OT: In Faulty-Computer Suit, Window to Dell Decline

[Matt Graham]

From: Alex Dean <alex at crackpot.org>
> On Jun 30, 2010, at 1:11 PM, keith smith wrote:
>> Reliability is important to me.  I just don't fee like I want to  
>> research components, buy them and build them.
> I built my first from-scratch system about a year ago.  I doubt I
> saved any money.  The main reasons I did it were 1. I got exactly what
> I wanted, without bundled junk I didn't want etc. and 2. it was fun.

In general, Dell, HPCompaq, Gateway, et al tend to buy the cheapest components
possible for their low-end machines.  This often leads to sporadic problems
due to cheap parts behaving marginally, and the user tends to blame the
failures on Microsoft or viruses or hackers.  BTDT with a marginal micro-ATX
board from Gateway and another craptastic micro-ATX board from Asus.  The
motherboard is the most complex part in an x86, the most difficult to
remove/replace, and the hardest thing to diagnose problems with.  As such, I'd
rather spend money on a *good* motherboard than on any other component.  And
yes, most of the bundled things you get from major vendors are totally
worthless.

> If it were anything but an in-home machine I would have stuck with a  
> commercial vendor.

The nice thing about buying parts is that you can often re-use the old parts
you have that still work.  That can lead to saving money in the long run.  The
ATX case I have is 8 years old, my speakers 11 years old, and my DEC Tulip PCI
card is probably 13 years old.  Of course, you have to do some screwdriver-fu
to put an x86 together from parts.  A well-designed case makes this a hell of
a lot simpler than a badly-designed case.

Basically, if your time is important to you, you should spend some extra money
on quality parts.  That way, you can spend much more time fooling with
software problems instead of hardware problems.

-- 
Matt G / Dances With Crows
The Crow202 Blog:  http://crow202.org/wordpress/
There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see