FragBox

Sigh.  Yeah, I ordered another computer.  I'm not sure if I can explain, but I can at least tell you my thought process.  

So my computer history is well and thoroughly covered in this post (where I bought my last computer).  But here's a quick recap.  My first windows computer was right off a store shelf.  It was a good introduction to the whole Windows ecosystem.  I then pieced together a computer while working for a friend's computer company.  I was still learning, especially about picking out individual pieces, and let him make most of the decisions (many of which were financial based).  I slowly made several upgrades to that computer over time.  Those upgrades were primarily driven by what was already in the system.  

In 2014 I built my first computer with my 'nurse' money.  I didn't consider money something to consider, but I still didn't go 'balls to the wall' to make the best.  I got an Intel Core i5 instead of the more powerful i7 (this was before the i9 line).  I got an Nvidia 970 instead of the more powerful 980 (or 980Ti, or Titan).  A few years later it was flakey AF so I replaced most of the parts, but kept up with the 'good enough' parts.  

A year later I bought 'THE' computer.  This was my Origin PC.  I wanted a boutique computer maker to make my computer as I didn't really have the time to make a good PC myself.  But while I had this expensive computer made, it was still held back by a thought of having a 'reasonable' computer.  It was another i5 processor and had the 2080 instead of the 2080Ti.  

That computer served me well for two and a half years, but was showing its age when the 3000 series cards came out.  This was full pandemic time and it was hard/impossible to get the video card alone.  So when I found the opportunity to buy a whole new computer and get the video card with it, I jumped at the chance.  I never really thought about the fact that I was moving from a high end boutique manufacturer to a lower end more 'common' manufacturer.  Don't get me wrong, I didn't go C H E A P.  NZXT BLD service is a good company, but it's no Origin PC (or at least Origin when I bought mine).  The new system was fine but still held back.  I went AMD for the first time in over a decade with the Ryzen 7 5800X and of course that glorious RTX 3800 graphics card.  

And then promptly found out that the 3080 was great at 1440 resolution gaming but not 4k gaming.  I should have got the 3090 (I don't think the 3090Ti was out at that time) as it would have done it much better.  Would have been doing it fine right now.  But a little over a year later (last year in October 2022), I thought I'd fix the problem by buying another NZXT Bld system, but this time I'd get that top of the line video card.  An RTX 4090.  I kept the same processor level, just a newer model (Ryzen 7 7700X), the same amount of ram (32 Gigs), basically the same system just a year newer with a better video card (both better generationally and class).  

So if I've had this for a year, why am I getting another one?  Good question.  The two short answers are that my system has been flakey since I got it and I want a quality computer not just quality components.  

I think over all these years I've held back on getting that 'balls to the wall' computer.  I slowly got better and better video cards but never really upgraded what class of processor I got.  I went with the standard or minimal gaming amount of RAM (16 gigs then later 32), and went with whatever case and such was available.  Even when I went with a quality company (Origin PC) I got mid level processor and less than top of the line video card.  I did get their smaller computer case as I like a small quiet computer, but... I guess I just didn't think of the future.  It was good enough to game at that time.  

Now the flakeyness is what's pushing this forward so quickly.  The previous system to this, the Ryzen 5800X booted fast.  It had a fast hard drive and from the power button press to Windows login it took about 7 seconds.  My current monitor (the 48 inch LG OLED TV) takes longer than that to turn on!  But the new AM5 Ryzen processors (all of the 7000 series) take a LONG time to boot.  Mine is fairly quick at 20 to 30 seconds.  I've heard if you're battling actual RAM problems (more on that in a bit) it can take from a minute to five minutes.  These new processors just have a problem using DDR5 RAM (Intel has similar problems but they are far more fixable from what I've read).  

That alone wouldn't be enough to push me into another computer.  But the damned thing is just wonky!  I can open up Photoshop, manipulate a large print ready photo, print it, and save it without it ever breaking a sweat.  But if I open up MS Word it will just hang there.  Go to 'find' something in word (Cntr F) and it hangs.  Go to print... hang.  Go to save as... hang.  After it hangs once though, it will work fine until I close the program out.  If I have to go back in, we're back off to the races.  

