Companies, Brand Loyalty, and Warranty

[Polyvalent]

I've always been a huge MSi fan and have generally always gone AMD.  MSi products are generally quite reliable and I have never had a bad experience  with any of their hardware, and even if their product is more expensive I usually put my faith in them as a preferred brand. Until just recently I've always seen AMD as the working man's gaming hardware and appreciated its solid performance at lower prices.  Nowadays it seems miners have sort of ruined that value aspect and you can get just as good of a deal with nvidia products, i.e. the 750ti.

 

When it comes to cases, coolers, etc I have always been quite neutral, I always look at the price vs quality and try to buy the best quality for the money.

 

For peripherals I've always liked logitech and steelseries.  When looking for mice I always check steelseries products for sales and then move on to logitech.  

[Guest]

Just something I was thinking about. Are there any particular brands for computer hardware/peripherals (Asus, Corsair, Logitech, etc.) that you generally prefer? If you had to make another purchase for a component, is there one particular brand you might stop at first before you check out others?

 

Generally, I think I'm more inclined to look for good deals, as long as they're from brands that are reasonably well-known. I've had good experiences with Asus for my monitors, though, and if I had to buy a new one, I might consider checking them out first.

 

Anyway, just curious to know how you guys feel.

I might get verbally raped for this, but I really enjoy using Apple's alternatives in most categories. For my general computing, I have a 2006 MacBook, which just recently stopped being able to play 1080p YouTube videos (damn you, Flash!). I love it to death, and would keep it over any new consumer-grade Windows laptop someone would offer me. Gaming laptop, however, is a different story

 

But other than that, my GPU is actually a EVGA GTX 760, and it's deathly-silent, and barely audible at high RPMs. EVGA is a really solid company IMO, and I would definitely buy my next GPU from either them, or Asus, who I've heard is excellent in quality and service. I have it in an old HP Pavilion case as my 'gaming' rig, and it does the job well. Needless to say the tower is tucked in a dark corner with all the other trashily-designed tech I own.  I much prefer NVIDIA to AMD, and would never switch. I loves me my PhysX and HBAO+ !

 

I'm also a design Nazi, so I HATE using things that are ugly, and poorly-designed. Enter: most pre-built PCs. That might explain my love for Apple, but who knows. Jony Ive is a design god.

 

 

 

But that's just me.

[SirReallySam]

Literally JUST Ducky

[Ruostunut kokis]

Not much brand loyalty going on for computer tech, but can it be something else tech related, while not being PC tech?

 

As for the PC tech...

 

Slightly preferring intel over AMD for the CPUs (though I regret my decision going for intel for a budget build)

Slightly leaning towards the NVidia over AMD for the GPUs

 

That's it. Just preferences, but no real ''loyalism'' or fanboyism...

[IdeaStormer]

I am loyal to things made in China, even without thinking about it :lol:

[McMurderMonkey]

After receiving some Custom One Pros; Beyerdynamic.

I also quite like Asus, as they don't put any bloatware on their laptops, and they make great components.

be quiet! for good quiet cooling, and finally EVGA, because their customer support and warranty is awesome.

[f22luke]

Big brands don't get big because they make terrible stuff.

 

That said there still could be a lemon every now and then so I tend to way in user reviews.  If a product has more good reviews that tends to out way manufacture bias to a point.  There are some companies I just won't even consider because of past experiences with a product or customer support.

 

CPUs?: 

 

Let's not go there for this thread.  There are plenty of them to go around as it is.

 

Mother Boards:

 

Asus seems to have the high end rapped up pretty well but they seem to charge a premium for lower end stuff.  

MSI is doing good things on the Intel side of things, even rivaling Asus but they have not made an AMD board worth buying in a long while.  

Gigabyte doesn't compete on the high end at all but they are my go-to company for when bang for buck is a factor.  (get it they make a "Big Bang")

In my estimation Asrock deserves the most improved award.  They keep getting better and have made some boards that really make me think twice.  

ECS needs to die in a fire for all I care. 

 

 

Graphics Cards:

 

Have had all good experiences with Asus, MSI, XFX, Evga, and Sapphire.  I would have no qualms about using Gigabyte either.  

