W00t, my new computer is back on track. To cut a very long story short, I eventually got Faith-go to cancel my order. I then placed a new one with the same parts except for the motherboard and RAM. When I put that order in though, I couldn't find the speakers or keyboard any more. I shot off an email to Faith-go to ask if they still had them around from my previous order and if I could buy them, but didn't hear back for a while. So I hunted them down on other websites. The keyboard was no trouble at all, despite how rare it is. The speakers were much more troublesome though, as apparently the X-530 is about to be replaced by the X-540. So the X-530s aren't being supplied any more and shops are running out (no comment on the lack of business common sense that says you should probably be supplying your new product before shops run out of your old one ... ). Every shop I tried said they had stock, but when I placed an order, suddenly claimed they had 'a rush of orders today' and no longer had any stock.

So I gave up and placed the order with Faith-go minus speakers. When I got home, I had an email from them though, and to my delight they did still have the speakers. I quickly asked them to add them to my order, which they did, and it's all good! The estimated delivery date for the parts is a much more reassuring 5-10 business days, and the guy who emailed me to confirm my order said he hoped to have it all to me by early next week. I think he still feels bad for mucking me around, good! :)

I guess I learnt a few things from this kind of situation. Mainly, I can understand now why people just buy off the shelf computers or 'package' deals. They're usually underspecced, overpriced and generally 'not good', but they're simple, easy and ready to go. Building a custom machine is a lot more difficult. Researching the parts is hard enough, but getting them can be even harder. As soon as you enter custom realm, you usually start going for high end parts that are expensive and therefore less common than your everyday bits and pieces. Case in point, my build. It's been nearly 6 weeks since I finalised the parts I wanted, and I still have none of them. Haha. Such is the price you pay. The benchmarks will make it all worth it, though :) Here's to hoping there are no more surprises, and everything comes through next week!