hardware in general - reliability and your view on it

[labrador]

Many of us look purely for features and lack of bugs when selecting hardware. We can basically scan the reviews, and reflect on our sum of experiences and rumors we've heard before making the decision at the store.

I'd guess that most people here have decided that Matrox is one of their favorite video card brands when it comes to reliability and maintanance of drivers. It makes me wonder, what do you choose for the same qualities in other components?

Who are the Toyotas of computer hardware - the ones offering product with robust performance and the fewest duds?

Respond with your choices for:

case
motherboard
power supply
sound card
hard drive
memory
monitor
video card
network card
other...

Remember, this isn't about frames per second, or any other performance index - just reliable equipment that lasts for longer than 3 years and performs fairly well.

[Helevitia]

mobo-Asus - By far, the most stable boards I've ever used with the most or almost the most features.

case/ps-too many to narrow it down.

SoundCard-I've tried both the MX300 and the SBLive! and the SBLive! is much more stable and less hassles when interacting with other components. None of this matters anymore since creative has the entire market for soundcards anyway.

HDD-Quantum has always been good to me(bought out by Maxtor a couple of weeks ago). I hear IBM drivers are good although I've never owned one.

Memory-Mushkin is the best memory I've ever owned.

Monitor-I just bought a Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2040u and what can I say, INCREDIBLE!

VideoCard-hehe, only one comes to mind If I were shopping for a video card now, I'd cry. I was hoping the Radeon was gonna be good but my buddy has had so many hassles with an Abit KT7 I felt like shooting his computer for him.

NIC-3com seems to be good. I've had some probs with Intel nics.

Other-I just got rid of my ViewSonic PT775 17" montior that I had for 32 years and no problems with it. I loved that monitor but 21" was calling me.

I also recently purchased an HP cd-writer that I was extremely happy with. It is a very good writer.

Windows ME has been giving me problems. I was much better off with Win98SE.

bla, blah, blah......

Dave

[Paulr]

Case - Supermicro, the build quality on these cases is great, very solid design.
Let down only by it's low watt PS as standard.

Motherboard - Asus/Intel
Intel for pure stability and reliability.
Asus close and has more features.

Soundcard - Creative SB Live!
I always have been a Soundblaster person, this card has worked under every OS I have used first time every time.

Hard Drive - IBM
These drives are amazing.
Not only do they offer 7200rpm & ATA-100 but a 2MB buffer as well.
They are quiet, fast, reliable - nuff said.

Memory - Never been one to shop around for memory, I have Hyundai at the moment, they are working fine.

Monitor - Iiyama.
I'm now on my 3rd Iiyama monitor.
You may pay a little more for them, but excellent quality from corner to corner is worth every penny.
Iiyama support is great too.

Video Card - Matrox
I've always been very happy with my G400MAX.
OK so it lacks in frame rate, but overall quality and driver stability make up for this.

NIC - Intel/3Com
I currently use Intel NIC's in both my home PC and work servers.
I never had any issues with 3Com ones, supplier moved to Intel, rate them side by side.

CD-RW - Yamaha
Lovely piece of kit, has always been reliable etc.

OS - Windows 2000 all the way!

[Guru]

case:Enlight or Aopen
motherboard: Abit (don't care what you say never had any prob.s with them) or ASUS
power supply: To many to decide!
sound card: SB Live (value)
hard drive: IBM
memory: Mushkin or Hyundai
monitor: Hitachi
video card: Matrox
network card: Intel
other... Toshiba DVD, Plextor CD-RW, Intel CPU!!!!!!!


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[Marwyn]

MoBo: ASUS
CPU: new AMDs
HD: IBM
Sound: Creative
Monitor: EIZO
Video: Matrox
CD-ROM or DVD: AOpen or Pioneer
Mouse: Microschaft
HS: TITAN
Net card: 3Com
OS: Win2K !!!

[dZeus]

Motherboards: well... lots of brands are fine, but I prefer Asus and Abit motherboards... AOpen and MSI can be fine, depending on the model you want

Memory: no idea, since you almost can't get anything else here apart from generic RAM. I wouldn't bother too much, except if you want to run at CAS2 and/or very high busspeeds

CPU: Go for a completely based Intel system, since VIA chipsets are notorious for giving lots of trouble. Everything may work just fine with AMD/VIA, but you need to invest a lot more work into those system to get them functioning properly (and proper functioning isn't guaranteed). So this means getting a i440BX or a i815... or a i820 or 840 if you're nuts and have to much money

NIC: One brand.. 3COM. There is no other. You can buy cards based on a DEC Tulip (=Intel blablabla, since intel bought the NIC devision from Digital Equipment), but those cards and their OS-, technical support, performance and guaranteed working period will not be as good as the 3Com offerings

SCSI Adapter: Adaptec. You pay a lot extra for Adaptec adapters, but they are worth it. Support for almost every OS in existance, and great performance and tech support. Not to mention very reliable.

