Alienware vs. Dell XPS 700

[m1ldslide1]

Originally posted by: thecoffeeguy

Originally posted by: gramboh


7900GT is a better card than 7900GS.

how good is the 512mb 7900 GTX as opposed to dual 7900 GS?

I tried googling for benchmarks comparing the two but didn't have much luck. Apparently dell is the only company selling 7900GS's.

Here are the specs for the 7900GS from dell:
http://www.dell.com/content/learnmore/l...ps&~lt=popup&~mode=popup&~series=dimen

Comparison with the 7900GTX:
1 fewer vertex shader, 4 fewer pixel pipelines, 200Mhz slower GPU clock, 140mhz slower memory speed (or 280mhz depending on how you look at it).

Short answer: very big difference in FEAR and similarly demanding games, not as much difference in less demanding games, virtually no difference in Windows or internet explorer.

 

[kd7fhd]

IIRC, Dell bought Alienware

 

[EagleEye]

Originally posted by: kd7fhd
IIRC, Dell bought Alienware

yeah, but it is keeping it as a seperate company.

Also, look in the fs/ft forums, you can get a much better system for your money, or wait for core duo at least.

 

[joshd]

Originally posted by: thecoffeeguy
What is the better video card:

nVidia GeForce 7900 GS
or
nVidia GeForce 7900 GT

Much difference between the two?

i think they both use the G71 core. at least my friends one does.

@ Noubourne, you said pop another 7800GS is, but the GS cards are AGP. as far as i knew, AGP SLI doesnt exist?

Apparently dell is the only company selling 7900GS's.

it is officially badged the 7800GS, but it uses the G71 core. I think dell are trying to make it sound better than it really is.

 

[m1ldslide1]

Originally posted by: joshd

Originally posted by: thecoffeeguy
What is the better video card:

nVidia GeForce 7900 GS
or
nVidia GeForce 7900 GT

Much difference between the two?

i think they both use the G71 core. at least my friends one does.

@ Noubourne, you said pop another 7800GS is, but the GS cards are AGP. as far as i knew, AGP SLI doesnt exist?

Apparently dell is the only company selling 7900GS's.

it is officially badged the 7800GS, but it uses the G71 core. I think dell are trying to make it sound better than it really is.

My googling says that the 7900GS is a PCI-E card, even though the other GS series cards are AGP.

Dell trying to make something sound better than it really is? [sarcasm]NAH....[/sarcasm]

 

[bamacre]

-1gb Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533Mhz -2 DIMMS ($40 more bucks gets me 1gb at 667Mhz)

:laugh: Currently, DDR2-667 is a little cheaper than DDR2-533.

I can drop down the CPU from a 3.0ghz to a 2.8ghz and subtract $248.67.

:laugh: Currently, a Pentium 930 can be had from ZZF for $179 shipped.

 

[Noubourne]

I stand by my previous suggestion. No changes to the single core Athlon system are really going to convince me, since it's pretty obvious you're not going to overclock.

As for the GS usually being AGP - that's what I thought too. The GTs were better when the GS first came out (first happened with the 6800 series - I know - I have a GT and scoffed at the lowly AGP GS which also got lower clockspeeds). I have no idea what Nvidia is doing with their GS/GT naming scheme anymore - I see a 7600GS which appears to be slightly slower than the 7600GT, but they're both PCIe.

I don't see a retail 7900GS anywhere. If Dell is getting them, perhaps it's due to the reportedly high failure rate of the 7900GT models - maybe Dell wanted a more conservatively clocked card to prevent RMA/support calls and/or to keep fan speeds and noise down. Dunno, I'm just speculating on that.

However, he posted in his first post that one option was to get 2 of them, so since they're Nvidia and they could put in 2, that means it must be SLI. So I recommended it.

