Thinking of buying an Alienware Computer

[Barrister]

Eh, I got a computer with 3x as much Ram and a TB hard drive, w/ a 3.2 GHZ processor for a hundred more.

Was it a quad-core processor?

Was in a NVidia GTS 295?  That may be one of the most expensive components of that computer.

I've been looking, and I can't find anything that's directly comparable for less money.

However if I was Strix I would get a newer i7 processor and skimp on the graphics card (with the idea you can replace the graphics card a lot more easily than you can a motherboard and processor).  More RAM never hurt anyone either.  And use your current monitor, and upgrade down the road to a huge one.

[Faeelin]

Edit: Hrmm, no. I didn't see it as an option when I was looking at alienwares even a little while ago.

[crazy canuck]

You can get newer better components and more RAM by not buying the logo.

[DGuller]

I see a number of undesirable things.  At this point I think it's silly to buy a $2000 computer with Core 2 processor and mobo.  I think going i7 is a must for a gaming rig.  Your hard drive only has 16 MB of cache, when 32 MB models don't cost that much more.  I also think that 4 GB of RAM is not enough.  Latest versions of Windows are pretty good at using RAM for cache, which makes things super-fast, so you can't have too much RAM, within reason.  You can get much more for less.  Oh, and last but not least, the monitor is too small, and with the wrong aspect ratio.  Widescreen monitors have less area than regular monitors per diagonal length, so 20 inches isn't much.  I'd go for 24 inches, and definitely with 16:9 aspect ratio rather than 16:10.

[DGuller]

Eh, I got a computer with 3x as much Ram and a TB hard drive, w/ a 3.2 GHZ processor for a hundred more.

Was it a quad-core processor?

Was in a NVidia GTS 295?  That may be one of the most expensive components of that computer.

I've been looking, and I can't find anything that's directly comparable for less money.

However if I was Strix I would get a newer i7 processor and skimp on the graphics card (with the idea you can replace the graphics card a lot more easily than you can a motherboard and processor).  More RAM never hurt anyone either.  And use your current monitor, and upgrade down the road to a huge one.

Be careful with that.  It used to be a good advice, but these days you can really run into space limitations.  The new video cards are really fucking huge, and they may simply not fit in the space of the older card.  These days brand name desktops are packed together almost as tightly as laptops, so there isn't much room for expansion.

[DGuller]

I think we scared Strix away with our feedback.

[Strix]

I think we scared Strix away with our feedback.

Not so much that as work. I appreciate the feedback as I am pretty ignorant on the newest computer stuff.

[DGuller]

My suggestion is to build a system yourself, if you have a little time, and enjoy getting your hands dirty.  For $2000, you can put together a very impressive system.  There is enough talent on this board to guide you through that process.

[Alcibiades]

I dunno, if you go stupid expensive it seems somewhat comparable really to what alienware offers.  But for their lower end stuff it seemed a little over priced.

[Ideologue]

Ok, is this system worth $2,000?

No.  The GPU is really high-end, and the CPU among the best of the last-generation processors, but it seems like you're overpaying for everything else.

The computer I built was $500 or so less, with either comparable or superior parts, excepting the GTX 295--which is quite superior, but, iirc, is retarded expensive and probably explains the price difference all by itself.  However, I was able to get 50% more RAM, bigger HDD, a BD-RW, and a 23" whatever by 1080 monitor.  Also, no Nvidia manufacturer, to the best of my knowledge, produces cards with native HDMI support with integrated audio for a one-cable solution.  That might not be important to you, but it was to me, so I'm just throwing it out there.

[Ideologue]

My suggestion is to build a system yourself, if you have a little time, and enjoy getting your hands dirty.  For $2000, you can put together a very impressive system.  There is enough talent on this board to guide you through that process.

Indeed.  My computer-illiterate ass built one that seems to function, so I heartily recommend against paying extra, especially when you can get better stuff.  If I could have budgeted $2k, the sky would've been the limit.  Heck, I don't even know what I could have gotten within reason to burn through the extra money, other than a top-flight GPU that didn't have all the features I wanted.  Maybe 24GB of RAM.

I would go for a Dell XPS desktop instead.  Same company, same components, much more understated case.

The only difference is that I realize it's garish.  Still like it, tho.

[Barrister]

Ok, is this system worth $2,000?

No.  The GPU is really high-end, and the CPU among the best of the last-generation processors, but it seems like you're overpaying for everything else.

The computer I built was $500 or so less, with either comparable or superior parts, excepting the GTX 295--which is quite superior, but, iirc, is retarded expensive and probably explains the price difference all by itself.

Ding ding ding!

The system isn't expensive in terms of the components it has.  I don't think you could buy (or build) an equal system elsewhere for noticeably less.  That doesn't mean it's a good or buy bad however.

[Ideologue]

I stand by my assertion that a $500 GPU is not worth the money.

[DGuller]

It does seem like an overkill, especially if the rest of computer doesn't keep up.

[Caliga]

I stand by my assertion that a $500 GPU is not worth the money.

Agree completely.  Never pay more that $250 max for a vid card.