which will be better

[SNiPeRViRuS]

If i had $5,800 dollars to spend on a computer, I could make the ultimate system. Hehehehehe * goes on thinking about the ultimate computer and crashes into a wall * NO seriously though, the people who buy from ALienware can probably build two of those systems for the price of one. Alienware is highly overpriced.

 

[swanster]

i am interested but the alienware uk website does not have any of those products on it

 

[Kaniver]

Check out the USA website to see what the difference is.
Alienware uses top of the line non proprietary parts in there systems wich is great. Being money isn't of the most importance here I would check out other vendors in the UK that custom build systems with a large selection of parts to choose from. Here in the states we have many such vendors. Monarch computers has a great site with loads of cases and parts to choose from. Alienware is limited in what options they will configure. There are alot better cases out there to choose from imho. Someone from the UK must have some different vendors you could check out?? My feeling is you could get a better system for less $$ if you do your research. And hey i got an Alienware.........go figure....lol

 

[Raekwon]

that would be an insane computer, the AMD version would be really good, but because the Intel system has PCI Express and DDR2 it would probably be faster... but like everyone says build it yourself, or get someone to build it for you.

 

[swanster]

ok then guys. I will let you design me a pc. I am going to buy all the parts myself and get someone to build it for me. Put forward your ideas for the ultimate gaming system costing around $5000 without any monitor, speakers, keyboard, mouse etc...

what I want guys is the following list

processor:
motherboard:
ram:
graphics card:
sound card:
hard drives:
power supply unit:
optical drives:
cooling:
cables:

I will select the case and case mods

also this must be all in one unit so no watercooling reservoirs or pumps outside the case

$5000 guys, play away

 

[Kaniver]

With the advent of pci express and ddr2 memory I would deffinitly want to go woth the latest technologies. Tom's hardware has some reviews on some of the latest motherboards utilizing both of these. There are some problems with drivers,bios and board designs that need to be fleshed out. The Intel 925x Alderwood is the enthuisiast chip if you decide to go with intel. The Asus P5AD2 Premium is worthwhile of your consideration.
Ars Technica has a great article on pci express, I suggest you check that out to get an idea of the improvements this offers.
The western digital raptor SATA 74gb 10Krpm hard drives seem to be an enthusiast favorite. Personally I think I woul opt for a pair of 120 gb or 160 gb SATA seagates at 7200 rpm......cooler running.....quieter.
Ram at least 1gb of the best corsair you can get.
PS Antec true 550 decent amperage on the 12 volt rail plenty of power for all your upgrade needs.
Get custom round cabeling-color of your choosing to maximize cooling, fans gor for 120mm quiter and move alot of air.
Optical drives I like the Plextors of your favorite flavor.
Graphics cards....this is a biggy......the current pci-express cards are performing sub par to the AGP cards. This will change as drivers are tweaked to bring out the advantages to pcie. I believe the dual graphic card setup would easily fall in your price perimeters.
Of course all this is dependant on if you decide to go with Intel over AMD.......heh heh.
My bottom line suggestion is you wait a wee bit (won't be long ) for some of this to flesh out and be reading up on some of this. The PCIe is worth the wait in my opinion.......dual graphic cards could be a great way to go.
Glad to see you have decided to accept the challenge of designing your own system!!