Computer pros/techies come i need help
- Thread starter Lencho
- Start date
- Status
I've said this before I'll say it again.. If you can install video cards, upgrade ram, replace an HD, and put in a new cdrom drive.. You can build your own computer.
Best place to look for stuff for price is http://www.newegg.com
Just for instance. buying the parts to build a system yourself.. You can purchase the EXACT same parts the alienware uses (Alienware even tells you exactly what they use on the "customize" section of thier site) Anyway...
Here's the specs for the system.
(These were pulled from Alienware's site)
AthlonXP 2800+ "Barton" CPU
Asus A7N8X - Deluxe Motherboard
Forton Source 530w PSU
1GB Corsair matched pair (twin 512Mb) DDR 3200
2x80gb Seagate serial ATA drives - Raid 0 (total 160Gb HD space)
Gigabyte Radeon 9800 Pro 128Mb Video
Sony 16x DVD
Lite-On 52x/32x/52x CDRW
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum
Windows XP - Home edition
(I didn't use specific items for mouse, keyboard or case, BUT I tacted on $300 to the buildout price that I got from Newegg to include these)
Price from Newegg including shipping and $300 for Mouse, Keyboard, and Case: $1882.97
($1582.97 before $300 expense add in)
Price from Alienware NOT including shipping: $2437.00
That's almost $600 savings for the same components, AND I put in a higher wattage PSU (530w vs 420w). The only thing you lose is the alienware case (which I must admit is pretty cool, but not $600 worth of cool) and the year of phone support from alienware. However, all of these manufacturers warranty thier products for at least a year. In the case of the Corsair Ram, it is warrantied for life. the $300 that is added into will get you a REALLY nice case plus a mouse plus a keyboard that YOU LIKE, and still have some left over to add in some lights, etc.
as far as cases are concerned, check out http://www.thermaltake.com . Thermaltake's cases are pretty cool and you can get matching keyboards and mice for them too.. (all of which are available at newegg.) an all aluminum case (Xaser III series) with matching keyboard and mouse (with mousepad) is $195 - $105 less than I added on that you could put back in your pocket.
What it boils down to in all of this is.. Alienware uses quality parts, but you pay a premium because they build it for you and slap thier name on it. You can have the same thing for a better price and have the added benefit that you KNOW your system, cause you built it.. *and you can brag to your friends* lol..
Hope this helps somewhat.. Have a good one..
Alexander
Best place to look for stuff for price is http://www.newegg.com
Just for instance. buying the parts to build a system yourself.. You can purchase the EXACT same parts the alienware uses (Alienware even tells you exactly what they use on the "customize" section of thier site) Anyway...
Here's the specs for the system.
(These were pulled from Alienware's site)
AthlonXP 2800+ "Barton" CPU
Asus A7N8X - Deluxe Motherboard
Forton Source 530w PSU
1GB Corsair matched pair (twin 512Mb) DDR 3200
2x80gb Seagate serial ATA drives - Raid 0 (total 160Gb HD space)
Gigabyte Radeon 9800 Pro 128Mb Video
Sony 16x DVD
Lite-On 52x/32x/52x CDRW
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum
Windows XP - Home edition
(I didn't use specific items for mouse, keyboard or case, BUT I tacted on $300 to the buildout price that I got from Newegg to include these)
Price from Newegg including shipping and $300 for Mouse, Keyboard, and Case: $1882.97
($1582.97 before $300 expense add in)
Price from Alienware NOT including shipping: $2437.00
That's almost $600 savings for the same components, AND I put in a higher wattage PSU (530w vs 420w). The only thing you lose is the alienware case (which I must admit is pretty cool, but not $600 worth of cool) and the year of phone support from alienware. However, all of these manufacturers warranty thier products for at least a year. In the case of the Corsair Ram, it is warrantied for life. the $300 that is added into will get you a REALLY nice case plus a mouse plus a keyboard that YOU LIKE, and still have some left over to add in some lights, etc.
as far as cases are concerned, check out http://www.thermaltake.com . Thermaltake's cases are pretty cool and you can get matching keyboards and mice for them too.. (all of which are available at newegg.) an all aluminum case (Xaser III series) with matching keyboard and mouse (with mousepad) is $195 - $105 less than I added on that you could put back in your pocket.
What it boils down to in all of this is.. Alienware uses quality parts, but you pay a premium because they build it for you and slap thier name on it. You can have the same thing for a better price and have the added benefit that you KNOW your system, cause you built it.. *and you can brag to your friends* lol..
Hope this helps somewhat.. Have a good one..
