What brands do you use and why

Copied from the same thread at Computer Vitals

  • CPU - Intel (always have been, never owned an AMD in my life)
  • Memory - Kingston (lifetime warranty, only ever had one set go bad and it was replaced no questions asked)
  • M/board - currently Foxconn (I was an Asus fan boy for years until my boards started falling over at the 5-6 year mark
  • Video - Asus (I still favour Asus cards, never had one die yet)
  • HDD - Western Digital (I've never used anything different)
  • Sound - Foxconn Sonar, onboard sort of, it is a seperate component that plugs into the m/board though (I'm not an enthusiast audiophile, if it makes noise it'll do, I have a Soundblaster on a shelf somewhere iirc)
  • Optical - Pioneer (I've always used Pioneer, tried and trusted)
  • LAN - whatever is onboard (usually 10/100)
  • PSU - I've tried a few different ones Antec True Power Trio 650W (mine and the Mrs pcs both have this) Thermaltake Toughpower 850W (daughters Q6600 pc has this) I've also had an ACBell 400W that worked admirably for many years (its in the cupboard still as an emergency standby)
  • Case - Stripped down Thermaltake Sonata (usually some generic junk, not real concerned by looks I'm more performance oriented)
  • Speakers - Logitech Z-530 5.1
  • No other addons
 
All my current parts were gotten for the same reason. They were good bang for the buck. I will get whatever parts have a good performance/price ratio. I do not care for brands (unless they are unheard of, of course).
 
I choose whatever is best for my budget, or trying out something new. I am willing to try anything new when it comes to computers.

But reasons for my current Rig

Intel E7200: For $100, it was cheaper than the X2 6000+, and the E7200 was almost or better than the old X2 6000+, and wanted to try Intel's C2D series.

XFX Mobo: Went with Intel, XFX sounded cool, mobo looked pretty good, cost $100, wanted to SLI my 8800GT.

2GB XMS Ram: Costs $40 after rebate, heard Corsair is a great brand.

8800GT: Wanted to try nVidia, best I can get for $150, heard EVGA is a great brand.

Antec PSU: $30 for my 500W, good price, and heard Antec is a great brand.

NZXT case: Looked nice for $100, wanted to try it.

Every part I have right now are brands I have never tried before (except the P4 or Celeron).
 
Current system build:

CPU: Intel Q9650 3G quad core. I was strictly AMD for years, but recently I've learned to value reliability over price. That is not to say AMD is unreliable, I have several older computers and two notebook computers with AMD processors that are very reliable. I just think a combination of an Intel processor and motherboard should be very reliable. Also, this is the highest price point that I wish to pursue.

HSF: Xigmatek Dark knight. I was set on using the stock Intel HSF until I checked the core temps after trans-coding video for about 20 minutes. So, with the help of several members here, I picked the dark knight. I has provided sufficient cooling for the cores a 95% or higher sustains CPU loads. I didn't want to mount something this heavy or bulky on the motherboard, but the mount with the bracket on the back side of the motherboard is very solid. I'm very happy with it.

Motherboard: Intel DP45SG also, in combination with the Intel processor, reliability at the highest price point I consider reasonable.

RAM: I've used Micron RAM for many builds with excellent reliability, but went with 4 Corsair 2G "sticks" figuring on performance as well as reliability, but an unknown factor for me. So far, excellent results.

Hard drive: Maxtor 1TB SATA and a Seagate 1TB SATA. Both were on sale for less than an $100, a reasonable price. I have had very good reliability with Maxtor in the past, and the Seagate is basically the same drive. In fact, the drives are identical except for the name and a couple digits in the long model numbers. If I remember correctly, Maxtor owns Seagate. I store most of my files on network attached storage, but I like to have at least two drives with a fair amount of room for processing video, reading from one drive and writing to the other. Then the files to the NAS; the computer drives are "working space."

DVD/CD RW: Pioneer DVR-216D SATA for performance and reliability. Price is low enough not to be a major factor with this component, at least for me. I've had excellent performance with Pioneer drives. I've used a couple of them to the point that I was amazed they still worked. I did look into Blue Ray, but I think pricing still needs to drop significantly before it becomes a value to me.

