Making Reliable Systems

As a custom white-box builder for more than seven years, I've learned a few lessons the hard way about which parts to buy, from where, and why. I've found that there are eight essential qualities to look for when purchasing parts that will ultimately be a representation of your company:

1. Reliability
2. Compatibility
3. Availability
4. Price
5. Performance
6. Warranty (length and terms)
7. Quality and timeliness of support from manufacturer
8. Quality and timeliness of support from distributor

Here are some hard-earned tips about how to build systems that will keep both your customers and your accountant happy:

Shopping on price alone will result in a higher initial profit margin, and purchasing motherboards with built-in components (particularly video) can save assembly time. Unfortunately, these systems are some of the most time-consuming to repair, typically have poor manufacturer support and typically benchmark slower than modular-based systems where components are added individually.

Buy from a local distributor that will give you a no-hassle return/exchange policy. For example, my distributor (Technology Partners) guarantees everything they sell for one full year with no hassles. They will handle the paperwork, expense, tracking, and waiting period for the RMA (return merchandise authorization) back to the manufacturer. Meanwhile, I can get my customer back up and running the same day.

Sourcing parts from a local electronics store is one of the biggest disservices you can do to your customers and yourself. With their limited return policies, packing and receipt disclaimers and apathetic employees, looking for support is quite often an effort in futility. Re-stocking fees and other fine print can be an unwelcome surprise if you order your parts online or through the mail. A distributor may cost a few dollars more, but the lack of hassle will get you and your customer back to work quickly.

Look for parts without fans. Fans are the most common warranty-related replacement part; to keep prices down and the customer coming back, you need to minimize warranty calls. I ensure that the video cards I purchase do not have a cooling fan; nor do the chipsets on the motherboards I select,unless my customer wants the fastest system available.

Get the 8-MB cache option. Most hard-drive manufacturers offer this option for just a few dollars more. It's worth it. The bigger cache not only boosts performance, but may also include a three-year warranty, rather then the new standard one-year that all drive makers have recently adopted. Some manufacturers, including Western Digital, offer the extended 3-year warranty on all 8-MB cache drives; other manufacturers, including Maxtor and Seagate, offer it only with specific models of 8-MB cache drives.

When choosing memory, look for memory that has a lifetime warranty.

Stick with nVidia or ATI video cards for easy support and current, easy to find driver updates.

Use Lite-On CD-RW drives. They are inexpensive and consistently reliable.

Don't purchase any monitor that offers less than three year's worth of warranty from the manufacturer.

When purchasing networking components, I find SMC, DLink, Hawking and NetGear to be the easiest to set up and the most trouble-free.

Use AMD processors with DDR-RAM to save your customers money. The Intel chips cost more and unless they are coupled with the more expensive and proprietary RD-RAM, they actually run slower than equivalent AMD-based systems.

Use less-costly brands. While companies like Intel, 3Com, Sony, and Asus offer great products, you're paying more for the name, and you're not getting a longer warranty or better performance in return. For this reason, I don't recommend their products.

Stay away from the brands with a history of poor quality. Personally, I have had nothing but problems with PCChips brand motherboards, and now I avoid them like the plague.

Choose peripherals that use chipsets offering native Windows support, such as Nvidia-based video cards, Intel-based chipset modems, and RealTek-based chipset network cards. This makes the initial build and future repairs easier since you won't need to research the component manufacturer and manually provide a specific driver after the operating system is installed. This also results in fewer support calls if and when the customer reinstalls their operating system and can no longer get the modem, network card, or video to work properly.

If you offer a standard one-year warranty to your customer, you can make money on repairing an out-of-warranty system. That's especially true when the replacement part is still under the manufacturer's original warranty.

The key to your success rests on your parts distributors. Stick with one distributor, if possible. They will want to ensure your happiness to keep your dollars rolling in.

CAREY HOLZMAN is president of Discount Computer Repair in Glendale, Ariz.

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