Hardware to avoid

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I know this does not need mentioning but someone has to do it. VIA 8O there, I said it.
Click to expand...

VIA is horrid...

Soyo brand motherboards = headache
Jetway = terrible

Dell's aren't a problem as long as you know what you're doing... Dell batteries? Well maybe if they were in fact Dell's batteries, they are Sony's.

I've never had a problem with LiteOn, in fact I prefer them.

cheapo headsets, usb 5.1 headsets (hassle)
 
Prescott series CPU, can we say fire?

FX series nVidia cards, just all around weak.

PSU's that come with cases, turned off the computer, installed a 6600gt, turned on the computer and BOOM, no more 450w PSU. thank god it only commited suicide and not homicide.

Cheap cases for that matter.
 
Hey, I love my FX5200, kept my work bench level for what, 2 years now? :lol:

Panasonic Tuff books. No support, propritary parts.
Got Mtech's, love them for field work.

DC
 
Prescott series CPU, can we say fire?

FX series nVidia cards, just all around weak.

PSU's that come with cases, turned off the computer, installed a 6600gt, turned on the computer and BOOM, no more 450w PSU. thank god it only commited suicide and not homicide.

Cheap cases for that matter.
Click to expand...

What case?
Sonata is good :)
but if it like those "turbo gamer/aspire/ultra" and others...you know the 500 watt PSU that has as much heatsink as a 250....yeah...those suck.....
 
lol. 😀


Avoid EVGA Video Cards. their customer service yelled at me, the fan is crapping out on me, it tells me its not getting enough power when it doesn't have a supplemental power connector, and EVGA refuses to refund my money for a faulty product.
 
1. Belkin routers. Any I've bought or exchanged (2-3) died after working for 1-4 weeks.

2. The Abit KN8 Ultra mobos I am using. Oh, they work well enough, and have given no grief, but my research failed to note that they require a -5V rail. This is so rare these days, that it really limits my PSU choice.

3. Cheap Lexmark printers, unless you like paying an arm and a leg for ink.

4. As was mentioned, VIA chipsets; I'll add SiS to that. Their dismal performance back in the days of the K6/K6-2 chips has turned me off to them.
 
Dell manufacturing overall: Cooling is completely awful. Did you know that in the Dimension line from Dell, there is only 1 fan in the entire case? And thats the 86mm outtake fan for the CPU. Theres not even one behind the harddrive.

*snip*

Saitek Keyboards: Paint rubs off the keys very easily, and a friend of mine bought one, and the spacebar fell off right out of the box. And he bought it in store too.
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Dell uses 1 fan in it's Dimension line because they use a BTX case (instead of ATX) and use the pSU to help draw air from the front out of the rear of the case. It's called intelligent design. The case is one of the things I like about the Dell (5150 - E510 to the US folks) I'm upgrading/building out of - but since even Intel isn't going forward with BTX, that case style is pretty much done for. Roll on reverse-ATX, the next best solution...

The 1st generation Saitek illuminated keyboards unfortunatley did have wear-away lettering on the keycaps, but the Saitek Eclipse (all models) use laser etched caps that you'd be hard-pressed to wear out.
 
I know this does not need mentioning but someone has to do it. VIA 8O there, I said it.
Click to expand...

VIA is horrid...

Soyo brand motherboards = headache
Jetway = terrible

Dell's aren't a problem as long as you know what you're doing... Dell batteries? Well maybe if they were in fact Dell's batteries, they are Sony's.

I've never had a problem with LiteOn, in fact I prefer them.

cheapo headsets, usb 5.1 headsets (hassle)



pooor via......


I feel i should say that I have a VIA KT266A (Shuttle AK31A v3.1) running 24x7 as my domain controller... that computer has been zero problems since day one.... it is like 5yrs old now.)

my brother has a KT266A (MSI ..don't remember the model) computer that he is still using as his main pc...it is slightly older than my DC

my really good friend is using a KT266A (Shuttle AK31A V3.1) as his main PC at home still.
 
Epson printers – had a belt fall off, turns out so did many others with a few Epson models.

Linksys wireless routers – nothing but trouble for me.
 
Been using VIA and Linksys at the same time for years...

I think now we are getting into stuff we've had problems with other than just bad hardware.

The Abit thing, now that is hardware to avoid. The FX series, etc.

~Ibrahim~
 
You must add - Sony Optical Drives, both me and my mate have had a couple of lasers go!

I second the TT watercooling!

Acer 22" WS Budget LCD - discovered too late that it doesnt come with DVI, but perhaps you can class that as my fault!
 
Clarification on the VIA and SiS...

I don't know that I ever had failures with either one, but their performance was always well below what I had expected. I remember seeing in later reviews for some things (that weren't out when I bought), that their performance was well below average; in any case VIA and SiS remain on my pooh list.

Abit is remaining on my "ok to buy" list, because my own research shortcoming caused that issue. Like I said, the boards have performed well and without issues. It is also true that although I saw that there were options to do so, I am not currently OC'ing anything. If I bought one for a new system, it would have to not need that -5V rail.

It is unlikely I'll build a new rig any time soon, but if I were going to do so I'd probably use ASUS or Gigabyte and a C2D.
 
Also SOYO motherboards are the worst boards ive ever touched there pure crap.

And i will never buy another board with a SIS or VIA chipset they suck also imho.
 
Clarification on the VIA and SiS...
Click to expand...
I had an Abit mobo that worked like a charm. It was the AN7 (had basically everything, UGURU - OC on the fly, NForce 2chipset,etc). It died because of me (swapped some cables around with the front USB in my new case).

Got a cheap asus board with a via chipset just to let my system run again (had lotsa projects and couldn't wait for other stock to arrive). The first one died after a month. The second one had SATA support for the first month and USB for the first 3. Got another that actually went down the drain just last night claiming my Video card. At least I'm upgrading in December - I hope.

Except that I had all those things fail on me, my rig just doesn't run the same as in the days that I had an Abit.
 
Prescott series CPU, can we say fire?

FX series nVidia cards, just all around weak.

PSU's that come with cases, turned off the computer, installed a 6600gt, turned on the computer and BOOM, no more 450w PSU. thank god it only commited suicide and not homicide.

Cheap cases for that matter.
Click to expand...


this gave me a good chuckle. lol
 
PNY GeForce Ti 4400 - Died after 5 month. PNY requires copy of orginal reciept before providing tech support. That's even after registering the GPU. I avoid PNY products like the plague.

Maxtor Hard Drives - Nothing but problems. 3 drives failed. Lost lots of data. On permanent banned list, just like PNY products.
 
Well I had mine in my current pc die on me but that is probally also because I haven't used it in like 7 years and my smoking might have something to do with it.
 
Ive had problems with maxtors also.
I use western digitals and seagates only now i mean wtf you cant beat 5 yr warrenty on seagates!
 
I keep hearing people having problems with Maxtor drives. I've always used maxtor and only 1 failed on me, and that was only because it was really old and it was bound to happen.

Otherwise I've been happy with maxtor drives and have never had another problem with them, and I have many maxtor drives.

I personally dont like IBM drives because they I've had problems with them and the rear connections are flimsy.
 
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