Shuttle AK38N : 62.61$ shipped here, worth it?

[CougTek]

Since a @£¤¢#!!!! lame b@$[@Rd prevented me to win Clocker's auction for his GigaByte 7VAX BRAND NEW motherboard for 62$, I have to look elsewhere now to satisfy the need of one of my customer looking for a low cost motherboard. His old motherboard became unstable since he blew up the USB ports with a defective Epson printer.

So here I am, searching for the ideal budget board for a socket A (Thunderbird 1.4GHz) CPU. Since Mercutio doesn't stop recommending Shuttle cheap VIA-based boards for people with a thin wallet, I figured one of those shouldn't be bad in my case. Pricewatching Shuttle's motherboards led me to the AK38N (KT333CF north bridge/VT8235 south bridge). No store sells those around here and even if they would, they would sell it for too much (my providers included).

The cheapest place I found was Excaliberpc.com. 52U$ plus the shipping (5$ fixed is only for orders within the United States, blablabla...can't find North on a map so I have to pay more for shipment). So total price shipped is 62.61U$ (~85$CAD).

Does anyone here have experience with that particular model? I know some have extensive expertise on the AK32A and it is generally positive. The AK38N is more or less the same board with a different chipset, so IMO itshould be a safe bet. Is there anyone with a better idea for a value motherboard? Store has to know there's land north of US too, otherwise they won't ship here.

AND PLEASE, DO NOT TELL ME THAT NEWEGG OR GOOGLEGEAR SELL A BETTER BOARD FOR LESS WITH FREE SHIPPING OR I TURN GREEN AND BREAK YOUR NECK!

 

[Mercutio]

I used an AK39N not too long ago. Like the AK32A, I don't have any particularly bad things to say about it. It was cheap and it worked the way I wanted. Which I guess is praise enough.
Since the AK32 and the AK39 are like that, I'll bet the AK38 is, too.

 

[CougTek]

I'm a bit torn between the Shuttle and this Asus KT400 board. I don't have experience with it either. It would cost me 5.39$ more than the Shuttle. Asus probably has more frequent BIOS updates than Shuttle and more options overall. However, for a board that "just works", it's probably no better than Shuttle.

I'll think about it for an hour and buy something this afternoon.

 

[CougTek]

I don't remember in which thread it was but e-dawg asked me about my experience with Excaliberpc and the dreaded UPS shipping. Aweful. The Excaliberpc part was fine, but ordering via UPS from the States is a disaster. The little board I was supposed to pay 62.61U$ (87.01$CDN at the moment they charged my VISA) shipped ended up costing me 129.69$CDN. The bastards charged 42.68$ for customs, handling and taxes (not forgetting their pockets).

I've never had those ridiculous charges when using FedEx in the past (many orders from Crucial and 2CoolTek). I'm done with the brown. They can all go to Hell and they won't see my money again.

I placed an order at 2CoolTek again earlier this week for two heatsinks (mines are driving me insane due to abusive noise) and I'll see if I'll have similar non-sense overcharges with FedEx.

Is that supposed to be free trade agreement? I certainly don't have the same definition for it than our (bunch of miserable idiots) governments do.

 

[CougTek]

Got the board. Not tried it yet. I'm leaving to work in ten minutes. Just wanted to say that Excaliberpc placed 10 CD-R 8X max with the board, so the overall deal isn't as bad as it first looked. Nice from Excaliberpc. Doesn't increase my love for UPS though.

Let's say that I give a good mark to Excaliber, but I would prefer if they would use FedEx as their official shippper rather than UPS.

 

[Buck]

Let's say that I give a good mark to Excaliber, but I would prefer if they would use FedEx as their official shippper rather than UPS.

Wow, the beast has been tamed!

 

[CougTek]

 

[flagreen]

Coug,

If you ever have a problem with Fed-Ex be sure to write the President of Fed-Ex a nasty letter. They screwed me on a Saturday delivery once and that's just what I did. I got a letter of apology from them along with four $20.00 coupons for use when shipping.

 

[e_dawg]

I don't remember in which thread it was but e-dawg asked me about my experience with Excaliberpc and the dreaded UPS shipping. Aweful. The Excaliberpc part was fine, but ordering via UPS from the States is a disaster. The little board I was supposed to pay 62.61U$ (87.01$CDN at the moment they charged my VISA) shipped ended up costing me 129.69$CDN. The bastards charged 42.68$ for customs, handling and taxes (not forgetting their pockets).

... as I predicted :mrgrn:

I've never had those ridiculous charges when using FedEx in the past (many orders from Crucial and 2CoolTek). I'm done with the brown. They can all go to Hell and they won't see my money again.

I usually get charged $25-35 brokerage fees + 7% GST + 8% PST on top of fairly high shipping charges for any shipment coming from the US regardless of which courier is being used. Granted, UPS does seem to have the highest brokerage fees and they do not release the package until whoever's signing for the package gives them a cheque for the exact amount they are charging you. At least FedEx uses a third-party brokerage and allows you to receive your package as quickly as possible, freeing you to pay your brokerage fees at your convenience.

Is that supposed to be free trade agreement? I certainly don't have the same definition for it than our (bunch of miserable idiots) governments do.

Free trade means anything NOT obviously made outside of the US (i.e., does not have MADE IN GERMANY in huge letters on the box) will NOT be subject to import tariffs, i.e., duty free. However, you still have to pay all brokerage fees, GST, and PST as before. Unfortunately, GST and PST is collected on *every* item, which was NOT the case 10+ years ago.

 

[e_dawg]

... I guess I could have been more blunt in the other thread and said "UPS is going to f@#$ you up the ass until you bleed!" ... but I wanted to let you experience it for yourself first