What PC brands are safe?

[wolch]

I'm looking to buy an older PC for someone who just does e-mail and a bit of surfing. I'd like to get something in the range of a PII-400 to PIII-800, and you can get a PC like this for next to nothing on e-bay. It seems to me that this type of PC was made around the peak time for badcaps though.

Any advice on what brands of PCs in the PII-400 to PIII-800 range were least affected by badcaps--or preferably, are known not to have the problem at all?

[willawake]

I would really look into a 133Mhz bus PIII like an 866 or thereabouts, something with FCPGA and not Slot 1 so you could get an Intel 815 chipset which is really nice and stable although limited to 512mb ram.

PII 400 is not really a good purchase for the future and a minimum speed for XP or 2000. 256mb ram minimum preferably for those OS. But if you are very cost conscious then look at an intel BX chipset slot 1. Not really worth it i think.

Probably it will be best to get a mobo/proc/ram on ebay then a new but cheap case, also a new CRT and new HDD. Thereby you will get the best value but longevity from your purchase. CRT and HDD are so cheap now anyway.

I think you are asking which brands of PC like Dell HP or whatever and not which mobos. Very difficult to answer because it depends on what mobos were inside which range. Would be best to choose a specific mobo which does not have crap caps. Intel original mobos have been quite consistent with good caps. Any body else have ideas?

[willawake]

After a bit of thought, the old dells with slot 1 used to use intel made boards. Probably had good caps on. If anybody can advise regarding the socket 370 dells, that would be useful. P4 HPs we have seen here using MSI boards with crap caps so they are a no no.