They don't make 'em like they used to!

[Taz]

What do people think of the quality of PC components these days? Are they of the quality of yester-year?

The reason I ask is that I'm looking to replace a 9-year old PC that was built using budget components back in 2008. It's been used almost every single day over those 9 years for light duty. It has never had a single hardware issue. The case has never been opened during those 9 years.

My recent new PC, built from mid-range components, has been painstakingly soak-tested before I dared to use it. Temperatures and fan speeds are monitored carefully when it's powered on and there's always a nagging feeling in my mind that something will break - particularly when the PSU fan makes clicking noises!

So, are components from a decade ago more resilient than components produced today?

[Hoonigan]

Can we see a picture of the inside? Must be a huge ball of dust by now

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Five years later and the PC I reviewed here still seems fine:

http://forums.hexus.net/reader-revie...ew-thread.html

I only increased the RAM to 8GB during the last 5 years as it improved performance. I ended up using the SSD in my current rig too.

[adidan]

Maybe it's not that they were more resiliant more so that we're less confident in them.

Components in self builds I have confidence in - manufactured electronics, washing machines, fridges, hell anything else really, it seems to be the norm that they die far sooner than they should nowadays.

That said, a clicking PSU? Doesn't sound good.

[Giraffe]

Even on a budget, I will always use a good PSU - always Seasonic so far.
My current rig has an OTT PSU but I had to get too-high wattage to use the, I hope, better quality.
A cheap PSU is false economy - it's the one component that can bork everything (big bang theory).

[Taz]

Can we see a picture of the inside? Must be a huge ball of dust by now

Ha ha - I'll take one as soon as I get the side panel off. I'm curious as to what's lurking inside too!

[UseItNow]

Ha ha - I'll take one as soon as I get the side panel off. I'm curious as to what's lurking inside too!

Dead spiders, probably a mosquito or two too?

[thedandyp]

My i5 3570k is still going strong 5 years on, with no need to upgrade in sight yet. However, I've gone through 3 different graphics cards in that time...

[Dashers]

I've got an Abit IC7 Pentium 4 unit that I recently decommissioned from a home-server role. The northbridge fan packed up, and the RAID controller died years ago, but apart from that it ran fine.

My Gigabyte X58 platform lost a channel of memory at some point so is now down to dual channel. My current Gigabyte X99 has been nothing but a pain, mostly due to BIOS tweaks. I feel a lot of manufacturers are producing a wide variety of slightly different boards to cater for every gamer taste and the QA is being stretched over too many products as a result.

I'm currently erring towards ASRock as the quality manufacturer. I've only got one of their boards so far, but it seems to be problem free.

[adidan]

Found an old pc in the loft not long back, booted it up and it still works - Abit AX78 rocking a socket AM2 Athlon 64x2 4000+ and 4GB DDR2. So what's that then? 10 years?.

My X58 platform that I can never decide whether to just keep or sell still going strong although it has had a rest so that kinda helps.

[Dashers]

Abits last forever!

I dumped my old (although working) P200, was a real shame as it was my first build, but I just didn't have any need for it. All the old games can be played through dosbox or the like. That was an AT platform, no chance of getting spares for it if it failed.

I do have a BBC Master in the loft, will be interesting to see if that starts again after years of temperature changes. And whether the floppy disks have suffered bit rot.

[Taz]

Can we see a picture of the inside? Must be a huge ball of dust by now

I took off the side panel of my dad's old PC and made a little video to show the inside:



It wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. The case weighs a ton and all of the components inside look rock solid. I'm now even more convinced that "They don't make 'em like they used to!".

[scaryjim]

I took off the side panel of my dad's old PC and made a little video to show the inside:

Heh, that's not at all bad after nine years. They must keep the house pretty well vacuumed and dusted for it to have picked up that little - I've had cases (in rooms with laminate floor, to be fair) pick up more dust in a year or two!

... The case weighs a ton and all of the components inside look rock solid. I'm now even more convinced that "They don't make 'em like they used to!".

Oooh, which Antec is that (apologies if you say in the video, I've got my sound off!)? One thing they definitely don't make like they used to is Antec cases ... I'm still a big fan, but they had so many really excellent cases about a decade ago and the feature set has really dropped off since then

EDIT: my google fu was weak - looks like the original SOLO?
EDIT2: or maybe the sonata plus 550!?

[Taz]

Not sure mate. I'll check through my Scan order history for the exact Antec model tomorrow. I've bought two cases over the last three months for new builds and neither even begins to approach the quality of that old Antec.

The fit and finish, and the thickness of the steel, the screws, etc., are all in a different league to anything I've bought this year. And I know it wouldn't have been a high-end Antec either, most probably a budget to mid model.

[hb904460]

Old cases definitely seem a lot sturdier. My old Chieftec case is an impressive beast compared to the flimsy Silverstone that replaced it.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Heh, that's not at all bad after nine years. They must keep the house pretty well vacuumed and dusted for it to have picked up that little - I've had cases (in rooms with laminate floor, to be fair) pick up more dust in a year or two!



Oooh, which Antec is that (apologies if you say in the video, I've got my sound off!)? One thing they definitely don't make like they used to is Antec cases ... I'm still a big fan, but they had so many really excellent cases about a decade ago and the feature set has really dropped off since then

EDIT: my google fu was weak - looks like the original SOLO?
EDIT2: or maybe the sonata plus 550!?

Its an Antec Solo. The Sonata has bronze edging on the front. I have a Antec NSK4400 which houses the old Llano build and the steel is noticeably thicker than similarly priced cases today.