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custom computing sale: tax return edition


prophetik music
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hey everyone. for those who haven't noticed, i make custom computers for people here on the forums. these aren't usually monster systems, most everything i've done has been for mid-level consumers looking for an upgrade from their current x-year-old castoff system that they use.

in honor of receiving my first official tax return as a married man (can you say $5k?), i'm offering a sale on computers sold between now and the end of may.

normally, when you buy a computer from me, you pay for the parts, obviously. on top of that, you'll pay 10% of the cost of the parts for assembly of the system and handling (dealing with the crappy post office out here), 50$ for installing the operating system and tweaking the system to reduce bloat, and however much it costs to ship (usually around 45$).

for this sale, i'll waive my 50$ OS installation fee, and i'll reduce my normal assembly fee from 10% to 5%.

for example, person a wants a computer that does certain functions. i say that the parts will cost 400$ for that system. the final price of the system is about 530$ (50 for os, 40 for assembly, 40 for shipping). under this sale, that computer will only cost $460 - a saving of 70$, or almost 15%. basically, i'll make 20$ off of this system for the 6-8 hours a system build usually takes, rather than the 90$ i'd normally earn.

please contact me via pm to get in touch with me. i offer full tech support on all issues that arise - you'll have my phone number, so you just call and i'll talk you through any issues that you might have. i can do any variety of computer - a silent pc, one optimized for children to use, one specifically for gaming - whatever you need, i can do.

obviously, if you contact me and express interest, i'm not going to force you to buy anything. feel free to ask about any price range.

have a great day, everyone. enjoy your tax returns.

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I wish I could enjoy my tax return. Instead, I owed over SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS. Turns out that some paid research work I did was taxed like a mofo ($600 out of $3300). I was hoping to use my tax return to finally build a computer, but well, that's gotta wait... I've been saving for over a year and only have a case (free), hard drive (christmas gift), psu, and keyboard :/ .

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hah, no. too many proprietary bits and pieces. i'll take a laptop you've purchased and upgrade internal components - cpus, gpus (if it's got one already, of course, can't add a discrete card to an integrated laptop graphics system), memory, that kind of stuff. can't build one, though, no. i can make a desktop really portable, but yeah.

i really don't like laptops, though. really, you can get a year or two out of them before they're completely outdated and running slow and full of rot. i'd take an upgradeable desktop over a laptop any day of the week.

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really, you can get a year or two out of them before they're completely outdated and running slow and full of rot.

I'm using a laptop that was bought in January of '05. It's a Dell. I'm surprised it still works. I actually had to completely wipe the hard drive using dban though about 2 weeks ago because I had a virus/trojan/thing. Using hijack this! and Combo Fix actually seemed to annoy it and made things worse, so I just decided to nuke it anyway since I hadn't since I got it (and even then I didn't do a fresh install, I just removed the bogus crap that came with it). It reduced startup time from around 7-8 MINUTES to 45ish seconds before I can use firefox.

wow, that stinks. too bad. i was going to offer some spare parts i had lying around, but all i've got currently are a case, psu, and keyboard =) go figure.

Thanks, I appreciate it though =) I have to say though, I got a Saitek Eclipse (blue, of course) from newegg when it was on sale. I really can't wait until I have everything so I can use it.

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Haha, yeah, my current laptop was purchased around January '05 as well. The screen is really floppy (barely stays in place) but it gets the job done pretty well.

MIGHT be interested in a new machine... I'm going to be repurposing my current desktop as a music making PC only, and I want another machine of some kind for gaming + internet stuff. However, I'll probably be getting a new laptop in a few months, so I'm not sure if THAT will be my main PC instead.

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Sorry, but no totally awesome system in the works for me for at least a few more years. I want some new technologies like HDMI, USB 3.0, Nehalem, etc. to be settled first. I also want to use a projector as my monitor. Because that's just badass.

I would, however, like to hear about how you've pulled your custom stuff together, like the oil-cooled fishtank desktop, and what tangible advantages that affords (what, for example, is your overclocking rate?).

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hdmi's settled - the best graphics cable available. usb 3.0 still hasn't even shipped yet. nehelem's settled, too - it's a power-reduced version of the 775 socket, just like they said..

When I say "settled," I don't just mean "available." I mean "standard on all ports" and, more importantly, "cheap."

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Assuming I can ever get a job this summer, you'll be hearing from me soon. And I'm serious about the job thing; with this damn economic crunch, the only way I'd be able to afford getting a computer is to get a job. And unfortunately for me, not even my university is hiring for research positions. I'm a senior in college! I've headed a part of a design team! I should be able to get a job of some sort SOMEWHERE!!! :-x

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hah, no. too many proprietary bits and pieces. i'll take a laptop you've purchased and upgrade internal components - cpus, gpus (if it's got one already, of course, can't add a discrete card to an integrated laptop graphics system), memory, that kind of stuff. can't build one, though, no. i can make a desktop really portable, but yeah.

i really don't like laptops, though. really, you can get a year or two out of them before they're completely outdated and running slow and full of rot. i'd take an upgradeable desktop over a laptop any day of the week.

I agree with you on laptops. Unfortunately I travel a good deal and having a laptop at work is convenient.

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i'd think that a smartphone - like the new blackberry or an iPhone - might be better for portability. at least you aren't spending 800$ on a decent laptop to have it crap out in a few years.

of course, it depends on what you'd need to do.

zircon, i completely missed your post =) if you're interested, give me a call at some point. i think you'd be surprised how cheap it can get.

as for that oil-cooled fishtank, it's just one of those goofy things that's really, REALLY fun to play with. everything runs pretty hot - i think the stable temp is around 70 degrees celsius - but since the entire system is that warm and there's no hotspots there is absolutely no issues. it's been running that hot for over a year. that's with an e8400 (dual-core, 3ghz) oc'd to around 3.8ghz...which, by the way, is ridiculously fast. it takes almost 8 hours to get up to max temp, too, so if you shut it off at night you're fine. i clocked up the ram and graphics card a bit, but not much. all you need is a few fans to push the oil around a bit, although if you're really into it you can get a pump and radiator to cool things off a little. looks pretty cool, too, with some led fans in the system. runs almost silently.

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