Alienware or another pc?

[SGT Tenor]

I'm debating on getting this Pc. For the most part I have a measly P3 1g processor with 384mg ram and an ATI 64 7200 card. Yeah I know it's low end. I'm wondering what you guys think of purchasing an alienware system. Those seem to be the best for gaming that I can see; I don't know. For one thing they seem to advertise the Nividia cards prodominantly. Even if I would customise to get and ATI card I still would have to pay 350 Dollarsmore for an ATI 9800 pro 128 than a nividia 128 FX 5200 128 APG which is included in it's bundle. With all the talk about ATI giving better benchmarks I'm totally confused. Right now I'm looking at a P4 2.8 it runs about $1600 dollars and suposedly with all the rebates an and instant savings it could be less.

Are there any other systems worth noting? I don' specifically want to get a complete new system just for HL2. There are other games that I'm going to be interested in the future. I'm a big fan of RTS games and with the rate they are coming out and new invations and prodominately goig 3d I really need a new system.

Thanks for your time.

 

[razorblade kiss]

Falcon makes some amazing systems. And the new Dell Gaming System, XPS something or other is pretty amazing. Check those guys out...

 

[Pol]

not alienware, they are a rip off, and not dell, they have mostly bad components, try and make one your self if you can

 

[Ender01]

I had a friend that bought a $1,100 gateway, i found all the parts on newegg for $545.43. The moral of the story, prebuilts are rip offs. With the extra $500, he could have bought a 9600 pro, and a gig of ram, instead of the shitty intagrated video he has, and a horrible 256mg of ram.

 

[Guest]

This is true, I have a custom build machine, Overclocked it a little, and now I have a $900 machine, that beats the newest dell.. or alienware... what ever. =)

 

[DjBourgeoisie]

My advice to you is to talk to someone who you already know that can build it for you. If you dont know anyone, read up on how to do so, there are surely some guides online on how to do so. Lastly, if you arent able to do either of those 2, just buy the parts yourself, and have a local pc shop build it for you. You will be suprised how much you can save. Purchasing from retailers is a joke, not only do they use generic parts, but you are WAY overcharged. www.googlegear.com is a very good place to online shop. If you want my further advice on what to buy etc feel free to pm me, I will put together an order for you.

 

[SGT Tenor]

i found all the parts on newegg for $545.43

is ther a site for that? I know most pre built machines cost and extra 200-500 jsut becasue they can. And building one your own is no guarantee (Espescially to one that doesn't know how) I have friend that has built pc's- he has a general knowledge about it and I have been looking into it. for the most part I don;t know where to start. I've been buying stuff from Gateway for a awhile so I don;t know where to look.

If I do build one on my own what should I get?

 

[nbk-brando]

I just got a box from ibuypower.com (via recommendation from these forums) and I couldn't be happier.

• BOARD: ASUS P4P800 i865PE CHIP 800MHZ FSB 8X AGP MAIN BOARD W/ LAN/5.1 SOUND/USB 2.0
  
  CAS: [BLUE] RaidCom 8-BAY ALUMINUM CASE + SEE THROUGH WINDOW
  
  CAS1: [BLUE] SOUND ACTIVED NEON LIGHT
  
  CAS2: STANDARD 420 WATT POWER SUPPLY
  
  CAS3: [BLUE] THERMAL TEMPERATURE LCD DISPLAY WITH 3X FAN CONTROLLER
  
  CPU: Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 3.2 GHZ CPU [800MHz FSB, Hyper Threading Ready]
  
