"Left Nothing" wrote in message
I have heard the term 'Optimising' used in this thread, unless you
have strong links with the component manufacturers, there is very
little 'optimising' that can be carried out on todays hardware. (Major
OEMs can have drivers re-written, firmware changed, BIOS's re-written
etc... simply put small OEM's don't have a hope of competing with them
on 'optimising' for both speed *and* reliability).

BIOS/firmware change is something VPC claim to have done with ATi &
NVidia...

That spec of PC if built by a major OEM would proberbly retail around
1,500 UKP. 2k should get you bigger HDDs and faster processor. The
problem will be finding a major OEM with your exact requirements.


Really, out of the big OEMs, I only really think of Dell for home systems.
They just don't cater for my market and cost LOADS more when you start
adding all my extra bits

For the record, I would not personally consider VPC to come close to
the major OEMs in terms of testing and reliability. Trust me, any OEM
can win 'awards' if they provide the *reviewer* the right hardware at
the right time!

Granted, I don't know a lot about the company, but the reviewers weren't
small time mags & nerd pages, they should know what they're doing. Valid
point about making a prototype that is cool, but reading between the lines,
my guess is that they actually make quite good systems. Quite a few US
hobbyist pages point to them too, which is always a good sign.

If I were spending 2k on a PC, I would _only_ buy it from a major OEM.
I like the comfort of knowing that it has been tested by a *team* for
compatibility / reliability, have backup incase of issues arrising in
the future e.g. software / driver / firmware updates but most of all
the warranty in case of failure.


The problem is, someone like Dell, IBM, HP, etc. aren't going to spend the
time you'd think configuring systems. They bang stuff together for high
volume sales. Their main market is the sub-£1000 stuff, which is just a
bunch of cheap bits bunged together. They *do* have good relationships with
the "bits" companies, because they are spending so much money on them. It's
all a bit mass-production. Fine china doesn't come from a 500,000 unit a
day factory, it comes from small, loving businesses who care about what they
sell. Same with cars ... except there's only about 3 car companies left in
the world now!!!


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