I also wanted to keep updating the BIOS as they claim to have better memory compatibility and sometimes even promise faster boot times.  But whenever I upgrade the BIOS past the December 2022 version, it won't restart.  It shuts down and starts just fine, but it won't restart.  So when Windows has an update and wants to restart?  Nope, I have to shut it down and then start it up.  Sadly there was an update that even when I told it to shut down, it wanted to restart first.  Of course it just hung there until I powered it down with the power button.  When it booted back up, it wanted to try the update again.  It took me two weeks of failed updates before I downgraded back to the old BIOS.  

And then there's the video card.  Yes, it's an Nvidia RTX 4090.  Specifically it's a Gigabyte GeForce RTX™ 4090 Gaming OC 24G.  Have I ever mentioned that I HATE Gigabyte.  Just on spec, I hate them.  On this time it's even more specific.  This card has lighting on its three fans and it's logo.  The software is supposed to give you options on the colors.  The system also has fans with lights, RAM with lights, and a cooler with lights.  I'd like them all to match certain themes.  For instance, right now it's Michigan football season so I have all the lights alternating between Maize and Blue.  Except for the Gigabyte card.  

When the software did work, it would only change the color once every other time you tried it.  When it did change the color, it only saved the change one out of 3 times you tried.  After two theme changes that took weeks to get right, the software just outright stopped working.  It won't even boot, let alone allow me to change the colors.  So the fan lights on the card are off (I don't recall turning them off, but fine) while the logo is green.  Not exactly fitting with my blue and yellow theme.  

And while the case is huge (it's the smallest case they could fit the 4090 in), it's also still loud.  Not 'shake the house down' loud, but even when idling, I can hear the fans.  

None of these problems are warranty problems (it has a two year warranty).  The system works, it just works a bit funky.  I might be able to convince them to take it in and 'take a look' but I'd be without the computer for days and have to pay shipping to and from.  

So, supposedly the 14000 series from Intel boots faster.  Just about any 4090 video card NOT from Gigabyte will work better.  And any Intel system will have less wonkyness (saving in Word...).  I looked at getting an intel replacement, but it would require a new processor, motherboard, and RAM and that's just too expensive to fix some of the problems.  

Then I saw a youtube review about a Falcon Northwest computer.  I remember reading about them when I was looking at my Origin computer.  They've been consistently rated as one of the best boutique system integrators, with the big caveate of also being one of the most expensive.  So on a lark, I watched the full review and realized just how much thought they put into their cases.  They don't use off the shelf cases, they design their own!  Supposedly with a 14900k that runs VERY hot, they keep it quite usable with just a 280 cooler.  I grew interested.  

They build their computers in the US.  Their tech support and sales are in the US.  They don't sell components like "RTX 4090" (which is how I ended up with a Gigabyte card Grrr).  They lay out specifically what they will put in the computer.  And finally... they have the FragBox. 

The basic design of the FragBox goes back to 2003.  It's small without being tiny.  Small lets it be portable and take up less space but tiny would compromise cooling (and therefore noise).  It's small while allowing enough space for the 4090 and most mid tower cases can't fit the 4090.  

And supposedly it can keep all of its components cool.  I saw a couple reviews of it running with the 13900k and it ran just fine without thermal throttling.  The 14900k is only a minor update to the 13900k and runs the same temperatures. 

It has two smallish fans running constantly pushing cool air into the graphics card.  They're very quiet and keep the graphics card cool enough that it doesn't need to spin up nearly as much as it normally would.  

What finally made the decision for me is this.  I'd be getting my 401k 'settle all the bills' money soon.  I could easily add the money for this computer into it and not really notice the difference.  Not the best reason to do it, but it does make it work for me.  

And if I was going to do this again, with an expensive boutique system integrator, where price didn't really matter... let's go balls to the wall! 

