Unfortunately, it won't take the new NVIDIA graphics card I want, that handles ray-tracing natively, or my 2 x 2TB and 1x4TB drives which I'll probably recycle, or the i7 9770 (or maybe a 10070, depending on what sort of deal I can get) unlocked processor I'm looking at. etc.  etc.  

I was tempted to go with the newer i9, but the step up in performance, especially from an unlocked (and overclocked) i7, is not worth the price premium.  Having said all that, something like this looks quite tempting as a basic "building block" and should be about on a par with the i9 for slightly less than I specced the same parts based around the i7.  smile.amazon.co.uk/ADMI-CPU-Motherboard-Bundle-2400Mhz/dp/B081VR6XNK/

At the moment it's all moot anyway as the bloody crypto-currency miners have decimated supplies of higher-end graphics cards, like the RTX 2060.  What with them and Covid, virtually every decent graphics card on Amazon is showing as "out of stock." Plus, of course, the short supply has driven up the price on what cards are actually available.

Right, moan over, time to make lunch. 

Nothing wrong with AMD processors, their early 64-bit CPUs left Intel behind when they first came out. They've been through a rough patch more recently, but then so have Intel with their vulnerabilities.

I'm convinced that there's some sort of campaign against me. I've mentioned that I'm going to be building a new PC in the new year, and that it's not worth starting now because I can't lay my hands on a decent graphics card for less dosh than what can only be described as a cruel joke on behalf of the manufacturer.

What I have done is what I always do when starting a new project, and that's my "due diligence." I've been sifting through reviews and info about the various components I'm going to need, and creating a final list, which I've costed.

And so it begins.

The case I chose is as close to perfection as I could find. It ticked all the boxes and no other case even came close. Today I see that it's suddenly become "unavailable," and upon further investigation the manufacturer (Corsair) are out of stock too, because they've discontinued it. Over-bloody-night.

I had a good search around and I managed to locate one in Osnabrück, Germany, so I bought it straight away.

As I'd bought the case I thought I might as well buy the extra case fans I'm going to be using, and the fan hub along with them. I can fit them and save myself a job when I do the actual build.

Here's where I started taking things personally. The power supply I'd chosen has just become "Temporarily out of stock," again, overnight. The manufacturer is similarly out of stock. It's Corsair again, so they've discontinued it. I found a more expensive alternative... and bought it before it vanished in a puff of smoke or something. Although it's not a Corsair.

Next, the motherboard I'd selected... out of stock... overnight. I had a look round and something actually went right for once. I found an "open box" offer at Box.co.uk and ended up saving twenty-odd quid on the mobo.

The CPU I'm going to be using has gone up by around seventy quid since I put it in my wish list at Amazon, not just there either, but at most stores I checked. Curry's though, of all places, has a special offer on them at £400.00 with free delivery. I've ordered that too.

While I was at it I thought I'd better check some of the other things I've earmarked for the new machine. I got a bargain on the liquid cooling. I saved myself twenty quid on that by finding yet another "open box" deal.

I thought I might as well order the thermal grease and the 1 Tb SSD while I was at it. 

That leaves the memory, a keyboard, and the OS, and a GPU at some stage. So much for not starting yet. 

That's what I thought, right up until 09:48 this morning.



To add insult to injury I lost £0.02p on the currency exchanges.
Judging by my searches yesterday I'm now going to end up paying at least £30.00 - £40.00 over list price to get the case I want.  The problem is, as I said, the case is absolutely perfect for my needs so I'll pay it, if I can find one. 

Ironic though, isn't it, that the thing that started my little flurry of activity, and the first thing I actually ordered, is the thing that's let me down.  The first batch of bits from Amazon has arrived, while I was typing this.  There is another Amazon  delivery slated for later today, with my Patriot Burst Series 960GB SSD, thermal grease, and an internal DVD writer.

I've just this second received this in my eBay messages...


Back to the bloody drawing board.  I'd just sourced another one in Germany and they won't send to the UK either.

Sometimes I really don't know why I bother to plan things so minutely.  I may just as well not bother half of the time.

Can you explain the Patriot Burst SSD decision? With Samsung 980 Pro M.2 NVMe being some of the best storage around, I wondered why you chose the former?

Is this not the case, Paul?

www.amazon.de/Corsair-Carbide-PC-Gehäuse-Seitenfenster-Mid-Tower/dp/B00I6BJATW/ref=sr_1_3?__mk_de_DE=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&dchild=1&keywords=corsair+spec+01&qid=1609169313&sr=8-3

I did a quick try and logged into Amazon.de with my UK details and it seemed happy to let me select UK as the delivery destination. I have a DE account if you get stuck.

You can use the same Amazon account across all Amazons.

You just weren't desperate enough Paul