Frozen CPU Closed Down?

[Lady Fitzgerald]

There have been several threads over on OCN.net and elsewhere speculating that Frozen CPU has gone out of business. There have been reports supposedly from former employees that the owner went on a drunken binge and trashed the place (supposedly, this has happened before). Others have reported they are now doing business with a skeleton crew. There are reports that the phones yesterday were going to FCPU's answering machine and today phone calls get a message saying the number has been disconnected. The most damaging evidence is a video this morning showing their parking lot as having several days of undisturbed snow indicating no one has been there. Their website is still up, apparently still taking orders, but hasn't been updated for a while.

Whatever the truth of the matter is, it would be wise to avoid ordering anything from there for a while until it can be confirmed if they are still in business and just going through a rough patch. I certainly hope they do remain in business because they are a good source of computer parts that are hard or impossible to find.

 

[Layback Bear]

Thanks Lady for the information.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Never ordered from them, but I know they have been around a long time with a good reputation.

Not surprising, I'd say. Another good outfit, Jab-Tech (out of Oklahoma) quit operations a year or so back. I suspect it's connected to several factors---general decline of desktops as a percentage of all PCs, longer upgrade cycles for many home builders, a less than stellar economy with stagnant wages, etc.

 

[andrew129260]

If your not amazon or newegg or tigerdirect, is it very hard to compete unless your name is common. I never even heard of them.

Thanks for the info though.

 

[Layback Bear]

If you build and design your own systems amazon or newegg or tigerdirect will not meet all your needs.
If you need small things like wire, connectors, heat shrink, sleeving, bulbs,switches, tubing ect. you need another source.

I use Performance PCs .

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Frozen CPU was an excellent source for custom water cooling loop parts as well as cable sleeving supplies, fans, etc. that you won't find at the big boys. PerformancePCs also helps to fill that niche but their recent revamp of their website has made it difficult to use (too heavily graphics oriented, slowing page loading, and the search engine is pretty much useless, for starters).

Sadly, it appears FCPU isn't going to be coming back soon, if at all. The owner of FCPU apparently has an addiction problem that has impacted his ability to run a business. It also appears he is in trouble with the law due to the addiction. The website is still up and still taking orders and payments but the business itself remains shut down with no signs of reopening so new orders are not being filled despite payment having been made. It is best not to order anything from them anymore.

Adding insult to injury, many of the parts one could find at FPCU can now only be found from Chinese suppliers. It normally takes quite a while to receive merchandise from China but, with the dockworkers strike over on the west coast, container ships aren't being unloaded and are waiting at anchor outside the ports.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I have a folder of bookmarks for computer parts retailers and just attempted to bring up all of their web sites. I had not visited some of the links in 3 years or so.

Found 2 or 3 that appeared to be down, presumably forever.

Jab-tech.com is still up. He is selling off all stock at sales prices as of last July, so stocks may be depleted. I've used this site quite a bit over the years.

Here's the best of those remaining. All had good reps at one time, but I don't think I've ordered from any of them.

Computer Liquid Cooling & Premium Air Products, Parts, Kits & Accessories | Sidewinder Computers

SVC.com - Computer Case Fans, CPU Heatsinks, Water Cooling, and more!

Quiet PCs and Quiet Computer Parts | End PC Noise

PC Case Mods Store

McMaster-Carr


This excludes bigger names like Directron, Tiger Direct, etc.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Of all those, McMaster-Carr is the most stable. They have been providing a huge variety of supplies, tools. etc. for a large number of industries for over forty years (yeah, I'm old enough to have used them back then). They are great for difficult to find fastening hardware, tools, etc.

Sidewinder was MIA for a while a short while back but is back in operation now.

 

[Layback Bear]

I worked with Performance PC giving suggestions to help their new site when they first changed over. Some of my suggestions they accepted and some they didn't.
To me its cluttered with to much B/S, but they have improved the speed. It takes some time to figure out how to find things with out tripping over all the garbage on each page.

In my experience with them it's been all around okay. If by chance I have a problem it only takes a couple of email to get things straight out again.
Some of the bigger items they are not very price competitive, but that is what shopping is all about.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I worked with Performance PC giving suggestions to help their new site when they first changed over. Some of my suggestions they accepted and some they didn't.
To me its cluttered with to much B/S, but they have improved the speed. It takes some time to figure out how to find things with out tripping over all the garbage on each page.

