Alienware...now or never ?

brianon

I was going to wait until Vista arrived before upgrading but seeing as Alienware will give you a free upgrade to Vista when its out I might just go with them.

What I am looking at is the following...

[1] Area-51™ 7500

Operating System: Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition UK with SP2 - English
Warranty: AlienCare 1-Year Free Phone 24/7 and Collect & Return
Chassis: Alienware® P2 Chassis - Saucer Silver
Chassis Upgrades: Alienware® AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling + AlienFX™ System Lighting + Alienware® High-Performance Liquid Cooling
Power Supply: 700 Watt Alienware® Approved Multi-GPU Power Supply
Motherboard: Alienware® Approved NVIDIA nForce™ 4 SLI Motherboard
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz 2MB Cache 1066MHz FSB
Memory: 2GB DDR2 PC-6400 SDRAM at 800MHz - 2 x 1024MB
Video Card: Dual 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 7950 GT - SLI Enabled
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 150 GB Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s, 10,000 rpm with 16MB Cache
Storage Drive: 500GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s, 7,200 RPM w/16MB Cache
Optical Drive One: 18x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
Network Card: Integrated High Performance Intel Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (DSL-ready)
Floppy Drive: 1.44 MB Floppy Drive - Black
Monitor: (None)
Keyboard: Logitech® G15 Gaming Keyboard - UK
Mouse: Microsoft® Basic Optical Mouse Black
Headphones: Alienware® Ozma 7™ Headphones


How does this look ? What I want is something that a) will last a while ! and b) can be upgraded when it does start to creak.

Cost is €3,800. Could I do better elsewhere ?

Cheers,
Brian.

TerrorFirmer

Seems way overpriced to me. Especially with only an E6300.

edit: Just see - no monitor? Run away. Very fast. What an absolute rip off.

IgsTer

i wouldnt say you should ever get an alien ware there rip offs..that package there could be bought for half the price..

EDIT: this is what you could get for same amount of money..plus a really good 22+" monitor..

http://www.komplett.ie/k/shoplist.asp?mode=receive&si=406907&su=BD75748E-3B49-4D45-8103-11100082C3C4

thats the best graphics card out now..plus probably the best processor out now not counting the quad core..plus all other good parts compared to that alienware..two 320gb drives and a 150gb raptor drive for games and os

brianon

Thanks guys. But its so puuuurty ?

The link doesn't work.

tuxy

I put together something much the same as that, only faster processor (e6600) and air cooling for about €1800 2 months ago. A water cooling kit will cost about €200 i think. You are paying about €1900 for them to put it together and the alienware badge.

tuxy

brianon wrote:

Thanks guys. But its so puuuurty ?

You could put the parts into this
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ALIENWARE-STYLE-PC-CASE-BRAND-NEW-IN-BOX_W0QQitemZ120055823512QQihZ002QQcategoryZ80168QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting
Not the exact same style as a real alienwarecase but close.

brianon

Thanks tuxy. I built my last two PCs but was kinda thinking that this time I might just get it pre-built.

I guess I could save some €€€€€ if I did put it together myself.

Just don't have the time to go trying to figure out the best Mobo/CPU/Ram combo for price/performance/upgradeability right now. Have a new born baby taking up quite a lot of time.

You any recommendations ? In terms of Mobo/CPU I was hoping to get a decent CPU with Top of the range mobo that would allow me to upgrade the CPU for a while yet. So a CPU that isn't end of line.

Last CPU I got was Athlon XP 3200. So that left no options in terms of upgrade unless a new Mobo was purchased

Boston

Komplett systems come pre built, if you buy from them.

IgsTer

yeah you can customise your pc on komplett now and they send it out prebuilt..thats a good way for you to do it..just go to pc section..then down to gaming and pick your parts out for the core2duo computer..

that link should work now mate..

tuxy

LiouVille wrote:

Komplett systems come pre built, if you buy from them.

Ya go here http://komplett.ie/k/ci.asp?sku=10093
and customise

i would recomend
OCZ Technology Powersupply ATX/EPS 600W,
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz Socket
Creative SB X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS PCI,
Microsoft Windows XP Home SP2b
Corsair TWIN2X 5400PRO DDR2, 2048MB CL4,
NEC DVD±recorder AD-5170 IDE Silver OEM
Logitech Z-2300 Speakers 2.1 THX
Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard,
Western Digital Raptor X 150GB SATA
Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB SATA2
Logitech MX518 Optical Mouse,
Gigabyte Triton, GZ-XX1CA-SNS Silver
Asus P5B-V, G965, Socket-775, ATX, VGA,
XFX GeForce 7900GT 470M 256MB GDDR3 Lite

Select none for monitor
Then go here http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=315197 and order that
Should come to about €3500
It will come built,faster processor, with nice speakers , kick ass 24" monitor and you still save €300

The core 2 duo is at the start of its life only about 3 months old, but you can never tell when they will decide to change socket.

brianon

Thanks guys. Savage advise

The Intel Core 2 Extreme. I know they are quite dear but I would need to make sure any mobo I buy could handle them right ?