Anyway, for $1300; dual core near 3.0Ghz (65nm netburst - the only netburst I could stoop to recommend), 2GB RAM, pair of ~7900 series in SLI, I say go for it. I'm assuming they're giving him an LCD monitor and at least a year warranty with that too. Otherwise it's a helluva convenience fee to have it built for you. I don't see how it could take more than a couple hours to order it all from Newegg, and a Saturday afternoon to assemble, but I digress...

Your chip is fast enough to feed SLI. It CERTAINLY isn't worth paying for the 930 over the 920, because as someone already mentioned, a 930 only costs $180 - saving $250 to drop down 200Mhz is a "deal" I wouldn't pass up. That's why I suggested it in the first place.

You will definitely see some improvement running SLI, and it should work near seamlessly - it's not a "pain" as someone else stated. Unless you're incapable of updating drivers or putzing with the video control panel.

As a builder I think the $1300 is a tad high, but given the specs, I doubt you'll be disappointed in the performance. It's a respectable gaming rig, and hopefully quiet if Dell's other machines are any indication. Not the end-all be-all, but quiet is always nice.

 

[Modular]

To the OP:

Given the two rigs you are looking at, coupled with the fact that this will be a family computer....get the Dell. The price is better, I believe performance will be better, plus you will have the Dell warranty and driver support for that time when your wife clicks on the "You just won 39 billion dollars CLICK HERE!" ad and fubars the rig.

Originally posted by: Noubourne
As for the GS usually being AGP - that's what I thought too. The GTs were better when the GS first came out (first happened with the 6800 series - I know - I have a GT and scoffed at the lowly AGP GS which also got lower clockspeeds

The 6800GS's were great because they had unlockable pipes via RivaTuner, then they OC'd past GT Specs.

 

[thecoffeeguy]

Originally posted by: Noubourne
As a builder I think the $1300 is a tad high, but given the specs, I doubt you'll be disappointed in the performance. It's a respectable gaming rig, and hopefully quiet if Dell's other machines are any indication. Not the end-all be-all, but quiet is always nice.

Ok..i'll bite.

Let's say I decide to build a rig. What would you recommend? Say I don't want to go over $1200, but I want a rig that is fast enough to run games such as:

-Dawn of War
-LOTR II
-Star Wars: Empire at War
-F.E.A.R.
-City of Villians

We will start there.

Maybe have comparable settings to the dell rig.

What would you recommend? (Mobo, CPU, Vid card, mem, case etc.)
Where would you buy it from?

If I can see a significant drop in price (over $250 lets say), then I might do it, if I squeeze the time in (which is the biggest concern for me now).

Lets roll and see what we come up with.

 

[thescreensavers]

build one your self

 

[thecoffeeguy]

Originally posted by: thescreensavers
build one your self

did you read the thread? obviously not

 

[Arcanedeath]

For gaming I would suggest this setup
-Pentium D Processor 930 with Dual Core Technology: 3.0ghz, 800FSB
-1gb Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533Mhz -2 DIMMS ($40 more bucks gets me 1gb at 667Mhz)
-160GB Serial ATA 3Gb/S (7200 RPM)
-Single Drive: 16X DVD-ROM Drive burner
-256MB nVidia GeForce 7900 GS
-Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
-3 year limited warranty plus 3 year NBD on site service

add the 7900GTX for the 243
drop down to the 2.8Ghz 920 to save 248.67 that should cancel out the price difference and upgrade to 2gb of memory on your own its typicaly much cheaper than going via dell if you can get the pc w/ only 256 or 512mb to save cash that would help too.
wholia your done and have a fast gaming rig

 

[thecoffeeguy]

Here is what I am going to do:

I have the computer rig on Dell on hold.

What I want to do is see if I can build a comparable rig for cheaper. If that is the case, I might just build it.

However, I need help finding good prices from online and picking out parts.

Few things im looking for:

-Cool case. Want very nice cooling and some cool effects (lighting is cool).
-A system to run games well wit the option in the future to add a second PCIe card for SLI.

