Alienware Area-51 or Dell XPS 720

stevenson140 · Dec 31, 2007

Hey
First I love the forums and am learning alot.
Well I am looking for a mild gaming PC that would have some upgradeable capabilities. Later on down the road I would love to build a computer but, I want to learn buy upgrading a computer already built, then eventually building my own once I feel very comfortable with it. I hope you get the idea.

Well these are what I have been looking at. I am interested in knowing if I am going in the right direction, or am I going off track.

Alienware Area-51 7500 specs

- Alienware Standard cooling
- Alienware 1000 watt Multi GPU approved Power Supply
- Dual 512 MB NVIDIA Geforce 8800 GT at 800MHz SLI Enabled
- Alienware Approved NVIDIA nForce 680i motherboard
- Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E6850 4MB L2 Cache 3.0 GHz, 1333FSB
- Windows XP Media Centre Edition 2005
- 250 GB SATA 3Gb/s 7,200RPM 16MB Cache
- 20x Dual Layer DVD +- RW w/ Lightscribe
- Dual high Performance Gigabit Ethernet Ports
- High - Deinition 7.1 Performance Audio
----------
$2463.44 CND with tax and shipping

Dell XPS 720

- Same processor as Alienware
- Same OS
- 2 GB Corsar Dominator DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz OC'd to 1066MHz 2 DIMM
- 250GB Seagate 7,200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 8MB Cache
- Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic Sound Card
- Dual 512MB Nvidia GeForce 8800GT
- Single Drive 16x CD/DVD burner w/ double layer write capacity
---------
$2299.14 CND with tax and shipping

My price limit is $2500 for now, not including upgrades I might do later that the system is able to do.

What I am looking to be able to do is:
- Be able to play PC games at pretty good setings
- Some video editing with Premiere.
- And just media including pictures, music, etc.
- And just word processor. (Excel, etc)

Again I am wanting to buy a computer first to learn more on and build one latter down the road.

If I missed anything sorry, and if you need more info please let me know.

And which computer would be the better buy in terms of upgrading capability's, performance, and other normal computer stuff. Yes that is a technical term.

Thanks

Shawn Stevenson

oscaryu1 · Dec 31, 2007

Neither. $2500 is overkill. You can get a killer gamer for $1500 these days. Dell = non upgradeable.

Both processors stink. Both GFX's are horrible compared to the overall price.

Custom man... Save $$$ (In this case, probably $xxx to $xxxx)

jimkonow · Dec 31, 2007

dell is semi-upgradeable...i doubled my sisters ram and added a DVD burner...but past that its effing worthless. here at CoFo, we can give you step-by-step directions on how to build your own pc....we pwn, you know.
just say the word and we'll price a PC out for yeh

oscaryu1 · Dec 31, 2007

Dell's PSUs are the problem... not standard (prop. something).

Also, their cases are usually BTX, thus no motherboard/psu upgrades are possible...

SadisticalActs · Dec 31, 2007

Nub

god Nub, forget alienware and Dell, build your own, its cheaper, and ungradeable.

paratwa · Dec 31, 2007

The Alienware is using a 680i chipset on the motherboard which is SO last year. It is an outdated chipset.

I would shop around for a more updated system, neither of the ones you picked are worth the money they are charging.

Iluvpenguins · Dec 31, 2007

I'd say Neither...because you could save atleast $700 building your own PC.

Ramodkk · Dec 31, 2007

I would say you can save at least $1K if you build it yourself. To start with, if you buy anyone of those two builds, you won't have much to upgrade!

Since everything is pretty much top of the line, so whats the point? Second, Dell is horrible for upgrading purposes, they make your life harder if you want to upgrade. If you want to buy from Alienware I will not blame you if its because of the awesome case

but still I would never buy a build comp. And third, building is the same thing as if you were upgradind, you just have to "upgrade" everything.

If you want just ask us and we'll make you a build off of Newegg maybe and you now you can always ask for help in the buildilng.

stevenson140 · Dec 31, 2007

Thanks for the info guys/girls. I will get looking around and probably build my own. The one question I do have is what would be the a good case for upgrading room. I have look at these to at a store in my area. I will probably buy them online though depending on the price difference.

http://b-com.ca/product.php?productid=218945&cat=244&page=2

and

http://b-com.ca/product.php?productid=219030&cat=244&page=1

or neither and one off the web you can hopefully show me.

Thanks for the help guys. It sounds like without it, I would of made a huge mistake.

oscaryu1 · Dec 31, 2007

Neither. Antec 900, Elite 330, Centurion 5, P180.

stevenson140 · Dec 31, 2007

Cool it's cheaper lol, I just found a old forum where I guy was building a gaming rig for about the same price I want to go. I will probably go with that, until I see something either I don't understand as well as I should of just need some feedback. Thanks again.