For some reason I find my self trying to brand match the mother board and the GPU if the price is within a certain margin otherwise it's always bang for buck. 

 

Memory:

 

Kingston is the king of compatibility :rolleyes:  and reliability; zero issues to report here.  They are great for laptop memory and builds where you just want it to work no fiddling around.  

I rate Gskill and Mushkin in the same league with Mushkin being my favorite AMD brand.  Both companies have excellent CS.  If only Mushkin would use black pcbs they would look sweet.  Gskill is starting to make ugly heat spreaders though.  

Adata has come a long way they look good and provided performance suitable for the majority of situations.

Corsair performs and looks good doing it.  Unlike Gskill they don't cross that line in to ugly.  They fill that top spot but like Asus their low end stuff is over priced.  I have a feeling they heavily bin their ram which could be why the low end stuff just inst as reliable as others.

Crusial is my second favorite laptop ram manufacture and I use them when Kingston is just too expensive.  They make some ugly heat spreaders so they get relegated to budget build on the desktop side of things.

 

Hard Drives:

  

Mechanical consumer grade:  

   WD then Segate; um maybe Toshiba but not Hitachi.  Note: I love WD AV drives.  They are silent, cool and last forever.

 

SSDs:

 

Corsair has won my vote with their Neutron series.  That said I would go with Kingston HiperX or Samsung for laptops.  

 

PSUs:

 

Seasonic and Corsair are my two favorites (and everyone elses too) but I really put a lot of weight in to expert reviews and will branch out based on them alone.  I rate Antec and CoolerMaster on an even scale good but not exceptional.  I have no experience with NZXT or EVGA but I love how they seem to be shaking up the market.  

 

 

CPU Coolers:

 

I look for what fits the build and performs in reviews.  I am not like Linus and can take a bit of noise but only if the price or performance warrant it.  Aesthetics come in to play too but only to a point. (if there is or isn't a window on the build)

 

Audio Cards:

 

Asus has made me happy and Creative has left a bad taste.  With that said there is lots of room for improvement in this sector.  It could be that onboard will be the future I just don't see it getting better than it is now unless AMD can come out with something sweet to complement their TrueAudio.

 

CD drives:

 

This is just here so that I can vent some anger at Light-On.  Yes you, you terrible excuse for a tech company.  I want you to know that even if you gave me one of your drives i wouldn't take it not even if I could resell it for a profit.  Your products are not the type of thing I would wish on an enemy.

 

 

I feel better now 

[CJPowell27]

EVGA Fanboy.  Asrock hater ASUS Fanboy 

[zxcvbnmmssdh]

Mine is

 

CPU: Intel

 

GPU: Nvidia EVGA/ASUS

 

Mobo: Asus

 

RAM: No preference

 

SSD: Samsung

 

HDD: Seagate for gaming, WD for servers/NAS

 

Monitor: Dell

 

Mouse: Logitech

 

Keyboard: CM Storm

 

PSU: Corsair

 

Case: No preference

[CoolMarquis97]

Huge ASUS and Logitech fan. Will only ever use an ASUS branded GPU and only using Logitech Keyboards and Mice. Can't say the same for Asrock as my motherboard has gave me nothing but trouble for years. 

[Titan_X]

I'm not as much of a brand loyalist as I used to be. I still like to buy most of my components from the same brand since I prefer to have matching parts and peripherals.

 

I used to swear by Logitech keyboards, but their lack of a basic mechanical keyboard without macro keys that I never use had me looking elsewhere with my new build.

[JupiteL]

Corsair.

 

I want to say Asus, but I don't have any of their product, because ROG cost $50 more here, so I'll pass.

[-ism]

I don't care what others say, I'm a hardcore Corsair fanboy. I love Intel as well. I'm not mindless though, I don't just like things because they're from a brand. Corsair make some awesome stuff, however some off their cases are god awful. 

 

I used to like Asus a fair bit, however I have consistently gotten garbage products from them (my luck I'm sure) so now I just consider them as "average". JJ is freaking awesome though. 

 

I could say I'm an EVGA fanboy, mainly because their RMA doesn't blow though. For some reason I despise Samsung in everything they do.

