self build or Dell?

[adams828]

hey, I'm looking to get a new computer soon, and was looking for some advice. mainly the computer will be for moderate gaming, music and websurfing. I'd like to get something that will play current games well and perform decently on upcoming games (ie HL2).

my main questions are: a) is now a decent time to buy a system, or is anything coming out soon that will cause major price drops and b) should i build my own system, or wait for dell to have those good deals? I built the system i'm running now myself, so that's not a problem.. but i'm also not planning on tweaking/overclocking either.

Right now it just seems that while building my own allows more component flexabiltiy, some of the prices on the recent dell deals seem too hard to pass up.

thanks for the help, will give more info if it's needed.

 

[swank121]

Dell does have some good deals, but most of the time it's not much harder to build a comparable system yourself for the same price. The benefits of a Dell are in the service IMO, and cheap flat-screen monitors. There isn't any hardware in the near future that will cause a severe price drop .. most of the exciting stuff (Prescott, PCI Express, ATI's next-gen chip) won't be introduced until sometime in the first half of next year. Prices aren't likely to change until after the holidays. Now is as good a time as any to buy a system. The Barton's are very good for the money and Intel has one hell of an overclocker with the 2.4C, and the motherboard chipsets on both sides have matured. ATI 9700 and 9800 Pros are a steal right now too. (BTW, I'm selling my 9800 Pro if you are interested ) Dell may be more convenient, but all things being equal, nothing can top the feeling of creating your own computer system.

 

[Schadenfroh]

build

 

[PowerEngineer]

I suspect you'll find that most people frequenting these boards will recommend building your own system. After all, Anandtech is for computer enthusiasts. We want to understand what's going on inside the box, and enjoy the whole process of selecting parts and assembling the machine. If you see yourself this way too, then I'd definitely build it. It shouldn't cost much more than buying the Dell. On the other hand, if computers isn't your hobby then there's nothing wrong with buying the Dell.

Just my two cents. Good luck!

 

[adams828]

hm thanks for the input.. i agree that building is more fun (my current system is self built). just saw that some of the dell deals had great value (or so i thought) and wanted some extra input!

 

[Sluggo]

You may want to read this Anandtech article reviewing the Dell XPS system.

The Dell was nicely configured, but still lagged behind most of the "home built" solutions in almost all of the tests.

 

[adams828]

so any advice in terms of what processor/mobo combo? i've been looking at a p4 2.6C/abit ic7.. any ideas for AMD options? or perhaps something a little less expensive?

 

[Sid59]

depends .. do you upgrade alot? even then .. dell now uses standard everything and easy to upgrade a dell.

if i had the cash, i'd get that DELL XPS .. that case is sweet.

 

[isekii]

after I found the joys of purchasing a dell at a great price.

I never built a system since.

I bought my last Dell 4600 after I do a lil tinkering for like 300 bucks

 

[adams828]

don't do much upgrading... i've had this system since 2000, only upgrade since then was from voodoo3 to radeon7000

i'm hoping this system will last me a while, and while i'm not a hardcore gamer, i would like to be able to play games with some respectable performance. i don't have tons of extra $, so this is like a price/performance thing for me. of course i'd like to spend as little as possible, but i know the performance i'd like comes with some price. soo.. looking at around maybe $600ish? (i already have a case and monitor) i'm probably going to stick with my current HD also for now until i can afford a new sata drive

 

[kuritadelta]

I used to say customize build only all the way !
but this changed early this year or last year when there was a dell deal for a P4 2.4 complete system with 15"LCD for $400.
It was just too cheap to pass up.
There was no way I could've built a comparable system for near that price.
so my point is, dell does sometimes have a outrageous deals.. If you see one, take it.
If not, figure out what your cost would be to customize a computer. If it's only little more for you to build yourself with the parts you want, then by all means build it yourself.

 

[kuritadelta]

one more thing..
If you do end up buying dell or other company's computer, then a clean OS reinstall is highly recommended.
I just hate all that bulls@!# that they pre-install with the OS.

 

[txxxx]

Originally posted by: kuritadelta
one more thing..
If you do end up buying dell or other company's computer, then a clean OS reinstall is highly recommended.
I just hate all that bulls@!# that they pre-install with the OS.

Not necessarily true, the one's at my school are quite neat.

And as for the original poster, if you can find a good dell deal, go for it, although dont expect to overclock it as temps for items run near borderline due to methods of cooling etc.