Power supply: Exclusively PC power and cooling. Excellent quality, great voltage regulation, and reasonable pricing. I've posted here also that I've seen an Antec power supply in a server that was so hot I couldn't touch it because the fan failed. The server never failed, so I have to say that I favor Antec as well. I've seen cheap power supplys go out in flames or usually, just stop working under the same conditions.

Case: Cooler Master elite 335. Good pricing. 120mm intake fan capable, and 120mm fan exhaust. Intake duct over CPU, although with the dark knight HSF that I'm using, the duct was removed. Screw-less quick mounts for all the drive bays, plus drive bays from top to bottom. In my overclocking days I build systems that sounded like a fleet of B52 bombers. These days I appreciate quiet computers. I have grown very fond of good 120mm fans for their quiet efficiency.

Video display adapter: Currently, EVGA Nvidia GeForce 9600 GSO 512. I'm still learning about performance display adapters, I usually don't go for much performance. Normally if I can get native resolution on a display I'm happy, but I wanted some gaming performance for this system. I am now considering a pair of adapters powered with ATI HD 4870 GPUs, perhaps 512 ram and a crossfire bridge. These choices are mostly influenced by the motherboard chipset capabilities and choosing a reasonable ATI GPU performance point.

Monitor: Acer V223W. Excellent quality display at an amazing price. Also an older NEC 1940CX that I got on sale a while back. I really like the combination of 16:9 22" for my main center display and a 19" 4:3 secondary on the side. Most of the time I only use the 22" but when processing or capturing video it's nice to run that in the 19" so my main display is free for other tasks. It's also handy to be able to go full screen with 16:9 or 4:3 (depending upon the video aspect ratio) to check for video artifacts.

In the past I was very into overclocking, but with current computer performance and component pricing I have lost interest in trying to squeeze more performance out of the components. Reliability and the pursuit of reliability has become a big influence.
 
All my current parts were gotten for the same reason. They were good bang for the buck. I will get whatever parts have a good performance/price ratio. I do not care for brands (unless they are unheard of, of course).

Thats pretty much the same for me as well good bang for buck i would have gone for whatever was offering that

As for going for unheard names sometimes i like to take the gamble like that , for instance as i said when i was buying my ram i wanted to go for corsair ram but the guy in the shop reccomended the elixer ram which was a brand i had never properly heard of or used, even he admitted that it was a relativley unheard of budget brand yet the ram is decent quality and still working 2 years on . So yer sometimes you gotta take those gamble see where they get you
 
Please just post what you currently have in your rigs and why you choose that brand.

CPU: AMD > I Like to get bang for buck and at the moment AMD is ALLLL That :D

RAM: Kingston,OCZ,Corsair And Transcend.Most Well Known and Reliable.

Motherboard: Gigabyte because they have second to none support and they are EXCELLENT Boards.

Networking: Netgear because most (Emphasize this word :D) of the time they are reliable.

Video: ATI,Like AMD I Like Bang For Buck and Like AMD,ATI Are ALLLLL Of that :D

Sound: Realtek Or Creative > Reliable and Good Performance

Hard drives: No Preference EXCEPT Seagate.

Optical drives: LG,Pioneer And Sony.Cheap And Reliable.

PSU: No Preference,Aslong as i get a Warranty and Decent specs.



Case: Cooler Master and NZXT. Nice Designs and Good Build Quality.
 
Harddrive - SeaGate. I loved their 7200.11 series drive, but it was a bit unstable. I absolutely love the new 7200.12 though! 500Gb/16Mb.

I had a 7200.10 series before this one (one failed), but I'm running off 2x 500GB 7200.12's now too. I think we have the same set.
A lot thinner than the 7200.10's were by far...
 
ive had friends who have had problems with 7200.10 drives as well must have been a bad model revision or something
I have 7200.10's in my rig though hope it isnt the sign of things to come
 
Motherboard: I love Abit boards. They seem to simplify the process of overclocking, which suits me well. Theres talk of them being a dying breed though :(

stick a fork in 'em, they're done, good luck with any support issues also, there have been many horror stories floating around teh interwebs about their support (or lack thereof) while they ramp down their support staff as the day of their inevitable demise draws closer and closer...
 
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