Earn about 13 bucks/hr building 4K+ computer. Crazy?

[Locut0s]

Original post 08/03/07

Like the title says I earn about 13 bucks and hour currently at my job, 12.96 and am going to be building a $4000+ system soon. I've been slowly saving money for my education and hobbies, have about 20+K saved for school. I went to uni before but dropped out and am going back in the future. Currently assistant manager of a retail store. Think I'm crazy?

edit: all prices are in CDN $ in case you were wondering.

edit: for those wondering the 30" monitor mentioned in the replies below would probably be a Dell 3007WFP.

edit:Now updated with actual system.

--------

Update 04/25/08: Add to that a Pentax K20D now No I do not regret buying the computer or the camera and my savings are more than before now.

Interesting how most people don't seem to have read the thread yet like to respond anyway. The system itself was not $4K it was $2K. I spent about $1.6K on the monitor. The monitor will outlast this system and probably many more and so will not depreciate in the same sense as the computer. The parts in the system itself were nice parts but nothing special I wasn't building a screaming fast SLI setup as you can see. And I also mentioned in the post that I had fairly significant savings put aside for university, and now have more put aside. I have enough for one degree at least as it stands now if not two. It is true that I have spent a lot of money on these items and of course I am not in the norm on this. But then these are important hobbies to me, computers and photography. I suspected a lot of people would think I was stupid or crazy, I wouldn't have made the post if I didn't think so, but it would be nice if they read my whole thread first and took everything into consideration. But oh well.

 

[mugs]

Yeah, that's pretty stupid, but whatever floats your boat.

 

[platinumike]

why not just spend the money on a 2k dollar computer and then spend the other 2k on something else or another pc yrs from now. Seriously i think 4k is overkill, its not gonna be future proof either.

 

[LucJoe]

4K+ computer = bad financial decision in your current situation


unless you actually need a crazy super computer to do your school work

 

[imported_LoKe]

Gotta reward yourself somehow. I make $9/h and managed to build a $2k computer as well as a $2k audio setup.

 

[Locut0s]

Originally posted by: platinumike
why not just spend the money on a 2k dollar computer and then spend the other 2k on something else or another pc yrs from now. Seriously i think 4k is overkill, its not gonna be future proof either.

Well about 13-1400 of that is for a 30" LCD.

 

[esun]

Sure, reward yourself. Doesn't necessarily mean spending $4000.

 

[NiteWulf]

Originally posted by: platinumike
why not just spend the money on a 2k dollar computer and then spend the other 2k on something else or another pc yrs from now. Seriously i think 4k is overkill, its not gonna be future proof either.

2k computer now (with Hot Deals you can make a screaming machine), 2k in a CD for later. Make money with your money.

Originally posted by: Locut0s
Well about 13-1400 of that is for a 30" LCD.

Why not spend 600-1200 on a projector and go for the 80" screen?

 

[Balt]

Originally posted by: esun
Sure, reward yourself. Doesn't necessarily mean spending $4000.

Agreed. Looking at prices for parts, you must have noticed that once you get past a certain point you are paying a premium price for only a minor upgrade. Don't get *the* latest and greatest, get something that's almost as good but probably about half the price.

 

[Locut0s]

Originally posted by: Balt

Originally posted by: esun
Sure, reward yourself. Doesn't necessarily mean spending $4000.

Agreed. Looking at prices for parts, you must have noticed that once you get past a certain point you are paying a premium price for only a minor upgrade. Don't get *the* latest and greatest, get something that's almost as good but probably about half the price.

For the most part I am doing that. Like I said about 1300 bucks of that is in the monitor. So you are looking at about 2500 some odd or more for the system.

 

[adairusmc]

Originally posted by: Locut0s

Originally posted by: Balt

Originally posted by: esun
Sure, reward yourself. Doesn't necessarily mean spending $4000.

Agreed. Looking at prices for parts, you must have noticed that once you get past a certain point you are paying a premium price for only a minor upgrade. Don't get *the* latest and greatest, get something that's almost as good but probably about half the price.

For the most part I am doing that. Like I said about 1300 bucks of that is in the monitor. So you are looking at about 2500 some odd or more for the system.

Why stop there? You can get a 37" westinghouse for about the same price.

 

[Locut0s]

Originally posted by: adairusmc

Originally posted by: Locut0s

Originally posted by: Balt

Originally posted by: esun
Sure, reward yourself. Doesn't necessarily mean spending $4000.