I'm ready.

 

[Noubourne]

Originally posted by: thecoffeeguy
Here is what I am going to do:

I have the computer rig on Dell on hold.

What I want to do is see if I can build a comparable rig for cheaper. If that is the case, I might just build it.

However, I need help finding good prices from online and picking out parts.

Few things im looking for:

-Cool case. Want very nice cooling and some cool effects (lighting is cool).
-A system to run games well wit the option in the future to add a second PCIe card for SLI.

I'm ready.

K let me see if I can swing you back to the dark side. I'm going all Newegg because of their RMA policies, and the shipping conglomeration.

$90 Black case with pretty lights and a window: Thermaltake Tsunami

$228 P4 940 Presler @ 3.2Ghz Dual Core

$90 ASUS P4 SLI Mobo NF4 Chipset

$120 OCZ GameXstream PSU 600W

$38 BenQ 1655 DVD/CD Burner w/ Lightscribe tech

$125 Seagate 320GB 7200.10 SATA II Hard Drive

$190 ($150 after rebate) OCZ Gold 2x1GB kit DDR2 667 4-4-4-12

$280 ($265 after rebate) eVGA 7900GT KO 256MB RAM - ready for SLI

Let's add that up:

$1106 - figure $100 for shipping (probably generous), $1206.

Saves you about $150, and it's a "comparable" rig, but actually a bit better. For instance: you get a better processor (3.2 vs. 2.8), probably better RAM (do they list the RAM specs? - this is some of the best DDR2 667 w/ a lifetime warranty too), a better video card (this is even better than a stock GT), twice the hard drive space (5 year warranty there too), a bigger/better PSU (3 year warranty on that I think)... you can see there are serious advantages to building your own. Performance edge and slight savings. Matching the Dell specs (slower RAM, less powerful PSU, slower CPU, etc), we'd probably save another $200.

It's about value I suppose. It's not a ridiculous amount different, but when you start to look at the actual quality of every component in the system is when I always end up wanting to build my own. I'd rather get known quality components and spend some time building, but then again I'm going to overclock anything I get so...

Totally up to you man. Like I said before, that Dell rig isn't a bad deal at all. Now that they stopped using proprietary power plugs, you can also upgrade anything you want in the Dell rig too. I used to say no to Dell based on proprietary PSU plugs alone. Now, I sort of recommend them to my family, because they don't care about quality they just need computers for cheap. That way I get out of supporting them too. Well, for the first year or two anyway. lol.

 

[thecoffeeguy]

Originally posted by: Noubourne

K let me see if I can swing you back to the dark side. I'm going all Newegg because of their RMA policies, and the shipping conglomeration.

$90 Black case with pretty lights and a window: Thermaltake Tsunami

$228 P4 940 Presler @ 3.2Ghz Dual Core

$90 ASUS P4 SLI Mobo NF4 Chipset

$120 OCZ GameXstream PSU 600W

$38 BenQ 1655 DVD/CD Burner w/ Lightscribe tech

$125 Seagate 320GB 7200.10 SATA II Hard Drive

$190 ($150 after rebate) OCZ Gold 2x1GB kit DDR2 667 4-4-4-12

$280 ($265 after rebate) eVGA 7900GT KO 256MB RAM - ready for SLI

Let's add that up:

$1106 - figure $100 for shipping (probably generous), $1206.

Saves you about $150, and it's a "comparable" rig, but actually a bit better. For instance: you get a better processor (3.2 vs. 2.8), probably better RAM (do they list the RAM specs? - this is some of the best DDR2 667 w/ a lifetime warranty too), a better video card (this is even better than a stock GT), twice the hard drive space (5 year warranty there too), a bigger/better PSU (3 year warranty on that I think)... you can see there are serious advantages to building your own. Performance edge and slight savings. Matching the Dell specs (slower RAM, less powerful PSU, slower CPU, etc), we'd probably save another $200.