CDROM/CDR: Anything with the name of Plextor on it and with a SCSI interface . Teac has some very good drives too...

DVDROM: Buy a Pioneer SCSI DVD-Rom. However, the latest Pioneer drive wasn't reviewed that positive at www.storagereview.com ... guess that they need to do some work for their next drive

Soundcard: none. Why none? because there is no good brand. Creative has _very_ bad driver support, and there is no other that is better. Luckily the standard Win2k drivers do all I want them to do, so I am using them. (no EAX, 4 speaker and hardware DirectSound3D).. too bad, since LiveWare drivers suck harder.

Videocard: need I answer this?

Harddisk: I don't think the products from the different brands are that different from eachother in performance and reliability nowadays. Go for something that has a positive review, like a Quantum Fireball LM Plus for a IDE drive, and a Seagate Cheetah X15 for a SCSI (or a Quantum Atlas 10k).

Monitor: I like the look of a Sony Trinitron tube

[Gurm]

Why would we want the Toyota of computer parts? I'm insulted. My G400 is clearly the BMW or Mercedes of video cards - not as fast as a pimped-out Honda or Mustang, but handles better, looks better, and has more features. Heh.

That said, here's my list, and why.

---------------

Motherboard: ASUS. Only ASUS. I currently run an ABIT, because ASUS doesn't yet make a dual-processor board that will handle fast chips. But ASUS makes the best boards, bar none. They're pricey, yes. A P3B-F still runs $150 locally. But it's just the best board you can buy right now (new chipsets I haven't tried yet notwithstanding).

CPU, Memory: Kinda moot. Honestly, any solid brand of memory is ok.

Hard Drive: IBM. Seagate is good in the arena of fast SCSI, but IBM wins all across the board. They're fast, they're nearly silent (with the notable exception of their 10k SCSI drives, but then again ALL 10k SCSI drives are noisy), and they have big buffers. Plus I've never had one die on me.

Monitor: I have no real preference right now. I'm kinda disgruntled by Trinitron, and I am kinda partial to Hitachis. But that's really a personal preference more than a good reason.

Sound Card: I concur with dZeus. There are no good sound cards now. The MX300 conflicts with too much stuff, the SBLive! has crap for drivers, and cards like the Santa Cruz are just compromise cards until someone comes out with a GOOD chip to compete with Creative.

Case: Lots of nice ones, but I like Power Man power supplies and InWin cases. Just my preference. Always very solid.

NIC: 3Com. Just 3Com. I don't care what anyone says about how swell their Netgear card is, it's poo. Intel used to be ok but lately they're kinda sketchy - hit or miss. 3Com is always top-notch. I'll take an ISA 3Com over anyone else's PCI.

CD/DVD/CDRW: If Plextor has the speed and interface you're looking for (and it's almost guaranteed they do), you can't buy finer. It's pricey, yes. But it's also the best CD technology on the planet. Other good brands are Toshiba (just because they read EVERYTHING) and Hitachi (because they're nearly silent).

Mouse: Microsoft. Mechanical. Need I say more? The optical technology is nice and all, but the optical mice themselves are cheap and easy to break. The buttons get stuck easily, and the entire thing weighs about as much as a piece of origami paper. The cords come out, and generally they're just not well built. The very first ergo-mice, in contrast, are still going - after 10 years.

Keyboard: Keytronics or Microsoft Ergonomic. And not the "elite", which is a Microsoft code word for "shit".

Game Controllers: Advanced Gravis.

Speakers: Altec Lansing. Bose if you're looking to spend needless money. Soundworks now sucks, since they are designed by Creative.

- Gurm

[isochar]

Gurm, Toyota's/Lexus's and Honda's/Acura's are the most reliable cars out there. Mercedes falls a little behind. BMW's are as reliable as American cars (heh). (Quick summary of Consumer Reports Auto Buyer Guide)

Back to the topic at hand:
Case: Depends what your needs are, a lot of good cases out there.

Motherboard: ASUS. They are the standard that all other motherboard manufacturers strive for.

Power Supply: PC Power&Cooling. They set their power supplies to very strict standards, hence the high price...

