TIme to upgrade need advice

http://www.alienware.com/product_det...EFAULT#pdp-nav
http://www.alienware.com/product_det...de=SKU-DEFAULT

basically i have a budget of around 2k, I wana get the best bang for my buck, Also could any one point my in the right direction for laptops aswell?

i really need advice, i need these computers mostly for gaming and multimedia(video editing etc)

thanks

i would like a laptop, but i will get a desktop if its better and cheaper.

Is the 2k in USD$? Perhaps Dell or PCWorld USA might have better value machines. Alienware are high quality and aesthetically pleasing but you pay a lot for their goods and you could get better specs for less elsewhere.

I'm a fan of AMD so I would say the first choice, then again the Intel option look rather nice. Not much different in term of bang per buck for both of them.

Alienware's machine are made for gamer and their costomer support is second to none, I have one of their custom build pc as well. If you can blow 2k on a pc then go for it.

Dell is a piece of poo when it come to high grade gaming pc, not to mention the costomer support. No idea about PC world US, but the UK counter part is crap. But hey 2k is a lot of money so it's your call, Moth.

Well buying a prebuilt computer (like one from alienware, dell, etc..) is almost always more expensive than configuring one yourself from different parts. With alienware you are paying for the brand and you can expect to pay at least $500 extra for that. If you are even remotely computer savvy I recommend you go to one of the several discount computer part sites and order each piece seperately. For $2000 dollars you can get a very powerful and beautiful machine. Even if you are unable to assemble it yourself, you can pay a computer repair guy to assemble it and still come out ahead. With Alienware computers and Dells you a paying extra for warranties, customer support, as well as LED lights and other power consuming garbage.

Also there are limited choices when configuring your alienware or dell systems, especially when you are at there lower-end price range. You'll end up with crappy or overkill powersupplies, flashing 1337 style lights, and an oven for a computer case. My advice: configure it yourself with your own priorites in mind and save that extra money for better motherboard, more ram, or a better video card.

check this link to a previous post. HAs similar information for the similar problem http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10134686

You know that Alienware is owned and operated by Dell, right?

I would not buy Alienware in a million years personally. They're ridiculously overpriced. Dells really aren't that bad...you just have to buy the right system. Dell has a bad rep when it comes to gaming PCs because so many people buy the $499 deal-of-the-month and expect to upgrade it into a gaming PC, only to find out that it has no PCI-Express 16x slot and only 1 or 2 free PCI slots. The solution: call them on the phone, buy one of the higher-end systems made for multimedia and gaming. Insist on a motherboard with expansion slots and an upgraded power supply. A friend of mine did that and got a nice system out of it. Of course the $499 PC is going to be a crappy gaming rig. That's just common sense.

with 2k, you could pay a friend who knows computers 100bucks to help you build one (or do it yourself if you know how) and build the equivalent of 3 alienwares for the same price

I have a friend who could build me one, and, I live in Australia so a pc part store located here or cheapest would be nice.

I'd rather spend less money, lol. So if i spend say 1,000 dollars, by buying the parts myself, I could get one equivalent to that of alienware? help..

I would just go to your local computer store and buy one there anyone rally an HP,Compaq.Toshiba,Sony or Acer.I hear Acer makes some good gaming labtops.

check the local prices check online from like newegg or the equivelant in Australia then ompare and make a descion

You can build a computer equivalent to a $2000 Alienware for about $1000 without skimping on quality. Those prices in USD of course, but I'm sure you can save that much over in Australia too...

I don't know any online pc stores in Australia i don't mind ordering form the U.S, but does any one have any recommendations of the what system i should have?

I didn't know!!! God I feel like an idiot now

Don't feel like an idiot!

A lot of people weren't aware of the acquisition of Alienware by Dell. They did it fairly quietly some time ago. From what I can tell, Alienware still maintains their own product line...it's not like the Alienware machines are just re-badged Dells or anything like that.

For online stores just do a search with the local browser. or do up a sample order on one of the recommened sites and inquire on shipping to AU.

Recommendations- check the reqs for all the games you play for max and min and do the best your budget will allow to exceed the max reqs. F0r a grand off of newegg you can get a dual core proc, 2+g RAM, bitchen case, 250gb hard drive, CD/DVD burner reader and top line vid card of your choice.

many new products are coming out between april and this summer (july).
you may or may not want to wait that long, it is up to you.
as many people have mentioned, if it much cheaper to go to a local store or order online and assembly it yourself (or pay for assembly) than to buy an Alienware type of computer that is ridiculously overpriced.
even if you do not know to much about computers,
people here at the forums can help you out, get to a part list and give you links so that you can either buy parts online or just bring the list to a local store and have them set it up and all.
just be ready to do a little extra research so you dont end up getting the wrong parts or being tricked by a local store.
for $1000 you can get a pretty good gaming comp nowaday, no reason to drop $2000 when technology changes so fast.

