Monochrome Mentality

Last week I blogged about my failed attempts to build two Intel systems to take advantage of the libre 3D drivers that Intel released.

I closed last time with the new RAM on backorder from NewEgg, 2 dried motherboards on a shipment back to NewEgg and 16 GB of incompatible RAM also trekking across the country to NewEgg's RMA department.

Shortly after blogging about this the RAM came back in stock. And when I say shortly, I mean in a matter of minutes. That was great... Except that NewEgg didn't seem to have information about tracking.

Come Tuesday morning at about 10 am I got a confirmation letter that my package had been shipped... By 11 am I had the package in my hands. While I am not complaining about NewEgg's shipping, or even UPS, the total lack of information is inconsiderate. I buy packages from companies that don't provide shipping info, and I'm cool with that. But when you provide a service, I expect it to be half effecient. Four days without notification of a shipment is too long when packages can be shipped in half a day.

Anyway, I now have 8GB of RAM sitting on my desk. A long week drags on when I realize that I will need more thermal paste for the CPU coolers. Unmounting them a few times, then tucking the processors back into storage means the paste goes bad. That's fine, because paste is cheap, and people often complain about stock paste doing it's job poorly.

So I took this moment to buy a tube of Arctic Silver ceramique paste and a green (sound activated) cold cathode from NewEgg which was boxed and shipped within three hours. Score one for NewEgg again!

On Monday, when the package was scheduled to be delivered, I'm anxiously tracking the package and I notice that UPS seems not to be able to find my apartment. Odd, I think, since I've never had problems before. My address was correct, confirmed by Ashley and Nell at NewEgg as well as someone at UPS who (through no fault of his own) wasn't very clear because of crappy phones on UPS's side.

NewEgg is a restricted shipper, so it seems, and issues with package delivery require re-authorization in order to be re-delivered. This is a stupid policy, I think, but Nell at NewEgg took the time to make it right and on Tuesday evening after work my package was there.

To make things even MORE annoying, the RMA's are delivered on NewEgg's dock by this time. UPS confirmed delivery of BOTH sets (sent a day apart, and spanning a weekend) but NewEgg hadn't begun processing them. I began getting notices that they were being processed when I get a new one. The Intel board is out of stock and they don't know when it's coming back. They graciously waived the restocking fee and refunded me the full purchase price of the board...

Twice...

GREAT! What about shipping the damn things to me? Or shipping them both BACK? As of that moment, I almost kicked the wall. I had become so infuriated with this whole processes. After nearly three weeks, I've still got 0 of 2 systems functional and I've lost money shipping boards that, as of now, I can use as much as if I hadn't bought anything.

Because I'm so sick of waiting, I just bought two new boards from NewEgg. After discussions with Perry about his experiences with Intel, I decided I'd use an MSI board since I've had a nearly decent experience with them before.

So I submitted my order, and in the process of the submission, the product was pulled from NewEgg's site! Wow... Can it GET any worse?

So... Round three.

I've since ordered two of these from Gigabyte. I've not personally used a Gigabyte board but from the people that have I hear you love them or hate them. Either they cause major issues or work flawlessly.

I've heard the same thing about Chaintech, and my experience with them has been that they're great, so I decided to take a chance on it. Hopefully, now, I'll be able to get my system going. :)

And maybe get NewEgg to make up for my loss on shipping the boards around.