BYO or manufactured?
George Toft
plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
Wed, 24 Apr 2002 08:06:39 -0400
I guess I am lucky. I bought the cheapest parts I could find at Fry's.
Win98 crashed daily (somethimes more), but now that it's a Linux box, the
only time I have problems is when I run out of swap (I have a leaky program
somewhere).
I have always bought the cheapest parts, and have had no problems under
Linux. Buying cheap parts and using Windows is another story. For that,
I would have to recommend high quality major name brand parts or a pre-
manufactured box. I had an issue with Cirrus Logic video card. The box
said Cirrus Logic, the disk said Cirrus Logic, the chips on the card
said Cirrus Logic, but when I contacted them for assistance, they denied
all knowledge of that card. They said they build the chips for other
companies, and to contact that company. When I put the card in a
Linux box, it performed flawlessly.
Just another viewpoint.
George
Mike Butash wrote:
>
> It greatly varies on what kind of pre-manufactured kind of system you buy.
> Don't go buying an HP Pavilion or Compaq Presario expecting to get anything
> near a quality computer (without at the very least wipe the disks and
> reinstalling from scratch, even then with their hardware, you never quite
> know...). I tend to find most of them use sub-par equipment until you bump
> to the server class with quite the bump in price. I've always been a byob
> person since being burnt a few times in my newbie stages by the best buy
> specials. Shelling out the cash for something like a Compaq Proliant server
> is a whole different ball of worms, but you will pay premium and I can build
> a comparable system for much less cost, with equal quality and stability.
>
> Same thing when you build a system from separate components. Buying
> garbage generic ram from Frys usually yields to oddball issues with sporadic
> lockups and the whole nine. I buy all my memory from Crucial or get Corsair
> sticks and never have issues unless I mix and match. Buy brownbox Frys
> video cards (the ones you can never quite tell who exactly made them) and
> expect the same. Building your own box and doing some homework will usually
> land you a solid system if you buy quality components. As Bob said, don't
> cut corners - you get what you pay for. If nothing else, building one's own
> computers usually tends to be quite an educational experience for most,
> especially when it's the first time doing so. If you're in anything related
> to the tech field (or intend to be), I think it should be a prerequisite if
> you haven't.
>
> -mbutash
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: plug-discuss-admin@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> [mailto:plug-discuss-admin@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us]On Behalf Of Bob
> Cober
> Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2002 8:59 PM
> To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> Subject: Re: BYO or manufactured?
>
> I also recommend BYO system - but I would try to stay with name brand stuff.
> Don't cut corners on the components.
>
> Still, there is nothing wrong with buying a pre-built.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Dr. G <drghastly@cox.net>
> To: <plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2002 1:14 PM
> Subject: Re: BYO or manufactured?
>
> > I make one trip. If you research all the information you have and know
> what
> > you want, then you shouldnt have to spend that mucht ime running around
> > town, ESPECIALLY since now mostr places have a website and you can order
> > from Online-only vendors quite easily for some parts. Yes, there is the
> cost
> > of shipping, but some places give discounts or group bundles. The cost of
> > shipping is already added in for a HP, DLL, etc.
> >
> > BYO will always be a better deal then any proprietary system, unless you
> won
> > it that is :)
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Sundar" <linux@esaravana.com>
> > To: <plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us>
> > Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2002 1:03 PM
> > Subject: Re: BYO or manufactured?
> >
> >
> > > I used to do BYO, but not anymore. If you include , all the trips you
> > > make to Fry's (and time wasted at office thinking about it), you might
> > > actually come better off with manufactured systems. Whenever I used to
> > > build the system by myself, I always went back and did upgrades on this
> > > and that. But last time, I went to dell.com and picked up bare bones
> > > dual processor systems and it worked out cheaper than the dual processor
> > > system I was planning to build and never been happier before. I have
> > > Solaris, BSD, Redhat and Windoze on that box. No problems.....
> > >
> > > Sundar
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Matt wrote:
> > >
> > > >This isn't really directly about Linux, but what are your opinions on
> > > >building your own computer, or buying a Sony/Dell/whatever? I ask
> because
> > > >for the past few years I've been building my own, and it doesn't seem
> to
> > be
> > > >working out too well for me. SuSE Linux 7.3 is supposed to have an
> > amazingly
> > > >easy install, but it took me a week to install it, even though my
> > computer
> > > >is very powerful. It always freezes somewhere, usually when it has to
> > reboot
> > > >or on its way back to the installation from rebooting. But anyway, I
> > > >shouldn't go into all of that. I think a manufactured PC might work
> > better
> > > >because I know the manufacturers test all the parts together to make
> sure
> >
> > > >they don't "fight" with eachother, and because I let my friend borrow
> my
> > > >SuSE CD's and he installed it flawlessly on his emachine, with windows,
> > and
> > > >that computer is about a third as powerful as mine.
> > > >
> > > >________________________________________________
> > > >See http://PLUG.phoenix.az.us/navigator-mail.shtml if your mail doesn't
> > post to the list quickly and you use Netscape to write mail.
> > > >
> > > >PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > > >http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ________________________________________________
> > > See http://PLUG.phoenix.az.us/navigator-mail.shtml if your mail doesn't
> > post to the list quickly and you use Netscape to write mail.
> > >
> > > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> >
> > ________________________________________________
> > See http://PLUG.phoenix.az.us/navigator-mail.shtml if your mail doesn't
> post to the list quickly and you use Netscape to write mail.
> >
> > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> >
>
> ________________________________________________
> See http://PLUG.phoenix.az.us/navigator-mail.shtml if your mail doesn't post
> to the list quickly and you use Netscape to write mail.
>
> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>
> ________________________________________________
> See http://PLUG.phoenix.az.us/navigator-mail.shtml if your mail doesn't post to the list quickly and you use Netscape to write mail.
>
> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss