B. Friday 👎

[Shane_B.]

I saw some great software deals, but everything else was a joke.

I've been watching pc part prices. 

They jacked everything up, then gave a discount to what the original price was. And on memory,  better get some KY while it's on sale. 

It's gone up 200% plus (ram and drives) and none of it was on sale. 

If I want to build the system I've been piecing together for months now I literally have to cut the memory and m2 drive capacity in half to get slightly higher pricing then I could 6 months ago on double the capacities.

Frustrating.

[Amicus717]

From what I've read and heard, prices will stay high and maybe even keep climbing until the A.I. bubble pops -- and who knows if that will actually happen anytime soon?

 

Edited December 1 by Amicus717

[Gswitz]

I got a mic parts mic.

 

https://microphone-parts.com/?srsltid=AfmBOop7lLPsepXKdhrktYgsltt1-6gTNyT1H3l5tWrZpzt9SLQVZUoY

[craigb]

I worked 15+ hours!  Yay. 🙄

[kitekrazy]

They'll drop is no one is buying.

I have no desire to build a new system.

[Byron Dickens]

On 11/30/2025 at 11:55 AM, Shane_B. said:

I saw some great software deals, but everything else was a joke.

I've been watching pc part prices. 

They jacked everything up, then gave a discount to what the original price was. And on memory,  better get some KY while it's on sale. 

It's gone up 200% plus (ram and drives) and none of it was on sale. 

If I want to build the system I've been piecing together for months now I literally have to cut the memory and m2 drive capacity in half to get slightly higher pricing then I could 6 months ago on double the capacities.

Frustrating.

That sounds like my property taxes. The county cut the tax rate by almost half then doubled the appraisal value. 

[Shane_B.]

2 hours ago, Byron Dickens said:

That sounds like my property taxes. The county cut the tax rate by almost half then doubled the appraisal value. 

Thankfully mine is still appraised at the pre-housing crisis assessment. That said, they just raised mine this year here in NJ.

To put it in perspective, I had a 2200 sq/ft house on 5 acres in MO. I also had a 1200 sq/ft Morton building. They also tax you on your vehicles.

FF to being back in NJ. I have a 1500 sq/ft house on 1.25 acres. 1.25 acres here is a luxury. 5 acres in MO is bare minimum. 

My property taxes in NJ are over $2,000/year more than in MO. 

I can count on 1 hand the amount of times my power has been out in the 25 years I lived in rural IA and MO. Here, it's out at least 3 times a month. Schools, utilities, roads, law enforcement, hospitals, jobs, quality of life, the people, it was all vastly better in MO and even better in IA. I don't know who is benefitting from my tax dollars here, but I assure you it is not the citizens.

I got 1 of the 3 parts I was able to order for my new PC build. I have no idea where the h e double hockey sticks this AIO is gonna fit that I was told I had to have. Lol. At least it got here before the below freezing temps hit tomorrow. I was a little worried about that.

[Shane_B.]

I was reading about the memory prices skyrocketing. From what I've read it's due to all the AI and bit mining farms popping up all over and there is a shortage on ram and its only going to get worse.

The memory I was going to get was $84 each x 2. Now it's $234 each x 2. And the m.2 drive more than doubled as well. 

[Amicus717]

28 minutes ago, Shane_B. said:

I was reading about the memory prices skyrocketing. From what I've read it's due to all the AI and bit mining farms popping up all over and there is a shortage on ram and its only going to get worse.

It's going to get MUCH worse: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/after-nearly-30-years-crucial-will-stop-selling-ram-to-consumers/

[Shane_B.]

15 hours ago, Amicus717 said:

It's going to get MUCH worse: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/after-nearly-30-years-crucial-will-stop-selling-ram-to-consumers/

I bit the bullet and bought the ram and m.2 last night before stock ran out again. I paid as much for it as I did for all the other pieces of my new build.

I'm building my dream PC and could have often away with a lot less, still doesn't make.me feel any better.

