Online computer stores

**crash harry** · 15th January 2007, 09:36

Originally Posted by Cajun

I have been dealing with www.qmb.co.nz in auckland for well over 2 years now.

Never ever had a problem with them (problems with courier companys they sometimes use). Any faulty parts replaced quickly, if ordered something and website says it avaiable it is not, usual give you something slightly better than what you ordered.

other than i deal with techpac for more corprate sorta items

Here's another vote for QMB. I usually deal with them directly, not over the net, but they've been pretty good, and they're usually down at the pointy end of the price scale as well.

**GR81** · 15th January 2007, 10:47

Originally Posted by Pathos

I used C1ShoppingMall www.c1com.co.nz for my latest purchases. Great selection and prices (if you cherry pick), ok communication - pretty sure they're an asian outfit.

they are the worst of them all!
don't try and claim anything under warranty etc

**scracha** · 16th January 2007, 07:53

For gettin stuff quick I'd also vote qmb, used them for about 1.5 years. Returning goods hasn't been a problem either. madkiwi.com is also a pretty decent chap to deal with. Ascent customer service & selection is great but they're a bit dearer.

**vifferman** · 16th January 2007, 08:02

Have you tried PB Technologies? It's owned by the husband of a woman I used to work with. I dunno how their online service is, but they're pretty good otherwise.

**kro** · 17th January 2007, 09:04

I have all but lost my rag with PC Pacific..........

I ordered the basics to build a PC, seeing as they reckoned all the bits I wanted were "in stock". I ordered, and suddenly I get an email saying "mobo and CPU not in stock". I went beserk immediately, and they up-specced both items to the next step up in performance/price.... ok, reasonable thing to do, I am happy again.

Order arrives today, and they sent me a SATA mobo, and an ATA HDD, after reassuring me that all parts would be "compatible". So now I have a DVD writer requiring an IDE socket, and an HDD requiring an IDE socket, and lo and behold, my mobo has but ONE IDE socket on it. MOTHER F#$KERS !!!!!

I will not subject you all to the email I just sent, but you can probably guess how it was worded.

**imdying** · 17th January 2007, 09:23

Originally Posted by kro

Order arrives today, and they sent me a SATA mobo, and an ATA HDD, after reassuring me that all parts would be "compatible". So now I have a DVD writer requiring an IDE socket, and an HDD requiring an IDE socket, and lo and behold, my mobo has but ONE IDE socket on it. MOTHER F#$KERS !!!!!

You can plug them both into the same socket... generally an IDE cable has two (three) plugs on it.

**kro** · 17th January 2007, 09:31

Yes, I guess so, but then I cannot add another optical drive, unless I buy a sata HDD next time...

**imdying** · 17th January 2007, 09:39

Why would you need more than 1 optical drive? You could of course get the next optical driver in SATA too...

**bungbung** · 17th January 2007, 10:19

Another vote for www.ascent.co.nz.

**kro** · 17th January 2007, 10:53

Plus I had another ATA HDD that I wanted to put in it, not to mention it's an ATX set up, and the IDE won't reach from the HDD bays to the optical drive bays..... bugger it all.

**GR81** · 17th January 2007, 11:16

i can sell you a solution to fix your problems... msn me when ur online next.

**scracha** · 17th January 2007, 11:22

Think I've got some used IDE cards lying around. I really wouldn't put up with being sent an IDE drive nowadays though. Tell them you want a SATA one. Your other alternative is a cheap IDE->USB enclosure although the performance drop is major and you can't boot XP from USB.

**Gremlin** · 17th January 2007, 11:49

Originally Posted by imdying

Why would you need more than 1 optical drive? You could of course get the next optical driver in SATA too...

mmm I have 2 physical, and at the mo, 2 virtual on my machine (can have up to 4 without much effort).

Advantage of 2 drives is when you are dealing with physical media, either extreme laziness when copying cd's (have both read and write in at the same time), or when backing cd's up onto computer, you can read 2 at the same time (only quick if being saved to different drives).

Also installing games, if a 2cd set, well written installs will pick up the second disk, without asking for it to be inserted.

As to IDE cable, it depends on the chassis whether you can plug in optical and hdd together (my chassis has 9x 5.25 bays only, so flexible), on one cable, and also preferences (I like my opticals up high, drives down low).