[Sernyhough]

EVGA, I Try to avoid ASUS as here in the UK there support is awful to say the least.

[xXcorsairXx]

I'm pretty loyal to EVGA, Corsair, and audio  technica. I also will never Buy AMD ever again.

[Poohy14]

there are a few things i go to before looking at others like 

 

Motherboards- i go to MSI because I like how they look more than others

GPUs- EVGA is the only one i will go to, do to reliability and all my friends have them and never failed on them

Keyboards- kind of a toss up because my first one was a Roccat ISKU and it just felt comfortable to me and now i have a Ducky because people always recommended them and i love it so i will stay with both

Mice- Only Logitech because nothing else feels comfortable

Monitors- i had a few different brands and even the off brands too but so far i like Acer

Cases- only fractal, love the way they look and simple design

Fans- dont care unless they suck

CPUs- only Intel but last computers were AMD

PSUs- dont matter (which i should care)

HDD- WD

SSD- OCZ, had a crucial for about 2 weeks and it died, well somewhat just couldnt be read on any computers but it was powered on

Headsets- anything that feels comfortable to me

[flibberdipper]

well my asus laptop won me over to asus products, 3 yrs now with out any real issues and it is just built so solid, I like the republic of gamers mouse that came with it a lot too. I have always liked logitech, I think they are a great balance of price to performance with their products, and hp for regular old printers, I have always had good luck with them. I seem to have better luck with Seagate hard drives vs wd, only 2 drives i have had completely die on me in my life were wd. I am sure I will have more opinions as i build my first complete system over the next few weeks. 

My ASUS netbook has been a trooper. I have put it through hell and back, and it keeps kicking. My mom has had several netbooks replaced before her ASUS, and this one keeps going. And, with my recent Xubuntu fanboy takeover, everything runs great.

[NInety]

Corsair, Nvidia, and Intel.

[flibberdipper]

Corsair, Nvidia, and Intel.

You aren't an Intel person until you've used a 1GHz Coppermine Pentium 3. Those things had balls.

[Antistatic12]

Brand Loyalty?
*looks at sig*, nah dont know what you are talking about.

I will probaly always buy Intel. Unless something totally baller comes out from AMD to rivel the extreme Intel chips

[flibberdipper]

Brand Loyalty?

*looks at sig*, nah dont know what you are talking about.

I will probaly always buy Intel. Unless something totally baller comes out from AMD to rivel the extreme Intel chips

On a sidenote, why do you have that 5450 in there?

[Antistatic12]

On a sidenote, why do you have that 5450 in there?

I am going to have to do a site wide announcement on that. geez. so many people keep asking me. LOL.

from my profile feed.

 

I'm not sure what to get. Should I get SLI 780 Ti, or get SLI 780now then upgraded to big Maxwell few months after it comes out. Or see what the GTX 790 is like. And to make it harder, the cards have to look good and try and fit in with my red/black colour theme. Yeah not easy is it.

 

[flibberdipper]

I am going to have to do a site wide announcement on that. geez. so many people keep asking me. LOL.

from my profile feed.

Yeah. In that case, my vote is 780Ti SLI.

[Antistatic12]

Yeah. In that case, my vote is 780Ti SLI.

Duly noted sir.

and back on topic. I will probably always have a few of Corsairs products in my system. They are the right colour, look good aesthetically, and perform great too.

[rmac52]

I can't say I purchase based on brand loyalty really. If somthing is cheaper or a better fit for what I need and is by a top tier company, thats what I will get. If everything is equal then I will go with a brand I know and trust.

Anything Asus or Corsair I'll at least try. Can't go wrong with GSkill ram. WD all the way for hdds. Evga has some of the best customer service ive ever experienced. Same with amazon actually, I trust amazon to fix any problem I have with a minimum of effort on my part.

Somthing I go by more is my list of companies I hate and won't buy from.

Asrock, Seagate, Toshiba (laptops), Mad Catz, and obviously Apple

I have either had high failure rates or terrible customer service from all of those companies. Except for Apple I threw them in more as a joke.

Customer service can, at least for me, make up for a product failure. I have no problem with rma if the customer service is good.

Sorry for any spelling or grammatical errors I typed this at almost 3am on my phone.