Agreed. Looking at prices for parts, you must have noticed that once you get past a certain point you are paying a premium price for only a minor upgrade. Don't get *the* latest and greatest, get something that's almost as good but probably about half the price.

For the most part I am doing that. Like I said about 1300 bucks of that is in the monitor. So you are looking at about 2500 some odd or more for the system.

Why stop there? You can get a 37" westinghouse for about the same price.

Well I'll be sitting in front of it so 30" is about the max I'd want. Much larger and you'd have to start tilting you're head this way and that just to see it all, lol. I'd rather get a quality 30"er than spend the same money to simply get more real estate. We already have a TV room with a large screen TV so there is no need to stray into that territory. I'm only using this as a computer monitor. Granted I want it to be a fantastic experience but not need to get into stupid big monitors.

 

[GRIFFIN1]

I hate spending a lot of money on computer hardware because it depreciates so fast. I wish I still had the money from all the basically worthless upgrades I did over the years.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Why not spend about $350-400 CAD on a nice 24" Benq monitor, and maybe $2,100 on the PC? Keep the extra $1,500 in savings and use part of it to upgrade the video card a year and a half later.

I have a 20" square Dell now and a 24" widescreen is about the largest I'd want for PC gaming and general computer use.

Oh well, it's your dream. There are worse things to spend the money on.

 

[Locut0s]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Why not spend about $350-400 CAD on a nice 24" Benq monitor, and maybe $2,100 on the PC? Keep the extra $1,500 in savings and use part of it to upgrade the video card a year and a half later.

I have a 20" square Dell now and a 24" widescreen is about the largest I'd want for PC gaming and general computer use.

Oh well, it's your dream. There are worse things to spend the money on.

Yeah the 4K figure isn't set in stone or anything. I'm doing research on parts at this point and the system configuration is changing as I go. I've just had this thing for the Apple Cinema display (way to pricey though) for some time, and would love to have that kind of real estate in front of me

 

[DaveSimmons]

Do you have an xbox or PS3? The difference would pay for one of each

 

[Locut0s]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Do you have an xbox or PS3? The difference would pay for one of each

I have both and the Wii. Yeah I'm spoiled

 

[dighn]

a bit excessive imho. computers depreciate too fast to put that kind of money into, unless you are rich of course.

 

[bennylong]

4k for a computer? That's crazy. Oh well, if it makes you happy. You can't take it with you when you die.

 

[ColdFusion718]

Originally posted by: Locut0s

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Why not spend about $350-400 CAD on a nice 24" Benq monitor, and maybe $2,100 on the PC? Keep the extra $1,500 in savings and use part of it to upgrade the video card a year and a half later.

I have a 20" square Dell now and a 24" widescreen is about the largest I'd want for PC gaming and general computer use.

Oh well, it's your dream. There are worse things to spend the money on.

Yeah the 4K figure isn't set in stone or anything. I'm doing research on parts at this point and the system configuration is changing as I go. I've just had this thing for the Apple Cinema display (way to pricey though) for some time, and would love to have that kind of real estate in front of me

I have the Dell 3007WFP as my monitor. I've had it for over a year now and once in a while, it still makes me go "wow, that's a huge monitor." You will not regret it.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I worked in IT one summer for an unbelievably cheap $10 an hour. No this was not a freaking school job or anything, it was at a company that was apparently too cheap to give me a decent wage. Oh well. I dumped $2000 of my earnings on a computer. It's still serving me well.

As for the fat chunks of change I'm earning this summer, I'll use it to pay tuition/rent. No more wasting money....

 

[Doctor Nyse]

Not sure if its already been said but you'll make your $4,000 computer and in about two years it'll be worth about $500.

 

[Xylitol]

Inflation

 

[Capt Caveman]

Wow, you really have a poor set of priorities. Looks like you'll be living with your parents for the rest of your life with lots of toys.

 

[rootaxs]

Originally posted by: adairusmc

Originally posted by: Locut0s

Originally posted by: Balt

Originally posted by: esun
Sure, reward yourself. Doesn't necessarily mean spending $4000.

Agreed. Looking at prices for parts, you must have noticed that once you get past a certain point you are paying a premium price for only a minor upgrade. Don't get *the* latest and greatest, get something that's almost as good but probably about half the price.

For the most part I am doing that. Like I said about 1300 bucks of that is in the monitor. So you are looking at about 2500 some odd or more for the system.

Why stop there? You can get a 37" westinghouse for about the same price.

Maybe he needs the real estate? A 37" Westinghouse has significantly less real estate than a 30" Dell.