A few days back I decided to go ahead and order a new computer online. The order contained weeks of looking at review sites to look at specs as well as price checking and looking at rumor sites for future releases of Intel and AMD processors. Ultimately I chose the AMD 5600+, 2GB Ram, and 8800GTS 320MB graphics card.

When it came to putting together the system, all seemed well until I was ready to plug in the 24 pin power cable into the motherboard, it was too short. I ended up choosing the Antec P180 case due to it's compartmentalized design which I felt would lead to having a cooler system, which is good when you live in a house with only a swamp cooler. Anyways, while the local computer shops didn't have a 24 pin extension cable, they did have a 20 pin to 24 pin adapter which I was able to use thus solving my power dilemma, or so I hoped (This was an interesting story in of itself, but probably not story worthy). When I turned on the system, I smelt an acrid smell for about a minute, but without being able to identify the source along with the smell dissipating, I thought I was in the clear. Unfortunately, it was the power supply that was giving off that smell. It decided it was going to fail about 20 minutes into the installation, right after commenting on the phone to a friend that I was surprised that there were no problems with the installation.

Well, these events definitely highlight the benefits and costs of buying online, cheap prices, though when something goes wrong, I can't go bring it back to the store to get an instant replacement. I guess now I will have the rest of the weekend to do real work rather than play with my computer.

-Trevor