  FAN: CERTIFIED CPU FAN, HEATSINK & 2 EXTRA 3-COLOR LED LIGHTING CASE FANS
  
  FDD: [BLUE] 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE
  
  HDD: 80 GB 7200 RPM ULTRA ATA-100 HARD DRIVE
  
  KB: [BLUE] COMBO: MULTI-MEDIA / INTERNET KEYBOARD + INTERNET MOUSE
  
  MEMORY: 1024 MB DUAL CHANNEL DDR-400 [512MB X 2] PC3200 MHZ
  
  MONITOR: VIEWSONIC 19-INCHES E90 .23H DPI HORIZONTAL SVGA MONITOR
  
  NETWORK: 10/100 NETWORK LAN ONBOARD
  
  OS: [NEW] MS WINDOWS XP HOME EDITION
  
  SOUND: CREATIVE LAB SOUND BLASTER AUDIGY-2 PLATINUM 6.1
  
  SPEAKER: [BLACK] CREATIVE LABS INSPIRE 6600 6.1 SURROUND SPEAKERS + SUBWOOFER
  
  USB: STANDARD 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS
  
  VIDEO: ** 8X AGP ** ATI RADEON 9800 PRO 256MB W/ DVI + TV OUT 8X AGP VIDEO
  
  WARRANTY: STANDARD WARRANTY PLUS FREE 1 YEAR iCARE DELUXE ONSITE SERVICE
  

Cost: $2500

 

[SGT Tenor]

BOARD: ASUS P4P800 i865PE CHIP 800MHZ FSB 8X AGP MAIN BOARD W/ LAN/5.1 SOUND/USB 2.0

CAS: [BLUE] RaidCom 8-BAY ALUMINUM CASE + SEE THROUGH WINDOW

CAS1: [BLUE] SOUND ACTIVED NEON LIGHT

CAS2: STANDARD 420 WATT POWER SUPPLY

CAS3: [BLUE] THERMAL TEMPERATURE LCD DISPLAY WITH 3X FAN CONTROLLER

CPU: Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 3.2 GHZ CPU [800MHz FSB, Hyper Threading Ready]

FAN: CERTIFIED CPU FAN, HEATSINK & 2 EXTRA 3-COLOR LED LIGHTING CASE FANS

FDD: [BLUE] 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE

HDD: 80 GB 7200 RPM ULTRA ATA-100 HARD DRIVE

KB: [BLUE] COMBO: MULTI-MEDIA / INTERNET KEYBOARD + INTERNET MOUSE

MEMORY: 1024 MB DUAL CHANNEL DDR-400 [512MB X 2] PC3200 MHZ

MONITOR: VIEWSONIC 19-INCHES E90 .23H DPI HORIZONTAL SVGA MONITOR

NETWORK: 10/100 NETWORK LAN ONBOARD

OS: [NEW] MS WINDOWS XP HOME EDITION

SOUND: CREATIVE LAB SOUND BLASTER AUDIGY-2 PLATINUM 6.1

SPEAKER: [BLACK] CREATIVE LABS INSPIRE 6600 6.1 SURROUND SPEAKERS + SUBWOOFER

USB: STANDARD 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS

VIDEO: ** 8X AGP ** ATI RADEON 9800 PRO 256MB W/ DVI + TV OUT 8X AGP VIDEO

WARRANTY: STANDARD WARRANTY PLUS FREE 1 YEAR iCARE DELUXE ONSITE SERVICE




Cost: $2500

WHOA that's a bit overpriced for my wallet. I have a 4 month old to take care of. ;-)

 

[razorblade kiss]

Better get a day care for that four month old on September 30th

 

[nbk-brando]

Originally posted by SGT Tenor
WHOA that's a bit overpriced for my wallet. I have a 4 month old to take care of. ;-)

How were you going to get an Alienware, then?

 

[DimitriPopov]

+ shipping and + whatever your time is worth = Prebuilt cost + 50$ Profit to the manufacture at most.

 

[bizzy420]

yeah falcons are excellent gaming machines, but the best thing to do, is to build a pc yourself. you'll save alot of $$$.

i built my pc for like 600dollars.

p4 2.4c@3ghz HT
9700
abit is-7
80gig WD hd
52x24x52 cd burner
a 52 cd rom (that was pretty much free after rebate)
tt spark7 xaser
1gig pc3200 geil ram
3 antec case fans
1 exhaust
sb soundcard
and a X-sonic tower (comes with a decent 350 ps)

 

[Fat_Bob]

if i want a new computer i let a friend of mine build it and give it to me... i trust that hes "personal" company will give me a good price... yeah yeah... maybe its time to get some upg...

