Which is your favorite PC component manufacturer?

[Serpentrium]

I am a professional IT hardware tester since 1995. I mostly tested PC hardware from far eastern manufacturers. So, you can count on my experience as I know it down to the circuitry level.

There is not one far eastern OEM manufacturer which I can say it is the best, but 23 years of experience has shown me some are designed better than others due to 3 main factors:
1. Durability / MTBF
2. Price / Performance
3. Aftersales Support

Motherboards: Less amount of capacitors on the board means better stability and reliability.
1. Foxconn (also manufactures Intel boards),
2. MSI,
3. Asus
4. Gigabyte
(Abit, Asrock and others are just copycats).

VGAs/GPUs: Smaller cooler represents better built board (needs to be cooled less), less capacitors means better engineered:
1. NVIDIA
2. ATI

Memory/Ram: Alot of brands out there.
1. Kingston
2. Corsair
3. G. Skill
4. Ballistix

PSU: Best PSU means reliability, switchability and lifetime.
1. CoolerMaster.
2. Thermaltake
3. Corsair

HDD:
1. Seagate
2. WDC

SSD:
1. Kingston
2. Seagate (Hybrid)
3. Sandisk

Case:
1.NZXT
2. Thermaltake
3. Cooler Master

Mouse / Keyboard:
1. Logitech

Webcam:
1. Microsoft
2. Logitech

Monitor:
1. Dell
2. Samsung
3. LG

Components:
CPU: Intel (AMD still has temperature / speed issues)
NIC: Intel (Stay away from Realtek, forever if possible!)

Gaming Laptop:
Alienware (Dell)

Barebone Laptop manufacturer: Brands like HP, Dell, Lenovo doesnt produce laptops but brands them.
1. Quanta: Producer for HP, Lenovo, Apple, Acer, Toshiba, Dell, Sony, Fujitsu and NEC
2. Compal: Producer for Acer, Dell, Toshiba, Lenovo and HP/Compaq
3. Foxconn: Asus, Dell, HP and Apple

 

[cliffordcooley]

Motherboards: Less amount of capacitors on the board means better stability and reliability.
1. Foxconn (also manufactures Intel boards),
2. MSI,
3. Asus
4. Gigabyte
(Abit, Asrock and others are just copycats).

I wouldn't have a Foxconn motherboard, if someone paid me to take it. If I could stop supporting them completely, I would.

 

[HardReset]

I am a professional IT hardware tester since 1995. I mostly tested PC hardware from far eastern manufacturers. So, you can count on my experience as I know it down to the circuitry level.

VGAs/GPUs: Smaller cooler represents better built board (needs to be cooled less), less capacitors means better engineered:
1. NVIDIA
2. ATI

PSU: Best PSU means reliability, switchability and lifetime.
1. CoolerMaster.
2. Thermaltake
3. Corsair

SSD:
1. Kingston
2. Seagate (Hybrid)
3. Sandisk

Not sure if...

Smaller cooler tells very little about board quality and even less about graphic chip (that has nothing to do with board quality) power consumption. Also "better engineered" boards (like those meant for overclocking or have high stock clocks) usually have more capacitors.

None of those three "manufacturers" actually manufacture PSU's and quality varies.

Kingston has best SSD's? I don't even bother to say anything for that.

 

[Darth Shiv]

Corsair for PSU's although there is another excellent company, can't recall name, they even make some Corsair PSU, company name starts with an S I think.
Asus for mobo's and their Essence STX soundcards, I'd buy their videocards as well. Corsair for DDRx memory. Went from a Samsung SATA drive to a Samsung M.2 NVME drive for the boot drive. Western Digital for hard drives
I've bought a lot of Sapphire video cards, but unless AMD improves I'm going to defect to Nvidia and of course Intel processors

Yep this is my list with maybe Gigabyte for mobo or vid card as alternatives. Oh and I have defected to Nvidia and so far really happy with the decision.

