On Sat, 14 Jul 2012 14:53:57 -0700, Oren wrote:

Seeking opinions of current parts.

CPU

I have been partial to AMDs but haven't built a computer for myself in some
years (parts for the last buy are sitting in the closet collecting dust
(intended as a media PC). Since laptops became more like desktops, I switched
and haven't done much with components since.

Motherboard

Tyan or Asus were my choices.

Hard Drive (SATA)

At one time I bought nothing but IBMs. I had zero problems with them, even
with the worst of the DeathStars, I had no failures. When IBM got out of the
business I went to Seagates but with laptop drives I had a lot of failures,
usually at quite inopportune times (traveling). It got so I'd carry a spare
in my laptop case. I think this one is a WD, but I'm not sure. It's been
fine for three years.

DVD (SATA)

Whatever's cheap. I would buy a writer. They're cheap.

Monitor

I've had *very* good luck with a cheap 16x10 (1920x1200) 24" Soyo. I bought
it five years ago for $260 and it's been great. I also have an older 21" Dell
but I don't use it much. I'd use both if I could get a third monitor working
reliably on my laptop. I tried one of the USB display adapters but it wasn't
reliable.

A friend ask me to build him a new system. (no problem)

Windows 7 – clean install...

If you've built a system in the last year or two or had one built for
you I would appreciate your comments.

Nevermind! ;-) I've bought a laptop (wife's) and a netbook in that time, but
no desktop stuff.

Just the above parts are what I'm interested in. Been awhile since I
built mine :-\

My work for him is free -- start to finish.

I used to do that for people (used to build several a day at work -
investigating compatible parts) but found that they weren't so competent and
tended to blame the hardware. It's much easier to let them buy the $400
special at BestBuy.