Dell Dimension 4700 fast enuff?

[JKer1]

Guys, gonna upgrade my pc to a Dell Dimension 4700 specs-

P4 3.0HT
512Mb

Question, is the 128MB PCI Express™ATI Radeon™ X300 SE card worth getting? For $60 more sounds like a great deal. Anyone with this setup getting an decent frp rate?

Thanx,

 

[Cukel]

Processor and the memory sounds enough, but the gfx card is a bit underpowered - I recommend a X600/X700 card.

 

[isis]

dont bother getting a x300, its pretty bad. 6800's are pretty cheap now and they will give you excellent performance in HL2

 

[JKer1]

cool, just what I needed..Thanx meng!!

 

[ratm9200]

That is the exact same computer i have. It runs Hl2 fine (no stutter, no slowdowns) at high settings, noAA, 16AF, and 1280x1024 resolution. Once i get to anticitezen1 (or the first chapter in that envirment) i have to reduce AF to trilinear. I have nothing overclocked but i did use a tweak guides from (i think) ign, and tweakguides. It also runs Doom 3 on high graphics settings with occasional slowdowns, nothing unplayable, just minor nuisance. On mediun graphics it works fine.

I think that computer would be fine for now, but i you plan on playing next years games on high settings id go for a more expensive card.

 

[OD-Black_Fire]

I'd get the ram too 1024 and a x600, atleast. x700 would give you a slight edge.

 

[nvrmor]

dont bother getting a x300, its pretty bad. 6800's are pretty cheap now and they will give you excellent performance in HL2

not in a dell 4700. do a google search for all of the people who upgraded their 4700 to a 6600 or 6800. its not pretty.

 

[Dreglor]

dell has this thing with ripping you off with a crappy video card

 

[Danimal]

I think this thread would of been made in the hardware forum

 

[DreadLord]

Guys, gonna upgrade my pc to a Dell

Dear god, i can only begin to imagine what you were running before, if buying a dell is an upgrade.

 

[RooM]

dell suxx forever handmade ownz all

 

[63]

dell suxx forever handmade ownz all

Yeah! Homegrown roxxorz!!1

 

[JoeMan05]

I don't get why everyone hates everything that isnt hand made. I guess it the same thing with Microsoft, everybody just hates the biggest company that knows what they are doing. I like buying a pre made dell, that way I can stick ONE CD in the drive to format it, install windows, and the drivers. I gurantee half the people that say they hate dell, have never even touched one before.

 

[giant384]

the reason most ppl hate prebuilt comps. is because most of them have intigrated gfx cards in them and no agp slot. i have a dimesion 2350 and it sux so much but i dont know if anyone else has the same opininion

 

[`unreal]

I don't get why everyone hates everything that isnt hand made. I guess it the same thing with Microsoft, everybody just hates the biggest company that knows what they are doing. I like buying a pre made dell, that way I can stick ONE CD in the drive to format it, install windows, and the drivers. I gurantee half the people that say they hate dell, have never even touched one before.

Quite an ignorant comment

I have had 2 Dells before, (well actually they were both my dads) and now the house is filled up with 3 computers, all built by me. Look, there are so many advantages

. You know that what you are paying for is ONLY hardware, no man in between. That way you save more money for better hardware or whatever

. Complete choice of what you want

. More i cant think of ;D


Also with 'all those cds', you can put them all in one. You are telling me you would like to spend how much extra for a convience cd?


BTW Dell aint that bad, they do decent Pocket PC's and monitors. YAY I've got a Dell 2005FPW 20.1" Widescreen LCD coming on Monday - the same panel used in the Apple Cinema LCD's. Don't bother hating, I have made my research. You gotta when it comes to things that have price regions like this.

 

[JoeMan05]

I just wonder why people bash on dell so much, and yes you could put everything on one cd thats true. And they do put a lot of useless software, but if you format and do a clean install it gets rid of it all. Dells are also very customizable on their website, maybe not to every single spec, but you can still pick your processor, hard drive, ram, video card, bundled software, mouse, speakers, monitor, cd/dvd drives. Also, only SOME models have integrated gfx. Just pick the right model for what you do, dont go picking an office computer, then get it and complain that dell sucks because it has an integrated card.

 

[Kommie]

not in a dell 4700. do a google search for all of the people who upgraded their 4700 to a 6600 or 6800. its not pretty.

