Before you read this know that it is true, as sad as it may sound, it is a true story and one that I am very ashemed of. But those of you who know me know that if I had any luck at all, it would be bad luck.
Enjoy the read and try not to laugh or cry to much.
As I begin the argues task of planning my next PC I am forced to reflect back upon the Last time I build a computer, a computer which ultimately turned out to be the worst PC decision I have ever made.
June 2001,
The Blue Box was to be the ultimate gaming computer, one that would Last me for five years. In 2001 money was beginning to become a tight commodity for me and I had to build or bust.
I opted for the build and chose my components. I opted for an MSI raid motherboard and a 1.4 Atholon CPU. I bought Kingston Ram, 512 Megs of their best DDR ram, and went with Creative Labs 5.1 Sound BLaster. To top it all off I bought a GeForce 3 video card for the bargain price of $430.00. (Ya I know, GeForce 3 cards became the missing link in NVIDIA’s universe. Oh I am sick over this purchase.)
The Atholon chip ran me $230.00, the Case $90.00, Ram $200.00, MB - $135.00, DVD & CDRW - $100.00, Sound bLaster $80.00, 80 gig WD Hard Drive - $150.00. Throw in the Intelli Optical mouse, Intel ergo Internet ready keyboard, a floppy, and the Intel Digital Sound system the grand total invested in parts comes to a whopping $1700.00.
To start off with the CPU I had bought burned up do to a bad-cooling fan within seconds of starting the system. Add another $230.00 to bill + $35.00 for a super cooler fan. Then that CPU burned up for an unknown reason. Add another $230.00 to the bill. Then the Mother board failed. Add $140.00 to the bill. Finally I get the system put together and fired up. The Hard Drive failed. Add the cost of a round trip drive to Fry’s electronics to replace it and I got off cheap. (Total $2,535.00)
Well now all things considered I am doing ok, the system is put together and time to test it. Turn it on and nothing happens. At this point I was about to cry. I called my best friend at the time but he was going through some life changing events and was unwilling to help me. So I pulled out the credit card and headed off to the local computer shop. A week later I get the call that my computer is all done. I zoom over to pick it up, pay my $125.00 bill and head home. I get home and turn on the computer only to read that I had a GeForce II card as the computer booted up. That I only had 128 Megs of Ram, and a 20 gig hard drive. I became very ill rather rapidly. I opened the case and was sickened, physically sickened at what I saw. ($2,660.00 pooof)
The computer shop, a reputable business I thought, had switched all my parts out for used inferior ones. I returned to the shop and demanded that they give back my parts. They refused saying that the parts that were in my computer were the parts it came with. I did what any person would do at that point; I called the police. I showed them the slip that outlined the parts that the computer had when I gave it to them, along with copies of the receipts, and for my trouble I was told there was nothing he could do. I was out of pocket for all of my parts, all of them. They even swapped the 1.4 AMD for a 1.0. I of course filed suite, add another $1500.00 to the bill. (Now we are up to $4,160.00)
Now out of money and stuck with a crappy machine I opted to bite the bullet one Last time and buy new parts using my credit card. At the same time I was given the novel idea to ask for my money back on the two failed CPU’s. After some diplomacy and a lot of emails AMD refunded me $460.00 following an investigation into the CPU’s and why they failed. I used that money to buy a new 1.4 AMD and 40-gig WD hard drive. Since I already had the case, mother board, and the drive bays, all I needed was a 256k DDR Ram Module, video card, sound card, and modem. I bought another GeForce 3 card, and a 128 Meg DDR Ram Dim. I opted to wait on the modem and use one of my 10/100 Ethernet cards instead since I had Broad Band. This did not include the cost of Windows 2k, which I had already bough a year before. ($220.00)
I had to take it to the shop one Last time to resolve some issues and that cost another $150.00. When I was done the computer had cost me $5,210.00. Give or take a $100.00
I disputed the cost of the shop bill on my visa, - $125.00, and the shop owner after several more missing or replaced part complaints went out of business. I never recovered my money, and the money I invested in the lawyer was for not.
To top it off, the computer has never run right. I has been plagued by oddball shut downs resulting in sever reinstalls of the OS. The insult to injury over the GeForce 3 card will always be an open wound. Any one who knows about video cards knows what I am talking about.
If I were to take this system and part it out now, I would only recover about $200.00 for that is all this system is worth.
I have never told any one about this because I am so embarrassed by what happened. Needless to say I will never make these kinds of mistakes again. When I do opt to build my new system, I will not fall prey to the same sickening things that I fell prey to here.
Without a doubt this experience was the worst PC decision I have ever made in my life.
[ May 18, 2004, 15:27: Message edited by: Atrocities ]
OT: Worst PC Decision
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