new name for SMK Internet

[JohnC51219]

SMK Internet Components with a rating of 5.09 along the way they have also gone by the name of allstarcomponents.com and a couple others that I can't recall right now.

Their new name is http://www.smksuperstore.com/

I bought from these goons several years ago and got such a screwing deal from the I still follow them.

I ask Scott to add the new name.

I found them this time on pricewatch.com :

AMD
Info...

ONLINE ORDER ONLY -
Athlon XP 1900 1.6GHz (Socket-A) 266FSB CPU Includes 60Day Dealer Warranty
(Part - AMDXP1900OE)
Price: $82

Ship: $0.92 Flat Fee
Updated:8/27, 2:03PM
$82.92 SMKSuperstore.com
Info...
800-490-0626
.

They have good prices but that is it. After you receive the goods and need service forget it.

[elbolillo]

DON'T BUY FROM THIS SITE! JUST DON'T.

The first barebones system was fine. Then 2 years later , January, 2005, I bought another bare-bones system with a "then--new-technology" PCIe graphics card. In spite of paying the extra assembly & test fee, the system was dead. Upon inspection I found the PCIe card had been carelessly installed, had a severe bow from being incorrectly forced into position and was not seated right in the bus socket.
Trying to get a tech on the phone who knew ISA from AGP from PCIe was impossible.

This story is not over. A full 13 days after SMK signed for the PCIe board I had returned, I finally received an email stating a new PCIe board would ship in 1-2 business days...

To be continued-

[elbolillo]

Below is the rest of the story (see the post of 1-20-2006 above).
But first...DON'T BUY FROM THIS SITE! JUST DON'T!

After I finally got a replacement PCIe graphics board from these deleted I still had problems. The system would run OK for several minutes and then automatically power down. deleted To again consult with the deleted SMK deleted was not an option. I was on my own...
Here's the good news: The ASUS bios has a cool screen that shows system vitals. Here I was able to see that the CPU temperature was rocking up to 143F before the system would shut itself down. I removed the heat sink and on top of the processor where there should have been a thin pliable film of heat transfer compound was a thick layer of gray funk. It was dry and porous thus being a great insulator. They had evidently used some cheap crap completely unsuitable as a heat transfer compound. After scraping this dried deleted off of the chip and the heat sink, the system was reassembled and powered up. Before surgery the CPU temperature would climb to 143F after only 6 minutes. Now, after 6 minutes the CPU temperature was 87F. 30 minutes later 89F and stable.
The system now runs X-Plane 8.40 like a champ...2 1/2 months after the system was purchased!

You are welcome to discuss vendors, but please watch the language. - RR Staff