 

[Maskirovka]

bizzy i have almost exactly the same system (different HD and vid card...gf4) and i paid about the same for it.

that's my advice to everyone as well...don't buy pre-manufactured PCs

take the time and build your own. it's well worth it...especially so you don't end up with any parts you don't want or like. like how gateway puts those "multimedia accelerator" cards in their computers.

and how dell makes their power supplies so they'll fry 3rd party motherboards...and how compaq makes their motherboards so you can't use 3rd party ram.

plus think of all the nice things you'll learn and the experience you'll gain from doing it yourself....

i bought an acer about 10 years ago (486DX/33) and i've upgraded ever since...the only thing left from it is the 3.5" floppy

 

[Guest]

Originally posted by Ender01
I had a friend that bought a $1,100 gateway, i found all the parts on newegg for $545.43. The moral of the story, prebuilts are rip offs. With the extra $500, he could have bought a 9600 pro, and a gig of ram, instead of the shitty intagrated video he has, and a horrible 256mg of ram.

and you have room to upgrade when you build your own system. most prebuilts come with really shitty motherboards and weak cases.

 

[Jagermeister]

Just some info for you n00bs who plan on buying a gaming rig. VR-Zone has thrown up their Gaming rigs round-up with systems from Alienware, Falcon Northwest, Overdrive PC, Voodoo PC, and Zeus PC.

In this round-up I will go over the difference between each machine; who builds what, the uniqueness behind each machine, the hardware they choose, and we will run benchmarking applications as well as games. For the professional users out there I will also review why these machines are probably the best on the planet when comparing them to production-line PC's.


http://www.vr-zone.com/reviews/gamingrigs/Index.html

Alienware gets pwned.

 

[omlette]

I have one, it's been nothing but awesomeness. Just get an Alienware and don't worry what other (mostly jealous) people think - it's a fantastic system. :cheers:

 

[Pressure]

I got mine from www.cyberpowerpc.com which is cheaper then ibuypower.

BOARD: ABIT IC7 I875PE 800Mhz FSB DUAL DDR 8x AGP

CAS: [BLACK] Cybertec SX1040 SOHO SERVER CASE 425W NO WINDOW

CD: 16x DVD ROM [Black]

CDRW: 52x24x52 CDRW [Black]

CPU: Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 3.0 GHZ CPU [800MHz FSB, Hyper Threading Ready]

FAN: CERTIFIED CPU FAN, HEATSINK & 3 EXTRA CASE FANS

FDD: [Black] 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE

HDD: Western Digital 80GB 7200RPM ATA 100 8MB Special Editon

MEMORY: 1024 MB DUAL CHANNEL DDR-400 [512MB X 2] PC3200 MHZ

NETWORK: PCI 32 Bit 10/100 Network Card

OS: [NEW] MS WINDOWS XP HOME EDITION

SOUND: CREATIVE LAB SOUND BLASTER AUDIGY 5.1

VIDEO: ATI RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB W/ DVI + TV OUT 8X AGP VIDEO

WARRANTY: 3-Year Standard Warranty plus one year onsite




Cost: $1566 (shipping included)

 

[Guest]

if you have the money for alienware then get one. I have a 3.2 gig alienware and its the best machine i ever had and will ever want hands down. but if you wanna go throough the time to put all the pieces of a custom built together have a blast..but alienware is the way to go

 

[nbk-brando]

Originally posted by Pressure
I got mine from www.cyberpowerpc.com which is cheaper then ibuypower.

