Last December I decided to go on a shopping trip. To be properly prepared I did a bit of online research first, reading reviews, blogs, and I browsed online shops, I even made a list.
Then, finally, Saturday was here.
I got up early, got dressed, did my usual Saturday morning things, and half an hour before the store opened I left the house to drive the empty roads to be there early. I arrived fifteen minutes after they opened and there were already quite a few cars parked outside the mall. Darn', even forgetting about Covid, I am generally not a big fan of crowds. Thankfully, once inside the crowd fizzled out and it was o.k.
Prada, Louis Vuitton, D&G, Gucci - here I come!
Not.
You see, I really don't like shopping. Period. No matter if groceries or clothes or shoes, I don't care, not a fan. For me to go shopping happily and voluntarily it has to be a special kind of store i.e. one that doesn't sell clothes or shoes or jewelry but - toys. To be precise electronic toys, computers, tablets and parts - those are my kind of toys and candy store.
I have been to this store before so I went straight to the counter of helping hands to get me the things on my list, some of them were behind locked doors. Once I got everything that I needed I spent some quality time walking every single aisle wondering and mooning over all the new and shiny things. Hahaha - for real though, this store has so many things, electronic and computer parts next to fully assembled... anything - it would make every nerd's and tinkerer's heart sing.
By the time I made my way to the register a queue had already formed but it didn't matter - I had all the toys I came here for. And a little extra. And with that
The weekend tinkering could begin
Hubby's computer especially the motherboard and CPU but also the GPU were six or seven years old. We had upgraded bits and pieces but this time we wanted a complete overhaul. And I got to do it - yay! Here is what I got at the store, doesn't look that much, right?
I was a bit skeptical about getting the LianLi case and water cooler never having heard of that brand before but after said research I found that they're actually a good brand designed in Germany. And let me tell you after I experienced it now - the case is awesome!! The mechanism for the glass front and side, there are no screws, and the cable management including the hard drives are almost completely hidden from plain sight - as you will see further down. It looks awesome!
Here are some pix going from the empty case to empty case with mobo, the RAM with lighting and the Intel i-9 12900K CPU, the watercooler and the graphic card plus some more fans (whisper quiet).
At some point, during the weekend a certain someone called Simon became a bit curious and would have loved to check out that big box with so much stuff in it. I totally was not distracted at all. Nope, not me.
Graphic cards are now back in stock, I think, however, at the time they most definitely were not. And since hubby was going to get the super-duper rigg with the latest Intel processor I figured he deserved a good GPU. So, I parted with my white Gigabyte RTX2070, you know, being the good wife I am which perfectly matched his new built. I am now using his old GTX980, it's good enough for me at the moment. We also re-used his previous PSU since it wasn't old and had plenty of power. But you can't see that one because it is hidden behind the white metal shield just like the hard drives, minus the M.2.
Many hours later i.e. Sunday everything was done, Windows 10 was re-installed as were several essential to him programs. So, now we have a light show going - if we want to. Seriously this desktop looks so slick I am really envious - I want one too!!!
But for now, that was enough tinkering (and $$$ spending) for me. Maybe next winter it will be time to upgrade my computer. Until then...
Cheers,
(Ocean)Bee
Unless otherwise noted, copyright for all photos, dividers and gifs ©Oceanbee|ImagesByCW
Photos of the Sabrent M.2 and the 1st LianLi case are product photos from their respective makers/websites