What components are most likely to fail early

DiverDave

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I'm preparing to do my first build. Newegg has a good selection and good prices but I live in CA so I'd pay taxes and shipping.

I might be better off buying the components that are most likely to fail locally rather than from Newegg and save myself the hassle of RMAing the parts back.

It seems to me that those components are the MoBo and the Memory. Is this the case or am I just reading bad press (reviews on Newegg)?
 

nobly

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I'd say the chances of you getting a DOA part from newegg and a local store are about the same.

If your local store is frys, then the chances of getting a DOA part increases much more than newegg.
 

chuckshissle

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For sure start with a nice psu and make sure it's enough to supply power to all of your components. On my latest build it's the psu who got KIA first as it didn't handle to load as I buy more parts to add to my pc. Buy a good psu like 600watts or more so you don't have to buy another one when you upgrade to a more power hungry components. Also a good psu means a healthy running pc. Cpu will more likely to get outdated before they break or run out of warranty. GPU well let just say we need a new one every year to play games newer games with performance and quality visuals. So graphics card will get outdated first, but make sure you have a good warranty. Ram/memory are fine as most of them have lifetime warranty. Mobo same as graphics card, though most problems occur with USB port not working. HD have around 3years warranty depending on the manufacturer so you're good on that one. Media drives have 1 year warranty but brands can very as some will choke in months. What else, sound cards have 1 year warranty as well but don't get outdated fast with the pci interface. Floppy drive get 1 year warranty but are dirt cheap and cost only $5-15. Well , you need to know the warranty as some manufacturers offer more than others, long warranty means a more reliable components.
 
Over time, my experience is motherboards and hard disks fail more frequently than other components.

Yeah, I've had hard drives fail on me. I've had many Maxtors that died on me so they are permanently blacklisted. I also had one Seagate drive that stopped working after 2 weeks, good thing there was nothing important on it.
 

DiverDave

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I'd say the chances of you getting a DOA part from newegg and a local store are about the same.

If your local store is frys, then the chances of getting a DOA part increases much more than newegg.

True...

but returning to NG is a bigger pain than locally...etc for maybe Fry's who are legendary in how hard it is to return stuff (though I have done it with a MB ages ago and it wasn't so bad).
 

306maxi

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I'm preparing to do my first build. Newegg has a good selection and good prices but I live in CA so I'd pay taxes and shipping.

I might be better off buying the components that are most likely to fail locally rather than from Newegg and save myself the hassle of RMAing the parts back.

It seems to me that those components are the MoBo and the Memory. Is this the case or am I just reading bad press (reviews on Newegg)?

Hard drives, psu's and RAM

In that order :)
 

melarcky

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Cheap PSUs tend to croak quickly. They don't like to die alone, so they could take something else with them.

Keyboards die quickly if you spill Slimfast on them...
hahaha now that made my crack up.. but 8 out 10 times its more likely to be a milk shake.
 

Mondoman

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I think you'll find it's more an issue of certain brands having higher failure rates. For example, you're much more likely to have problems with "no-name" RAM or certain manufacturers' "value" lines than with the main lines of major manufacturers.
 

misry

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Cheap PSUs tend to croak quickly. They don't like to die alone, so they could take something else with them.

Keyboards die quickly if you spill Slimfast on them...
hahaha now that made my crack up.. but 8 out 10 times its more likely to be a milk shake.

Mountain Dew. Spill M-D on anything and watch the insulation melt away.
 

nobly

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I'd say the chances of you getting a DOA part from newegg and a local store are about the same.

If your local store is frys, then the chances of getting a DOA part increases much more than newegg.

True...

but returning to NG is a bigger pain than locally...etc for maybe Fry's who are legendary in how hard it is to return stuff (though I have done it with a MB ages ago and it wasn't so bad).

Yeah, that's true. I mean if the price difference is negligible, I'd go to the local store myself. But usually newegg's got the price on the local stores.

Heh, I would say Fry's is legendary for the number of times you have to go back to get something that actually WORKS. After 4x for RAM, I gave up and never shopped there again.

Their name refers to the condition of the parts that idiot customers return.
 

chenBrazil

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New released models may present RMA problems for you , no matter your source... some blacklisted brands also (as HD from maxtor which several people I know had problems with them)... but some generic components as floppy without any special brand have a higher risk of RMA...in this case, I would buy these close to home, but the others have a lower risk if you observe the product release dates, store turnover etc...
Check for better brands as possible, as WD or hitachi for HD ... etc...
good luck...
 

Thrstbster6

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Anything with moving parts and anything that requires the input of electrickery, mouse mats are pretty reliable though. :lol:

Bingo you got it right anything with moving parts so HDD's and Optical drives go out beofre anyting else in my experience, Other items fail because of heat because a moving part failed suh as video Cards and CPUs, under normal use HDD's and Optical drives under a gamer it could be anyting because we tend to push the limits of items and Hdds and opitcal drives get little attention from us and we cant overcloc ka Opitcal drive or HDD. Buy from the Egg.
 

