The Components I Refused To Use
This is a simple one to answer, there are none.
What do I mean by that because there are actually parts I don’t use, such as gigabyte power supplies. This is because in the recent past they had a series of power supplies that actually exploded!
Realistically I know that their power supplies are solid and are not having those issues today, but my fear still remains. However as the newer models are proving that fear to be unfounded I am now looking at them again in terms of using them again.
But the title is what parts I refuse to use!
Yes that title sounds a little misleading but what I mean by that is what parts I refuse to put into a build for others.
Let’s look at power supplies further, would I personally use a GameMax power supply? Not today. Yet many use them every day and have zero issues with them so clearly these power supplies aren’t that bad. If you are on a budget I can see why these are worth looking at because they have incredible value for builders, and many many builders use them and sell them in the hundreds every day.
Having not used them I would have to run testing on them to know if I would recommend them or use them.
And there is the core of the issue, I wouldn't use something I do not trust. For me I want everyone to have a great experience so I lean on experience and longevity in the products I use. For power supplies I always look for who is the original manufacturer as well, most are made by a few companies out in Asia, and the two most prevalent in the industry are SuperFlower and Seasonic. These two are the two monsters in the industry and odds are that you have used one of their Power Supplies just under a different brand name. For us these two OEM companies are the most trusted in the industry.
‘No Name Brands’
For this let’s move from power supplies to RAM and SSD’s.
Looking through Amazon today if you searched SSD you would see the expected suppliers, Samsung, Crucial, Lexar. But scroll a little and suddenly brands like Orico, BiWin, Ediloca, KingSpec and KingBank amongst a plethora of others.
The question on everyone's mind at the moment is are they any good? Or who the hell are they?
Let’s deal with who they are first, more than likely they are a small manufacturer based in Asia that is buying the memory chips from, SK Hynix, Micron, Samsung or CMXT as these are the four suppliers of memory chips. It must be noted that CMXT are ‘China only’ at the moment due to trade embargoes and the like they are also the newest.
What you have to remember is that everyone started somewhere and just look at Lexar and Silicon Power. These were both ‘no name’ at some point and became popular and trusted worldwide.
How did they do this?
Through consistent testing and proven reliability.
More recently we have seen Motherboard companies adding Kingbank RAM to their QVL list for their motherboards. This is how we see these brands becoming established in the ‘mainstream’
This is something that for us we believe should be the best way to work, test test and more testing and if it is good recommend it.
Another example is Thermalright, a company that has been around from 2001 but really hit the mainstream in recent years because of their quality and stunning value for money. They proved consistently how great they are over time and showed that they were willing to disrupt the market to give PC users something different.
Montech is another example, a few years ago they were a budget case manufacturer who you would see on a shelf in a shop and shrug and probably walk past. Now you see them in so many YouTube videos and sponsor spots. They did this by proving that they provided quality and value for money to its users.
What does this all mean for parts we won’t use
For us we think that every potential component has to earn its place in our line up. We wouldn't put anything in our build we don’t trust or recommend to our family and friends, or even use ourselves.
This is why we plan to set things such as Ediloca SSDs and Kingbank RAM to find out if they are really worth using.