Processor: Intel. If you were to run a x86 mission-critical server, Intel would be the first and only choice. (At this point)

Memory: ditto.

Video Card: Depends what your purposes are. Business - Matrox, Gaming - nVidia.

Sound Card: Live! Although the drivers are far from perfect, it's the best card out there.

Network Card: 3com.

SCSI Card: Adaptec.

Hard Drive: IDE - IBM, SCSI - Seagate

CD/CD-RW: Plextor.

DVD: I wish Plextor made one Pioneer otherwise...

Monitor: Sony. Eizo. Mitsubishi. Really depends on your preference on how the picture is displayed.

Speakers: Klipsch Promedia v2 400. The reviews are right on - the best computer speakers on god's green earth.

Printer: HP.

Scanner: Epson.

Floppy: This component is so cheap, I don't think it matters

Keyboard/Mouse: Microsoft/Logitech. Best in the business. Depends on your tastes.

[Brian R.]

By far, the most critical item for reliability is the MB. Buy the MB as if your computer depended on it. Nothing else can give you more trouble or shut you down as quickly. PS can, but fail much less often.

Other than that, nothing much to add to the above list
MB - ASUS, Intel (forget ABIT, 50% failure rate in my hands)
Monitor - Sony or Nokia (I know)
PS - PC Power & Cooling
Memory - Mushkin or Crucial
HD - IBM
CDR/W - Plextor (Very solid and reliable)
DVD - Pioneer

BTW Dave - Owned the monitor for 32 years?

[This message has been edited by Brian R. (edited 06 November 2000).]

[Gurm]

Actually the whole Toyota/Honda vs. Mercedes/BMW thing is an interesting topic in and of itself. Let's just say that the system Consumer Reports and others use to rate cars is a bit skewed, based on the price of the vehicle.

Also, it's easy for Toyota to get everything right - there's nothing in the car. It's EASY to build a PC if all you do is put a motherboard with integrated sound and video, CPU and memory in a case and call it a PC.

- Gurm

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[Himself]

Case: it's a metal box, who cares as long as the screw holes match. I paint and customize my own anyway.

Power Supply, I like the Enermax variety with dual fans and thermal rpm adjustment. Ignore total wattage ratings and look at each rail.

Motherboard: Epox, Soyo, and Asus are good brands, but depending on the platform, one could be just as good as another, just look for features. Forget support unless you speak taiwanese.

Sound card: There is nothing out there I like, I have a live! currently, it's noisy, the drivers are terrible, but it can give you reverb effects, yay. I had an MX300, the company went bust, nice quiet card, great sound, drivers sucked as bad as NVIDIA's.

Hard drive: Quantum, IBM, as for Maxtor, just say no, only good thing about them is MAxtor is willing to replace them readily. Damn them for buying Quantum.

Memory: You either pay a fortune or roll the dice, what's marked on it is meaningless, PC100 and PC133 are gimmicks, it's not a great situation.

Monitor: You either pay a fortune or roll the dice, see above. Individual models are what you have to go by, not brand names.

Video card: You roll the dice, nothing out there is worth a damn in reality, all you can do is pick the best of a bad lot. There is no video card that I can say has great drivers, 2D quality is down to the individual cards, and support for features is a crap shoot.

NIC: Generally solid no matter what you get.

DVD-ROM: I only have one sample, the Pioneer 104s, but it works great.

CD-RW: They are pretty solid these days, no matter what brand you get.

CPU: They are all pretty reliable, but they get blamed for system issues all the time.

Mouse: Artec, three button wheel mouse, you absolutely need a wheel. Damn cheap and very responsive. You are going to buy them again and again anyway when those plastic stickers on the bottom go awol, so you might as well get the least expensive.

Keyboard: They are all reliable, they are guaranteed to be too small for your fingers.

OS: They all suck.

[DentyCracker]

Case - Inwin
Mobo - MSI
Processor - Duron/T-Bird
Memory - Micron
Soundcard - SBLive!
Videocard - D-uh
Monitor - Hitachi
Speakers - Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 (x2) it has a lower crossover frequency than the v2.400
NIC - 3Com
Modem - Basically anything that is controller based with a Cirrus Logic/Ambient/Intel chip
Hard Drive - Maxtor (I have clients that I installed in '96 still up and running without a hitch)
CD/DVD - Toshiba
CDR - Plextor (a no brainer)

aside - remember when VIA chipsets were the rough equivalent of bovine excrement? Intel has sure helped to make them more palatable [i820, RAMBUS(T), mth, etc]

[Pace]

Case: SuperMicro - never heard a bad report about them - the 750A look nicest

Motherboard: SuperMicro - as far as I'm concerned 100% reliability. However, that's all they have - any other stuff like additional IDE channels or overclocking go ASUS/Abit.

