Originally Posted by NewComputer

The motherboard on my system that my friend built just died, so I'm looking to get a new system through a company. I'd rather have a built system with support rather than trying to fix futher problems on my own. I'm looking to get a system that can handle high end gaming with no issues and a system I dont have to replace for at least 5 years. Here are the two that I'm looking at:

Alienware: Aurora 5500 - $2,096

Processor: AMD Athlon™ 64 3000+ with HyperTransport Technology
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition with Service Pack 2
Warranty: 4-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support with Onsite Service Bundle with AlienAutopsy and Respawn
Power Supply: Alienware® Approved 650 Watt ATX 2.0 Power Supply with Active PFC
Chassis: Alienware® Full-Tower Case - Saucer Silver
Chassis Upgrades: Alienware® Acoustic Dampening with AlienIce™ 2.0 Video Cooling System
Motherboard: Alienware® nForce™4 SLI™ Chipset Motherboard PCI Express
Graphics Processor: 256MB PCI-Express x16 NVIDIA® GeForce™ 6800 GT
Memory: 1GB Low-Latency Dual Channel DDR PC-3200 at 400MHz - 2 x 512MB
System Drive: 160GB Serial ATA II 3Gb 7,200 RPM w/8MB Cache
Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 16x DVD-ROM Drive with Software DVD Decoder
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi® XtremeMusic High Definition 7.1 Surround Sound
Network Connection: Integrated High Performance Gigabit Ethernet
Monitor: No Monitor
Alienware Exclusive Offers: Gamespot Complete - Free 90-day Trial (a $20.85 value)
Alienware Exclusive Offers: 10% off your next EB Games online purchase
Desktop Enhancements: Exclusive AlienGUIse Theme Manager
AlienInspection: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - $99.99 Value - FREE!
AlienWiring: AlienWiring - Exclusive Internal Wire Management - $99.99 Value - FREE!

Dell: XPS 600 - $1,969

Processor: Pentium® 4 Processor 640 with HT Technology (3.20GHz, 800 FSB)
Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition
Memory 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2 DIMMs
Keyboard Dell USB Keyboard
Monitors Video Ready w/o Monitor
Video Card 256MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) nVidia GeForce 6800
Hard Drive 160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/ Native Command Queuing
Floppy Drive and Media Reader No Floppy Drive Included
Mouse Dell® 2-button USB mouse
Modem No Modem Requested
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0
CD or DVD Drive Dual Drives: 16x DVD-ROM Drive + 48x CD-RW Drive
Sound Cards Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ XtremeMusic (D), w/Dolby® Digital 5.1
Speakers No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
Office Software (not included in Windows XP) No Productivity Suite - Corel WordPerfect® word processor only
Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) McAfee SecurityCenter with VirusScan, Firewall, Spyware Removal, 15-months
Digitial Music Musicmatch® Jukebox Basic
Digital Photography Photo Album™ SE Basic
Hardware Warranty SAVE $50(Dell GiftCard) 4Yr Ltd Warranty,At-Home Srvc, XPS Warranty Spt
Premier Warranty Support Dimension XPS, Specialized Support
Dial-Up Internet Access 6 Months of America Online Membership Included
Financial Software (Preinstalled) No QuickBooks package selected- Includes limited use trial

I think for the most part, Alienware will be as is. I am planning on calling Dell to see if they can take some stuff off (like the dual drives) to see if I can save some money. Any recommendations on which is the better deal or things I should change? Thanks!