PC builders: Please advise on common online brands

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

Jonathan Appleseed wrote:
> I've encountered some brands that always seem cheap, and I was hoping
> that some of you seasoned PC builders would offer advice. Please rank
> the following brands in each category to indicate which brands are
> respectable enough to buy on a low budget and/or which would be best to
> avoid period:
>
> CASES w/ PSUs FOR ATHLON64 *Stable and quiet?
> Aspire, Chenbro, Foxconn, TurboCase
>
> SOCKET 939 MOBOs w/ 8x AGP slot *Stable?
> Abit, ASRock America, Chaintech, Gigabyte, MSI
>
> PC3200 MEMORY *Compatible and stable?
> Corsair, Samsung, "generic" (any good generic?)
>
> HD *Stable, fast, and quiet?
> Magnetic Data Technology, Maxtor, Samsung
>
> VIDEO CARDS *Quiet and reliable?
> EVGA, BFG, Chaintech, MSI, XFX
>
> DVD RECORDERS *Stable and quiet?
> Aopen, Lite-on, NEC

Cases: I haven't used any of those. They are probably okay if you just
want the case but not the power supply. Just4PC makes a few cases
bundled with decent power supplies (they tend to be the 425/450watt
ATX12V models) which are perfect for Socket-A but they start to get
stressed a bit when you move to Socket-939 and throw in a higher end
graphics card and a lot of add ons. You are better off buying the case
you like, and then going power supply shopping based upon your amp &
watt needs on each rail. It's a lot harder to select a decent power
supply than it used to be.

Motherboards: MSI, Gigabit, Asus, and sometimes DFI if you are buying
the 'ulra-deluxe model' there are some middle models where they skimped
on the PCB. (Not the only company that does this. Interestingly enough,
DFI doesn't do that to their Matx boards which tend to be good values
for the price.)

Video cards and I'm going to add monitor: You don't look at your tower
all day, you look at the monitor. Get the biggest, and best monitor you
can afford with the best specs. The extra screen real estate pays off
in the amount of time you spend scrolling. Using a 15" or even a 17" is
painful compared to having a 21" (or 2 or 3 21" <G> ) screen.

I've had fairly good luck with Asus & Gigabyte cards. In particular, the
Gigabyte cards that are designed to be quieter with the huge heatpipes.

Memory: Crucial/Micron. Corsair generally uses Samsung chips and Samsung
chips are fine, they will do what the chips are rated at. Even Kingston
is fine. Honestly, unless you are overclocking most sticks will work
just fine at what they are rated. Mind the voltage they run at as you
may have to adjust your board to use them.

HD: Samsung, Hitachi, Western Digital, Seagate. I'm not that fond of
Maxtor.

DVD: Of those NEC is fine and makes some decent drives.