My friend reckons i should get a itanium processor, 1.4 ghz one cost 900 bucks, and a AMD Athlon 64 FX-74 3.0GHz Socket F (1207 FX) DSDC - Retail cost around 500 dollars

And im more then willing to wait until April for new products..

I dont know why ppl bag Dell. In Australia its the only "brand name" PC i'll buy or recommend to anyone. Bought 3 over last 7 years and not one problem.

2k in aus will get you a leet gaming machine (ie run GWs on max graphics on dialup with 60 fps). Only catch is you gotta know what you what.

Here's a good place to start: http://www.secret.com.au/ http://www.secret.com.au/cgi-bin/com...requent_Gaming

I have nothing bad to say about Dell's products.

Most people's problems with Dell stem from their struggles to maintain good customer service.

See... ALL computer brands are going to have defects. It's just a matter of fact in any manufacturing process. Things go the slightest bit out of tolerance and VIOLA... a graphics card that only has half the expected life span.

With MOST of the companies where you pay extra you are paying for the fact that they have much better controls and testing in place to catch more of those defects than the less expensive ones.

Sure, sometimes the same machines roll off the same lines. You will still see the higher standards expected from the more pricey names. (my wife worked in a circuit board production facility once and HP would let anything through whereas say, Sony would reject stuff for the slightest flaws)

-=-

Really what it boils down to is:

Do you have the time to do the research or do you have a friend that is into all that stuff and can point you in the right direction?

If not you may want to go ahead and pay extra for the top of the line product with top of the line support. Otherwise you could possibly end up with a lot of down time and a lot of headaches.

Since you sound like money is an issue (and of course it is... even the super rich are frugal) it may be worth it to you to read up on stuff and learn the basics to build your own system.

The actual assembly is VERY easy. Just be careful and observe all the precautions (there are 100's of magazines and websites and books out there that explain them) and physically putting the pieces together is really the fastest part.

The nightmares will begin with compatibility issues. Those are the things you need to read up on the most so that you will not end up with $2,000 worth of SWEET components that are basically useless to you because they don't play well with each other.

"Will this motherboard support the graphics card I want?" "Will it support the memory I want in it?" "What are the upgrade potentials for this motherboard?" etc... THOSE are the questions you need to know before you make any purchase.

Don't forget to look at OS and software issues. Things like... Windows Vista. Do you want Vista? Because like any new OS from Microsoft it's still really buggy. Honestly, I wouldn't want Vista right now unless it came on the machine. At least that way I know the manufacturer at least has the correct drivers for it (for the time being anyway).

I could go on for days... LOL

As much as I hate my HP's they are way more stable than the last two machines I built I tried to buy discount parts and they've been nothing but nightmares from the start. Sometimes the phrase "you get what you pay for" really comes back to bite ya in the rear!

dont buy Itanium or FX-74, totally waste of money.
If u want Quad core go with Q6600/700, if u can settle with a dual core, take a E6600 (with the price cut in april). Now you could wait for the new ATI card, but then u would have to wait 2-3months, so if you want the best of the best, take a 8800GTX, 4gb ram, a good motherboard (nforce 680i, or a intel equivalent), a PSU from Seasonic (M series) a 150gb raptor and some storage hds and ur ready to rumble.

1. E6600 / Q6600/700
2. 8800GTX
3.4gb ram (ddr2)
5. PSU , Seasonic M series
6. Case, Maybe a Silverstone TJ9 ?
7.Hardrive: Raptor + storage drives
8. Motherboard; 680i or intel

2000dollars should be enough

Itanium? How is that even an option? It doesn't even have a native x86 instruction set...it has to emulate. It's barely compatible with x86 instructions. No, Itanium is NOT a processor for personal desktops. It's not even really designed to run Windows.

Aside from that, 4GB of RAM is a bad idea unless you're going to be running Windows Vista...XP can't handle 4GB of RAM very well. IMHO Raptor drives are a waste of money unless you're ok with spending twice as much for your HDD storage for very little performance increase. The newer, high-end 7200rpm drives are only a hair slower than a Raptor (to the point that you probably wouldn't notice much difference), cost half as much, and are more reliable (in general).

As has been pointed out many times, this is not close to being true anymore.

My favorite boutique is digitalstorm.com, but all the boutiques generally are priced about the same.

Go to Alienware's website and configure the computer you want. Then find the same components on Newegg and sum up the prices. Don't forget to add the operating system, cooling, cables, etc.

The amount you'd save by DIYing is only 15-20 percent. In other words, the E6600 that costs $304 on Newegg is being sold for the equivalent of $350 by the boutique. These are real savings, but on a typical system you are only talking about $200 max savings. For a lot of people, maybe the $200-$300 would be worth it for the OEM's warranty, customer care, etc.

