Virgil's new work mule

[knucracker]

The difference in price between the seasonic 850 and 1050 works out to only $13 (shipping is free on the 1050 but $7 on the 850).  As far as I can tell they are virtually identical PSUs, though.  I suppose the 1050 might have slightly larger components but it might also be they are identical other than something that limits the 850 to 850...

[Grauniad]

I guess it now comes down to how much you care about every last dollar - and like me, you may probably just want to buy the "better" 1050W model than save $13. :)  Will mean that in the end your box will run slightly more expensive than "bottom dollar", but you may feel better about it.

I have something called "Shoprunner" and I don't know if it still applies, but they give a free introductory period and then your applicable Newegg orders (the PC case will not be applicable) is 2-day and free. As is returns, which is really handy if you ever need to return something since those costs are usually out of your own pocket.

I sent you an invitation and you can look it over. For me, to date I've save $282 in shipping costs and I've not paid them a penny yet.  After my initial introductory period, I cancelled my membership and they invited me back for a year for free. Then after that year they extended it for another year based on my activity. And just now when I logged on to the site, they gave me another 12 months free based on my American Express membership. :)

[knucracker]

I'll give it a shot.... it will save some on  this purchase for sure.
I'll wait till the day before I pull the trigger to start the 30 day trial, in case I have to RMA something.

Right now I'm mostly trying to figure out how the $100 off nvidia shield works.  I see no reference to it anywhere at newegg.  I'm on the fence about trying Shield, but only with the $100 off of course.  Once I get that sorted, I'm close to ordering parts...

[Grauniad]

I'm curious how the Shield deal works out - not that I'm in the market for one, but still.

And you should give your stuff a once-over before you pull the trigger. Make your own calculations, etc., since in the end, this is you spending money and buying the components. And a big deal thing you get from buying an off-the-shelf PC that you don't get with one you asesemble yourself, is integration and a guarantee that all the parts play together.

So once more, check the specs on the Motherboard, make sure the power supply is compatible, the memory is within spec, and for best results check the motherboard vendor site for approved memory lists and that your memory is on that list.

Check the slots in the case and that they match up with the slots on the motherboard. That the motherboard has the right support for your GPU.. the list is pretty long... Check compatible form factors..

Check vendor return policies on every component.

Read a few reviews in both 5, 3 and 1-star  categories to get a feel for issues that may arise.

And then check some more. :)

[Grauniad]

When I get closer to decision time, I start asking questions like this:

Here is the Seasonic you have in your wish list:  SeaSonic X-SERIES X-1050

This model costs exactly the same: SeaSonic Platinum SS-860XP2 860W

Now I start wondering. I know the 1050W is overkill. The 860W model is more than sufficient. Over the life of my PC, the energy savings from the more efficient Platinum might not be directly noticeable, but they still exists, if only in the math. 

Side-by-side comparison.

Then I notice that the 1050W is slightly larger (1 inch longer) and I remember my difficulties fitting the Corsair into the Fractal Design Define R3 case.  The cables can't bend to get through the cut-out to go behind the mount and the PSU overlapped a fan mount position.

[knucracker]

I decided to inquire with support at newegg about the $100 off nvidia shield.  Here was my email:


--
Nvidia very recently announce a promotion on GTX770 and better GPUS. Their holiday bundle includes 3 games and $100 off nvidia shield.

I've spec'd out system parts from newegg for purchase, including a GTX770 card. I see the 3 game bundle listed on all of the GPU pages at newegg. I can find no reference to the $100 shield discount. Does this $100 shield discount not apply at newegg?
--



Now think carefully.... what reply do you think they sent? 
Here is there reply



--
Dear Virgil,

Thank you for contacting Newegg.

I am glad to help you. We have list all combo deal on our website and we email customer all our promo codes. Unfortunately, we do not offer any type of special discounts unless clearly stated on the website.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please visit our FAQs page. If you still require any assistance, please feel free to reply directly to this email.

Thank you,

Dora
Newegg Customer Service
--


Well, I'm glad they cleared that up.  It's kinda like going into Home Depot and asking were something is then being told "if you didn't see it then we don't have it".  Thanks for the help.  I hope I was looking in the right spot. :)  I still remain at a loss as to how or where or when or by what mechanism one gets $100 off the Shield.  I don't even want one of the blasted things at this point, I just want to know the answer to this question :)

[Grauniad]

I'm sorry to say that I don't have much sympathy for you wasting time on Newegg support. :)

It's not a Newegg issue, it's an Nvidia issue and you really should have contacted Nvidia. Newegg was correct, they don't and can't show stuff that Nvidia hasn't enabled.

I'm thinking it's a pipeline thing. The $100 off might be a coupon and it has to get in the box from the manufacturer (MSI?) and then go to Newegg before it can be shown. Or Nvidia might have to do something to enable the bundle purchase.