Alexander
Last question first, lol.... DSL runs over existing phone lines, most of which were installed decades ago.. They haven't (and won't) pull up the old lines to install better conductors,etc.. That being said, DSL is a high speed, high technology network connection (like a new corvette), running on 30-40 yr old phone wires (like a dirt road)......... Why bother... lol
As far as building the system. Look at it this way. You trusted Alienware to build the system to begin with.. You already know that Alienware systems are solid and stable (or they wouldn't be the top premanufactured game systems out there). Just take what you were gonna get from them, write it all down and buy the exact same thing. They have already done all the testing and research for you. It's kinda like cheating on a test, only you still get the "A" and don't feel guilty later.
As far as building the system. Look at it this way. You trusted Alienware to build the system to begin with.. You already know that Alienware systems are solid and stable (or they wouldn't be the top premanufactured game systems out there). Just take what you were gonna get from them, write it all down and buy the exact same thing. They have already done all the testing and research for you. It's kinda like cheating on a test, only you still get the "A" and don't feel guilty later.
dethangel
Daemon Poster
- Messages
- 934
first off i think corvettes suck, lol
neways, i would go with a P4 any day, as the high end ones are cheaper than the high-end amds and you will run into more compatability problems with the amd, also the p4s are faster, its is a proven fact that the new p4s are much faster than the amds as seen here:
http://www.simhq.com/_technology/technology_010a.html
if you look at those numbers you will se that it isnt "a little bit" or "just slightly" or "barely noticeably" faster, it blows the amd out of the water, and is cheaper here is a good mobo/processor combo for you:
mobo= http://secure.newegg.com/app/specif...item=13-131-459
$119
proc= http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1268
$262
check these babies out! less than $400 for a mobo/proc combo at 2.66 GHz with a 800MHz fsb, pretty good price, pluse the mobo has plenty of expansion capabilities
as far as hd space goes, i would go with like 2 100gb in raid 0, it will be plenty fast, with as much hdd space as youll need
and i would go with XP Pro, it is much better than home or win98
and i would definately go with a 8x agp card with at least 128mb of ddr, if not 256mb
other than that i agree with what most of they said
neways, i would go with a P4 any day, as the high end ones are cheaper than the high-end amds and you will run into more compatability problems with the amd, also the p4s are faster, its is a proven fact that the new p4s are much faster than the amds as seen here:
http://www.simhq.com/_technology/technology_010a.html
if you look at those numbers you will se that it isnt "a little bit" or "just slightly" or "barely noticeably" faster, it blows the amd out of the water, and is cheaper here is a good mobo/processor combo for you:
mobo= http://secure.newegg.com/app/specif...item=13-131-459
$119
proc= http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1268
$262
check these babies out! less than $400 for a mobo/proc combo at 2.66 GHz with a 800MHz fsb, pretty good price, pluse the mobo has plenty of expansion capabilities
as far as hd space goes, i would go with like 2 100gb in raid 0, it will be plenty fast, with as much hdd space as youll need
and i would go with XP Pro, it is much better than home or win98
and i would definately go with a 8x agp card with at least 128mb of ddr, if not 256mb
other than that i agree with what most of they said
darthparth
In Runtime
- Messages
- 153
i wouldnt blow my money on a Geforce FX if u want a DX9 card and I would go for the new Radeons, I agree with Deathangel for the most part and for the love of all the crippled children in the world please go with XP Pro
Apokalipse
Golden Master
- Messages
- 14,559
- Location
- Melbourne, Australia
well FAT32 is a type of hard drive formatting, the FAT stands for "File Allocation Table" (the index at the beginning of the drive) im not sure whether the 32 is the number of clusters or the size of the clusters on the disk or something
clusters are the units with a certain amount of bytes (depending on HDD size) which are like page numbers in a book
the types of HDD formatting are: FAT, FAT16, FAT32, and NTFS and NTFS5
NTFS (NT File System) is the latest type and only compatible with windows NT/2000/XP. FAT32 is compatible with Windows 95 and above so if you are networking with computers that don't have Win NT/2000 or XP they can read your HDD.
NTFS is a better file system if you want a bit more space and if your computer is only designed for business, but is slower, thus anything you do loading from HDD is slower (eg gaming)
I reccomend if you get a new HDD get one from Seagate or Western Digital which are high quality, and the Seagate drives are very quiey
and as I said before use FAT32
clusters are the units with a certain amount of bytes (depending on HDD size) which are like page numbers in a book
the types of HDD formatting are: FAT, FAT16, FAT32, and NTFS and NTFS5
NTFS (NT File System) is the latest type and only compatible with windows NT/2000/XP. FAT32 is compatible with Windows 95 and above so if you are networking with computers that don't have Win NT/2000 or XP they can read your HDD.
NTFS is a better file system if you want a bit more space and if your computer is only designed for business, but is slower, thus anything you do loading from HDD is slower (eg gaming)
I reccomend if you get a new HDD get one from Seagate or Western Digital which are high quality, and the Seagate drives are very quiey
and as I said before use FAT32
- Status
Similar threads
