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The problem here was that they were the only vendor who were doing
Socket 478 boards with an ISA bus for a desktop system at a reasonable
price; I really didn't have anywhere else to go. I could have gotten
server-class boards, but that's only if I were building phone servers.
The big boys, like Dell / HP / etc, and even vendors like Tiger Direct
(shudder) were either unable to supply the part I needed or unwilling
to manufacture the machine. Only PC4E was - and for that, I am
grateful. <br>
<br>
In this case, perhaps my disappointment *was* unfounded - it should be
directed at Itox* (makers of the motherboard), as opposed to PC4E. As I
said, their customer support has been, in my experience, prompt and
courteous. It's just that the motherboard they chose might have been a
poor choice. <br>
<br>
- n <br>
<br>
* - for the record, I had never even HEARD of Itox
(<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.itox.com">http://www.itox.com</a>) until I cracked the case of one of these machines
after we got it and googled the model number imprinted on the board. <br>
<br>
<br>
Douglas Alan wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid200604261709.k3QH9KZH026304@gaffa.mit.edu"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Nick Giannotti <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:nick.giannotti@gmail.com"><nick.giannotti@gmail.com></a> wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Chalk me up as another one who has had bad luck with PCFE: I bought a
dozen machines from them (I needed Socket 478 boards with an ISA Bus
on them) and I've had more than 25% of the up and die, due to the
motherboards conking out.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">I will say that their customer service is good, but their product is,
from my experience, unreliable.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
PC4E is best if you want to specify a system down to the motherboard,
and they'll build it for you. The system will only be as reliable as
the motherboard you chose, however, so it pays to do some research into
how well-regarded the motherboard in question is. PC4E is not big
enough, to do their own statistical and engineering analysis of the
failure rates of all the various components they might sell you, though
I'm pretty sure that they will tend to stay away from brands that have
proven to be routinely problematic.
If you want, instead, to purchase a system where the aforementioned
failure rate analysis has been allegedly done, but which offers you many
fewer configuration options, Dell, HP, Sun, Apple etc., seem more like the
places to go.
|>oug
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
- n
How can I feel abandoned, even with the world around me?
How can I bite the hand that feeds the strangers all around me?
How can I know so many, never really knowing anyone?
If I seem superhuman, I have been misunderstood...."</pre>
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