I assumed he was gonna use vista , but if not 3gb ( theres a patch for xp with 3gb ?) would do. or minimum 2gb. And with the budget he had, he can get raptors, anything to boost that video editing right.

thanks for all the feedback so far, has really helped. Also, i would like to make sure my MB is SLI aswell and how much PSU do i need to run a good system? would 500W be enough or should i go at least 800?

Well, IMHO SLI is a waste of:

• Money (on the second video card, plus the more expensive PSU and motherboard)
• An expansion slot
• A video card

SLI is insanely inefficient. By the time you cut through the overhead the speed increase you get at typcal resolutions isn't worth the money. In my experience it's a lot more cost-effective to simply buy a fast single video card and upgrade periodically to a faster one. The only exception to this is when you have a very large, very hi-res monitor (higher than your average 24" monitor), which is where SLI and Crossfire actually have a benefit beyond their fairly unimpressive framerate increase (for the money).

On the power supply: it really depends on what hardware you have in your system and what brand of power supply you're buying. If you want to plan ahead, a 700w from a good company (PC Power & Cooling, Antec, Enermax, Sparkle, OCZ, Seasonic, Hiper, etc.) should serve you well for some time. You'd probably be fine with a 600w, though. Like I said, it depends on how many watts you need to drive your configuration. If you're going to do SLI make sure you get an SLI-compliant PSU with (at least) dual 12v rails and two PCI-Express connectors.

Heh, this is incorrect. The reason the price differentials are fairly close between certain OEMs vs buying the system and piecing it together all comes down to the quality of parts chosen. With Alienware and the other OEMs you're at their mercy when it comes to what goes into the computer, sure you might get to choose the thing they're adding, but for the most part you're getting the shittiest things available. Hell just look at most motherboards, generic RAM, and horrendous PSUs used in those system builds.

Not to mention the ability to tweak a custom setup, and not have a stupid amount of OEM software clogging up resources. I'm an overclocker by heart, and definition, and if nothing else this fuels my extreme distaste of almost all OEMs. The only good OEM is an extreme budget build, say for an office PC, or a laptop. Otherwise I can / will build something that is considerably better, for (usually) considerably less money. This gap widens when you look at their "top of the line" computers, $6k for that Area-51 ALX is retarded.

I hate being wrong, so I did what you said just to prove my point:

$1999 computer on Alienware, the Aurora 7500.

AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 4600+ Processor = $120
Genuine Windows® Vista Home Premium = $120
Alienware® Approved NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI Motherboard = $130 (eVGA)
1GB Low Latency DDR2 PC2-6400 SDRAM at 800MHz - 2 x 512MB = $95 (OCZ CAS4)
250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ 8MB Cache = $75 (Seagate)
18X Dual Layer DVD±RW/CD-RW Burner = $30 (NEC)
320MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8800 GTS = $280 (eVGA)
Alienware® 700 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply = $180 (FSP 760W)
Some case to make the numbers nice and even = $170

Total = $1200 before $60 in rebates

It might not be $1000 less like I said, but $800 is a lot. Let's see what the $800 gives you:

1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service
Alienware keyboard, mouse, and mousepad
AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - $100 Value - FREE!
AlienWiring - Exclusive Internal Wire Management - $100 Value - FREE!
Free Alienware® T-Shirt - Black - a $19.99 value
Alienware® Standard System Cooling
Alienware® P2 Chassis with AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling

Regular keyboard, mouse, and mousepad with the Alienware logo on them - worth $0 to me, but maybe $20-30 to some.
$100 value for "integration and inspection" - um, ok?
$100 value for "internal wire management" - cable ties, etc, cost <$5 and a little bit of time
T-shirt - I wouldn't wear it, $0
Standard System Cooling - air cooling, $0
AlienIce Video Cooling- air cooling, $0 - looked everywhere to find out what this actually is, finally found an article with a picture. In that picture, they have an Alienware with "Alienware® High-Performance Liquid Cooling" and "AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling ". The video cards are air-cooled. Note how the tubes don't connect with a block on the cards. Air cooling given the name "AlienIce" is still air cooling, and those coolers look like standard coolers you get on the 8800's.

I believe this system isn't worth anything more than $1200 (actually less, IMO), despite all those fancy marketing names they have. I think building one yourself is the better way to go.

Kandalf LCS VD4000BWS Case with 2x VGA Water blocks
Core 2 Duo QX6700 overclocked to 3.5GHz
6GB DDR2 Ram with OCZ XLC
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB SATA HDD
GeForce 8800 GTX x2 in SLI
Tagan TG1100-U95 PSU
Asus P5NSLI MotherBoard


How would you guys rate that?