Posts by wanderingbison9

wanderingbison9 said:Well, the Sapphire puls RX 6700 was sitting at $395.

I ended up pulling the trigger yesterday and ordered it from Amazon.com since the price had taken such a sudden dip—it was about $430 total—but then this morning it dropped by another couple of bucks, only to jump right back up to over $450 once you factor in the sales tax and shipping fees from the seller... talk about last-minute jitters! Isn't it strange how Amazon works? It feels like watching waves during a storm, where the prices just surge and recede without warning. Oops, I just checked again and in the last ten minutes, it already climbed to $455. 😵

@Lawrence Phillips/">@@Lawrence Phillips: I don't really have any use for it when it comes to gaming 😉

velvetlynx3 said:Which GPU are we talking about?

Well, I was looking at the Sapphire puls RX 6700 for about $400.

Well, what can I really say? I had every intention of ordering a graphics card from one of those German online shops, and I actually found a pretty great price over at NBB. I spent a good two hours meticulously checking customer reviews and struggling to format my shipping and mailbox address just right because their system kept rejecting it. Eventually, I managed to get through, paid with my Mastercard, passed the PUSH authentication, and received an email confirming the order was placed. Then, just twenty minutes later, I get a notification from my bank saying the payment was reversed, and the shop's website itself simply says "canceled." No follow-up email, nothing. I’ve ordered plenty of things from the US and the UK, mostly from Amazon—even the German branch—but I’ve also dealt with obscure sites and stuff from China. I once accidentally bought something expensive on AliExpress; they charged me immediately, but when I canceled, the refund was instant. But these Germans? Honestly, they seem like a very strange bunch when it comes to doing business... isn't that right? It practically feels like trying to order anything from Germany is an impossible task, with hurdles popping up at every single turn. ☕ Forgive me if I sound a bit worked up, but as far as I'm concerned, that’s my final word on trying to order from mythical Germany and the supposedly seamless EU; there seemed to be far fewer headaches before we joined the fray. I can't help but wonder, what would have happened if I had tried to order a massive TV instead?

P.S. I just had someone on the chat tell me that they couldn't accept a mailboxde.com address because it was flagged for too many scams. ☕

Benjamin Sanders76 said:Well, look, I didn't say they were $1,100, though obviously, there are premium prices here in the States too; I ended up paying $1,300 while they're listed for $1,123 over in Germany, but isn't it a bit risky to order from abroad when if something goes sideways with the card, you have to ship it all the way back and just wait... ... ... 🍿

A difference from what? Since you're living in Canada, doesn't the US feel about the same as Germany to you? You still have to either travel personally to deal with the retailer or the service center, or you're just dealing with the logistics of shipping things back and forth anyway... or perhaps you're just visiting the US on a temporary basis? 🤷

Honestly, I doubt I'll be ordering from overseas unless it's through Amazon... it seems like every German shop that actually ships directly to the US and offers a decent price turns out to be some kind of scam site... ☕

steelfalcon71 said:You could apply that same logic to pretty much anything else, including digital goods. To answer your question, I've actually never run into a situation where I had to pay extra VAT from another country because, well, since everyone stays under that 25% threshold, I haven't had to deal with any price differences or anything like that. Whether it's physical products or digital ones, I've been shopping regularly ever since we joined the system here in the US.

Not everyone follows that same pattern; for instance, Canada sits at 27%, while Denmark and Sweden stay around 25% just like us...

I really appreciate you sharing such a smooth experience, though I can't help but wonder, are there actually specific legal procedures in place to handle those types of situations if things were to go sideways? 😉

velvetlynx3 said:Both options look...

As far as I know, charging 25% for the US is correct, and it's actually quite common for the rate to jump from 19% to 25% during that final checkout step... they probably just verify where the card was issued or check the IP address or something along those lines...