They probably woud need a new PSU, If your are going to get say a 6800, get a 450w Psu

 

[`unreal]

I just wonder why people bash on dell so much, and yes you could put everything on one cd thats true. And they do put a lot of useless software, but if you format and do a clean install it gets rid of it all. Dells are also very customizable on their website, maybe not to every single spec, but you can still pick your processor, hard drive, ram, video card, bundled software, mouse, speakers, monitor, cd/dvd drives. Also, only SOME models have integrated gfx. Just pick the right model for what you do, dont go picking an office computer, then get it and complain that dell sucks because it has an integrated card.

Yea most companies offer a level of customisation to some extent, but its no where near as good. And thats not the biggest aspect of homebuilt - its mainly price. For example, in this magazine I have, the Dell XPS gaming system is £3000, which has a X800 XT PCI-E, Intel 3.6, 1GB DDR2, 2x 250GB drives, 12x DVD-RW, and a 17" TFT etc is WAAY overpriced. I mean, its a really good set up, definately an expensive set of gear - but thats like £1500 service warantee (or whatever after-purchase support they offer) you are buying.

I also get a 'those who cant build, envy those who can' vibe from ya. Come on, you can wear a geeky badge of pride after building your machine

 

[JoeMan05]

Oh I agree that building a computer has much more customizability (my word). Im just defending dell also. Im not saying building a computer is WORSE by any means, just saying dells are great computers also. If I had the money I would probably build one also, becuase I just like to build stuff. I got my Dell for christmas but it was only 700, that was 2 years ago. It was a very good price. BTW nvrmor, I just installed an XFX 6600GT in my dell machine without a hitch, still no problems after running hl2, css, and need for speed underground 2 for 2 months(the only graphic intensive games I have). I know the power supplies are small in dells, but quantity isnt always better than quality.

 

[JKer1]

Guys, I have got the D8400 instead. Specs are pretty much the sam, didn't opt the X850XT upgrade at $540 . So will be looking at either the 256MB X700Pro or 9800XT. Extremely please with Dell as always.

 

[ComradeBadger]

I just wonder why people bash on dell so much, and yes you could put everything on one cd thats true. And they do put a lot of useless software, but if you format and do a clean install it gets rid of it all. Dells are also very customizable on their website, maybe not to every single spec, but you can still pick your processor, hard drive, ram, video card, bundled software, mouse, speakers, monitor, cd/dvd drives. Also, only SOME models have integrated gfx. Just pick the right model for what you do, dont go picking an office computer, then get it and complain that dell sucks because it has an integrated card.

I don't like them becuase I have to repair them

 

[Leonard]

The thing about pre-built machines is that you get customer support. In the old days when I didn't know as much as I know now or have nerds for friends Compaq Customer Support was the only thing I had when my computer broke down.

Then again, now all the support people seem to be from India and it's hard to understand what they are saying sometimes...

 

[JoeMan05]

Haha, actually a couple days ago my dad had the same problem. He couldnt understand the guy at all and finnally just hung up and called during there normal hours to get somebody who really knows english.

 

[Sieg]

Haha, actually a couple days ago my dad had the same problem. He couldnt understand the guy at all and finnally just hung up and called during there normal hours to get somebody who really knows english.

Thats what sucks about Dell......

 

[ray_MAN]

I hate Dell. Next time, I am building my own. First of all, if you have motherboard problems or other critical devices, you are pretty much screwed. Dell is proprietary, so getting replacement parts are impossible. However, by building your own computer, you do not get the same tech support that you would get by buying from a company.

 

[Snakebyte]

When I wanted to upgrade my old Dell it was horrible. The cases are a bitch to work with. To add a new hard drive I had to cut out a big chunk of metal from inside the case...

 

[firemachine69]

It's pretty much as low as you can go on a PCI-Express card.

You should be able to upgrade to a 6600GT PCI-Express without issue. :thumbs:

 

[`unreal]

I find if you build your computer, customer support is much better. How? If you build your own computer, then you are usually experienced enough to do troubleshooting of some sort. So if you come across some sort of hardware problem, and you define it to be something as.... perhaps the graphics card. Call the retailer you got it from, or the graphics distributor and get a replacement. I have never EVER had a problem, and it is usually very easy and organised to have done.

I am my own repair man.

 

[Asus]

Yeah, most of the PCs our tech shop gets in is Dell's. We sell HP's, Compaq's, Gateway's and Sony's yet we get mostly Dell's in for repair. :\

Of course that is probably more indicative of who buys them (how they take care of them or lack of) and not the product.
Plus most who do buy dell look for their low cost machines which are crap. The stuff you would be looking at to buy through Dell wouldn't be.

Dell's proprietary nature is something that most of us avoid though. Of course you are talking to a PC crowd unlike most ppl who buy through Dell. They would just call Dell.