Ok, is this system worth $2,000? Anyone have any experience with Alienware?
Area-51® 750i
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q9650 3.0GHz 12MB Cache 1333MHz FSB
Alienware P2 Chassis Upgrades: Alienware® Approved Liquid Cooling
Power Supply: Alienware® 750 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply
Graphics Processor: Single 1,792 MB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 295
Memory: 4GB« Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 2 x 2048MB
Motherboard: Alienware® Approved NVIDIA® nForce 750i SLI Motherboard
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium (64-bit Edition) with Service Pack 1 plus Free Windows 7 Upgrade Option
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 500GB SATA 3Gb/s 7,200RPM 16MB Cache
Optical Drives : Single Drive Configuration - 20X Dual-Layer Burner (DVD±RW)
Enthusiast Essentials: Single High Performance Gigabit Ethernet Ports
Sound Card: High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio
Additional Monitors: 20" Dell UltraSharp™ 2009W - 1680 x 1050 (5ms) Widescreen Flat Panel
Also comes with Windows Office 2007
Thanks for any feedback
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Froutingbyrumor.files.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F01%2Fcarnac-the-magnificent.jpg&hash=d38ee216cbcc442d84744e708ade300dba8d66ba)
I predict many people will tell you it's overpriced because you don't really need SLI, or a core 2 quad. I then predict people telling you to "build it yourself".
I'm not sure if it's worth it. I would personally never buy an Alienware because their cases are designed to appeal to 15 year old boys. You do know it's owned by Dell right (some people seem to have a problem with Dell).
The one thing I would do is if you're spending that kind of money I would get a much bigger screen. Like 24", 30" if you can swing it. I think that'll give more "bang for the buck" than anything else.
No, you are paying more for a case. If you really dont want to build it yourself, go to a local store.
The only two reasons for buying a brand computer are:
- It's a laptop.
- You are a business, and need the 24h warranty.
Anyone else is better off by picking a list of components obtained from the resident nerd and either building it or (if you were the kind of guy unable to program a VHS recorder back in the day) having the aforementioned nerd or the store guy do it.
:smarty:
Right, I forgot to add that the only reason for buying a system with Fully Buffered RAM is to cram tons of it in a workstation and do things like 3d rendering 24/7.
Well that, or because you like paying more for an Apple logo. :P
Beeb, it was an easy prediction because it's an obvious thing to tell him. :P
Why would anyone pay that amount of money for not getting the latest generation cpu/mobo/mem?
Although this sounds cool: "Alienware® Approved Liquid Cooling". Does it come in orange?
edit: O, build it yourself
Quote from: Barrister on August 30, 2009, 11:42:34 AM
I would personally never buy an Alienware because their cases are designed to appeal to 15 year old boys.
And this is key. Too much lit-up nonsense.
I would go for a Dell XPS desktop instead. Same company, same components, much more understated case.
Quote from: Barrister on August 30, 2009, 11:42:34 AM
The one thing I would do is if you're spending that kind of money I would get a much bigger screen. Like 24", 30" if you can swing it. I think that'll give more "bang for the buck" than anything else.
Yes, this hardware is wasted because there aren't any games yet that can utilize it. You might as well get a larger monitor and play at max fps in 1920 x 1200 or 2560x1600 instead of max fps in 1680 x 1050.
Yes. Dell bought Alienware a few years ago. Really all it is is a brandname, and you pay dearly for the logo and the fucked up case.
If you don't want to build it yourself you could order a regular Dell. Spend the extra money on video card and monitor. And pizza. You could order a lot of pizza on the wasted cash for Alienware.
Not enough RAM.
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.
Quote from: Faeelin on August 30, 2009, 06:28:14 PM
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.
Edit: Hrmm, no. I didn't see it as an option when I was looking at alienwares even a little while ago.
You can get newer better components and more RAM by not buying the logo.
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.
Quote from: Barrister on August 30, 2009, 06:36:58 PM
Quote from: Faeelin on August 30, 2009, 06:28:14 PM
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.
I think we scared Strix away with our feedback. :unsure:
Quote from: DGuller on August 31, 2009, 02:32:21 PM
I think we scared Strix away with our feedback. :unsure:
Not so much that as work. I appreciate the feedback as I am pretty ignorant on the newest computer stuff.
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.
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.
Quote from: Strix on August 30, 2009, 11:21:13 AM
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.
Quote from: DGuller on August 31, 2009, 08:20:33 PM
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. :blink:
Quote from: Barrister on August 30, 2009, 05:04:02 PM
I would go for a Dell XPS desktop instead. Same company, same components, much more understated case.
:whistle:
The only difference is that I realize it's garish. Still like it, tho.
Quote from: Ideologue on August 31, 2009, 10:36:34 PM
Quote from: Strix on August 30, 2009, 11:21:13 AM
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.
I stand by my assertion that a $500 GPU is not worth the money.
It does seem like an overkill, especially if the rest of computer doesn't keep up.
Quote from: Ideologue on September 01, 2009, 10:41:54 AM
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.
I've never paid over a hundred.