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3/3/2026 - AI ate all your RAM (and storage and GPUs), and everything is more expensive now because of it.
Love or hate AI, one thing is certain: the PC parts market is currently suffering a shortage even more profound than that of the crypto mining craze or COVID-19. AI datacenters and the companies training new models have purchased nearly the bulk of manufacturing capacity, leaving consumers to fight over dwindling supply. Memory has doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled in price in recent months, depending on the particular model. SSDs have roughly doubled in price. Micron, a major manufacturer of both, has pulled out of the consumer market, shutting down its brand, Crucial. GPUs, which are both used for AI models directly, and which themselves require a substantial amount of high speed GDDR memory, are heavily effected as well, with some models more than doubling in price. Laptops, prebuilt desktops, and even phones and tablets have not escaped the shortages and price hikes.
While this bubble is sure to burst eventually, there is no immediate end in sight, with major manufacturers estimating escalating shortages all the way through 2026 and continuing through 2027 and perhaps even into 2028. This comes at a time when a great number of Windows 10 machines are either operating without software and driver updates, or are running on borrowed time using the ESU program, which is slated to cease being free before the end of the year. This is all to say that it is more important than ever to keep your machine operating in good condition, as repairs or replacements are and will continue to be much more costly than in previous years. If you are in need of a repair or an upgrade, I recommend that you act quickly to avoid further costs. If you are still running Windows 10, now is the time to upgrade to 11 before your system falls victim to known vulnerabilities.
Lastly, I would like to give all my customers notice that these conditions will likely require me to adjust my pricing in the near future. As always, my goal is to provide you with the best value, and as such, I will delay pricing adjustments until strictly necessary, but with the rapid ongoing developments, it would be wise to expect an adjustment within the next month.
1/1/2022 - Happy New Year! (And a year's worth of updates - Whoops!)
In 2021 I made the decision to transition away from TeamViewer as my remote assistance platform of choice, in favor of AnyDesk. If you've used remote assistance in the last several months, you will already be familiar with the new system. If you have never used remote assistance before or have not needed it recently, the new system is outlined on the Extras page. This change has several benefits and is very simple to use. If you still have TeamViewer installed and do not use it with anyone else, you can uninstall it now.
My previous price was set in 2018. In the last 4 years, a lot has changed and it is time to reevaluate. Starting 2022, I will be charging $50 per hour standard rate, $75 for special hours. This increase largely reflects inflation over the past several years, and the increased cost of living and operation due to the pandemic, electronics parts shortages, and other changes. This is a change I do not take lightly, and had hoped to postpone until the end of the pandemic, but more than two years in with no end in sight, I have come to the conclusion that in order to continue serving you full time, I would have make this decision without further delay.
I hope you had a wonderful New Year and that 2022 treats you all kindly.
Arman
4/1/2020 - Fully recovered, limited re-opening of physical appointments (covid-19 shelter in place order)
I have fully recovered, and am very grateful for all the wellness checks and kind words.
I'm opening physical appointments up again, but exclusively to Promenade residents with problems that cannot be solved via remote assistance. Please notify me if you are ill, immune-compromised, or otherwise at risk or a risk to others, so I can take all proper precautions as I travel through the promenade to assist customers.
For anyone outside the Promenade, as well as residents within the Promenade who do not absolutely require a physical appointment, I strongly urge you to consider remote assistance via TeamViewer. If you would like more information about this process or need help connecting, please feel free to call or email.
3/7/2020 - Scheduling closed & all current physical appointments cancelled.
I am very ill, and both in an effort to recover and to prevent spreading sickness while I'm contagious, I have cancelled all physical appointments and will not be taking any new appointments until I have fully recovered.
I'm very sorry for the inconvenience.
As a reminder, I also offer remote assistance via TeamViewer at my normal rate, and accept payments via PayPal.
2/3/2020 - Back in town, scheduling reopened and business as usual has recommenced. Thank you for your patience.
1/15/2020 - Scheduling Closed Until February 2nd
I will be leaving town on Friday the 17th. As such, I will not be taking any new appointments until I return on February 2nd. If you already have an appointment with me, don't worry, I'll see you at our scheduled time.
I do not yet know if I will be able to be reached while I am out of the country. Feel free to email/text/call and leave me a message, but I cannot guarantee I will be able to respond until I return.
In the event you have an emergency and manage to reach me, I may be able to provide remote assistance / phone support. Please note that any emergency service will be charged at my "holiday" rate of $60/hr.
Hope you're having a great start in this new decade!
3/8/2019 - Back in town, scheduling reopened and business as usual has recommenced. Thank you for your patience.
2/22/2019 - Scheduling Closed Until March 7
I will be leaving town on Sunday the 24th. As such, I will not be taking any new appointments until I return on March 7th. If you already have an appointment with me, don't worry, I'll see you at our scheduled time.
I do not yet know if I will be able to be reached while I am out of the country. Feel free to email/text/call and leave me a message, but I cannot guarantee I will be able to respond until I return.
In the event you have an emergency and manage to reach me, I may be able to provide remote assistance / phone support. Please note that any emergency service will be charged at my "special hours" rate of $60/hr.
1/1/2019 - A New Year & New Pricing
New pricing is now in effect, and is reflected throughout the website. Hope You have a great 2019!
12/5/2018 - Happy Holidays!
I hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving and is ready for the holidays.
I'm back in town and taking new appointments. I've always prided myself on providing honest service at an unbeatable price. With that in mind, I am announcing my new standard pricing for 2019. Starting with the new year, my fee for new appointments will be $40/hour.
Any appointments made before the new year will be at the current price. If there's anything you need to have looked at, feel free to make an appointment now and lock in the lower price.
