I bought a new computer in pieces from NewEgg

Five years ago I went hunting around for the best prices for computer parts online and at Fry’s. I ended up getting parts at all different times and driving to a couple different Fry’s. This time around I ordered everything from NewEgg. They generally have great prices on things, and I also like the idea of spending my money locally (their HQ is about an hour east of here). They’re pretty fast, too; I placed the order Sunday at 2, and everything showed up this morning around 10.

Case: Antec Sonata III 500
Newegg: $119.99 – $20 discount – $20 MIR = $79.99

Motherboard: MSI P55-GD65
Newegg: $159.99 – $10 MIR = $149.99

CPU: Intel Core i5-750 Processor (8M Cache, 2.66 GHz)
Newegg: $199.99

Graphics: EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX+
Newegg: $129.99 – $20 MIR = $109.99

Memory: G.SKILL 4GB DDR3 1600
Newegg: $105.99

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 SATA 3Gb/s 1TB Hard Drive
Newegg: $64.99

Cooling Fan/Heatsink: Zalman CNPS9500 AT
Newegg: $40.99

Total: $891.11 shipped – $50 MIR = $841.11

If I were smart, I would have done the 2% Bing cashback and saved another $18.

Related: Help me build a new computer, The New Poker Machine

Posted on June 23rd, 2010 § 0 comments

Help me build a new computer

The old computer is painful to use, and since I built it five years ago, I’d say it’s definitely time for a new computer. Any suggestions on components to buy?

I’ll probably go for a newer Sonata case, intel CPU, nVidia card, Zalman CPU fan, etc., but I’d appreciate any insights or tips y’all might have to offer. I’m not particularly interested in computer hardware, so I have no idea what’s out there, what’s good, etc. Nor am I that interested in scouring Tom’s Hardware to find out. Yep. I’m lazy.

As was the case the last time around, I’m not really interested in getting something that can play the latest video games flawlessly, just something that will give me decent performance for the price. I don’t intend to scavenge parts off the old machine except maybe the optical drive, and I’ll use my old monitor with the new machine. Overall, I’ll probably feel pretty good about the whole thing if you keep my budget around $550.

Related: The New Poker Machine

Posted on June 18th, 2010 § 21 comments

The First World

This has got to be an experience that’s unique to the first world: you walk into a bathroom and your nostrils are hit with the scent of artificial lemon attempting to mask harsh disinfectants that will kill anything and you think “Clean.”

Posted on May 18th, 2010 § 2 comments

Pack a power strip

Whether you’re at the airport or on jury duty, busting out the power strip can make you look like a genius. The non-geniuses are the ones walking around hunched over, laptop and power cord in hand, desperately looking for an open outlet that just doesn’t exist. Power strips are also handy for dealing with the ridiculously short length of Apple’s iPhone USB cable.

Posted on March 23rd, 2010 § 5 comments

IM on the go with meebo for iPhone

I’ve already talked about using meebo’s web app, but now meebo has an iPhone client:

one app to rule them all

The Meebo native iPhone app. It’s fast, it’s pretty, and it just flat-out works. Available now for iPhone and iPod touch.

via Meebo for iPhone | meebo.

Like the web app, the iPhone client has an elegant interface and keeps you logged in and alerted to all your latest IMs. Now that they’ve got both the web and the iPhone covered, I can’t imagine using anything else for IM.

Posted on February 27th, 2010 § 0 comments

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