Home built versus Dell???

[Budmantom]

That is a great deal.

For a coupon you should try FW.

 

[dexvx]

Another thing in consideration is that Dell PC's (their Dimension lines at least), are silent. You'd have to spend a lot of extra money to get a home built system close to that silence.

Are you sure...? I'm certain the XPS uses a proprietary power supply and I'm almost certain that it was like five years ago that they changed from the industry standard to proprietary, and am not aware of them changing back.

Yes, its been announced. All XPS, 8250, 46xx, 45xx, some 82xx systems use industry standard ATX PSUs.

 

[sniperruff]

if you ask me i'd get the dell and follow closely on the rebate

but i guess it's all up to arameth.

i suggest filpping a coin

 

[majewski9]

Dell pc's while being quiet put out the heat since their fans are low spinning RPM and have heat duct. Dell is guilty of every crummy trick in building PC's ... their own form factors, crappy PSU's, and sub standard cases. At work we have close to 50 Dell Dimensions packing 2.8 ghz p IV's and 2.4 ghz p IVs as well. They all suffer from random resets, put out heat, and dont feel as fast they should be ( probaly crappy mem timings). I compared these to my current AMD rig @ 1.733 and SDRAM for god sakes .... Im proud to say that AMD rig feels just as fast if not faster especially in Visual Studio and Office Apps only two things in common with those systems. Also the Dells have very unreliable floppy drives and they are noisy as all hell .... they also seek periodically for no reason which is by far the weirdest pc problem ive seen in quite awhile.

Oh and yeah you can buy a " silent" fan for amd and intel rigs for pratically nothing. Even a SLK 900 with a powerful 92 mm fan and a speed control now would be nearly silent if you turned it way down. Who is that person that said you couldnt make your home built PC as quiet as a Dell? You sir are a fool ! I can get a silent fan and run overclocked easily.

Hmm industry satndard PSu's yeah what rated @ 100 watts.... gimme a break Dell!

 

[mchammer187]

i'd go dell

 

[LikeLinus]

Originally posted by: majewski9
Dell pc's while being quiet put out the heat since their fans are low spinning RPM and have heat duct. Dell is guilty of every crummy trick in building PC's ... their own form factors, crappy PSU's, and sub standard cases. At work we have close to 50 Dell Dimensions packing 2.8 ghz p IV's and 2.4 ghz p IVs as well. They all suffer from random resets, put out heat, and dont feel as fast they should be ( probaly crappy mem timings). I compared these to my current AMD rig @ 1.733 and SDRAM for god sakes .... Im proud to say that AMD rig feels just as fast if not faster especially in Visual Studio and Office Apps only two things in common with those systems. Also the Dells have very unreliable floppy drives and they are noisy as all hell .... they also seek periodically for no reason which is by far the weirdest pc problem ive seen in quite awhile.

Oh and yeah you can buy a " silent" fan for amd and intel rigs for pratically nothing. Even a SLK 900 with a powerful 92 mm fan and a speed control now would be nearly silent if you turned it way down. Who is that person that said you couldnt make your home built PC as quiet as a Dell? You sir are a fool ! I can get a silent fan and run overclocked easily.

Hmm industry satndard PSu's yeah what rated @ 100 watts.... gimme a break Dell!

Eh thats pretty stupid....

1. "Crummy Trick in the book". So youre saying because they build it to thier own specs thats a crummy trick? Its like saying Ford is using crummy tactics because you can't just stick a chevy engine in place of it. It's the whole part of having a product your own. They have to supply a warranty and this is one way that helps them make sure you aren't just swapping out parts and such. If you don't like their product, don't buy it. But that doesn't mean they are resorting to "crummy tactics"

2. As far as Dell cases? They are some of the better cases around.

3. "Hmm industry satndard PSu's yeah what rated @ 100 watts.... gimme a break Dell" Uh whats the problem here? What does it matter what it's rated as. Dell uses some of the industry best PS. They are rated low but put out very clean and strong power. The machine is built to spec and works with what it needs?

It seems youre just a Dell hater. I myself build all my machines but own a Dell Poweredge Server. It's one quality built computer and works 24/7.

 

[jacktesterson]

Thats a good price

but let me show you something from NCIX.com (CDN Dollars)

SOLTEK SL-86SPE-L I865PE S478 800MHZ DUAL DDR AGP8X 6PCI SATA SOUND LAN- $158
512MB PC-3200 Ram- $135
Pentium 4 2.4C 800 MHz- $258
Seagate Barracuda 80 GB 7200 RPM- $114
MSI Geforce 4 TI 4800 128MB- $227 (Radeon 128MB 9800 NP is $400, 9600 Pro is $260, 9500 is $200, Ti 4200 128MB- $175, Radeon 9100 128MB- $100)
ANTEC SLK2600AMB CASE MID-TOWER ATX12V w/ P4 True 300W- $88
LG DVDRW Drive- $220


This computer with the ATI Radeon 9800 NP 128MB is $1375 Canadian (around 1000 american) And that has major o/c capabilites

The Dell is still a good deal, but I would only buy a Dell laptop.

