please constructively help with pc purchase

[majax]

Here's a pc I just put together at Alienware. It was just for fun. The total with tax adn s&h came to $3,400 (give or take 10-50 bucks) What do you guys think?


[1] Area-51® 5500

Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support with Onsite Service
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition with Service Pack 2
Chassis: Alienware® Full-Tower Case - Space Black
Cable Management: Alienware® Cable Management System
Power Supply: Alienware® 460 Watt Max Power Supply
Processor: Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 650 w/ HT Technology 3.4GHz 800MHz FSB 2MB Cache
Motherboard: Alienware® PCI Express Motherboard with Intel® 925XE Chipset 1066/800MHz FSB
Memory: 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz - 2 x 512MB
Graphics Processor: NVIDIA® GeForce™ 7800 GTX PCI Express 256MB DDR3 w/Dual Digital and TV Out
Chassis Upgrades: Alienware® Acoustic Dampening
System Drive: High Performance - Serial ATA - 250GB Serial ATA 7,200 RPM w/8MB Cache
Optical Drive One: NEC® ND-3520 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive
Optical Drive Two: NEC® ND-3520 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive
Floppy Drive: 3.5" 1.44 MB Floppy Disk Drive - Black
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy® 2 ZS High Definition 7.1 Surround Firewire (IEEE® 1394)
Network Connection: Integrated High Performance Gigabit Ethernet
Portable Storage : Alienware® 10-in-1 Digital Media Reader / Writer
Display One: NEC 19" LCD1970GX-BK MultiSync - Black
Display Two: No Monitor
Keyboard: Microsoft® Basic Keyboard Black
Mouse: Logitech® MX™1000 Laser Cordless Mouse
Free Alienware Mousepad: Free Alienware® Mousepad
AlienInspection: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - $99.99 Value - FREE!

 

[Praetor]

overpriced. if you're not building one go get a Dell or HP.

he doesnt want a Dell. HP is not in the same class as alientware

build your own it'll be much faster

bonus points for reading the original post

i don't want to build my own

aside from getting a virus, these machines based on their hardware are top notch over every OEM. for gaming. now for video editing and photoshop tasks their machines cost well over $2500 more than you need to pay for a reliable non-linear editing system

1. i hope you're not suggesting that buying an OEM machine gets you a virus
2. just because its an Alienware or voodoo machine doesnt mean its a gaming machine. they do make video editing workstations as well as cheapo terminal type systems

i'm not a fan of OEM because they seem to like to trick the unknowledgeable instead of helping them.

unfortunately that leaves you without many options: (1) any computer you buy from a company will be OEM and (2) you dont want to build a computer. your only real option there is to get a friend to build for you or something

are there any sites that will guide you in selecting the components to put in your pc?

QUESTIONS 101

ill rather get the fx 53 cause the dual core will only take proper effect later when more software is designed to be quicker with it.

1. you mean software that's already out?
2. and since he's doing video editing and stuff... that will be benifited.

but if you want to run antivirus scans while playing games or encode music in the backround or prettymuch anything that uses more than one appilcation, dual core will be insanely faster.

faster on paper yes but the bottleneck wont be the CPU there. it'll be the HDD

i like gaming pcs because i would think applications etc. would run faster on them but i can't imagine going into a professional environment with a little alien head on my laptop

generally true.

i have heard that sharp is a good monitor brand. any others?

every company makes good monitors and they make bad monitors.

i have no idea what brand of hard drive or memory is top quality but i do know i want at least 1gig ram.

HDD 101
RAM 101

here's a pc i just put together at Alienware. it was just for fun. the total with tax adn s&h came to $3,400 (give or take 10-50 bucks) what do you guys think?

very nice. well balanced system. although i dont think you need twin dvd burners (because burning on-the-fly and multiple drives at once leads to of disc errors).

 

[ripken2004]

so have u decided that u will be getting an oem to build it? although u said that it was just for fun

i said before that the 4400 is what u need, it beats intel's best dual core in almost every benchmark

hdd:http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=100594-2&affiliate=pricegrabber
this is only if ur mobo supports sataII, but i think its backwards compatible
monitor:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824179014
this has gotta be one of the sweetest 19"ers out there

 

[majax]

Praetor, thank you for all your information and help. I will read the two 101 classes tomorrow. Alienware was a little confusing because I did not understand some of the optional options. With regards to the two burning drives I thought I selected a dvd-rom drive. the dvd+_ drive will burn cd-+rw as well right? That should push down the price. Do you have an opinion on the monitor I chose? Also, how is the pentium chip that I selected? I selected acoustic dampening because it said that would reduce unwanted system noise by 20%. There was a sound card called audigy pro 4 with firewire. I was wondering is firewire a port in the back of a pc like a usb?

