The collected works of mapesdhs - Page 11

Trippynet wrote: ... he sells the stuff with commercial value at commercial prices, ...

Usually somewhere inbetween. Often I've discovered too late that I've been selling some items way too cheaply, eg. one time various dealers were buying quad-195MHz IP25 boards from me and then selling them on with a 4X markup. Weird thing is, if I price some things too low, companies won't buy them (raises too many questions within internal purchasing).

I suppose the only real exceptions to the usual pricing scale are Extreme Indigo2s (still little demand for those) and my mod-CPU R12K/300 O2 which is set a lot cheaper than an O2 with an original R12K/300. Irony is, I do these so hobbyists can get a good spec & condition O2 for a decent price, but one US hospital decided to buy five of the mod CPUs! Still wish I could work out the resistor positions for 350MHz though, bound to be a few 300 modules that could handle it ok (I already fit a better fan by default).

Ian.

(ivelegacy, quoting error there, it was cybercow who commented about GIO64 translation, not me)

You mean replace the stock heat sink mechanism with something else? Problem is, how to do that without using up too much space, which is very limited. If a system has a Max set and nothing else than one could use the upper slot to fit some kind of dual-fan blower asy, but replacing the TRAM heatsinks, not so sure...

What's the point of that?? You wouldn't see the SGI... :}

Ian.

I don't see the point of having any desktop SGI if it's merely going to be squirreled away somewhere out of view. One may aswell just put together a quick and silent Linux box, either something potent like a used 5GHz 2700K (I have several), or something low-power and efficient like a Haswell G3258 on a miniITX (my HTPC spec). Fit it with a used 750 Ti, or new 950 Ti, voila.

95% of having an SGI in view is for show, to make visitors ask what the heck is that, to provoke conversation, to demo what was possible before PCs had 3D, etc. I know a guy in South Africa who likes SGIs purely as ornaments; he has an O2 on a shelf, just as it is, next to ceramics, etc. To him, the look is art in its own right.

Ian.

s0ke wrote: You're not married are you? @Ian

My gf & I have been a couple for 16 years, but we don't live under the same roof. Probably why it works so well.

I have a couple aswell, plus a Sun Fire unit I need to get rid of. PM if interested.

Ian.

See my previous post; if you'd be happy with such low speeds, I'll see if I can find the drivers. Not bothered adding them to my site so far because the card is so slow.

Sorry for the delay! No, I never got it working properly, gave up in the end, replaced the gateway O2 with a modern Intel uATX board that has two GigE ports, fitted an IvyBridge 2.8GHz 2-core Pentium (G2020 iirc), 840 Pro 128GB SSD, fanless PSU, micro tower case, wifi kybd with touchpad, etc., works much better. The PC runs Zentyal Linux for gateway/firewall duties. Here are some pics: front , side , internals 1 , internals 2 , cabling .

The whole thing uses very little power.

Ian.

I see you've quoted part of my site's pricing on your eBay listing, but with no source link. Presumably from the comparison then, your O2 comes with 90 days cover, 6 months cover for the disk, etc.

Also, if the sw has been removed from the system, then the eBay listing is inaccurate.

Ian.

ivelegacy wrote: I am a bit bored to hear people offering 100 euro, or strange question or request

I can understand that, and entirely agree.

ivelegacy wrote: why so expensive? 500 euro is too much (asked several times)

Just ignore them. An item is only ever worth what someone is willing to pay. eBay is not, has never been, never well be and cannot be any kind of objective measure of an item's worth. Those who claim otherwise or use example eBay listings as a means of price pressure are doing so only because they want to spend as little as possible; ironically, the same people then ask much more when they try to sell their own items.

ivelegacy wrote: well, I have to pay 50 euro to ebay, and 20 euro to paypal

That's partly why I don't sell stuff on eBay.

ivelegacy wrote: I just want to sell this machine in order to make a favor to a friend

The most I could offer atm is 400E + shipping.

Ian.

The DCD is the only reason I'd consider buying it at all.

Ian.

If he wants 600+ with the DCD included, why was the eBay listing set for a 550 starting price, which as you say would have resulted in less than 475 net after fees removed?

Btw, I list DCDs that high now because the last time someone wanted to buy one from me, I had to buy it from an SGI dealer for over 800 UKP; my profit on the deal was barely enough for a week's food.

Sadly this is why I've been forced to move away somewhat from dealing with SGI stuff in recent years, because I can't get hold of stuff at a cost level that's worthwhile, if it's available at all, and the warranty risks at these cost levels are becoming scary as heck.