It's about value I suppose. It's not a ridiculous amount different, but when you start to look at the actual quality of every component in the system is when I always end up wanting to build my own. I'd rather get known quality components and spend some time building, but then again I'm going to overclock anything I get so...

Totally up to you man. Like I said before, that Dell rig isn't a bad deal at all. Now that they stopped using proprietary power plugs, you can also upgrade anything you want in the Dell rig too. I used to say no to Dell based on proprietary PSU plugs alone. Now, I sort of recommend them to my family, because they don't care about quality they just need computers for cheap. That way I get out of supporting them too. Well, for the first year or two anyway. lol.

Wow...that is pretty convincing man. I won't lie. Looking at things I could even probably hack off another $50-100 bucks if I am smart.

Couple questions:

CPU:

I've liked AMD in the past, but I am not partial one way or the other. I know AMD sometimes has cheaper prices. What is the better CPU overall? for 'desktop'work? For gaming?

Video Card: I am really lost here.

One of the things I like as a possiblity is eventually doing SLI (too rich for me currently). But this card would be good for now? Even better with SLI? SOmeone told me that the 7600 series in SLI was really good? That true?

Any other things you would suggest?


Do you prefer newegg? Any other vendors you like?

 

[Noubourne]

To answer your questions:

Newegg is god for online retailers as far as I'm concerned. I also like ZipZoomFly and TigerDirect and Monarch (because they're sometimes cheapest). Don't use Monarch often though.

The 7900GT is one of the best video cards on the market. It will kick the teeth out of a 7600. I know it's not always true, but in Nvidia video card terms, bigger numbers mean better. I have an eVGA and I love it, so that's why I recommend them. The 7900GT is sub $300 and it will give you 85% of the performance as a $600 video card. There really is no competition in that price range, or dollar/performance-wise at the high end. I'd venture to say it's the 3rd-best video card available, and the only other 2 are over $500, so... get it.

The cheapest dual core AMD chip is $300, so that's why I stuck with the P4. There is no best CPU for "desktop work", because there is no desktop application that comes even close to stressing today's CPUs. AMD is definitely better for gaming, but not by a huge amount, and it's certainly not worth the extra $100 - unless you were going to overclock... but that's another issue altogether.

I won't be buying an Intel rig till Conroe drops, but if you want dual core (and you will for a future type rig), and you have to build RIGHT NOW (as in not 2 months from now), then the Presler is the only sub $300 option in my opinion, and at 65nm it's not too hot, and at 3.2Ghz x2 you won't be hurting either. If you get freaky about performance, you can always buy a nice HSF in the future and crank that baby up a few hundred Mhz. I bet you could hit 3.8 on that thing on a nice $40 HSF. If you gotta share it with your wife for now, then I'd hold off on the overclocking in case something bad happens. Otherwise she may never let you build again!! lol.

 

[thecoffeeguy]

Very cool.

Thanks for the heads up.

Shopping at newegg, after adding everything in the cart except for a case, and after rebates, it comes out to under $1000...wow!

The only things im thinking of altering are a case and the power supply.

I like the one you were looking at, but was also looking at an aspire ATX-AS600W. I think this should be plenty.

Anything else?

Cheers,

thecoffeeguy

 

[bamacre]

LOL, now you are thinking of building? If you want something a little cheaper...

