Tim Nelson Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 Just thought I would throw this out there in case any of you are looking for some inexpensive rendering machines. I think these are a steal. I would grab a couple myself, but can't afford anything right now. Looks like he has 10 of them available. My old system has dual 2100 mp's and they work like a charm. Well I hope somebody can use this! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=51123&item=5144265130&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 I would grab a couple myself, but can't afford anything right now. Looks like he has 10 of them available. You've been working your little bottom off--where's all that cash going? Anyway, what's odd about this listing is its NOT an auction. Its just 'buy it, you have 3 days'. Tempting, maybe a six-pack? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Nelson Posted December 7, 2004 Author Share Posted December 7, 2004 You've been working your little bottom off--where's all that cash going? Hehe, funny what married life will do! J/k. Ok nosey!,...here are a few big things. 1) I already bought my new system a couple months ago. That set me back a couple grand & change, but man is it worth it! 2) I have a rental house in town & they are behind in rent almost 3 months! (is it bad to evict around x-mas time?) 3) My wife is going to school full time right now & not working. Fortunately this will only last until April. 4) Tax time is coming up soon. I've caught up from the slow start earlier this year and now I am trying to put enough money away to cover all my taxes. I hope I'm not in for a rude awakening, since this is my first full year in business. So I'm going to save as much as possible & hopefully have money left over instead of owing more than I expected. 5) My rates aren't quite where they should be yet. I've been doing much much better with that, but still have a ways to go before I am charging what I would like to. Next year should be better. SO! Thats it in a nutshell. Lots of other things too, but thats close enough. But anyways, even though these systems are somewhat older, they would are really cost effective as rendering slaves. Get 2 of them and you already have almost 7 ghz of power! Plus a really sweet case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 Ok nosey!,...here are a few big things. Don't forget a few bucks for diamonds or other baubles for your wife. Taxes? Been there, paid that. You should not be guessing about what you may owe. Hire an accountant. When you are not incorporated they can usually do the work for a business like ours for a reasonable fee. Mine is a corporation, so it get pricey. But its worth it. I hate finding out in April that I still owe $10,000 in taxes. That sucks. Also, your loving and compasionate government think you should be paying them quarterly, or better yet, monthly. Evem before you know how much you will owe. You are supposed to just guess. Otherwise they fine you. Basically, anything you do that does NOT involve sending them a check invokes a fine, then a penalty, then interest. Then they screw up your records. But I digress. I was just today looking at the renderblades that Boxx sells, starting at $2000 for a dual. OK, so I would only have to buy 1/2 as many but its still a lot of money for three. I don't know where I got this idea for six CPU to add as a farm, but that's what I want to do. Buying consumer-grade HPs at $500 each means the sixpack is $3000 with the Boxx blades at $6000, though they are vastly superior machines (and won't be as noisy as the HP I'm typing on right now (damned fan). Or there's the ebay thing, 20 CPUs for $6500 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Nelson Posted December 7, 2004 Author Share Posted December 7, 2004 Yea I'm a corporation too. The whole thing is confusing to me, but I DO have a good accountant who is also a good friend, so his rates are friendly too. I've just been trying to keep as good of record as possible for all my expenses, etc. That will really make a big difference when it comes time to pay up. So I guess I should have been paying quarterly? I hope they don't get me for that! It's my understanding that as a corp. I need to set up a salary for myself and pay taxes on that...errr something - I don't know. I'll find out soon enough. Anyways, I think new Boxx systems are overpriced a lot. Although if I had the spare money I would probably shell out for them because they have such a good reputation....& a pretty case. Plus the less you have to worry about, the better. I spent a good deal of time researching what components were best, compatible, etc when I was building my new system. It was pretty fun, but not when there's so much real work to be done at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 Yea I'm a corporation too. So I guess I should have been paying quarterly? I hope they don't get me for that! They will. But your accountant should be on top of that stuff. Maybe a friend isn't the best at bearing unpleasant news? Your state probably doesn't have high taxes, but NY sure does. NY and CA will make you hurt in places you didn't think could hurt anymore after the IRS is done with you. So what's your corp's name? Mine is O'Really, inc. What's good about Boxx is that you don't have to spend your time figuring out what's good, or making the parts play well together, or building. Boxx is even better when something does NOT work. They take care of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Nelson Posted December 7, 2004 Author Share Posted December 7, 2004 Hmm, now I think I'd better give him a call tomorrow. Thanks for the heads up. My corp. name is Urban Illustration Inc., which is the same as my company name. I've got a million shares - anybody wanna buy some!? Yes, in the future I probably will start buying name brand systems, especially if get a small renderfarm going. But there is something fun about picking & building your own system, especially when everything works like its supposed to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sawyer Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 Bad advise should be free. Thats my thinking so really don't listen to me but this is what my accountant said: First year of taxes will hurt. You will have to pay. Everything after that is more painless. After the first year you get to guess on the Quarterlies based on the first year. Quickbooks is really a life saver. I have it and I almost use it in a professional manner. It is a bit to learn and for many of the concepts and ideas it would help if you have an accounting degree. But I do all my invoices and reciepts in QB and then give that to the accountant who then charges me a few hundred dollars for figuring out what everything means. