- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Yes, if at all possible buy brand names, especially for a first build, and the farthest I'd go is white-box, OEM brand names. For stuff like a CPU, OEM can be fine. Since I wasn't going to need the stock fan and heatsink for mine, I thought why spend another $20 just to get a pretty box?
However, where you don't want to do this is a video card, sound card, or DVD drive. The video card and sound card should be retail, as often because of poor handling and packaging the cd's get crushed because these places use foam boxes to hold OEM stuff [how stupid]. Same with the cd's or software that normally comes with a DVD drive. In addition, you don't get the software bundles you get with retail.
I think a hard drive is fine OEM, same with a floppy. The latter, who gives, it doesn't need drivers, you just want the drive. OEM hard drives, surprisingly, can carry a better warranty than retail. However, a lot of times nothing but the drive is included in the box.
In the end, it boils down to how much support you want. OEM includes absolutely NO instructions or paperwork, and sometimes comes with drivers. You're on your own with them. I have only had a problem with a video card OEM, the cd was cracked and the foam box that held the stuff was a bit abused. Otherwise, I buy retail mobo's, DVD drives, video cards, sound cards, but only OEM cpu's, hard drives, and floppy drives.
And that 3200 plus gigabyte board is good ;)
Just advice to anyone buying anything for their pc - check two to three reviews before. Often times it has saved me from buying something that looked good but turned out to be pretty rotten.