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ProfessorTomoe

The Saga of the New Music Computer

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This thread is related to my earlier thread, "The Saga of the New Notebook." I am putting together a new desktop system for use as my new Music Computer, the parts gathering of which began in earnest overnight after a 2 1/2 hour long Discord call with my son. We discussed the system from top to bottom, bottom to top, and made a couple of disturbing revelations about my current system in the process (can't believe I haven't checked them until now).

Prior to last night, we (I use the joint we because this is a joint construction process) had decided on one thing: the case. I've bought a Fractal Design Define R5 case, a nice, roomy, quiet case with room for a Blu-ray burner at the top front. After last night's Discord call, we'd decided on everything except the motherboard, and had made one extremely major purchase: an Intel i7-12700KF CPU, one of the few 12th generation Alder Lake CPUs actually available on shelves at close to MSRP. I'm going to try and post a decided-upon parts list in a separate post, using BBCode markup (if that works), but the CPU is a big step forward. I was able to delete three test parts lists based on that decision alone.

I'm looking to complete the buying for this build some time around Black Friday, since that's when I'm guessing I'll see the best prices in the shortest amount of time. I can't wait too long, for various and sundry reasons (number one being that my wife is going to get my old system, and her old system is really starting to flake out). I'll use this thread to keep you updated, and I would appreciate feedback from you on my choices and leads on where I might be able to find better prices.

Thank you for putting up with this project. Again.

 

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PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-12700KF 3.6 GHz 12-Core Processor  ($465.46 @ Newegg) (purchased) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler  ($119.02 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI PRO Z690-A DDR4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($228.14 @ Newegg) (see notes in next post) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($297.68 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($379.99 @ GameStop) (see notes in next post)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB KO ULTRA GAMING Video Card  ($702.54 @ Amazon) (see notes in next post) 
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($135.30 @ Amazon) (purchased) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($161.29 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua A14 PWM chromax.black.swap 82.52 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($26.95 @ Amazon) (fan #1)
Case Fan: Noctua A14 PWM chromax.black.swap 82.52 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($26.95 @ Amazon) (fan #2) 
Total: $2543.32
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-11-09 09:16 EST-0500

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There were three items I left notes by in the above list: the Motherboard, the Storage, and the Video Card. I'll cover them here.

I mentioned the motherboard because we haven't fully decided upon it yet. Some of the better ones have yet to hit the shelves, and won't until my birthday (11/19). I won't know what I'll be getting until then.

I mentioned the storage, a Samsung 980 Pro 2TB NVMe drive, because of the slightly ridiculous price listed by it. GameStop is listing it for $379.99, but with no tax. All of my other listings include 8.25% State of Texas sales tax, so GameStop's real price should be $411.34 - definitely not the cheapest of the lot. That honor goes to Amazon, who sells it for $385.89.

Finally, I mentioned the video card. The reason is that I am currently bidding on a B-stock version of this card on eBay. The current bid on it (my bid) is $455.00, which is significantly cheaper than the price for the card shown in the list.

PCPartPicker is a good tool, but it doesn't cover everything,

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The only defense is to bid as high as you are willing to right from the start. Most auction sites work by charging the top bidder just barely above what the second-highest bidder has bid. For example, if you had bid $600, and the next highest was $498, and the minimum increment was $1, then you would be charged $499. You are not obligated to pay the total of your bid maximum, but rather only enough to beat the other bidder.

If you had already bid the highest you are willing to pay and are still outbid, well then it was more money than you wanted to part with anyway.

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26 minutes ago, ijuin said:

Most auction sites work by charging the top bidder just barely above what the second-highest bidder has bid.

I'm sure that e-bay does that.  They didn't use to.

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42 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

$530 Used. Fine by me.

Does Ebay still have a return policy?  Used electronic often are dead when you get them or shortly there after.

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1 hour ago, mlooney said:

Does Ebay still have a return policy?  Used electronic often are dead when you get them or shortly there after.

Yes, they have a "you get what was advertised" policy. I expect to get what was advertised, nothing more.

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5 hours ago, mlooney said:

I'm assuming that "working" is part of the what was advertised.

Yes, it was. It was described as a card that had been used for a year and was still working when pulled. I am okay with this description.

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1 hour ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Yes, it was. It was described as a card that had been used for a year and was still working when pulled. I am okay with this description.