Ramodkk · Dec 31, 2007

The NZXT Apollo cases are also a great choice and easy to assemble in.

vonfeldt7 · Dec 31, 2007

oscaryu1 said:
Dell's PSUs are the problem... not standard (prop. something).

Also, their cases are usually BTX, thus no motherboard/psu upgrades are possible...

False.

I replaced my Dimension E521's PSU a few months ago with a standard ATX 600W, and everything fits perfectly (except for the fact that I'm still stuck with this damn Dell).

To OP: Build your own, you won't regret it. Even if you have to research a lot, you'll be happy you did. I considered building my own, and instead bought a Dell...a few months later I found out that I was perfectly capable of building my own...and now I regret purchasing the damn Dell.

oscaryu1 · Dec 31, 2007

vonfeldt7 said:
False.

I replaced my Dimension E521's PSU a few months ago with a standard ATX 600W, and everything fits perfectly (except for the fact that I'm still stuck with this damn Dell).

To OP: Build your own, you won't regret it. Even if you have to research a lot, you'll be happy you did. I considered building my own, and instead bought a Dell...a few months later I found out that I was perfectly capable of building my own...and now I regret purchasing the damn Dell.

Also false. Not all Dells may be BTX, but there are way more BTX Dells than ATX Dells

stevenson140 · Dec 31, 2007

CodeMinion · Dec 31, 2007

http://www.computerforum.com/106843-my-rigg-details-final-thanks-guys-help.html

^ my build for a lil less then 1500. just as good or even better then those 2 prebuild machines u posted from alienware and dell

paratwa · Dec 31, 2007

oscaryu1 said:
Neither. Antec 900, Elite 330, Centurion 5, P180.

Antec 900 is crap!

ride3k · Dec 31, 2007

oscaryu1 said:
Neither. Antec 900, Elite 330, Centurion 5, P180.

are you seriously saying the Stacker 830 and Armor cases are worse than those four? not even looking at the fact that you suggest smaller, MIDSIZE cases, but the Stacker and Armor are much better cases. The space the Stacker offers plus the fact that you can put fans EVERYWHERE is awesome, and you can get the Stacker for less than $150, cheaper than your lil p180.

oscaryu1 · Dec 31, 2007

Antec 900 is crap!

Express your opinions all you want, but why not include WHY you don't like it? It's overall a great case. Why I don't have it? Cause I don't have $80. You may think it's crap, but more people think it's more worthwhile than crap.

are you seriously saying the Stacker 830 and Armor cases are worse than those four? not even looking at the fact that you suggest smaller, MIDSIZE cases, but the Stacker and Armor are much better cases. The space the Stacker offers plus the fact that you can put fans EVERYWHERE is awesome, and you can get the Stacker for less than $150, cheaper than your lil p180.

Are you seriously suggesting that instead of posting those cases, you try to make me pay for it? You're the "bigger case = better than mid sized" guy. Share any proof their definitely better?

The Stacker is more expensive, and overall, I think you're exaggerating. You cannot put fans "everywhere". And seeing as you don't own one, I don't see why you love it so much.

CM Staker (CHEAPEST) - $144.99

Antec P180 (CHEAPEST) - $114.99

cheaper than your lil p180.

Oh really?

ride3k · Dec 31, 2007

oscaryu1 said:
Express your opinions all you want, but why not include WHY you don't like it? It's overall a great case. Why I don't have it? Cause I don't have $80. You may think it's crap, but more people think it's more worthwhile than crap.

Are you seriously suggesting that instead of posting those cases, you try to make me pay for it? You're the "bigger case = better than mid sized" guy. Share any proof their definitely better?

The Stacker is more expensive, and overall, I think you're exaggerating. You cannot put fans "everywhere". And seeing as you don't own one, I don't see why you love it so much.

CM Staker (CHEAPEST) - $144.99

Antec P180 (CHEAPEST) - $114.99

Oh really?

CM stacker - 109.99

and pretty much everywhere. one top, one front, 4 side, one bottom, one back, all 120mm fans. And b/c i dont own one dosent means ive never worked with it before.

and yet again, wrong. I am not a "bigger case = better than midsize" guy. IF i wanted to spend 3 hours moving cables around, then yes i would look at a small antec case. Persoannly my favorite case is the CM RC690, its not massive but it is the perfect size for me with the perfect number of bays and airflow. Im using it in my personaly build and allready have the case (xmas present).

so cheaper + more room to work + more fans = better case. If i wanted a case that i could double as my bathroom mirror, then maybe id look at the p180

Alienware Area-51 or Dell XPS 720

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