Try contacting Nvidia - it's their deal and their bundle and their discount. Then be prepared to be brushed off again. :(

Edit:

Let me illustrate.

Long ago, I was  TWC cable subscriber and there was an interesting little start-up called FON. THey gave you a special router if you would set up a FON hotspot. I got the router, but there were issues in terms of one's Internet usage agreements and actually deploying a public hotspot on a residential Internet connection.

Then they announced that they have struck a deal with TWC to allow FON hotspots. I was delighted. But do you think that either FON or TWC had any further information? A few years later my enthusiasm waned, I disconnected the FON router and eventually got rid of TWC as well. To this day I don't know how that agreement was supposed to be implemented.  I think you are in a similar limbo situation, except that Nvidia has a greater incentive to make it work. SO maybe they have the answer, or maybe their "people" are now hammering out the actual implementation and in a week, or a month (hopefully no longer than that) they will have everything sorted. In the meantime... limbo.

[MadMag]

I like the wishlist setup. Will give you 2 years* of productive game creating & maybe some game playing. :)
*Before you "must" change to a more powerful/upgraded system.

[knucracker]

Try this and see if you get anywhere:
http://www.geforce.com/get-the-ultimate-bundle

Getting $100 off on the nvidia shield is about as bad as trying to sign up on healthcare.gov (which I gave up on:)).

@MadMag... if I get 1+ years out of it, I'll be happy.  Then I can move it on down the line and build out a system based on next year's tech.

[MadMag]

@MadMag... if I get 1+ years out of it, I'll be happy.

I tried to be positive :)

---

100$ off on Nvidia Shield.. looks interesting.

[Grauniad]

Getting $100 off on the nvidia shield is about as bad as trying to sign up on healthcare.gov (which I gave up on:)).

Well, according to an NPR report this morning, only 285 people managed to sign up for benefits in the first two weeks of operation. That's a truly remarkable achievement for a website... :)

I see the bundle is indicated as *only* (as of now) available on NCIX and TigerDirect.  I can try a walk-in at Micro Center for you. :) (Guess who's jonesing for a visit to a computer store? )

[Grauniad]

ANyway, I can get to buy it. Here's the NCIX link. http://www.ncix.ca/promo/subpromosale.php?webid=1405

[knucracker]

Yeah, ncix is the only one that comes up with bundles like that (tiger direct doesn't even sell the shield from what I can tell). 
Via the US site I only get these:
http://us.ncix.com/search/?categoryid=0&q=+gtx+770+shield+bundle

They are all bundles, none of which reflect the $100 discount :)  They don't even properly reflect the recent GPU discounts or the game bundle discounts properly :)

The base line gtx 770 (like the MSI model) should be $330 (it is at newegg).  The shield is $300-$100.  The games are free. I expect to pay $530 for the GPU and shield (or $630 with a rebate of $100... who knows.  Nvidia nor any vendor will say if it is a rebate or not).

Ncix has prices way out of whack (at least on the US site... the difference between the canadian site is suspect given the exchange rate is 0.96/1 right now).  TigerDirect seems oblivious regarding the Shield (yet are listed as one of the only two etailers for this bundle on nvidia's site).

Healthcare.gov?  Ha... ha ha ha ha.  What a funny little web site.  If it were an assignment it would get maybe a D or D+.  Starts out nice but quickly falls apart.  My first hint at trouble was when it transposed my home and cell phone numbers in the summary page.  I thought, "That's odd", so went back and edited... same thing.  It got exponentially worse from that part forward.

[Grauniad]

This is really annoying.

Anandtech shows the R4 with a Seasonic PSU - but guess what? They didn't cable it up. :(

You can still get a good idea for what happens when you make the PSU 1 inch longer.

And as for coil whine?  I think unless you push the PSU to within 80+% of max rated capacity that's not going to be an issue. ANd how do you think you're going to push it that hard? Coil whine is for people who spec their PSU too close to the limit.

[knucracker]

Bah ha ha.  The saga continues.

I went straight to evga's online store.  They advertised the shield bundle there.  I clicked through on the buy buttons, but it never would apply the $100 discount.  Finally, I logged in to an account I had with them (I bought an evga card years ago), repeated the process and low and behold I had a shopping cart with a properly priced GPU $329, a $299 shield, and a -$100 (CODE: SHIELDPROMO) applied.  Happy day, at last I found a site that honors the deal.

Proceeding further through the checkout process (just to see what shipping rates would be). And i get this error:
"Shipping rates are unavailable for the shipping address entered.
Please click the back button to check the shipping address and try again."

Nice one.  The address is definitely mine, it's on a map, and it was even already on file in their system.  It refuses to let me pass this screen, not matter how many times I re-enter the correct information or minor permutations of the correct address info.

This is just comical.  The one place I managed to find the actual discounts on everything thinks I'm not on earth.