Think you are thinking Seasonic for the PSUs. They are rebadged and sold as other brands.

 

[Darth Shiv]

Dfi, Abit, Asus, Logitech!

DFI LANParty has been dead for a little while now sadly...

 

[cliffordcooley]

DFI LANParty has been dead for a little while now sadly...

Without knowing for sure I was thinking that. I never once bought their boards, but I did drool a bit over LANParty while shopping years back.

 

[Darth Shiv]

Without knowing for sure I was thinking that. I never once bought their boards, but I did drool a bit over LANParty while shopping years back.

Yeah I did have a LANParty NF4 SLI-DR and not too long after that from what I've heard, they dissolved the division due to them losing too much money and corporate just went radio silent on the matter. Was hard to find good info on what the deal was.

 

[Ascaris]

For PSU: Seasonic or Super Flower OEM (Delta would also be good) as long as they have all Japanese capacitors (105C rated) and perform well (low ripple, good cross-load performance, etc.)

For motherboards: Asus

The rest of the pieces are determined at the moment of purchase by pricing, spec, warranty, availability, reliability reports, etc.

 

[delluel]

I've always been impressed with Gigabyte hardware.

 

[Daithi]

Always like corsair for peripherals. Have a corsair keyboard and case, they always have a nice balance between form and function without overdoing it.

Usually go MSI for gpus. They seem to strike a nice middle ground in price/performance, and the engrish in their manuals is a good laugh.

A lot of people like WD but I was kinda put off by them after the rebadged their blue 1tb drives as black and slapped a higher price tag on them, but there aren't any better alternatives.

 

[DJMIKE25]

Corsair peripherals, Asus and Gigabyte Motherboards, Samsung SSD's, WD HD's, Nvidia Video Cards.

 

[DDG4005]

For motherboards I go with Asus; EVGA is my favorite for graphics cards and power supplies and Crucial for RAM. I'm still stuck on Cooler Master for cases and recently became a fan of Thermaltake's Riing series case fans (no pun intended).I also bought two Asus monitors (the MX27AQ) as well. I also still prefer Creative for sound cards but switched to Corsair's SP2500 speaker system after both my Klipsch systems' amps blew.

 

[That Other Guy]

There are several I rely on as there is no one holy grail of manufacturers(despite what they tell you). Depending on what you are after as well: speed, reliability, support. For all my years working in this industry, by far Intel is the best and not just right now, but consistently good quality products and simply unmatched support. It was a sad day when they moved away from consumer motherboards, but for workstation and servers still my number one choice... as long as you can afford it. that is my only issue with Intel is the cost, tho for the support they give you, its worth it imo.

 

[Forebode]

Intel:cpu, samsung:ssd, asus:mobo, msi|nvidia:vcard, adata:memory, creative:sound, Shure:Headphones, bose:speakers, sennheiser:headset, corsair:mouse|keyboard|case, evgasu, dell|nvidia:monitor

 

[wiyosaya]

Seasonic - PS
ASRock MB
amd apu
intel CPU
nVidia GPU
Thermalright - Heatsinks.
Scythe - Fans
Logitech Mouse/Keyboard
Samsung SSDs
Case depends on the application With Lian Li and Silverstone as recent purchases.

 

[lripplinger]

Favorites...hmmmmmmm

Computer cases: Corsair, Silverstone or Fractal Design
SSDs: Samsung
Hard drives: Western Digital
Motherboard: Gigabyte or Asus
RAM: Corsair, Crucial or Kingston
PSU: EVGA or Corsair and sometimes Antec

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

Motherboards: I'm a Gigabyte fan, through and through.
HDD: Hitachi and Samsung are my favorites. I'd go WD as a last resort.
RAM: Kingston is my go-to brand.
PSU: Seasonic. Super Flower, FSP and CWT's newer designs are pretty good too, but Seasonic is consistently excellent.
GPU: Sapphire for AMD. eVGA for NVIDIA.
Case & Cooling: Corsair, by far. Best I've ever had\used.