BOARD: ABIT IC7 I875PE 800Mhz FSB DUAL DDR 8x AGP

CAS: [BLACK] Cybertec SX1040 SOHO SERVER CASE 425W NO WINDOW

CD: 16x DVD ROM [Black]

CDRW: 52x24x52 CDRW [Black]

CPU: Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 3.0 GHZ CPU [800MHz FSB, Hyper Threading Ready]

FAN: CERTIFIED CPU FAN, HEATSINK & 3 EXTRA CASE FANS

FDD: [Black] 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE

HDD: Western Digital 80GB 7200RPM ATA 100 8MB Special Editon

MEMORY: 1024 MB DUAL CHANNEL DDR-400 [512MB X 2] PC3200 MHZ

NETWORK: PCI 32 Bit 10/100 Network Card

OS: [NEW] MS WINDOWS XP HOME EDITION

SOUND: CREATIVE LAB SOUND BLASTER AUDIGY 5.1

VIDEO: ATI RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB W/ DVI + TV OUT 8X AGP VIDEO

WARRANTY: 3-Year Standard Warranty plus one year onsite




Cost: $1566 (shipping included)

Hehehe...I can show you why yours was so much cheaper. Read on...

My box included a 3.2Ghz processor, Audigy 2 Platinum, 6.1 Surround Speakers (Creative Inspire), ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB , 19" Moniter , Sound-activated Neon light, Thermal display, and an 8-bay tower, w/ see-through window and optimal cooling.

Add those things to your current config, cyberpowerpc.com comes out more than ibuypower.com . (sorry)

Note: I looked at cyberpowerpc.com first, then saw their flailing 6.x reseller rating (click) I then looked into ibuypower.com, they have an amazing customer service and support record, and they were also slightly cheaper. (See here.)

 

[Ender01]

BOARD: ASUS P4P800 i865PE CHIP 800MHZ FSB 8X AGP MAIN BOARD W/ LAN/5.1 SOUND/USB 2.0

CAS: [BLUE] RaidCom 8-BAY ALUMINUM CASE + SEE THROUGH WINDOW

CAS1: [BLUE] SOUND ACTIVED NEON LIGHT

CAS2: STANDARD 420 WATT POWER SUPPLY

CAS3: [BLUE] THERMAL TEMPERATURE LCD DISPLAY WITH 3X FAN CONTROLLER

CPU: Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 3.2 GHZ CPU [800MHz FSB, Hyper Threading Ready]

FAN: CERTIFIED CPU FAN, HEATSINK & 2 EXTRA 3-COLOR LED LIGHTING CASE FANS

FDD: [BLUE] 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE

HDD: 80 GB 7200 RPM ULTRA ATA-100 HARD DRIVE

KB: [BLUE] COMBO: MULTI-MEDIA / INTERNET KEYBOARD + INTERNET MOUSE

MEMORY: 1024 MB DUAL CHANNEL DDR-400 [512MB X 2] PC3200 MHZ

MONITOR: VIEWSONIC 19-INCHES E90 .23H DPI HORIZONTAL SVGA MONITOR

NETWORK: 10/100 NETWORK LAN ONBOARD

OS: [NEW] MS WINDOWS XP HOME EDITION

SOUND: CREATIVE LAB SOUND BLASTER AUDIGY-2 PLATINUM 6.1

SPEAKER: [BLACK] CREATIVE LABS INSPIRE 6600 6.1 SURROUND SPEAKERS + SUBWOOFER

USB: STANDARD 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS

VIDEO: ** 8X AGP ** ATI RADEON 9800 PRO 256MB W/ DVI + TV OUT 8X AGP VIDEO

WARRANTY: STANDARD WARRANTY PLUS FREE 1 YEAR iCARE DELUXE ONSITE SERVICE




Cost: $2500

You sad, sad man.

I looked up all those parts on newegg.com

The grand total was $ 1,459.00

 

[scurvy]

i bought an alienware back in 2000 and it blew me away.. it was only 750mhz and had a $2800 price tag but nothing could touch it, even 1.2 ghz machines i used.. my pc blew em away. if you have the money.. get one.

