Where to buy components?

I would like to put my own system together. still trying to decide....any suggestions about P4 components? or does AMD/Athlon rule the day?

 

I think it comes down to personal preference. I would never build a machine with an intel chip. For what its worth I like:
cpu: AMD
MoBo: ASUS
sound: Sound Blaster
video: nVidia based cards...but now leaning towards ATI's 9700

I like my pioneer DVD drive and TDK CDRW. But there are a couple hundred others on this BBS with differing opinions

Dude, don't buy a Dell

 

Personally, I have never purchased a new Intel processor; however, for my purposes, the Intel and the AMD are about equal. I am currently running a P4 only because it fell into my lap at less than half price. The computer it was in was new and was smashed by a forklift. Otherwise, I would be running an AMD now.

 

Follow the chipset and motherboard manufacturer. That should determine which processor might make you more comfortable. Both processors work just fine.

 

hardware suggestions

Thanks for all your answers to my post. The feeling about Amd and P4 chips are not quite as polarized as they were a few years ago. they both seem to be okay...my preference has leaned toward the Intel but at this point I'm going to go with what functions and price fulfill my own specs...

also, to Hex92.... I personally would not buy a Dell, but what is your reason?

thanks to all!

 

My Experiences with Dell in Factual Terms

First Event:
Leaving all rants and ravings aside, here is a factual account of all the contacts I've had with Dell over the last 10 or so months:

In December of last year, my son needed two fully-functional computers really fast (like right now) for a new business he was forced into totally unexpectedly and suddenly. He stated he didn't care about expense; he just needed two dependable computers as fast as he could get them. I recommended Dell and to get their rush service.

The computers arrived two days later just as promised. We set them up and immediately began to have a lot of trouble with one of them--illegal operations, total system freezes, etc. Being in the on-site service business, I diagnosed a bad main board very quickly; however, I knew we would have to jump through all of Dell's hoops before they would let us send it back for replacement.

Long story short, we did four system restores and had to deal with people on the phone who did not speak English very well. With some of the techies, we were driven to total distraction trying to understand what they were saying. In about 12- to 15 calls, we never got one person who spoke English as their native language.

To make matters worse, no person we talked to was a computer-literate or common-sense-literate person. It was painfully obvious they were all looking at a flow-chart and if we tried to step outside that framework, they couldn't handle it and got confused.

Also, each time we called, we were started at square one, as though there were no previous call, even though we had a previous service ticket/call number that we gave them which indicated we had already done all these things. We complained about this each time the "tech" had us start all over agian at square one; but, each one had the same canned answer--words to the effect that 'We have to start here in order to get this job done.'. The "job" to them was to get through that flow chart--again.

After about ten days of this, and being disgusted by this time, my son told Dell he wanted no more to do with their computers and instructed them to have both the computers picked up right away. To be clear, he was not dissatisfied so much with the computers as he was disgusted with having to deal with people who speak English as though they learned all they knew from a textbook and had NEVER actually heard a sample of it themselves, and of course, having to deal with their so-called "tech support ".

Second Event:
On July 2, an in-warranty Dell Dimension 8100 was brought to me for repair. The power supply had literally exploded with a loud bang and the thing spewed smoke out the back.

After some examination, I discovered to my amazement that this 1800-MHz Pentium 4 machine with CD-ROM burner, DVD reader, RAMBus RAM and all the oher usual components had a power supply rated at only 230 watts. It is no wonder it blew.

We called Dell and expressed our disappointment about this power supply's low-rated output and told them we wanted one rated at 400 watts or better and that we were willing to pay for it if need be. To my amazement, they stated the only higher-wattage supply available was 330 watts. And, to carry this situation to the brink of the absolutely ludicrous, they stated that if we used a power supply of a higher rating than 230-, we would 'void our warranty and burn up our motherboard'.

Those of you who understand wattage and power supply ratings will find this as laughable as I would have--if--I weren't trying to solve a serious computer problem with the aid of the totally incompetent.