The specs are amazing:

• Intel Core i9 14900KRyzen 7 5800X 6.0 GHz
• Falcon Northwest 280mm cooler
• Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 24GB Founders Edition
• 64 GB DDR5 6000 Kingston Fury Beast RGB RAM
• (2) 2 TB Kingston Fury Renegade M.2 SSD (PCIe Gen4)
• ASUS TUF B760M-Plus WIFI Motherboard
• Silverstone SX1000R 1000W Platinum 12VHPWR SFX-L Power supply
• 2023 FragBox Case
• LG 48" OLED TV 4k
• Logitech MX Master 3S wireless mouse, Razer Deathstalker V2 keyboard, Klipsch 'The Fives' speakers, and SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless headset
• $5,911.71

A couple words about these parts.  This will be the first time I've had a 'top of the pile' processor.  Until Intel comes out with their 15th Generation (or a 'KS' version), I will have the fastest consumer/gamer processor on the market.  I know the 4090 Founders Edition is one of the nicest 4090s on the market running both fast and cool.  I could have been happy with 32 Gigs of memory, but I'm trying to build this for the future.  32 is good now, 64 might be needed/wanted in the next few years.  I could have gone with a single 2TB hard drive that they'd install the operating system on and then just drop one of my 2TB drives in along side it, but that's one of the disadvantages of a small build... space.  It's a tight fit to get in this case to where the hard drive would plug in.  Better to just have them put two new drives in and I'll transfer over the files using an external hard drive (I have a 4TB USB 3.2 gen 2 drive coming too!).  And finally the motherboard.  They've said for a long time that these aren't meant for overclocking, so they included a motherboard that can't overclock.  Honestly, that's fine by me.  This will be like going from my 480 horse power Mustang to a 1001 horse power Lamborghini Revuelto and then complaining because I can't put a tune for extra power on it.  I'll be fine.  

The price of course is for the computer and not the monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, or headset.  It also includes a $300 expedited build fee and a $250 2nd day air shipping fee.  So if we don't consider those parts, this is $1000 more than the system I got from NZXT last year.  But I think this is going to be worth it.  First, the size is just perfect.  Seriously, I hate lugging these huge towers around when I just need to see the back or to pull it out of its home and open it up.  It comes with a three year parts and labor warranty, but the first year includes overnight shipping to and from them.  

And then there's the sales experience.  I didn't intend to speak to them as i knew what I wanted.  I put an order in, put in all the billing and shipping information and clicked 'order'.  And it kicked my card back saying it was denied.  I turned my ad blocker off as that can sometimes prevent the bank's check system from popping up and tried again.  It was denied again.  Now, I didn't have the nearly $6000 in available credit on any of my cards.  But as my 401k money should be in my account later this week I went ahead and put all my extra cash on my card just before buying the computer.  I figure it might not have worked its way through the system and might take another hour or so.  So I waited.  

Five minutes later I got an email from their sales team, noting that they saw my order and that it was denied.  They suggested calling my bank to check on their end or I could call them directly if I'd like to.  I was happy to see that they were obviously monitoring the orders that closely, but still figured I was on the right track.  

An hour later I tried ordering it again and was again denied.  As soon as it was denied I left the denial on the screen and called my credit union.  5 minutes later, just as I got a rep on the line, I got an email from Falcon Northwest saying that I should call them to fix the problem.  I was already on the phone with the credit union, so I made sure to cover that base first.  They admit it had been denied on their end the first time, but once they registered the money as paid they let it process.  They say it was charged back from the seller's end.  

I thanked them for their time and looked at the email to call the sales department.  I saw that this wasn't just the 'sales department' it was a specific sales rep.  And he didn't say to call and speak to a rep, he wanted me to call HIM.  Again, it's a small thing overall, but this shows a level of care that I haven't seen in my computer purchases before.  Not even Origin.  So I called him back and we chatted as he looked up the order.  He gave a friendly sigh of frustration and said they were using a new online billing system.  It was nice as it was more secure, but he didn't have my credit card information.  He suggested we try it over the phone as it uses a different credit card processor.  He even tried a one dollar 'Authorization fee' to try it out first.  When that went through, he charged the remaining $5,910.71 and it too went through fine.  We were both happy and he said he'd have in invoice to me in ten to fifteen minutes.  

I had the invoice in my email two minutes later.  

Yeah, it was only one interaction but at every step he under promised and over delivered.  I'm hoping everything goes that way.  The expedited build charge gets my computer to ship in five business days.  The sales rep said that would be Monday the 13th which is exactly five business days.  But maybe... MAYBE, they'll get it out earlier?