Coolermaster CAV-T03-UW Cavalier 3 Aluminum Mid Tower Case (Silver) Retail
$70.00
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=141775

Fortron AX450-PN 450W Power Supply - Retail
$60.19
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104954

Asus P5ND2-SLI nForce4 SLI Intel Edition P4/Pentium D/Celeron 1066FSB LGA775 DDR2 ATX Motherboard
$92.99
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=247012

Intel® Pentium® Processor 930 3.0GHz, 800MHz FSB, Socket 775, 2x2MB Cache, Dual Core Retail
$178.90
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80851

Corsair VS2GBKIT667D2 2GB Kit DDR2-667 PC2-5300 Value Select Memory Retail
$147.90
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=85016-47

Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB Serial ATA II 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer
$79.99
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=101220-11

NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE/ATAPI Model ND-3550A
$39.99
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=172512

eVGA e-GeForce 7900 GT CO PCI Express 256MB GDDR3 Video Card w/DVI-I Retail
$279.99
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=322773

Total Price Shipped: $949.95 (actually cheaper after MIR's in there)

 

[Noubourne]

Weaker PSU, slower vid card, crappy RAM that runs slower than the mobo can handle - man! What did you save him, $100? Not worth it! I would go with the options I suggested. All quality hardware. That's moving into Dell's buy-the-cheapest-you-can territory.

He said he wanted to go SLI, and you point him to a 450w PSU? Come on man, use your brain.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: m1ldslide1

My googling says that the 7900GS is a PCI-E card, even though the other GS series cards are AGP.

Dell trying to make something sound better than it really is? [sarcasm]NAH....[/sarcasm]

no, more like dell gets their own custom sh!t because they buy more than anyone else. i'm guessing these actually are G71 chips with a quad disabled. nvidia is happy becuase those couldn't be sold at 7900GTs so they would just toss them otherwise.

dell's site says 20 pixels shaders and 7 vertex shaders. plugging the clocks of 470/660 into GPUreview, we see that it has the same memory bandwidth as a 7900GT and about 1/10th slower on the shader and texture fill rates

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: bamacre
LOL, now you are thinking of building? If you want something a little cheaper...

Coolermaster CAV-T03-UW Cavalier 3 Aluminum Mid Tower Case (Silver) Retail
$70.00
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=141775

Fortron AX450-PN 450W Power Supply - Retail
$60.19
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104954

Asus P5ND2-SLI nForce4 SLI Intel Edition P4/Pentium D/Celeron 1066FSB LGA775 DDR2 ATX Motherboard
$92.99
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=247012

Intel® Pentium® Processor 930 3.0GHz, 800MHz FSB, Socket 775, 2x2MB Cache, Dual Core Retail
$178.90
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80851

Corsair VS2GBKIT667D2 2GB Kit DDR2-667 PC2-5300 Value Select Memory Retail
$147.90
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=85016-47

Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB Serial ATA II 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer
$79.99
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=101220-11

NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE/ATAPI Model ND-3550A
$39.99
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=172512

eVGA e-GeForce 7900 GT CO PCI Express 256MB GDDR3 Video Card w/DVI-I Retail
$279.99
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=322773

Total Price Shipped: $949.95 (actually cheaper after MIR's in there)

where's windows?

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: Noubourne
Weaker PSU, slower vid card, crappy RAM that runs slower than the mobo can handle - man! What did you save him, $100? Not worth it! I would go with the options I suggested. All quality hardware. That's moving into Dell's buy-the-cheapest-you-can territory.

He said he wanted to go SLI, and you point him to a 450w PSU? Come on man, use your brain.

Just trying to help. He said...

I'm not a "hardcore gamer" per say,

... in the OP. Maybe I missed him saying SLI would be desirable. Quite a stretch. SLI is horrible anyway, not a good value, and not a good upgrade option either. And I think it's about $225 cheaper, after shipping.

And as for memory, the FSB of the Pentium is 800mhz, you're not going to see a significant, if any, increase in speed to adding more expensive memory, very different from AMD's.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
where's windows?

Yarr, I left her on thee ship.

 

[ElFenix]

my favorite part of the dell xps 700:

512MB ATI Radeon X1900 XTX [add $50 or $1/month2]
Own this - Pwn them

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
my favorite part of the dell xps 700:

512MB ATI Radeon X1900 XTX [add $50 or $1/month2]
Own this - Pwn them

"Pay our price, you = pwned!"