[NTLUG:Discuss] Recommendations

[Steve Baker]

Travis Bell wrote:
> 
> On Mon, Jun 25, 2001 at 01:44:38PM -0500, ddaupert at csc.com wrote:
> <snip>
> > I live in Fort Worth, but have a free day this week when I'll be in Dallas.
> >
> > What computer establishments would people recommend for acquiring parts?
> >
> > What are your thoughts on whether to get one of the BYO systems, or go ala
> > cart?
> >
> > Do you have any favorite mfrs for motherboard/case/CD-ROM etc?
> 
> Fry's in Dallas off of Northwest Hwy. has really low prices.

If you are in Ft.Worth, the Fry's on i20 in Arlington may be closer - and
it's where I get all my parts.

>  Keep in mind they
> also have a reputation for carrying bad parts.  Expect to go back to exchange
> items (whether you do or not isn't for sure, but expect to because it's common).

They have a particularly liberal returns policy - which is both a good and a
bad thing.  If you buy something and it doesn't work (not because it's faulty
but - say - because there turns out to be no Linux support - or because it
clashes with something else), they'll take it back no matter what even WEEKS
later...the downside of that is that they aren't all that careful about asking
WHY the item is brought back - or about testing it to see whether it's faulty
or something.

Hence, a lot of their stock in some items (eg disk drives) are returns.  In
one case, I bought a supposedly new drive that turned out to have Windoze 2000
installed on it and a bunch of WORD files there!

Still, you can spot returned items by the blue and white sticker they put on such
items...just look along the shelf for one without that and you *should* be OK.
 
> Motherboard: I tend to stick with Intel, Tyan, and Asus.

(My recent experience suggests that you may want to avoid the ones with integrated
sound and/or video features - they can be hard - or even impossible to disable).
 
Count the number of slots you get of each kind - especially if you have old peripheral
cards you want to continue to use.  I have an old ISA-bus SCSI card I use for a scanner
and an ISA-bus modem...neither needed to be upgraded - but the motherboard I picked
only had one ISA slot.  The money I shelled out for a new PCI-bus modem more than
outweighed what I'd saved on the motherboard.

> Case: If you plan on getting inside it often like I do, get one with a side
> panel that opens.  The main thing to remember for cases is the power supply,
> probably.  300+ Watts minimum go in my machines...esp. if you have the latest
> and greatest 3d video cards.

DEFINITELY.  With modern machines, you are going to have a power-hungry CPU, a
VERY power-hungry Graphics chip and associated fancy-shmancy RAM chips, a ton
of main memory and (consequently) a bunch of fans all running off that one power
supply - you'd better get a BIG one!

I discovered that it's often cheaper to buy a case with a powersupply than
a powersupply by itself...but watch those wattage ratings - it can be
deceptive.

----------------------------- Steve Baker -------------------------------
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