Robovski

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Nowadays it doesn't seem like a lot of components are going to fall over in a few months. They tend to either be DOA or die in a couple weeks if they are going to unless you do something to kill them. IMO a lot of failures that aren't manufacturer related are due to improper treatment of the gear (i.e. over-agressive OC) or rough environments (smoker in the household and no filter on the machine and you don't clean it out from time to time). The thing that will probably die first if everything is "right" in the first place is the stock cooler fan.

I've only experienced the failure of the following components (ever, over 15 years of private PC computing*):

1 CRT (no power conditioning + poor wiring of the apartment = instability and component death).
1 CD-ROM (pretty sure it was the smoker)
2 HDDs
A few keyboards, mice and joysticks from use (lots of use)
1 PSU (had it for about 4 years)
2 RAM modules (cooked by the PSU)
1 CPU fan, replaced others because they got noisy (and so prone to failure).
1 19" TFT (cat attack knocked it off desk)




*Forget about the blown C64's - they are so yesteryear.
 

DiverDave

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The case, PSU, HD,CPU,OS,Optical drive and Video card I'm probably going to get from NG. I either have a fair bit of confidence in the part based on the comments or know that it's not a showstopper (a dent in the case for example).

The MoBo is about $5 more locally so that seems like I might get it here. The Memory is the big one, I can't find the less expensive Pqi memory locally so the price goes up alot (even if I get similar memory like OCX gold about a 20% premium locally).

I might take the chance. The advantage this time over my last computer buy is that the PSU hasn't blown up and destroyed all the components. I'm not sure how much of a hassle a RMA will be
 

caamsa

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Well I have ordered a bunch of stuff from New Egg over the past three years and have only gotten one DOA board and that was not their fault. FedEX left the box at the front door and it was smashed with a big gapping hole in it. Now why they left it I do not know.

The good part was I took it to the local FedEX store and they sent the mother board back free of charge. :D

I would agree though that you should not get a cheap power supply because not only can that puppy go up quick but it can wreak havoc on your entire system.
 

kamel5547

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I'd say the chances of you getting a DOA part from newegg and a local store are about the same.

If your local store is frys, then the chances of getting a DOA part increases much more than newegg.

Heheh I put the odds at Fry's close to 10%...

Anyhow, it helps to check your parts out, there are certain MoBo's that have problems with certian brands of memory etc. It pays to do a quick search, my guess is half of RMA's are related to problems that are known incompatibilities...

Just to follow Robovski's lead here are my component losses over the past 2 years or so (keep in mind this is 100+ PC's at the office, and HP builds):
3 CD-Roms (less than 1 year old)
4 HDD (over 3 years old, mechanical failure, all data recovered through tricks though ;) )
4 MoBo's (all laptops)
2 Video Cards (1 less than a year, one around 4 years)
3 LCD monitors (all less than 1 year)
1 PSU

On personal PC's:
On an OEM PC, DOA: Soundcard, CD-rom
Only thing I've ever had a problem with on a custom PC was a "dead" HDD after 2 years (Lost primary partion, able to recover all data on the secondary partiiton :) )
 

SEALBoy

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I'd say the chances of you getting a DOA part from newegg and a local store are about the same.

If your local store is frys, then the chances of getting a DOA part increases much more than newegg.

True...

but returning to NG is a bigger pain than locally...etc for maybe Fry's who are legendary in how hard it is to return stuff (though I have done it with a MB ages ago and it wasn't so bad).

Yeah, that's true. I mean if the price difference is negligible, I'd go to the local store myself. But usually newegg's got the price on the local stores.

Heh, I would say Fry's is legendary for the number of times you have to go back to get something that actually WORKS. After 4x for RAM, I gave up and never shopped there again.

Their name refers to the condition of the parts that idiot customers return.

While it may be true that Fry's has a higher DOA rate than usual, I can't agree that they have a abd return policy. I once fried 6 AthlonXP's in a row and they still took em back and gave me a replacement. Personally, I think their exchange policy outweighs their DOA rate.
 

Mondoman

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While it may be true that Fry's has a higher DOA rate than usual, I can't agree that they have a abd return policy. I once fried 6 AthlonXP's in a row and they still took em back and gave me a replacement. Personally, I think their exchange policy outweighs their DOA rate.
Yes, Fry's return policy is fine. What bugs me is that they just tape up the returned boxes and put them back on the shelves. As long as you don't get a "pre-opened" box, they have some good deals.
 

Mr_Bluntman

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Yeah, I've had hard drives fail on me. I've had many Maxtors that died on me so they are permanently blacklisted. I also had one Seagate drive that stopped working after 2 weeks, good thing there was nothing important on it.

Maxtor = Crapstor - Ran through three of the 40GB models of them in a year in '02. Good thing they had a warranty.

As for PSUs, I've had el-cheapos toast an ECS K7S5A (a great T-Bird and Thoroughbred board for the day, and it was CHEAP) as well as one of the KT4V's I used to own. You get whatcha pay 4 tho.