It Gets Worse:
After haggling with one incompetent person after another (who, by the way, didn't speak very good English), I finally told them we didn't care about the warranty and to just send the power supply.

We ordered the power supply on 07/02/2003 and was given an order number. After waiting sixteen days, I called Dell to see what was going on. I learned the order had been canceled the day after it was placed and no one at Dell could explain why this happened. They did a little research and discovered the reason was listed in their computers as "non-payment "; but, this was an in-warranty part that was supposed to be free.

I reordered on July 18 and was given a NEW order number and discovered on July 20 that the order had been canceled again for "non-payment" on July 19. Again, no one at Dell could explain why an in-warranty part shipment was canceled for non-payment.

I called again on July 20 and this time I told Luzy (badge number 367001) I wanted to speak to a supervisor. Luzy insisted she was a supervisor (I guess they are ALL supervisors.) And I told her I had no confidence that she could get this order through and again insisted on talking to her supervisor. She refused and said that she would personally ensure this order got through. I reordered again on July 20 and was given ANOTHER NEW order number and discovered on July 22 that the order had been canceled again for "non-payment ". Again, no one at Dell could explain why.

After discovering the order had been canceled again, I called and this time I asked for Luzy. After some haggling over this simple initial request, this person insisted he would not allow me to talk to Luzy unless I told him why. (I guess he wanted to be sure I wasn't a stalker or something like that.) I told him why I was calling and I was then put on hold for thirty-eight minutes. Now, the reason I wrote out the "thirty-eight" instead of simply entering the digits is to be sure you understand I did not make a typographical error here. Luzy finally came to the phone and gave me a cock-and-bull story that the order number she gave me on July 20 was deliberately canceled and another order placed so it would have a completely new order number and this way, it was sure to go through. By this time I was quite cynical about Dell and told Luzy that essentially this was a 'crock' and that every time I had ordered I was given a "completely new order number ", as she put it.

While I had her on the phone, I checked the order number she gave me and found this order had been placed just six minutes before and during the 38 minutes I was on hold. What had happened was that after I told my problem to the first person who answered, he told Luzy who in turn checked and found the order had ben canceled. Embarrassed, Luzy left me on hold as she placed the order again and only then did she talk to me with this cock-and-bull story that it had already been taken care of.

It remains a mystery why all previous orders were canceled although I have questioned several people about this. Whether this one will be canceled remains to be seen. I'll believe I'm getting the power supply ONLY WHEN I OPEN THE BOX and ACTUALLY HAVE IT IN MY HANDS.

Comment:
I cannot find one person whose experience with Dell isn't similar to mine, at least in the first event. So, I cannot fathom why Dell comes up so well in the ratings.

Frankly, I think the system is rigged--or maybe everyone else is so much worse that Dell is simply the best of the bad.

That's my two cents.

 

WOW

thank you SOOOOO much for your account of your battle with Dell. Having done IT acquisition for the government years ago, I had dealings with many different companies for service and warranty issues. It is no wonder it has become a pet peeve of mine.

I prefer to buy locally but if I had to buy from the "big" guys it used to be from Gateway. That was until a few days ago when all of their country stores across the country were taken down by a "virus "!

Thank you again... I will be saving your message for future reference when a friend asks...Dude...should I buy a Dell?

take care.

 

Dude... Don't buy a Dell

My experiences with Dell have not been quite as horrible as Alex's but enough to avoid them.

Dell and Gateway are the 'approved' machines here at work. If you buy them you will recieve support from the IT department. If you don't buy from them you get no support. They like Dells and gateways since we buy the businesss lines and supposedly they are all alike (other than the cpu) so it makes it easier to fix them. Plus you get their 3-year on-site warranty.

Well try getting them to actually come out. They will talk you through how to fix things on the phone (in broken English) for days. I only know of one occasion when a Dell rep actually came here and fixed a computer.