 

[dexvx]

I hope you're ready this today, but look on the Hot deals forum.

Dell 4600 (i865PE chipset with AGP)
256MB DDR PC3200 <-- would add more, but its enough to get by
ATI Radeon 9800 NP 128MB
2.4 Ghz Pentium 4, 800Mhz with HT
4x DVD+RW burner
Intel Pro/100 NIC

The rest you're familiar with, for less than $600 shipped + taxes.

And to the Dell bashers, no amount of computer firepower can save you from stupidity and human error.

 

[Budmantom]

Originally posted by: dexvx
I hope you're ready this today, but look on the Hot deals forum.

Dell 4600 (i865PE chipset with AGP)
256MB DDR PC3200 <-- would add more, but its enough to get by
ATI Radeon 9800 NP 128MB
2.4 Ghz Pentium 4, 800Mhz with HT
4x DVD+RW burner
Intel Pro/100 NIC

The rest you're familiar with, for less than $600 shipped + taxes.

And to the Dell bashers, no amount of computer firepower can save you from stupidity and human error.

Very well put!

 

[heartsurgeon]

you can't put a system together for the price that dell can sell it for (remember they include software, warranty)

all that said, it is a learning experience, and it is fun to build your own..

if you want cheap...by dell
if you want to learn about putting a system together..build your own (but you will spend more)

 

[mechBgon]

I just want to repeat my advice about not saddling yourself with two 128Mb DDR400 modules for a gaming system. That article Wesley put up on AnandTech might be worthwhile reading before you make up your mind: link

Cliff-notes version: matching modules = good, and 4 matching modules > 2 matching modules.

 

[sunase]

>Came to 829, minus 150 MIR ...

I have had so much trouble with manufacturer's rebates it's not funny, half the time my mail in ones are just ignored. I wouldn't count it towards the price if it's a mail in, just as a windfall you might receive later in life, heh.

I would vote build your own, no crap mb or sucky mem sticks for me. The only time I've bought prebuilt is for people who need the tech support (can't do it on their own) and have no conception of overclocking, etc.

 

[brettjrob]

Custom built is the way to go, even if it lightens your wallet more in this particular case (usually it's the opposite). Even though the specs look impressive, it's because Dell sells computers through marketing hype... since most people look at the CPU speed before anything else, they can sell a 3GHz P4 system for $1500 regardless of the quality of the other components. So here you have a Dell 2.4GHz P4 with dual-channel DDR400... so great deal, the same performance as if you picked out an IS7, 2.4C, Corsair PC3200, and a Western Digital SE HDD, right? I think not. I highly doubt that memory is running at decent timings (CL3 perhaps?), I doubt the hard drive is high-performance, and I doubt that motherboard can touch any of the Springdales/Canterwoods out there from ABIT/ASUS/etc. These may all sounds like minor performance differences on their own, but when they all add up you're probably going to end up seeing overall system performance significantly lower than if you had assembled your own system. Just my opinion, though... I haven't actually seen benchmarks on Dell systems .

 

[Ionizer86]

I'd say the days of building your own comps to save $ are probably pretty much over, but if you shop well, you can beat Dell's prices, though their adding in a R9800 is a great value if you need one. I'd build my own not really to save $ but to have quality parts. As for warranties, stuff rarely breaks, and even if stuff breaks, it's a good opportunity to do an incremental upgrade (usually, parts are very cheap too):

50 cents a gig Maxtor Ultra drives, $10 after rebate burners that are possibly Liteons, 256 2700 Kingston ram for $15 (a few weeks back), etc.

The Dell is still a good deal, but I would only buy a Dell laptop.

Actually, we kinda needed a laptop so I just ordered one yesterday. I looked thru, and even the refurb ~$800 ones were all celeries, didn't have dual DVD/CD-RW, and were lacking in other areas.

I configged a laptop from Hewlett Compaqard that had a Barton XP-M lo volt 2400+, 256 2100 (can always add more cheaply), 30GB, XP Pro, Radeon 320 IGP chipset, CD-RW/DVD. They've done a pretty good job for a company like HP, and with a lappy boasting a Barton, it's going to be creaming every celery ever, and the performance will be close to that of centrino systems Total ~$760ish after all the promos I loaded on.

So yes, home built desktops are cool, as are HP's AMD lappies (over Dell's Celeries).

 

[Finnkc]

drop the Dell idea ... build one for your self.