Right, it’s not like they're being foolish on purpose; it's all based on European Union regulations, and we certainly wouldn't want to go breaking any laws... but it makes me wonder, what happens if a shop ends up only charging the German tax rate of 19%? Is there a chance that some kind of "notice" arrives from the tax authorities later down the road? And if one does arrive, would it be sent to the customer or the seller? For instance, looking at a situation with Mailboxde, since the address is in Germany, they charge 19%, yet Mailboxde isn't responsible for handling any tax payments once they forward it to the US. Who actually ends up getting stuck with the bill in that scenario?

velvetlynx3 said:You really should aim for at least a 6700, 🙂

By the way, what do you think about the price per performance?

I completely agree, that's exactly what I'm focusing on right now; I've already decided to pass on anything in the 66xx series.

velvetlynx3 said:So you haven't actually pulled the trigger on anything yet?

I almost snagged a 6750XT myself, but it slipped right through my fingers while I was searching for it. Since a 6800 is way too expensive, and my long-standing commitment to 😁 won't let me settle for a 6750XT or anything lower, I ended up deciding on the 6800XT instead.

No, I didn't buy anything; I kind of chickened out because I didn't want to overpay, especially since prices will likely drop any day now... but if I understood you correctly, you actually did make a purchase? How much did it set you back, and where did you get it?

If that's the case, I might have to jump up to the 68xx series too, since I'm currently running a 58x and I want to stay loyal to the brand... would that end up being, what, four times the price?...🙄😬

Benjamin Sanders76 said:I'm actually from Canada, 😁
but honestly, it all ends up being roughly the same... Once you factor in the sales tax, it might even end up being $100 cheaper. $67
I was just chatting with a friend over in Germany, and they have the 4070ti for about €1100, which means we're paying about $200 more here—which makes sense when you consider how much higher our income levels are compared to theirs. 🙂🙂

As for AMD, they've been in a bit of a tight spot lately; those last two series, the 7000xt and the xtx, have had massive issues with their coolers, so...

Let's not blow the problem out of proportion, please. 😬 The issue seems limited specifically to the reference cards rather than being a universal flaw. After all, a heatsink is a heatsink, isn't it? If it were simply a case of being undersized, wouldn't the failure be consistent across the board? Perhaps there's something going on with the sensors...
Personally, I'm feeling a pretty strong resistance toward NVIDIA right now because the software I rely on keeps hitting VRAM limits and crashing. It doesn't matter if we're talking about a card with 4GB or 24GB of Intel; the Blackmagic forums are absolutely flooded with people reporting the exact same thing. I happen to be using an RX 550 4 g temporarily, and while it’s slow, it manages to render everything. Meanwhile, my Quadro T600 throws a "GPU memory full" error every single time, which basically means you can't even finish a project.

On top of that, the RTX 3060 seems to suffer from some memory leaks that mess with professional software; I actually ran into this myself while working on a freelance project recently...

Benjamin Sanders76 said:So, here is where things stand. I was just browsing through some hardware listings online and came across this specific product page. It really makes you wonder how much the availability of certain components fluctuates depending on which retailers we choose to shop from. Have you ever noticed how one store might have exactly what you need in stock, while another completely similar site is totally sold out? It’s such an interesting part of the shopping experience when you're trying to piece together a new build.
I was originally leaning toward picking up an RTX 3080 Ti, but then I realized the price was practically identical to the RTX 4070 Ti, so why wouldn't I just go with the newer one once I saw that?
It feels like you might as well be driving all the way to Germany just to end up paying the exact same amount once customs and fees are factored in. Honestly, isn't that just how it goes sometimes? Though, I did happen to notice that over at the American AMD store, the prices are actually about $800 cheaper. $367
I haven't been able to track down anything for 900 around here, either... does anyone know where I might actually find a decent deal?☕
Just a quick heads-up: they’re actually starting to put everything together today. 🙂

Wait, what do you mean by customs? 😵

True enough, once you factor in the sales tax and shipping costs, the final price usually ends up being about the same—unless you happen to catch one of those lightning-fast flash sales. For instance, there were a few days recently where the RX 6700 was sitting at around $400, bringing the total on Amazon to roughly $435, but now that sale has already vanished and the price is right back where it started.