 

[chocoruacal]

Price
A Dell will pretty much always be cheaper, especially after you factor in software (Windows!!!). DIY parts will probably have a longer warranty. With Dell, anything over 1 year costs $$$$$.
Features
This is where Dell blows. You get zero control over motherboard/RAM. You can forget overclocking.
Performance
Dell=no overclocking. Dell=limited BIOS options. You may think you don't want to overclock/tweak now...but would you rather shell out another $500 for a Dell a year from now, or flip a switch in the BIOS and get 500mhz for free?

Practically speaking...if you tend to buy new every couple of years, rather than upgrade single components, then a Dell is perfect for you.

 

[kuritadelta]

Originally posted by: txxxx

Originally posted by: kuritadelta
one more thing..
If you do end up buying dell or other company's computer, then a clean OS reinstall is highly recommended.
I just hate all that bulls@!# that they pre-install with the OS.

Not necessarily true, the one's at my school are quite neat.

For schools and corporations, it comes with different pre-loaded softwares and programs.. more useful group of pre-loaded programs. This is because, usually those computers are special ordered to meet their use. Schools and corporations tells Dell to install specific programs that they will need.
Unless you do large quantity buy like them, most people will never get that option.
I am sure there are some things that a person will find useful some times.
But over all, most of the preloaded softwares are not worth keeping around.
sure i found a program that I needed, like word.
But about 20 other programs were just garbage..
Most "essencial" programs are highly available to people these days.
Is it worth keeping the pre-loaded programed OS for just couple 1 or 2 programs you will ever need?
They take space and most importantly may slow down the computer, this is why I say do a clean reinstall.

 

[OverVolt]

Originally posted by: adams828
don't do much upgrading... i've had this system since 2000, only upgrade since then was from voodoo3 to radeon7000

i'm hoping this system will last me a while, and while i'm not a hardcore gamer, i would like to be able to play games with some respectable performance. i don't have tons of extra $, so this is like a price/performance thing for me. of course i'd like to spend as little as possible, but i know the performance i'd like comes with some price. soo.. looking at around maybe $600ish? (i already have a case and monitor) i'm probably going to stick with my current HD also for now until i can afford a new sata drive

after this post i just stopped reading, in terms of price/performance AMD is probably your best choice IMO and Dell doesn't sell AMD, so theres your answer really.

If you did buy a pre-built, i'm not sure if i would go with dell since i hear lots of horror stories i would maybe go with an IBM/HP/Polywell/ABS or something, but thats just me i like those companies better than dell, but dell does have some sweet deals. The $400 LCD P4 2.4, prolly has a soldiered off AGP slot so forget gaming (i can be wrong i didn't check) and probably 128mb memory, and a 5400Rpm HD, i think thats a useless system by my standards for anything else than e-mail/browsing. But then why would u need a 2.4Ghz P4? i dont like their pre-config'ed systems.

 

[kuritadelta]

Originally posted by: OverVolt

Originally posted by: adams828
don't do much upgrading... i've had this system since 2000, only upgrade since then was from voodoo3 to radeon7000

i'm hoping this system will last me a while, and while i'm not a hardcore gamer, i would like to be able to play games with some respectable performance. i don't have tons of extra $, so this is like a price/performance thing for me. of course i'd like to spend as little as possible, but i know the performance i'd like comes with some price. soo.. looking at around maybe $600ish? (i already have a case and monitor) i'm probably going to stick with my current HD also for now until i can afford a new sata drive

after this post i just stopped reading, in terms of price/performance AMD is probably your best choice IMO and Dell doesn't sell AMD, so theres your answer really.

If you did buy a pre-built, i'm not sure if i would go with dell since i hear lots of horror stories i would maybe go with an IBM/HP/Polywell/ABS or something, but thats just me i like those companies better than dell, but dell does have some sweet deals. The $400 LCD P4 2.4, prolly has a soldiered off AGP slot so forget gaming (i can be wrong i didn't check) and probably 128mb memory, and a 5400Rpm HD, i think thats a useless system by my standards for anything else than e-mail/browsing. But then why would u need a 2.4Ghz P4? i dont like their pre-config'ed systems.

