Swapping in OEM

[BlackListedB]

Just want to FYI some information I obtained doing parts swaps and upgrades, I take in old "free" computers or scrapped parts and look to build a good MODERN system, that being with some 10 year old parts as need be, but able to run on XP online at this point in time means a proper upgrade and refurbishing.

I'm not alone here, many a Google search turns up people asking for some upgrade advice, and logically the help they get is "it's not worth it, sell it and use the money on a new computer", Not everyone has hundreds upon hundreds to spend, they have their own personal reasons to make do with that 10 year old computer but look to upgrade and expand it, as best within that generational hardware span.

I maintain that view and have for years because it works, when something works, you don't just trash it, I find a way to make it useful, and gaming or high end video encoding or MASSIVE Multitasking demands can drain any system resource, no matter what the hardware, there are plenty of software choices that are not taxing or demanding and do much the same, and if not, most other computing tasks.

I love Dual and Quad Core and the promise of the same for GPUs, like those with dual GPUs on one card, and possibly a console using that tech some day, but I operate on a Dell made in 2004, and sometimes earlier. My Core Duo is from 2005 or 2006, which is still a very capable system, expressly for multitasking and multimedia

http://www.fic.com.t...rboard_all.aspx

FIC is more to the point of this posting, that some of the standardized hardware devices by organizations without a bias to commercial operations of a company, like having SATA and ATA on all motherboards or ATX sized boards, miniATX, or miniPCI, PCI and PCI Express, PC Card, PCMCIA, USB, all standardized from machine to machine, [no real bias] to develop an Industry wide standard for all PC users, this is a major difference between PC and Apple over the years, and reason why Apple partners with other vendors, and has for years now.

Some of these ideas fail but also had good design in some respects, such as BTX which Dell tried to adopt but was not MADE by Dell, yet lauded for it's design to aid cooling internals over the motherboard

FIC makes the motherboards found in HP and eMachines, and could even be swapped to a Dell, as I found based on it's headers being standard, and the OEM choosing to use a traditional front panel wiring scheme. This opens up an large array of options based on what motherboard you can mount (off the risers, securing screw posts) and not only the motherboard but drives and Power Supply can be "retrofitted". FIC is just one example, ASUS aka Asustek also makes computers and motherboards for others, along with Quanta and several other Asian companies like Foxconn who made news for some tough working conditions and some suicides in the last year.

To update you on that end, it seems they have taken the reports in and are making changes to their operation, hopefully that will continue as it needs to. A few of these Asian companies produce the mainboards in mass for all your OEM brands, few of which are ever made in house

It bothers me that people slag a branding for this very reason, they don't have all the facts in hand to dismiss the company's whole product line, and others may have a very different experience with the company or even the same product

Edited August 4, 2012 by BlackListedB