In my experience with them it's been all around okay. If by chance I have a problem it only takes a couple of email to get things straight out again.
Some of the bigger items they are not very price competitive, but that is what shopping is all about.

I wish they had paid more attention to your suggestions. Their search engine is a joke (their fuzzy search is a furry as an Old English Sheepdog) and, as you said, the new site is too cluttered. I use an external search engine to search their site most of the time. I haven't ordered anything from them yet since they put up the new page but I've seen a few complaints about problems when ordering.

 

[Layback Bear]

Checking out can cause problems.
Like all sites you order from you must check the box that indicates that you agree to the terms ect. Now try to find that box. It's hide amongst all the trash. Once you find that box and check it the rest goes pretty smooth. I did bring this to their attention and all I got was smart mouth on how great their check out was and they were not going to change it.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I've also seen reports about PPCs attitude issue, especially on returns. I've been fortunate and never had a problem with them (so far).

Btw, FCPU finally put up a small (as in tiny) notice on their website that they will not be processing orders until future notice.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Just took a look at Performance PC for the first time in quite a while.

What a mess. Cluttered is an understatement.

I took a quick look at CPU heatsinks. Only one Noctua. No stock on the Scythe I might be interested in.

The things I saw that were familiar weren't cheaper than at more user-friendly competitors.

Given the clutter and disorganization, what's the attraction?

Some stuff nobody else has at any price?

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

It used to be a contest between PPCs and FCPU as to which would have the best bottom line on items. You had to check what the total cost of the item(s) and shipping was because both had inflated prices for shipping and handling. PPCs usually had lower product prices but higher charges for shipping and handling while FCPU was the other way around. Overall, both pretty much had the same bottom line but you still had to check. PPCs had a 5.5% discount code available (ocn55) on all orders until recently when they set a minimum amount for an order to qualify for the discount. FCPU had a 5% discount code available (pcapex).

I only ordered products from them if I couldn't find them cheaper elsewhere with the exception of Chinese vendors since delivery times are so absurdly long from China. I buy from Chinese vendors only if I can't find what I need stateside. I recently needed a USB3.0 extension so I could plug my new, fat Wi-Fi adapter into the rear I/O panel. I could not find one stateside so I ordered a couple from a Chinese vendor through fleabay. It took a little over three weeks to get them via airmail! If they had gone by boat, they would probably still be floating offshore of Los Angeles.

Right now, I'm steamed over some coax connector compression tools I ordered through Amazon. I had to use a Marketplace vendor since Amazon was out of stock (ironically, they are back in stock). The vendor took five days to fill the order then apparently used what appears to be a new dog sled delivery service. It shipped Saturday. At first they said it was going to be here this Tuesday. Then they changed it to Thursday. Now they are saying this Thursday to the following Tuesday! What really bites my ample asset is they keep saying the shipment is on time! I know the snow storms have slowed things down (it's coming out of New York) but this is ridiculous!

 

[Layback Bear]

When I use Performance PC I always chose Fedex and the deliveries where right on time.
When the delivery said it would be there on Friday I new it would be between noon and one.
The Fedex driver doesn't know I don't hear well so I never really heard the knock on the door.
On my way to the coffee pot I would just do a quick check and presto.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

When I use Performance PC I always chose Fedex and the deliveries where right on time.
When the delivery said it would be there on Friday I new it would be between noon and one.
The Fedex driver doesn't know I don't hear well so I never really heard the knock on the door.
On my way to the coffee pot I would just do a quick check and presto.

I always used the cheapest rate for shipping. I use a mail service to receive my mail (including packages) so, no matter what time a package gets delivered, it's received and kept indoors in a secure place until I go to pick it up. Since my mail service is a business, packages can't be just dropped at the door anytime day or night. It's a lot safer than home delivery.

 

[Layback Bear]

My only transportation is walking which I do poorly and it's below zero.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

My only transportation is walking which I do poorly and it's below zero.

There is a reason I live in the deserts of AZ! I don't walk so well either, depending on the day, so I depend on my little F150.

 

[Wordsworth]

Too bad about FrozenCPU, I just found out about it as I've been looking at stuff for upgrades. I bought stuff from them when I transfered everything to this Lian Li case. Also from Xoxide and Performance PC. Local shops I used to buy from have disappeared over the years and that is a real loss as I especially don't like buying motherboards online in case of RMA crap. About all I have left is a Microcenter about 40 minutes away.

Strange what appears to have happened at FrozenCPU with an unstable owner.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

The latest news is the owner is trying to hire new staff and reopen sometime in the future.