We had one show up DOA. Its HDD controller was shot. We had to fix it. Where was that support?

Had another computer ordered with a Geforce 2 card. The guy played games after work on his machine and noticed that the performance was HORRIBLE. He open the box and found an ATI Rage card instead. He calls Dell and they say 'Thats an upgrade' (dirty rotten LIARS). It was 16-24 month old technology at the time. We had to jump through hoops just to get them to send us what we paid for.

Our Gateways? Well every CD rom drive has been replaced. They die after 2-3 years. Most were still under warranty and they were relatively easy to get. But still, where are they getting these things from?

So I no longer bother with IT support. If you buy a box that is filled with non-proprietary components and you are not a moron (ie don't open emails with viruses) then you don't need IT support. I buy the computer that I want from the company I want. Check out resellerratings.com to find a good seller. I buy from Envision Computer Solutions. They have a perfect ranking (10) at the moment. Dell is running 3.61. Hmmmmm.

 

What you have to pay particular attention to these days is RAM. Quite a few boards are picky about the RAM it uses. Check with the motherboard site as to the particular RAM brand, type, and configuration.

When multiple modules are added, the board may want single sided modules in certain slots. Some have a total of how many "sides" can be used. That is, they may allow "four sides" of modules in any combination: two double sided modules, four single sided, or one double sided and two single sideds.

Also, some brands may be good modules, but incompatible with the setup. I just got through building one like that. The computer didn't like the module. The shop was good enough to exchange it for another brand! It was a $90/ 512MB DDR333. I'm glad I didn't have to eat it!

I've heard nVidia chipsets are pickey. They like Crucial and a couple of other brands. They don't seem to like Kingston. Crucial is usually good for everything. But it is a bit pricey.

 

thank you

all good info from everyone.... thank you!

 

Pcoach: Not to change the subject away from Dell , but to answer your original question, I have traded at www.tigerdirect.com for some time now and they have some pretty good prices.

A lot of the stuff they sell, like HDD, is OEM, usually some Mfgs excess, that is, white box, no documentation, no directions. If you have some knowledge, and are willing to go on line to the Mfg.s web site to figure out and learn the settings and installation, you can save some money.

I just bought an IBM/Hitachi 80GB HDD for $70. US from them, works like a charm. Have always gotten good service from them with 3-4 day delivery UPS ground.

 

great site!

thanks for the tip on TigerDirect. they appear to have great prices and clealy document the specs of what they are selling. now in my favorites ready for when i buy components....thanks!

 

The ones I use often.

www.newegg.com
www.axiontech.com
www.crucial.com

 

thanks

These also are now in my favorites....

 

The question of OEM vs. Retail box items comes up frequently. There can be a substantial difference in price. Sometimes not. Usually, OEM is less expensive. Sometimes not.

First, sometimes the only difference is the packaging. The items and all accessories will be identical.

Sometimes, the difference is that OEM has no accessories or software. Or, the software can be downloaded from the internet for the OEM.

You have to determine whether or not you need the stuff. The software can be worth more than the device if you have to purchase the software. CD writers, DVD ROMs, and DVD writers come immediately to mind. If you need the software to make these work, get the retail version. If you have your own better software, it doesn't matter. As for hard drives, I don't need any accompanying software or cables.

But there may be a substantial difference in warranty between OEM and retail. CPUs, the savings on the item aren't very larger. But the difference is between 30 days (OEM) and 3 years retail. But usually CPUs if broken are DOA!

OEM CPUs have no heatsink or fan. Retail units do. But if you are using your own fan and heatsink, and use a low cost CPU, you might want to not spend extra for a three year warranty! CPUs, if broken, are usually pretty much DOA!

Who warrants the product and for how long? All the above have to be checked on an item by item basis.

 

oem vs. retail

I usually opt for retail. mostly for the warranty and to save time scrounging for parts and/or software not included. Good advice...thanks.

 

Well said Ray.