Apparently you didn't stop reading there.. lol
Well the Dell system I bought for my brother-in-law because it was so cheap came with P4 2.4 with 64MB GF2 MX, 256 MB DDR, 60 GB 7200rpm HDD, 40X CDRW, 15" LCD, etc.. came to be around $450 actually.
It certainly isn't the best spec.. but hardly useless. It was a very respectable system and still is.
And this was purchased about a year ago.
I have bought about 3 computer systems from dell so far(none that I own, but regulary do maintenence and non-hardware servicing).. and I've had nothing but good business from them so far. Especially there support and services are awesome.
Personally I wouldn't touch HP and Compaq's desktops with a 10 foot pole and companies like IBM are not price competitive enough.
I am sure you have a hight taste, but to get back to helping thread, I am sure even you have to admit that for "adams828", similar system like the one I mentioned would be a great buy.

 

[astroview]

I hate custom building, and I'll tell you why. Everytime I do something goes wrong. Whether the motherboard stops randomly working, or a HD has issues, things that are out of my control waste my time troubleshooting.

I like the convenience of buying a barebones system, and upgrading it. And it saves time for me too. While I waste time a lot, I don't like wasting it on fixing something that should be working.

 

[Sureshot324]

Originally posted by: Sid59
depends .. do you upgrade alot? even then .. dell now uses standard everything and easy to upgrade a dell.

Really? They don't use propriety power supply connectors anymore? They must still use their own mobos with custom dell bios's though.

 

[yhelothar]

dells are EXPENSIVE.. I dunno how you are saying they are cheaper than homebuilt...
the only way you can get them cheaper is through super good deals like the 400SC deal or some 4600 deals with lots of rebates.. otherwise most of their systems are rip offs...

 

[hurrikaane]

Originally posted by: chocoruacal
Price
A Dell will pretty much always be cheaper, especially after you factor in software (Windows!!!). DIY parts will probably have a longer warranty. With Dell, anything over 1 year costs $$$$$.
Features
This is where Dell blows. You get zero control over motherboard/RAM. You can forget overclocking.
Performance
Dell=no overclocking. Dell=limited BIOS options. You may think you don't want to overclock/tweak now...but would you rather shell out another $500 for a Dell a year from now, or flip a switch in the BIOS and get 500mhz for free?

Practically speaking...if you tend to buy new every couple of years, rather than upgrade single components, then a Dell is perfect for you.

What? Since when are Dell's cheaper? DIY is 90% of the time MUCH cheaper than Dell. Not to mention better quality parts if you know what you're doing.

 

[McCarthy]

Got a Dell for a family member during one of those deals, I was impressed. Case is nice, performance is nice, and it'd quiet as can be. In fact the only thing you can hear is the HD's seeks. I upgrade more than I need to and still my next computer may be a prebuilt. When the next version of Windows comes along it'll be even more temping. Can upgrade a current Dell pretty effectively and really if you compare gradual constant upgrading to buying a system, using it, buying another...well, get about the same enjoyment/usefulness curve over time.

Like others have said, but I'll mention again, when pricing prebuilt vs homebuilt most price parts vs an entire system. Software costs money too, quite a lot in fact. While much of the bundleware may be annoying at best, the OS is a couple hundred dollar consideration for many if you're going to be legit.

 

[dboy]

Dells are much cheaper if you find the right deals...

I've bought 5 of them in the last year. Here's some example prices:

$70!!! for a 2.4 P4 w/ 256 rdram (this was a year ago, so rdram wasn't SO out of the mainstream then) w/ 40gig HD. Sure, I added 256 more ram, another HD, a vid card (came w/ an ATI Rage), and cdrw, but it was still way cheaper than I could have bought a p4, ram, mobo, case, HD, WinXP for.

More recently, just ordered a pair of 2400s for $279 each after rebate. They come w/ 2.53 P4, 256 pc2700, 80 gig HD, cdrw, WinXP, Office 2003. Granted, they won't be gaming machines (no agp slot), but that's still cheaper than I coudl get just windows and office for!

I bought a 400sc for ~200. Came w/ 2.53 P4 (at the time, retailing for ~150 itself), 128 pc2700, 40gig HD (7200 rpm), cheapo video, cdrom and cdrw. Swapped out the optical drives for a dvdr, sold them and the little ram stick, put in a gig of pc2700, 4 more HDs and a raid card, and an ATI AIW. Now I've got my video editing box. Runs like a champ and again was cheaper than I could have bought the parts for.

My experience / advice - buy a cheap dell (watch the Hot Deals forum!) and use it as a barebones - add a video card (although they have had good deals on those too) and ram and away you go.