Power supply: You should get a nice one in the SC750A Dunno names but buy a good case with one in it.

Sound card: SBLive - sounds great and has got great support across the board. It's the only choice however. Liveware 3 has issues with Win2k I believe - can anyone elaborate on this?

Hard drive: Ditto as before, IBM for everything and Seagate high end SCSI.

Memory: Again a ditto, I buy generic but most branded stuff will be good...

Monitor: Personally Iiyama but Sony's are good too. Eizo's are good monitors but I've never heard any reports (good or bad) about reliability.

Video card: NVIDIA were pretty reliable but, until Detonator 3, I'd had not problems with any card. These are software issues but doesn't bear well for the hardware...so I'll vote Matrox here.

Network card: Did anyone else say 3Com?

other...
Printer: Hewlett Packard for laser. HP for business inkjet, Epson for photos.

Scanner: HP probably here too - no problems with mine.

Keyboard: I buy Cherry but I fancy getting a keyboard with extra shortcut buttons - probably Microsoft.

Mouse: Microsoft over Logitech.

Floppy: Sony.

Removable (MO) Media: Iomega (Zip) - CD-R taking over however.

CD: Plextor for CD-R/RW. Pioneer/Toshiba for DVD. Pioneer for DVD-R - for plain CDs probably Kenwood but I know nothing of their reliability.

SCSI card: Adaptec.

Modem: 3Com.

CPU: Intel.

RJ45 connectors : RS Electronics...

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[labrador]

Thanks for all the follow ups. It has been an interesting thread.

Just to keep it on track, please remember that this is about reliability, not necessarily your favorite brand. What I mean by this is that if you have only owned one computer and it has brand X component in it and you like it a lot, you probably shouldn't comment on this limited experience. I am hoping to hear from people who have built or maintained many machines with various hardware in them. I've maintained 4 machines where I work, but I consider that limited exposure to what is out there. So if you are like me or have less exposure to the quantity, you probably don't have the breadth of experience to report on, and should be watching the results like me.

If we bring it back to the car analogy, you can't really comment much on reliability (aside from reading reports) if you've only owned a car or two in your life.

Again, thanks for all the inputs. It is great to see some of the patterns that are emerging. Interesting that Tyan MBs, which are said to have a reputation for robustness in some reviews, are not getting much or any mention.

[Liquid Snake]

Case - My Addtronics 7890A is fine. I wish it had more internal 3.5" bays though.

Mobo - Abit. My BX6 r.2 is still going after a year and a half with a P3-550 OC to 616. My BE6-2 is fine also. Honestly, I've never used an Asus board, so I don't know about those, but many swear by them.

Power Supply - PC Power & Cooling. Expensive, but good.

Sound Card - I've never had any problems with my MX300. Really. The driver support is zero, but the A3D technology is great. A Live! is in another machine, but I rarely use the machine, so I don't know about that one.

Hard Drive - My Quantum Fireball Plus KA hasn't given me any problems. I've only had one HD fail, a 700MB Western Digital drive from 1994 (95?).

Memory - I am using generic PC133, without any problems. I believe the chips are Micron.

Monitor - Anything with a Trinitron tube. Almost all my monitors have a Trinitron tube. I find them to be brighter than other monitors. The two lines running across the screen do not bother me.

Video Card - Hmm...a difficult one...
Matrox of course

NIC - My network has four Linksys LNE100TXs (based on DEC Tulip). No problems with them, but I only use them to share the DSL connection. I only have a 10mbps hub anyway. If I used the network for more demanding purposes, I would use 3Com.

CD-ROM - I have a Kenwood 72X, and no problems. But Plextor is good too

CD-R/CD-RW - Hmm...another hard one...
Plextor of course

Mice - Logitech. My Cordless Mouseman Wheel is great (although there is some lag when I repeatedly hit the buttons, such as using the pistols in CS). I have a bunch of other Microsoft Intellimouses, they haven't given me any problems either.

Keyboard - Well, whatever looks and feels good in the store.

Speakers - I have a set of Microworks from Cambridge Soundworks. Despite what others say, I think they're fine. But then again, I've never heard the Klipsch Promedias, so I don't know if they really are great. My set was manufactured more than two years ago. When did Creative buy Cambridge anyway?

Headphones - I have a pair of Sony MDR-V6 headphones. They're fine, but if I had more money, I'd get myself some Sennheisers.