I wonder if anyone else has been feeling that same sense of quiet contemplation lately, perhaps while sitting by a window watching the world go by? It seems to me that we often rush through our days without stopping to ask ourselves why we are moving at such a frantic pace in the first place. Is there truly a need to be constantly occupied, or have we simply forgotten how to exist in the stillness? I find myself reflecting on these small, seemingly insignificant moments more often than I used to, almost as if the noise of modern life has finally started to fade into the background. Does anyone else find beauty in that sudden, unexpected silence? kaže:
CLICK

I’m sure they were running some mining operations there, but honestly, it’ll all work out in the end.

I just finally got around to clicking that link. $167 What's the going rate for a used RX 580 these days? I’m trying to figure out if it's even worth my while to put it up for sale, or if I should just hold onto it for a bit longer.

wiredotter14 said:They’re dealing with all this chaos switching from dollars to whatever new currency system they've implemented, and I bet the banks are absolute madhouses right now, especially if you're still trying to settle things with old cash... plus, they probably haven't even decided if they'll offer discounts for using the new stuff yet.

It's much smoother for them to handle everything through digital transfers since there's less room for error, it cuts down on the manual labor, simplifies the bookkeeping, and honestly, it's way more expensive for them to take physical cash than just having it hit their account.

Once this two-week transition period settles down, things should hopefully go back to being just as seamless as they were before.

Actually, I wouldn't say that's quite true; I just paid for my Kindle via online banking without even realizing I was missing out on a deal, mostly because the order confirmation had all the payment details printed in big, bold letters, making me think it was a direct prompt—even though if you look really closely at the bottom, it mentions not to pay based solely on that confirmation.🤦 Sure, maybe I wasn't paying enough attention, but now they have to deal with the fallout because they didn't set up a clear procedure, and here I am stuck waiting for them to fix it while they hold onto my money and I'm left without my Kindle... predictably, they haven't even reached out to me yet.

velvetlynx3 said:Did you catch that part?

Honestly, there’s something about this deal that feels off, and I’m hesitant to pull the trigger; even though it lists Amazon as the retailer, the primary option shown is actually a third-party seller at $470 plus shipping, so I can't help but wonder if it's just some pricing error that'll end up being a massive headache to resolve later.

At this point, I'm not even sure I want to buy anything at all right now. When I upgraded my GPU last time, I managed to score something twice as fast with double the VRAM for even less money—remember the jump from a GTX 960 to an RX 580?

@Benjamin Sanders76/">@@Benjamin Sanders76: how on earth do you manage to strip out that initial QUOTE tag every single time? 😬 do me a little favor and try to clean it up, please, because at this rate even God can't tell where the quote ends and your actual response begins.

Man, I’ve been staring at this deal for a while now—an AMD Radeon RX 6700 from Amazon for about $440 including shipping. The only catch is that it wouldn't actually arrive until January 21st. Do you think it's worth the wait, or should I pass?

wiredotter14 said:Even at $429 during that last sale

See, this is exactly what I mean... those prices just aren't sane or realistic, are they? It wasn't some massive sitewide promotion; it was just a single unit being cleared out at that price.

Alexander Moore67 said:You can grab a solid 6700xt for about $450 right here
https://www.mindfactory.de/product_i...l_1402737.html

That’s an interesting find; I actually checked it out on Amazon earlier, and the form factor looks like it would fit my build perfectly. Now, I just need to see if they’ll ship directly to me or if I'll have to deal with a third-party freight forwarder.

Honestly, the only option that seems to make any sense to me right now is the RX 6700, since it’s still sitting at that same price point we saw before. It probably isn't moving much, which suggests the price isn't actually that impressive, but I can't help but wonder... does anyone have any insight into why everyone seems to be avoiding it? Even Amazon feels like a bit of a letdown once you factor in all those shipping costs, and then there's the whole dilemma of browsing those overseas web shops with prices that look just a little too good to be true... hmmm...

GPU prices have never been this low; why hasn't Procurement stepped up yet? 😬