11/18/2018 - Happy Thanksgiving!
I will be out of town until the end of the month, starting today. Appointment scheduling is closed December 2nd.
If you have any absolutely critical issues while I am out of town, depending on the problem, I may be able to provide remote assistance. Payment can be made via PayPal or via check/cash placed in an envelope left with the front desk.
I will temporarily be charging a $45 per hour for remote assistance during this time.
I hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving with your family and friends.
2/12/2018 - Woops! Looks like I forgot to publish any updates recently.
I'd like to blame my absence on being stuck in the record holiday snowfall in Erie, but reality is far more mundane. Less mundane is the release of AMD's new Ryzen/VEGA APUs. These new parts are the perfect core for budget and even mid-range desktops. Now is an excellent time to invest in an high quality yet inexpensive new system that will last for years and supports easy long-term upgrade options.
As of the new year, I have set a new rate of $30/hour. Over the last year this has become my primary occupation, and with the increased cost of living here at the Promenade, this was a necessary change to make ends meet. Thank you for your understanding.
11/8/2017 - The Promenade (and bitcoin) is back to normal.
I am back in the building and taking new appointments. If you would like to schedule a tutoring session keep in mind that we still have a few minor remnants of the fire, such as (loud) air filters in the halls to remove smoke smell. Sorry for any inconvenience that may pose.
In other news, Bitcoin's SegWit2x fork was called off today. While the issue may arise again in the future, for now there will be no additional hard fork of the blockchain. This has incidentally sent BTC price to a new all time high
10/22/2017 - Yesterday (Saturday the 21st) morning a major fire started in The Promenade Towers in Bethesda. One of the two towers is currently without water or electricity, and has been deemed legally uninhabitable until repairs can be effected. Most up to date projections show repairs taking at least until the 31st.
As this is both my home and my office, I will be unable to work until this situation is resolved. I am sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
To all my neighbors at The Promenade; I hope you are all safe and have found a place to stay. If you do not have reliable access to updates via buildinglink, please feel free to call/text/email me an I will relay updates as they arrive.
9/20/2017 - Back in town and taking new appointments.
8/30/2017 - I'm out of town, but RX Vega has arrived
I'll be out of town until the 14th of September. If you would like to schedule any appointments please keep this in mind.
In other news, AMD's RX Vega video cards are finally on the market and fairly readily available (albeit with limited selection and somewhat marked up prices).
The cards perform reasonably well but to not match Nvidia's GTX 1080. That said, Vega 64 can be had for about $50 less than its Nvidia counterparts and in theory have a lot more room to grow, sporting many forward-looking features that are not yet present on the green team. Many users also report high success rates for substantially undervolting and moderately overclocking the GPU, as well as significant overclocks to the HBM2 memory with only minor increases in voltage. My personal RX Vega 64 lends credence to these reports, happily mining with a significantly undervolted profile. In my case I've managed to shave off 15 degrees Celsius and about 100 watts with no reduction in performance or stability.
Vega 56 is not yet available to the mainstream, but promises significantly lower power consumption and price for only a mild reduction in performance.
8/10/2017 - Cryptocurrency stabilizes, Intel accelerates Coffee Lake, Vega still on the horizon.
The chaos immediately following the bitcoin fork has ended. BTC has settled into a new all time high, and the new BCH has found itself in 4th place on the crypto hierarchy. Ethereum remains in second place and has also stabilized after its recent crash. If you're a long term investment miner, or just a proponent of cryptocurrency, this is good news.
In hardware news, Intel has announced that their 8th generation Core series processors will be releasing about 6 months early. These will be Intel's first mainstream CPUs to include more than 4 cores, and will likely also bring Intel's usual incremental improvements to power consumption and IPC. With the right pricing, this may be Intel's first real competition for AMD's revolutionary Ryzen processors.
Meanwhile AMD's mainstream Vega GPUs will be launching on Monday. Speculation places these cards somewhere between Nvidia's GTX 1070 and 1080ti for most workloads, and priced competitively. AMD will also be selling "packs" which will include games and Freesync monitors (or at least discounts towards them), making Vega a particularly good value for gamers looking to overhaul their system rather than just replace the GPU alone.
7/25/2017 - Bitcoin forks, Ethereum difficulty jumps, and RX Vega!
The two largest cryptocurrencies are currently experiencing a period of change, and with it comes uncertainty and instability. Many casual miners are selling off their equipment and dumping their coins. While the market is expected to stabilize soon, those who are interested in cryptocurrencies should probably read up on Bitcoin's upcoming changes, and the expected mining rate for Ethereum.
Meanwhile, AMD's new RX Vega release is just around the corner, promising a new lineup of video cards for both gamers and miners alike. If you've been put off buying a new GPU by the scarcity and price hikes, these new cards in addition to the minor ongoing crypto crash might be just what you were waiting for.
7/1/2017 - As you may or may not know, the recent and ongoing cyptocurrency craze has resulted in a severe shortage of video cards, specifically in the mid-range performance bracket.
If you are in the market for a mid-range gaming graphics card, expect low availability and highly inflated prices. If you can wait a few months, I would suggest doing so. Otherwise, you may want to consider last-gen high-end cards like the GTX 980 Ti.
If you happen to already own a video card that is sought after for cryptocurrency hashing (Radeon 380, 380X, 390, 470, 480, 570, 580, Nvidia GTX 1070, etc) and are not interested in hashing yourself, this may be a unique opportunity to sell your card for significantly more than you paid for it.
Both Nvidia and AMD have announced plans to release new cards specifically for cryptocurrency miners in the future in an attempt to alleviate this shortage (and of course make a tidy profit) but no time frame has been yet been given.
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