 

[captaincranky]

Motherboards: I'm a Gigabyte fan, through and through.

I think every review I've ever seen, has Gigabyte at the top of the ability to overclock heap.

PSU: Seasonic. Super Flower, FSP and CWT's newer designs are pretty good too, but Seasonic is consistently excellent.

Dunno it it's urban legend or not, but at some point in space in time Seasonic allegedly produced Antec's PSUs .

Also part of mythology, is the fact that the "D", as in "380D" stands for "Delta". Is this true? Because those little Earhtwatts "D" units keep going & going, long past Energizer batteries.

BTW, How ya been?

 

[BrianMontanye]

ASUS has been the main components of all of my builds over the last 10 years or so.

My latest build included the following:
ASUS mainboard.
ASUS video adapter - coming soon.... whenever they are stocked....which may be never at this rate lol.
ASUS monitor.
Corsair case.
Corsair fans/liquid cooling.
Intel proc.
Gskill RAM.
Samsung M.2 SSD
Logitech periphs.

Normally, I use CM cases but thought I would try the Corsair case. Very happy so far, besides having to RMA the back side panel as it was warped and would not close. Replacement sent from Corsair with no issues.

 

[RobStow]

1.) Once an AMD fanboy, but I would not now - or for the past decade - use anything but an Intel cpu.
2.) Similarly, I was once a Seagate fan. During the 80s, 90s and up to about 2008 I used almost nothing but Seagate HDDS ... but now you would have to pay me to take another chance on one of their drives. These days I prefer Hitachi for HDD and Samsung for SSD. I have yet to use a PCI-E SSD but expect that to change with my next system.
3.) For video cards I don't really have a preference - I just pick whatever fills my needs at the best price. And my needs are probably simpler than most because I'm not a gamer.
4.) For motherboards I similarly don't have much of a preference - I pick from the Asus, MSI and occasionally Tyan or SuperMicro offerings according to my needs and budget. Most things I build systems for need lots of storage so I look for lots of SATA3 ports and, because I intend to try PCI-E SSDs soon, lots of PCI-E slots with more than just 1 or 2 lanes.
5.) For cases, I want lots of space for drives. I also prefer none of those annoying carnival lights that so many manufacturers use: cases should be as quiet, invisible, and unnoticeable as possible. To fit that bill, my last two cases were EATX cases from Phantek and my next probably will be too.

 

[Serpentrium]

Motherboards: Less amount of capacitors on the board means better stability and reliability.
1. Foxconn (also manufactures Intel boards),
2. MSI,
3. Asus
4. Gigabyte
(Abit, Asrock and others are just copycats).

I wouldn't have a Foxconn motherboard, if someone paid me to take it. If I could stop supporting them completely, I would.

Nearly all Intel branded boards and servers are built by Foxconn as well as Dell servers. They may not be upmost performable, but they are quite reliable.

 

[milostuvic]

Asus Western Digital (have several hdd's and thay are great) Intel, but I also like Amd for the GPU's

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

I think every review I've ever seen, has Gigabyte at the top of the ability to overclock heap.

Dunno it it's urban legend or not, but at some point in space in time Seasonic allegedly produced Antec's PSUs .

Also part of mythology, is the fact that the "D", as in "380D" stands for "Delta". Is this true? Because those little Earhtwatts "D" units keep going & going, long past Energizer batteries.

BTW, How ya been?

Seasonic still manufactures some Antec power supplies. The HCG series comes to mind; I believe only one or two of the models in that series is made by Delta; the rest are Seasonic.

Yes, Earthwatts "D" models are made by Delta. Pretty decent manufacturer as well, seeing as they make a lot of server-grade power supplies.

I've been pretty well; thanks for asking!

