Buying a slim PC box is not that easy

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I've got my new box on Friday. The company I bought it from did a good job at delivering on time but all what happened next has been a mess.

Firstly, when I open the box I discover the color is black and not the silver I have ordered. Not good, I emailed my supplier and they reach me on the cellphone to apologise and to offer me a replacement but not sooner than next week. I thought about it and finally I decided I would be keeping the box after all, just for the sake of getting the system rebuilt over the weekend.

Saturday, early in the morning, I start the process of disassembling the old beige-box components of my PVR. When I am done (and a bit dirty as you know how the inside of a computer is), I unpack the CM Media 260 black box to start building the new system. Manufacturer's instructions ask you to disassemble almost everything first and so do I. I assemble the power supply (not without removing some screws from the power supply to have a smooth top surface). I then place the motherboard and I fix it. And then, where is the PCI raiser card? ... There is not one.

Ok, this is just too much, I cannot build a working system with that. Both tuner cards need to be attached to the system to have any use of it (actually I am not using VGA output). The shop is now closed so they do not answer my calls and email is waiting somewhere in their inbox.

I do not know exactly what to do now, so I rebuild the old system with a cleaner inside now. So, after $200 and two hours I am back to where I was before: I still need a box. Let's see what happens next.

Bu the way, I failed to mention that more than a year ago I bought an Asus Pundit barebone for the same purpose but I had to return it as the DVB card did not fit in. So by now I have bought three different boxes but the system is still inside the ugly mini tower beige box.

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