Atm I'm building three custom PCs for two guys in the UK and someone in CA (two 4.8GHz X79 + Quadro pro systems, and a 5GHz Z68 + 980 Ti gaming system). I don't have a section for PC stuff on my site yet, but it's coming. Oh the irony...

Ian.

PS. See: http://www.3dmark.com/fs/8231433

Indeed, that's why I didn't reply again... oh wait, oops. :}

Beep! There's already a sticky, my permanent web page of advice...

http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/postingadvice.html

Nobody packs better than me (so they tell me, hehe). Tell ya what though, mopar is pretty good too.

I do need to update my advice page a little, a few changes have occured over the summer among some couriers, eg. DPD has become a lot more competitive than it used to be. I also need to update from where I buy bulk packaging, including tape, labels, custom size boxes, etc. Way back I also made two how-to-wrap picture guides for O2 and Octane:

http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/sgidepot/pics ... _an_O2.zip
http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/sgidepot/pics ... octane.zip

Hmm, would youtube guides be useful? I did do a movie recently on how to take apart an O2, not uploaded it yet though.

surrealdeal makes some good points about foam chips and bubblewrap. The most common mistakes people make are:

- Using the smaller size bubblewrap (the stuff with bubblesof about 0.5cm or so) on larger items. Use 1" wrap for such things.

- Not enough layers. When wrapping any system, I use six layers of large size bubblewrap.

- Not enough or loose foam chips. It won't work simply pour foam chips into gaps down the sides of items and on top, the chips need to be rammed in to minimise movement, otherwise settling in transit will create an empty space at the top. Also, it's best to slightly overfill a box at the top since in transit it'll be squashed a bit.

- Not taping things up properly. I always seal all seams, in a manner which means at the end there are just two "end" tape edges on the entire box, which makes inteference without detection more difficult. It means more time to pack something, but worth it for a sturdier result.

- Even if all the above are done right, people just don't use big enough boxes. When shipping an O2, I use a 52x52x53cm box (custom made), large enough for a big wrapped O2 bundle and still a good thick later of foam chips on all sides, underneath and on top. I simply chose the largest size that kept the volumetric weight below 30kg (L*W*H/5000 in mm).

For Indigo2s and Fuels I either buy 24x24x24" standard boxes and then cut them vertically downto size (36cm, giving 63x63x36, again just below 30kg vol.), or I buy custom boxes. For Octane and Tezro Ibuy custom made boxes, though I forget the dimensions offhand (typing this at a ferry terminal on the west coast of Scotland. )

In all cases, boxes are double-wall. Beware of boxes that have pre-indented creases to aid height reduction, as they just result in weakness during transit (the sides can bulge out a bit).

Ian.

There was an email? Oh! Must be my other account, will check tomorrow, am on an island atm.

If I walk past you I'm gonna freak out.

Should be able to check my email shortly...

If my head gets any bigger it'll need its own post code. Thanks for the kind words all!!

This is why boxes for posting O2s have to be big. In one recent year (2014 I think) the only O2s I received intact were those for which I'd sent my own packaging to the sender to use. I buy boxes which once packed end up being 52x52x53cm.

I'd heard before from courier drivers that boxes can get stacked quite heavily in warehouses, which is one reason why I try to avoid sending items on a Friday, to ensure they don't get stuck in a warehouse over the weekend. One driver told me that boxes containing printed material can be particularly heavy, even though they're not very big, ie. think of all the leaflets one sees in post offices, shops, etc., tens of thousands of them constantly being sent everywhere.

Ian.

Funny how bad sellers on eBay always seem to lack proper grammar, and usually yell in upper case.

Yeah, I've had a few with just some card taped direct to the item, they rarely survive. One time though, the oddball in a million, someone sent me an O2 packed in such a manner (the box was actually too small, the top was bulging upwards), yet it survived the journey completely intact. In honour of this unlikely event, the box became my main toolbox, has been now for over a decade.

Ian.

Life is a bell curve I guess... :}

I sent a POWER Challenge rack to France once, shipped by a hefty DHL truck. Found out later that during the journey the entire rack had fallen over on its side, but no damage at all (I had bubblewrapped it, but even so). See:

http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/sgidepot/pics/eurinco2.zip

Must have scared the heck out of the driver when it happened.

Ian.

Fat? I am not sitting here with a mug of choccy milk! Oh dammit... :}

This year will be 30 years since I first went to uni, which my brain insists is completely ridiculous. Certified old git.

Ian.