 

[Boilerhog146]

Favorites .I've grown to trust most,and,everybody hits a lemon once in a while..
CPU= Intel
mobo=asus,evga,Gigabyte
videocard= ,Asus,Evga,BFG( back in the day)
memory=Corsair,Patriot.
PSU=Corsair,Antec.
SSD=corsair,(ocz.because it was cheap refurb..)
HDD=Maxtor(before Seagate),WD,
Case=Corsair,coolermaster,Thermaltake,
kit =Saitek,logitech,seinheiser

 

[bluto 2050]

I buy what best suits my needs at the time. Typically, this is Nvidia and Intel for the simple fact that I have had less hassle with their components than AMD.

Ditto across the board here . I'm done with AMD the house is all Intel core i5 and core i7 on win 10 now (4 PC ) and ofc Intel - nVidia on the Core i7 gaming PC in the game /music room and Seagate HDD over many years although the newer WD like the one in this new PC are probably just as good any consumer HDD anyway .

Cooler Master PSU and CPU coolers and Crucial Ram here also and aftermarket mainboards and sound have been ASUS .

Other things are my Logitech G610 MX cherry brown mechanical keyboard and Logitech Laser mouse in here and Logitech 5.1 PC speakers that ain't bad for what they are in this room and the decent Schiit Audio stack and 3 -16 x9 24-27" ACER monitors here also

I just switched out an aging 2010 HP P7 desktop I upgraded to Windows 10 and an AMD Phenom II x6 , 8GB Ram and an AMD D/GPU that fried a mainboard last month for a new HP Pavilion desktop daily driver in here with a Haswell core i5 and 12 GB ram . I put a windows 10 SSD in it and a decent newer sound card out of the old PC and may add another metal storage drive .

I went to fix the old PC with an inexpensive exact part NOS mainboard from E bay so I could repurpose it or give it to someone that can use it and the mainboard doesn't have the updated MBR BIOS to run the Phenom II x6 beyond a BOIS screen and splash screen boot loader to roll in a new OS from windows media .(* at least thats my guess it's an older BIOS rev. than what I had and previously updated )

The BIOS doesn't recognize the 6 core CPU . It won't go beyond the "use any key to boot from CD-DVD " splash screen , it won't boot from USB or DVD from the esc key or BIOS boot menu priorities .

I ordered a used $ 9.00 AMD Athlon II x2 250 from E bay so I can probably get it working and flash the BIOS to run the II x6 CPU or at least work with the II x2 CPU depending if I decide to sell the II x6 separate or not .
ofc. thats more on HP's whitelisted OEM BOIS than AMD in this case.

Most AMD boxes before this last one I've had going back as far as windows 95 and AMD K6 CPU had at the least some compatibility issues or some performance drama whereas the Intel boxes since a new P4 just work within thier legitimate expectations if you know what you bought whereas AMD tends to over-hype what thier CPU can do .(like Intel did with the P4☺)

ofc. the new Intel Haswell Core i5 on Win 10 14393.rs1 AU on metal or W-10 14926.rs2 on this SSD is fast enough *in here for what I do and smooth as butter and is probably a more plausible gamer and all around CPU than anything AMD presently makes anyway .

The new Haswell Core i5 HD 4600 IGPU in here can put out 4K video to the 55" 4K Sony HDR extended screen TV in here as long as you arent 4K gaming or gaming much at all it ain't a gamer IGPU /GPU. It plays my 4K downloads into the TV at least as well as Andoid Kodi does in the TV by itself from a USB HDD and maybe a little better with x86 VLC .
but the embedded 4K youtube app in the TV is *maybe better than a PC in some ways albeit slower but I'm not sure yet .

I just found that 4K video Haswell Core i5 business out today . Windows 10 apparently did not have specific EDID data on this new 4K TV and incorrectly set it at 1080p .

I read about about the Intel haswell Core i5 IGPU doing 4K video on Toms HDWE today and sure enough I was able change the settings so each screen in here has its native resolution now .