I did my research and this thing will scream for a very long time, but it really is a terrible time to build a PC.

[Amicus717]

2 hours ago, Shane_B. said:

I bit the bullet and bought the ram and m.2 last night before stock ran out again. I paid as much for it as I did for all the other pieces of my new build.

I'm building my dream PC and could have often away with a lot less, still doesn't make.me feel any better.

I did my research and this thing will scream for a very long time, but it really is a terrible time to build a PC.

I think that was the only way to go. Get it done now, before the next price hike, and then coast with this new build until prices get back to normal -- if they ever will.

Hope the build goes well!

[57Gregy]

10 hours ago, Amicus717 said:

until prices get back to normal -- if they ever will.

Gasoline is still ~twice what it was before...
Sorry. Not political. Ordered 3 new CDs last night! The first in many years for me.

[Starship Krupa]

On 11/30/2025 at 5:33 PM, Gswitz said:

I got a mic parts mic.

 

https://microphone-parts.com/?srsltid=AfmBOop7lLPsepXKdhrktYgsltt1-6gTNyT1H3l5tWrZpzt9SLQVZUoY

Mic Parts has interesting ideas for mic upgrades, and an interesting business model (people love to customize and upgrade our stuff) but they really undermine their credibility with the $99 IEC cable. Kinda makes me wonder if their prices on other things are inflated.

The idea of

"Compared to stock AC power cords or even premium cables at similar or higher prices, NRG-X cables have always delivered enhanced bass definition, improved transient articulation, greater soundstage scale, and more of the precious spatial cues that bring recorded music to life."

Some of this is due to "Direction-Controlled Long-Grain Copper (LGC) in a Semi-Solid Concentric Topology." Are they implying that they somehow found a way to make a copper wire conductor directional?

This would be an odd thing to have in an IEC cable, because IEC cables carry alternating current....

[Shane_B.]

On 12/5/2025 at 8:45 PM, 57Gregy said:

Gasoline is still ~twice what it was before...
Sorry. Not political. Ordered 3 new CDs last night! The first in many years for me.

I can't explain why without "going there" but I do believe there is a process in the works to, uh, undo the halt that was previously implemented. It wasn't an overnight process to rebuild our buffer so to speak, but it has started. And by the time it gets fixed, a different idiot will move in and undo it again. I've lost faith in all of them to be honest. I no longer support one or the other. I just want to be left alone to live out my few remaining years in peace 'cause there ain't a darn thing I can do about any of it.

I'm really sick to my stomach over this memory thing. It literally happened overnight while I was busy working and didn't have time to watch. But it wouldn't have mattered anyway. It literally happened overnight, not gradually. At least from what I've read.

I have a spreadsheet I created months ago when I finally decided which parts I was going to go with. $1305 for the fastest pc you can build. I don't know if Amazon screwed up, but I got a steal on the cpu and I've never seen it that low again. I should have bought 10 and resold them on ebay.

Because of the memory, my great deal DIY build went up to almost $2300. I didn't listen back in June when everyone said there is something coming and ram prices would skyrocket and nothing would be available.

Yeah, I could have built a less powerful pc, but at the time the deal was so unbelievable on the cpu, I built the system around that never dreaming this would happen.

Anyway, it's all been purchased. All I'm waiting for is the RAM and case, which I got screwed on too. It says in the specs that the case supports a 360mm top mount aio and bays for 5.25 drives which I have to have, but what it didn't say was they both couldn't be installed at the same time. The only case that allows both at the same time that I could find, and I had to use AI to help, is $450.

I'll leave the freaking sata wires and power supply wires hanging out the side with the drive dangling there before they suck another penny out of me for this garbage. Lol.

Btw, that price does not include a video card. I'll be using my old 3060 which everyone tells me will bottleneck on my cpu and run worse than it does in my current system. I'm going to have to wait until the vram price hike hits before I can even think about a new gpu.