 

[ripken2004]

why dont u listen to me at all? that monitor i posted is excellent, almost all dvd burners are cd burners too, that intel chip is good but the amd 4400 is better, sound dampening is good, the audigy 4 sound card goes into a 5.25" slot on the front of ur case and has a firewire input on it for good sound editing, all u need is the audigy 2 zs, the 4 is just for sound editing

 

[DCIScouts]

Most of what you have selected from Alienware is what you're looking for, except I would agree with Praetor on the second optical drive selection. As far as I have seen, ALL DVD burners are CD burners, so a reader would be all that you need. The RAM is great and a Serial ATA hard drive is definitely the way to go. As far as the processor is concerned, Intel chips have a better reputation/capability with video editing, where the AMD chips have that for gaming. So, for what you're going to be doing with this computer, I'd definitely stick with the Intel chip that you have selected. The power supply is definitely a good thing to have up there, I'm running into a problem with my Dell that it only has 250 watts, and therefore limits how much I can upgrade the computer until I upgrade that...

On the subject of the monitor, the NEC one should be fine... I would still go with a LG or Samsung, see how much the NEC costs, and then go to newegg.com to compare that with the LG and Samsung monitors. Hopefully you'll be able to make a decision based on the specs and information given on those sites. One last note, when selecting the monitor, a faster response isn't that imperative for you if you're going to be sticking with editing. The response time, for obvious reasons, is very much more beneficial when trying to shoot that monster in Doom 3 that's coming after you... Sorry for the overload of information, but hopefully this gets you going in the right direction!

 

[majax]

I got all the information. So 2ms would be better than 4ms response time? Also, I was given the option for a second harddrive. I was wondering why that could be beneficial. You know, I could always go and buy all these items myself. I don't know how much money I would save though. 1 thing about alienware is that it didn't tell me how many usb, pci, gpa slots I'd have. Kinda weird.

 

[DCIScouts]

Yeah, that does sound kinda weird that they wouldn't provide that information... Anyway, yes the 2ms response time would be better, but like I said not totally necessary for what you are going to use this computer for... I use my second hard drive to save all of the data that I need so that when it comes time to reformat Windows, I only have to worry about the programs that I need to reinstall on the main hard drive. Overall, you could probably save almost a grand depending on the deals that you got, so if you have the ambition, go for it!

 

[majax]

Isn't there a company out there that let's you customize the desktop case along with all the other items. Alienware only gives me a couple options for certain things.

 

[majax]

I was looking around newegg and I realized that the cases ABS uses are sold at newegg. Also, the Asus Vento is a dead ringer for the alienware case. You learn something every day. So, basically if I bought everything from abs would it be cheaper or more expensive to put it together myself. I referring to the specs I posted earlier. I am wary of doing it myself because of the lack of warranty in case something happens. How many items would I have to purchase to put together my own pc? That whole case thing kinda opened my eyes. Does the Thermaltake Soprano VB1430BWS Black Computer Case With Side Panel Window - Retail make alot of noise? That's the one that ABS uses for its 6x.

 

[land of games]

ahhhhh
just so you know alienware ISSSS dell. saying that you want alienware but not dell is like saying that you want an operating system like vista but you want it to be nice(geeky humor(i dont like vista(lol this is starting to look lika a gml line(because of all the(s(lol(rolf(qwerty))))))).
however I recomend alienware at your price range.
also i recall that alienware makes some really nice monitors. might be wrong but still.

 

[StrangleHold]

ahhhhh
just so you know alienware ISSSS dell. saying that you want alienware but not dell is like saying that you want an operating system like vista but you want it to be nice(geeky humor(i dont like vista(lol this is starting to look lika a gml line(because of all the(s(lol(rolf(qwerty))))))).
however I recomend alienware at your price range.
also i recall that alienware makes some really nice monitors. might be wrong but still.

You do know this thread is from 2005. Besides that, Dell didnt buy Alienware till 2006.