Enlight, Sparkle, and PCP&C

Average: Delta

Bad: Deer, Austin, and Generic units

[Alfie]

Poor IBM knocking them all,because they had a bad crop, is a misnomer.
Western Digital had a bad crop,now we reccommend them.
A few years ago the mention of Maxtor could cause a riot!
If a list were to be compiled it would be best to list problematic devices and specifically which ones.
There are those that may have bought an Abit board that failed,and will never get an Abit again,etc.
As far as power supplies,there's many good ones,including rebadged ones that may be classified as generic,etc.
All we can do is talk from our personal experiences.
Someone may buy from one vendor and swear by them,another may curse the same vendor!

[DrZaius]

I agree, not everyone will agree on a single list, I should have added an * at the bottom noting that the list are my personal preferances.

There are some we can all agree on though, like PC Chips, and if you've been reading other forums and sites, you'd notice and very high problem rate with IBM drives recently, and I don't see them getting better since they sold their drive division off.

[smokealotapotimus]

Mother Boards
--
Average - VIA

(??) - QDI


Video Cards
--
Good - Soltek, SUMA, Gigabyte,

Bad - ECS, Jaton (don't know much about 'em, so put in "Bad"), Daytona (same as Jaton),

(??) - Aopen, HIS,


Hard Drives
--
Good - Seagate,

Average - Samsung,

Bad - Fujitsu,


Power Supplies
--
Good - Aztec, In-Win, Zalman,

Average - Nspire,

(??) - Aopen, Sunny, CTW, Marcon,


Open to any form of correction, and the (??) category means I'm not to sure.

[Alfie]

Jaton usually makes some pretty decent video cards,not recognized as being the leader of the pack,but you would be surprised at some of them.
I had a Jaton(still do) good,reliable.
recently read a review where the person was testing video cards with nvidia chipsets.
Of the ones he tested,one was a Jaton,he really didn't expect much,but Jaton beat the others out!Overclocked better than the others as well,so I wouldn't include them in the bad category.
QDI is a manufacturer of motherboards,they usually produce a quality product and have been doing so for years.
Via is a chipset maker,Via chipsets are the preferance on AMD systems.
Nvidias new motherboard chipset may be a big winner,remains to be seen.
There are those that curse Seagate and praise Fujitsu.
I've come to the conclusion that the best hard drive is the one that works!
What i meant by the IBM thing and I think it was glc brought up the point,hard drives seem to ride in waves,1997-1998 WD released a bunch of hard drives that were no good(I have a box full of them)
The only hard drive to buy a few years ago was IBM,now we see the opposite.
Are all IBM hard drives bad?NO.
Etc.,etc.

[Tuf]

IBM has certainly had their problems as of late. But I would even with their sell off to Hitachi they will make things right and be abck again. They are already kicking out better faster notebook drives and they have been the leader there for quite sometime.
I have have really good luck with Seagate drives both IDE and SCSI. Fujitsu makes a decent drive in my opinion. I haven't had much experience with Samsung drives but everyone I have seen was because I was replacing it. I swore off Maxtor years ago but have began to look at them again lately.

As was previously posted most companies have had their dogs. It's how they deal with it and do they also have some successes.

PC Chips seems to be the Packard Bell of the new millenium.