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 I've got a million shares - anybody wanna buy some!? But there is something fun about picking & building your own system, especially when everything works like its supposed to. Your corp is probably a sub-S, so you can't sell share, I'm pretty sure. I'm still fighting over 1999 with the IRS--they got my numbers for the quarters mixed up and were really in a lather because I had a balance of $5K in one Q and 'owed' $5K in another. Literally two years later they still cannot get everything straightened out. They treat each quarter as a seperate, walled-in mini-year. You cannot just be short one part of the year and make it up later in the same year. There are different dates to pay quarterly taxes depending on how much you owe. It's nuts, it'll make you nuts. Quickbooks, huh? I have MS Money on my laptop. 17 years of PC use and I've never done any book-keeping on a computer. Maybe it's time to start. I do invoices by just writing them. I bet that I have sometimes forgotten altogether to either write or collect an invoice, I'm that spacey with book-keeping. Back to the name-brand farm thing. Well, yes, I would RATHER use Boxx render nodes, but at twice the cost of consumer-grade HPs from PCmall for the same base CPU? I know that pro equipement is worth more, it's just hard to come up with that much more money. However, the savings in space and redundant power supplies and all that extra noise should factor into the decision. I've got to work here, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Warner Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 Yes, in the future I probably will start buying name brand systems, especially if get a small renderfarm going. But there is something fun about picking & building your own system, especially when everything works like its supposed to. The only problem with this approach is when something doesn't work like it is supposed to. That is where you want to go namebrand with the support they offer. But for render farm computers this isn't as much of an issue as a workstation. And off the topic- I'm still paying for taxes from my first year out. That was a hell of a slap to the face. Gotten used to it now, and definitely pay as you go. As far as penaltys go for not paying quarterly, my accountant said "don't pay them unless they ask you to". and so far, they haven't ever asked. -Chad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbr Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 I am curious why you guys went for the S-Corp versus the LLC? I know it varies from state to state. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Warner Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 We started out as an LLC...somebody just told us that was the way to do it. But going to an S-corp saves you 15% off the top for self-employment taxes. Plus, I can lease stuff to the company that I bought personally and get tax breaks on that income vs. regular W2 income. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Nelson Posted December 7, 2004 Author Share Posted December 7, 2004 I am curious why you guys went for the S-Corp versus the LLC? I know it varies from state to state. I did it mainly because my accountant said it was my best option. I pretty much put most of my trust in him vs. what I hear from other other non professionals. And as Chad said, with an S-Corp. you don't have to pay the 15% self employment tax. Not sure if an LLC has to pay that or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Warner Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 An LLC is treated just like a sole ownership company, so yes you have to pay the 15% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cullen Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 I use this program for my taxes... cybertax solutions and the tracker It's freakn' awesome. I don't have any friends that are accountants or money to go pay for one. So I use this. It's mainly for home based buisness. It's written by the guy who used to teach audits for the IRS. So it's actually audit proof. If there is something that you could get audited for, it stops you until you correct it. It comes with a bunch of advice stuff on how to get really nice tax breaks and deductions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Nelson Posted December 7, 2004 Author Share Posted December 7, 2004 That software looks cool, but couldn't really find out too much info. from it on the website. Looks mysterious! BTW your website cracked me up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 I got a Trogdor T Shirt for my birthday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Alexander Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 As far as penaltys go for not paying quarterly, my accountant said "don't pay them unless they ask you to". and so far, they haven't ever asked. -Chad Did you give them the right address? hehehehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cullen Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 I actually met my fiance because of homestarrunner. I was at a concert and the ringtone on my phone was sb techno and she heard it so we just started talking about stuff and yeah... Now we're engaged over a year and a half later. She had the strongsad shirt... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted December 8, 2004 Share Posted December 8, 2004 As far as penaltys go for not paying quarterly, my accountant said "don't pay them unless they ask you to". and so far, they haven't ever asked Which means that once they ID you as someone who is in 'category X' they always expect you to stay in it, and owe them money. However, if they never see you as such, they don't know to expect it of you. It does work, but it's not my style. Two notes of caution about accountants that allow such stuff: I learned from a top NY state tax person (when negotiating sales tax rules a few years ago) that they will look at ALL of the customers of any accountant when they find one of their customers who played loose with the rules. Also, there is a type of audit that is designed to look at 'typical practices' in an industry that is not triggered by red flags but by random dumb luck. A client of mine got hit with one of those and it cost her tens of thousands of dollars in legal and accounting fees to end up with a small refund from the IRS. So no piece of software will protect you from either of these situations. Best defense--honest tax returns. I've had some pitched battles with the IRS and NY State, even in court. But never for cheating, just not having enough money to pay them as fast as they wanted. It's still warfare, and they do not play fair. The IRS will disregard a federal court order restraining them, they do not give a crap. Sorry for the soapbox speech! I got off to a bad start tax-wise, so I hate to see anyone else fall into the same dark hole I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now