Dell can bite my ass

[STT]

So I had an XPS 8300 for writing music on. Key word: HAD.

It's toast now. Locks up on login, nothing can bring it back. See title.

I'm looking into building my own rig now, the only problem is the pricetag: $2100 after tax and shipping. You can find the price sheet here (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AizHc0PMCOHPdEwyeVQ3YmQ3dm1vVzBjMWprMlBuM 3c&usp=sharing). Links to product pages included for convenience. I'm loathe to even think of doing this but $2100 is a huge pricetag and I can't afford all of it, so I might set up a PayPal for donations. Again, I hate the thought of doing it, but it might be necessary as my family doesn't have much money.

[ImmunityBow]

Oof, that really sucks. Let's first try to save you a bit on some of the components. NCIX does pricematching, so the prices we find should translate to savings if you get from there:

AMD FX 9370 http://www.shopbot.ca/m/?m=AMD+FX+9370 = Looks like you can save $30-40 here, even from NCIX
ASUS M5A99FX http://www.shopbot.ca/m/?m=ASUS+M5A99FX = Looks like NCIX is $20 cheaper, You might also be able to save on a bundle deal if you downgrade your motherboard a bit
ASUS GeForce GTX 770 http://www.shopbot.ca/m/?m=ASUS+GeForce+GTX+770 = Looks like you can get it $50 cheaper at NCIX
EVGA SuperNOVA 650W http://www.shopbot.ca/m/?m=EVGA+SuperNOVA+650W = I'm seeing $25 cheaper
Windows 7 Home Premium http://www.shopbot.ca/m/?m=Windows+7+Home+Premium = Can you not get this $50 cheaper?

That would save you about $175. At a $2000 pricetag, are you sure this is all necessary? I'm willing to support this but $2000 is about twice as much as I'd be willing to pay for something of my own even.

[STT]

For something as heavy as EWQL (piano patch alone being 1.5 GB), I need all the RAM I can get, and all the CPU power I can get. It's less about excess and more about what most other people who write music using DAWs use, and even two years ago I was seeing overclocked i7-3770ks, which were more expensive at the time than the FX 9370 is now.

The GPU is primarily for gaming--this is going to be a multipurpose machine, hence the rather roomy HDD.

Don't worry about paying for all of it, I would never expect anyone to do that. I would actually feel bad if someone did. We should be doing taxes in a few weeks so I'll probably get a bit of money from a tax return, but yes, $2000 is a lot of money. It looks pricey because I have everything listed at regular price--probably not going to be able to take full advantage of sales.

With regard to the music itself: I thought ahead and backed up all my current projects on to my 4TB external, including WAVs, so there's no need to be concerned about those. Only issue is I'll have to redownload Symphonic Orchestra. Yay, 35GB download...

Thanks for the help with Windows 7 though. Knew I could find that for cheaper, just didn't know where. Since PriceTag's is a download version, no need to worry about shipping.

[STT]

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229494

Thinking of just getting that and replacing the GPU with an R9 270X ($270-300) and upgrading to 16 GB RAM ($170-210).

[ImmunityBow]

Sounds pretty cost effective.

[STT]

Yeah seems like a decent idea. Tried everything to revive the XPS save recovery disks as Dell sucks and didn't include any, instead opting for a partition that I can't use because the machine is a brick.

I have no money at the moment so any help to get me back up and running is much appreciated. Again I hate to do it but with astronomical bills as of late (propane heating alone being over $1000), I'm too cash-strapped to do it on my own.

Any funds I do get will go directly to a new computer. No scams here. ;)

[ImmunityBow]

Is Paypal okay?

[STT]

I'd need to set one up, but sure.

Although my mum is a tad skeptical (understandable because she's had less-than-stellar dealings with PayPal before), so she's asking if there's any catches.

[STT]

Need a response here.

[ImmunityBow]

Oh, didn't see the response since it was an edit.

All in all, your mom is probably right. Paypal has issues with one-way transactions and has a tendency to freeze accounts it suspects are doing shady things (where a bunch of one-way transactions with no proof of service/items rendered are there). The issue being that I have no idea how to send money otherwise. So yes the concerns are legitimate, so you'll have to find a way of accepting payment online.

[STT]

The easiest way I've used is direct email money transfers, though I'm not sure if any currency conversion would be handled correctly. Could give that a shot provided more research, you have my email in the ACP after all.

[STT]

Okay, an update.

I installed EWQL on the laptop and it works, but it's not comfortable. It's usable however so I can write music now.

We should also have the money around June to get me a new desktop, so there's that.

[ImmunityBow]

Good news, do you still need anything?

[STT]

Nothing at the moment, I'll update you if anything comes up.