Then, in theory, you should be OK.  I may be overly sceptical about ebay electronics having been burned a few times and been on the sending end of some stuff that was known to be flakey.  Enough so that the lead tech and I started insisting that some items not be sold on ebay unless they were marked as "possibly defective" or "parts only".  The owner really had problems with that.  When ebay slapped him down for too many returns he was most put out.  Alex and I had a minor celebration that night over no more ebay for at least a 6 months. 

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UPDATE:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-12700KF 3.6 GHz 12-Core Processor  (Purchased For $465.46) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler  ($119.02 @ Amazon) 
Thermal Compound: ARCTIC MX-5 Incl. Spatula 4 g Thermal Paste  (Purchased For $7.58) 
Motherboard: MSI PRO Z690-A DDR4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($228.14 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($297.68 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($379.99 @ GameStop) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB SC ULTRA GAMING Video Card  (Purchased For $585.63) 
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Mid Tower Case  (Purchased For $135.30) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($161.29 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua A14 PWM chromax.black.swap 82.52 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($26.95 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua A14 PWM chromax.black.swap 82.52 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($26.95 @ Amazon) 
Total: $2433.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-11-12 16:32 EST-0500

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On 11/10/2021 at 9:18 AM, mlooney said:

For a variety of reason, mainly due to my last place of work's miss use of E-bay, I hate dealing with them.  If you want something and it has a "buy it now" price that you can live with, just buy it.

I have on occasion done exactly this.

But I suppose my willingness to do that is tied in to why I rarely use Ebay any more; not worth my time, unless I am specifically looking for something that is no longer being made.

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On 11/10/2021 at 8:02 PM, mlooney said:

Then, in theory, you should be OK.  I may be overly sceptical about ebay electronics having been burned a few times and been on the sending end of some stuff that was known to be flakey.  Enough so that the lead tech and I started insisting that some items not be sold on ebay unless they were marked as "possibly defective" or "parts only".  The owner really had problems with that.  When ebay slapped him down for too many returns he was most put out.  Alex and I had a minor celebration that night over no more ebay for at least a 6 months. 

OMG, you worked for a single owner small company. My experience says "No good can come from this" for pretty much some manifestation of the arbitrary reasoning you cite. Accountability is a good thing, and an owner with no accountability will do some things very badly.

My dad, for a few years before he retired, worked for a former customer, an electrical distributor in the Scranton/Wilkes Barre area. When the owner reached retirement age, he shut down operations and sold off the business in pieces. Several folks had worked for him for their entire workforce lives. As the business was being liquidated, they found out that the pension money they had been investing, that the owner had legitimately matched, had been invested for them by the owner, and he sucked at investing. They basically had pennies on the dollar pension remaining. They were, shall we say, none too happy, but essentially the owner had done nothing illegal, he was just incompetent at the task he set himself to. Had he just used a mutual fund and kept his hands off of it, they would have been OK. Dad was out some small amount, he had not been there long enough, but others went from a sense of security to "What the hell do I do now?" overnight.

I have never experienced anything of this magnitude working for a small place, but my own experiences were enough to give me cause for caution.

Can you have very bad experiences working for a big corporation? Sure. Been there, done that. But there tend to be some checks and balances, especially if there is some government oversight. I don't expect my 401Ks to evaporate like the pensions of that small business did.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Darth Fluffy said:

Can you have very bad experiences working for a big corporation?

I would kindly ask that we not hijack this thread for purposes other than the stated subject. I am not a moderator, but I did start the thread, and it is primarily (or at least tangentially) about something I'm doing. Thank you very much.

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2 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

I would kindly ask that we not hijack this thread for purposes other than the stated subject. I am not a moderator, but I did start the thread, and it is primarily (or at least tangentially) about something I'm doing. Thank you very much.

Sorry.

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1 hour ago, Darth Fluffy said:

Sorry.

Quite all right.

12 minutes ago, mlooney said:

And I'm sorry for ranting about eBay and $WeSellAndRepairStuffMainlyMacs

Quite all right as well. We were at least discussing something tangentially related - eBay. It strayed a tad, but not too far.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled mayhem. Play ball!

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To reopen the discussion, I got a message from the eBay seller of the video card. They were apologizing for being a bit too late on shipping the card. Seeing as how they're only located in Houston (with me in the Dallas area), I'm not going to sweat it much, nor complain, nor knock them down a star. C'est la guerre.

On the other side of the eBay coin, I'm guaranteed to plop at least $102.50 into my computer build coffers come Monday when some excess laptop RAM I have on hand sells. That'll help pay for the rest of the balance on the video card. The $500 I brought in yesterday will pay for the remainder.

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