The Whole Can Be Less Expensive than the Sum of Its Parts Pt. 2:

This is a continuation of blogpost #2. While it’s clear that a weird phenomenon is taking place, it isn’t clear what the crux cause of the broader market situation. The question still remains why was I rcenetly able to buy a prebuilt PC from MSI that was less expensive than if I had bought the parts individually? Let’s generalize this scenario: Scenario: Given two computers with the equivalent (equivalent here meaning performance-wise) parts where: one of which is pre-built and the other of which is self-assembled, how can the situation arise where the pre-built is less expensive than the self-assembled?                                                                  Continue reading The Whole Can Be Less Expensive than the Sum of Its Parts Pt. 2:

The Whole Can Be Less Expensive than the Sum of Its Parts Pt. 1:

This post is a continuation of my first blog post. In the first post, I mentioned pre-built computers—computers with parts pre-assembled by manufacturers—can be a cost-efficient alternative to a custom-built computer—computers with individual parts bought and assembled by the consumer. This should strike you as strange as it violates common sense. This is implying computer parts plus the labor to assemble those parts cost more than solely computer parts. You might be wondering why is this the case If you recall from blogpost #1, GPUs are one of the essential parts of a computer. They have always been traditionally expensive, Continue reading The Whole Can Be Less Expensive than the Sum of Its Parts Pt. 1:

Modeling a Risk-Averse Investor in the Stock Market Pt. 3: Trying to Find a Closer Approximation for the net value

In this blogpost, I will attempt to find an approximation for the series posted in part 2. In part #2, we had the table:   ROI based upon the period we invested in  (1/r)         Sum of each investment   Period 1 ROI  Period 2 ROI Period 3 ROI Period 4 ROI Period J   *SPECIAL CASE* $1/1 $1/1 $1/1 $1/1 + … 1+1+1+1 + …  = $J Investment #1 $1/2 $1/4 $1/8 $1/16 + … ½ + ¼ + 1/8 + 1/16 + … = $2.00 Investment #2 $1/3 $1/9 $1/27 $1/81   + … $1/3 Continue reading Modeling a Risk-Averse Investor in the Stock Market Pt. 3: Trying to Find a Closer Approximation for the net value

Why Does Building a Computer Cost so Much? Pt. 1

Pt.1 Why does my GPU cost so much? This blog topic will be a multipart series reviewing the changing nature of PC markets along with plausible mechanisms for these changes. To answer the title question, it would be useful to know what expectations one should have for changes in PC prices over time. Setting Expectations: The two most expensive computer parts’—the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) and CPU (Computer Processing Unit)—performances have vastly increased over time. The increase in performance more or less follows a heuristic called “Moore’s law”. According to Moore’s law the number of transistors in are expected to Continue reading Why Does Building a Computer Cost so Much? Pt. 1