Author Topic: Building a new system….  (Read 1222 times)

Offline TilDeath

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Re: Building a new system….
« Reply #30 on: January 14, 2009, 07:17:52 AM »
Yep, but they compared them as if they were different. So are they both made at the same location?
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Offline eagl

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Re: Building a new system….
« Reply #31 on: January 14, 2009, 07:31:12 AM »
Yep, but they compared them as if they were different. So are they both made at the same location?

I read an article that covered this.  Both brands, and the companies (before they merged) have multiple product lines.  These products are made using different designs, possibly in different factories.  After the companies merged, it is reasonable to expect that the product lines will also merge.  However, you can still expect that their high end and low end models will remain completely different designs, and may be made in different factories.

For example, HardOCP dissected a couple of OCZ power supplies during reviews and found that one was a very high quality design that they had not seen before, and another one was simply a generic design outsourced from a company that makes power supplies for a whole bunch of companies including OEM customers.

So it depends on what model you get...  Some are going to be generic PSUs with OCZ or PCP&C labels, some will be more custom high end designs.  In both cases, it is unlikely that a factory staffed with OCZ or PCP&C employees actually manufacturered them since they order their PSUs from third party manufacturers.  It doesn't necessarily mean they're cheap or crappy, it just means that you might buy 5 PSUs with 5 different brand names, and then if you open them up you might find that they're nearly identical inside.

That's why if you are really serious about picking your computer parts, you need to read PSU reviews that take them apart and look at internal build quality.  Whether or not you like hardOCP's testing methodology, they disassemble every PSU and comment on build quality including identifying the actual PSU manufacturer and comparing the actual design to other PSU brands that use the same design.  You'd be suprised at what they find...  They have taken apart 800 and 1000w PSUs and found them to be absolutely identical, down to the heatsinks and capacitors.  The brand name company can special order these generic designs with custom wiring or better components, but there are actually only a handful of manufacturers and designs so it's possible to narrow down which brand is selling the "good" ones at a lower price if you do a lot of research.


« Last Edit: January 14, 2009, 07:36:26 AM by eagl »
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Offline RauleDuke

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Re: Building a new system….
« Reply #32 on: January 14, 2009, 09:12:10 AM »
After some comments here, I decided to change a few things for my build.  Initially, I just wanted to get some better ram than the 4gb of Kingston Value I had originally selected.  Once I began shopping for better ram, I kept coming across customer reviews tanking my choice of Asus P5Q3 mobo as being very touchy about the type of ram you could use.  So I went back and started over on selecting the motherboard.  I still wasn't willing to up my price and go for an i7 board, it seems like almost everyone sporting DDR3 ram has an evga X58 i7 mobo, so I went with the GIGABYTE GA-EP45T mobo.  It's got 2 PCI X16 slots and plenty of USB ports, plus, no negative reviews.  Being a first time builder, I want to avoid as much potential for headaches as possible.  From there I decided to splurge a bit on a Corasair Dominator 6GB ram kit.  33 reviews at Newegg, all at 5.  Only con, price at $229.00.
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Offline Denholm

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Re: Building a new system….
« Reply #33 on: January 14, 2009, 09:25:27 AM »
The only advice:

Strap down the RAM tight.... :cool:
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Offline BaldEagl

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Re: Building a new system….
« Reply #34 on: January 14, 2009, 09:27:36 AM »
After some comments here, I decided to change a few things for my build.  Initially, I just wanted to get some better ram than the 4gb of Kingston Value I had originally selected.  Once I began shopping for better ram, I kept coming across customer reviews tanking my choice of Asus P5Q3 mobo as being very touchy about the type of ram you could use.  So I went back and started over on selecting the motherboard.  I still wasn't willing to up my price and go for an i7 board, it seems like almost everyone sporting DDR3 ram has an evga X58 i7 mobo, so I went with the GIGABYTE GA-EP45T mobo.  It's got 2 PCI X16 slots and plenty of USB ports, plus, no negative reviews.  Being a first time builder, I want to avoid as much potential for headaches as possible.  From there I decided to splurge a bit on a Corasair Dominator 6GB ram kit.  33 reviews at Newegg, all at 5.  Only con, price at $229.00.

The Gigabyte board should be good but I've heard they are also sensative to RAM.  Go to the Gigabyte site and click on the memory support list for that motherboard to be sure what your getting is compatible.  You also might want to look at the eVGA 750 series with 2x16 PCIe slots and 1066 DDR3 support.  the Nvidia boards are RAM agnostic.  Not sure how these stack up against each other price wise.

As to RAM just get something with low latencies (4-4-4-12 or 5-5-5-15 or something in that area).  The lower the better.
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Offline Skuzzy

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Re: Building a new system….
« Reply #35 on: January 14, 2009, 09:35:09 AM »
I find the reviews at Newegg to be mostly fluff.  If you read between the lines you usually find there are other issues with most.  Like, "I bought this DDR2-800 and it will not overclock to DDR2-2000 speeds, must be the motherboard!  I'll never buy another one of those again!".

There are some real nutjob review comments over there.

I have installed 5 or 6 P5Q motherboards, using GSkill, OCZ, and Crucial.  Never had a problem with any of it. Just FYI.  Of course, it is always possible to get something bad at any given moment, regardless of who makes it.

For instance, the only motherboard I have had fail, after installation, is a Gigabyte motherboard.  Does not make them a bad brand.  They have a good line and it is a good company.

I have also had one P5Q that was DOA.  No biggie.  If I stopped buying product from every company I have had a failure with, I could not buy anything.

I never write reviews at Newegg.
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