 

[Budmantom]

Originally posted by: brettjrob
Custom built is the way to go, even if it lightens your wallet more in this particular case (usually it's the opposite). Even though the specs look impressive, it's because Dell sells computers through marketing hype... since most people look at the CPU speed before anything else, they can sell a 3GHz P4 system for $1500 regardless of the quality of the other components. So here you have a Dell 2.4GHz P4 with dual-channel DDR400... so great deal, the same performance as if you picked out an IS7, 2.4C, Corsair PC3200, and a Western Digital SE HDD, right? I think not. I highly doubt that memory is running at decent timings (CL3 perhaps?), I doubt the hard drive is high-performance, and I doubt that motherboard can touch any of the Springdales/Canterwoods out there from ABIT/ASUS/etc. These may all sounds like minor performance differences on their own, but when they all add up you're probably going to end up seeing overall system performance significantly lower than if you had assembled your own system. Just my opinion, though... I haven't actually seen benchmarks on Dell systems .

Don't forget to mention a$110 dvd burner, and a $130 9800 how about the OS. I also like having 24/7 tech support what price do you put on that? I have seen plenty of people here build computers without a hitch, I have also seen people going crazy over little bugs that they were having a hard time working out.

If you like to build your own then go for it, its a nice hobby. I like a new computer every year, it's a lot easier selling a Dell to the "comon folk" then a home built(even with the latest and greatest parts).

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Budmantom

Originally posted by: brettjrob
Custom built is the way to go, even if it lightens your wallet more in this particular case (usually it's the opposite). Even though the specs look impressive, it's because Dell sells computers through marketing hype... since most people look at the CPU speed before anything else, they can sell a 3GHz P4 system for $1500 regardless of the quality of the other components. So here you have a Dell 2.4GHz P4 with dual-channel DDR400... so great deal, the same performance as if you picked out an IS7, 2.4C, Corsair PC3200, and a Western Digital SE HDD, right? I think not. I highly doubt that memory is running at decent timings (CL3 perhaps?), I doubt the hard drive is high-performance, and I doubt that motherboard can touch any of the Springdales/Canterwoods out there from ABIT/ASUS/etc. These may all sounds like minor performance differences on their own, but when they all add up you're probably going to end up seeing overall system performance significantly lower than if you had assembled your own system. Just my opinion, though... I haven't actually seen benchmarks on Dell systems .

Don't forget to mention a$110 dvd burner, and a $130 9800 how about the OS. I also like having 24/7 tech support what price do you put on that? I have seen plenty of people here build computers without a hitch, I have also seen people going crazy over little bugs that they were having a hard time working out.

If you like to build your own then go for it, its a nice hobby. I like a new computer every year, it's a lot easier selling a Dell to the "comon folk" then a home built(even with the latest and greatest parts).

I think that anyone who builds his/her own can count on 24/7 tech support right here at the Forums. Heck, I even help people who have Dells, and I don't charge anything either.

 

[arameth]

For those of you who actually care:

Dude, I got the dell (I should be shot for using that line...).


I added on the 19" 1901FP monitor that has been discussed in other threads, as it was 25% offf (20% plus 5% coupon). All said and done, I think I got a good system, that will do a good job with gaming (Radeon 9800) and burn some DVD's too.

I'm curious, but maybe this belongs in another thread: From what I understand, Dell machines use Interl motherboards, which are not very over-clockable? How much truth to this is there? I'm not so worried about overclocking...and more worried about stability, as I've had some real POS systems in my time.

Thanks again to everyone for their input, which helped me make up my mind

 

[mechBgon]

They're not overclockable, you can count on that Please tell me you got at least 512Mb of RAM, though!

 

[Markfw]

I just looked at one of those for a friend of mine, as he wanted to add a drive or two. No space in the case for what he wanted, and the motherboard was proprietary, so he couldn't change cases. The power supply was a really small one (can't remember the exact wattage, but below 300), and there was an "integrated" hood over the CPU, so I doubt even if the bios allowed it, and the case connector were proprietary,etc.....

In other words, if you NEVER change anything in the computer, its a decent deal, otherwise you're screwed. I vote the build it yourself way. They are also much better components, as well as being upgradeable, EVEN to a P4 if you wanted to !!!! (I am an AMD fan, but actually built a P4 for somebody and recommended it because at the time it was the best "bang for the buck", a Frys 2.4 and ECS mobo for $159)

 

[Budmantom]

Originally posted by: arameth
For those of you who actually care:

Dude, I got the dell (I should be shot for using that line...).


I added on the 19" 1901FP monitor that has been discussed in other threads, as it was 25% offf (20% plus 5% coupon). All said and done, I think I got a good system, that will do a good job with gaming (Radeon 9800) and burn some DVD's too.

I'm curious, but maybe this belongs in another thread: From what I understand, Dell machines use Interl motherboards, which are not very over-clockable? How much truth to this is there? I'm not so worried about overclocking...and more worried about stability, as I've had some real POS systems in my time.

Thanks again to everyone for their input, which helped me make up my mind

That's cool, they are stable. I think that's why Dell made them that way to ensure longevity. The system looks like it will last you a while 2.4ghz, 9800, dvd+r now all you have to do is buy more ram and a bigger hard drive.