 

[nbk-brando]

Originally posted by Ender01
You sad, sad man.

I looked up all those parts on newegg.com

The grand total was $ 1,459.00

You sad, sad man. You actually wasted 20+ minutes of your day to show me how much I didn't save on the computer you wish you had.

Good Job! Really.

For your information, I've been a System/Network Administrator for 4+ years now. I've been building computers since '93. I have put together, roughly, 30+ computers in this job alone, and 10+ for personal use. I know how to build a computer.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

• 1) If you piece out the above computer and order all the parts over the internet, you have individual shipping/tracking/margin for error on 13+ parts from several potential retailers. If you go with newegg.com, you still have the shipping and OEM issue.
  
  2) The labor/troubleshooting/assembly issue can take anywhere from 2 hours to 2 days.
  
  3) All parts are not guaranteed. I just looked at the 256MB Radeon on newegg.com "NO REFUNDS".
  
  4) NO 2-year Standard warranty on all parts.
  
  5) No burn-in/testing.[/list[
  
  
  I wanted a computer that was pretty, unique, powerful, guaranteed, and custom. Money was no object. That is what I got.
  
  I just pieced out my computer on newegg.com, you know, the one you said you found for $1459.00?
  
  Actual Price: $ 2,297.93
  
  This is without the Thermal display, shipping, warranty, or guarantee. Maybe you were on a DIFFERENT newegg.com? Yeah! That's it! :dork:
  
  I think you may've missed a few things. That or you made a really large assumption. You know what they say about people that assume....right?

 

[SGT Tenor]

built my pc for like 600dollars.

p4 2.4c@3ghz HT
9700
abit is-7
80gig WD hd
52x24x52 cd burner
a 52 cd rom (that was pretty much free after rebate)
tt spark7 xaser
1gig pc3200 geil ram
3 antec case fans
1 exhaust
sb soundcard
and a X-sonic tower (comes with a decent 350 ps)

And where do you actually find these periphials? I was hoping to find a place where I cna just put on my credit card for around that price.

 

[SGT Tenor]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by SGT Tenor
WHOA that's a bit overpriced for my wallet. I have a 4 month old to take care of. ;-)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



How were you going to get an Alienware, then

I could finance it Maybe. It is something I'm considering.

 

[bizzy420]

And where do you actually find these periphials? I was hoping to find a place where I cna just put on my credit card for around that price.

most of it i got at frys, and a few things i got from newegg and gameve.

 

[bizzy420]

heres a pic of my pc

 

[bizzy420]

heres anotehr one

 

[|\/|oDdiC(_)$]

*Edited By SidewinderX143 for abuse*

You Should be able to put together a pc yourself.

 

[Ender01]

You sad, sad man. You actually wasted 20+ minutes of your day to show me how much I didn't save on the computer you wish you had.

Good Job! Really.

Well, i do have no life, but it only took me about 7mins, the wonders of copy and paste. My comp matches up with yours (3.2 800mhz HT enabled, twin sticks of 512mb DDR corsair Random Accec Memory, 9800 pro 128mb, ect.) And cost half as much of yours.

I was just tryin to teach you a leason. If you want a faster comp in about 3-4 yrs, you'll have to rebuild completely, no upgradin for you. Well, only through the Company you bought it from, and you will still be gettin charged WAY to much (labor). Im sorry if i offened you, I know people dont like to find out they got grifted, but its the truth.

 

[Ender01]

$ 2,297.93

WTF??!?!

No way, sorry.

Didnt mean to offened your ego either, TRYNG TO HELP YOU. **** me, sorry.

Well I guess I'm a ****in idiot for not knowing you life story.
If I woulfd have know your occupation, and bio, do you think I would try to help you? NO. I'm 16, I thought I was helping out another peer of the same age, with not much knowlege of the grifting that goes on with prebuilts.


I hate people.