8T8

As the others have said the cost is very over priced whether the vendor support is worth it is another matter.

OcUK sell a system that would eat the Alienware one for breakfast at a cost of €2609 you get this;

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 2.40GHz Dual Core CPU Overclocked too a minimum of 3.00GHz and beyond. (9 x 333MHz - 1333MHz FSB)
- Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Intel approved cooler
- Arctic Silver 5 Heatsink compound professionally hand installed by our technicians
- ABIT AW9D-MAX Intel 975X (Socket LGA775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
- Award winning GeIL 2GB Ultra PC2-6400 CAS4 (2x1GB) Dual Channel Kit (Overclocked at 900MHz+)
- 320GB Western Digital Enterprise 16MB Cache SATA-2 Hard Drive
- BFG 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 VIVO HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) DirectX 10 Graphics Card
- NEC 7173 18x DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black)
- Black Sony Floppy Drive
- Antec NINE HUNDRED Gamers ATX Case
- BFG 800W Next Generation Power Supply
- Windows XP Home pre-installed with License and CD supplied
- Corsair 1GB Flash Voyager USB2.0 Flash Drive with all latest drivers stored on it should you ever need to do a re-installation.
- Saitek Eclipse 2 Illuminated Keyboard with dimmer and selection of Blue/Red/Purple at click of a button.
- The legendary Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 revised edition with new improved optical tracking engine.
- Microsoft LifeCam VX-1000 Webcam. Have audio/video conversations with anybody anywhere in the world.

The systems CPU is pre-overclocked but if you are wary of such things you can restore it to the stock settings.

With still enough cash to get a high end display (suggestion one & two) as well the cost of a OEM/Retail version of Vista when it comes out.

brianon

8T8 wrote:

As the others have said the cost is very over priced whether the vendor support is worth it is another matter.

OcUK sell a system that would eat the Alienware one for breakfast at a cost of €2609 you get this;



The systems CPU is pre-overclocked but if you are wary of such things you can restore it to the stock settings.

With still enough cash to get a high end display (suggestion one & two) as well the cost of a OEM/Retail version of Vista when it comes out.

Looks very nice

Would the Mobo run a Intel Core 2 Extreme CPU? Like to know I can upgrade.

8T8

Yeah it supports the X6800 CPU - AW9D-MAX is listed.

They actually overclock the E6600 to the X6800 speed with that system.

IgsTer

yeah and a place like ocuk wouldnt sell this if it werent good for the component at the overclocked speeds..so you'd be safe..id say you should get that mate..espcially with the 8800gtx included..:D

brianon

All looks so tempting.

Had a look around Komplett and came up with this.

* 324815 ABIT AW9D-MAX, I975X, Socket-775,SATAII, Silent Otes,2xGbLAN,DDR2,ATX, 2xPCI-Ex16
* 326870 Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional, 64MB, EAX® ADVANCED HD™
* 312367 Crucial DDR2 BallistiX PC6400 2048MB CL4 Kit w/two matched BallistiX 128Megx64
* 327407 Gainward GeForce 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3, PCI-Express, "BP8800GTS-640M-TV-DD"
* 322633 Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz Socket LGA775, 4MB, BOXED w/fan
* 303911 Logitech Z-5500 5.1 THX, DTS, 5 Satellites and Subwoofer, 505 Watt
* 325581 NEC DVD±recorder AD-7173 IDE Silver OEM Duallayer,LabelFlash,Multirecorder(Ram)
* 324467 OCZ Technology Powersupply ATX/EPS 700W, 120mm Fan, SATA, 4/8pin CPU, 20/24pin
* 310553 Thermaltake Kandalf Silver, Aluminium Super tower (Without PSU)
* 316737 Western Digital Raptor 150GB SATA 16MB 10000RPM
* 312473 Zalman CNPS9500LED Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler, Socket 478/775/754/939/940


Anything overkill ? Any components anyone doesn't like ?

Cheers,
Brian.

8T8

Overall looks good, but the RAM is a bit overkill it needn't be Crucial BallistiX DDR-2 800 there is no real performance benefit from it, instead get the Crucial BallistiX DDR2-667 2GB kit and save some cash.

With the €127 money you save bump the 8800GTS to a 8800GTX.

brianon

Cheers.

Do you think the Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Pro is worth it ?

I heard that with Vista the X-Fi range could have problems in games.

8T8

Normally I'd say no but the cheap X-Fi Music Edition is no longer available on Komplett it seems and the one you picked is the next best up. Getting the X-Fi Music Edition elsewhere isn't worth it either if you have to factor in delivery costs.

In regards Vista is is true hardware acceleration in audio is no longer present in DirectSound but hardware acceleration can still be done with OpenAL which is independent of it with OpenAL compatible soundcards like the X-Fi.

Avoid this low end X-Fi is is not a proper X-Fi card it lacks some of the chips and does the effects in software.

It's still a very good soundcard better than the onboard stuff so I'd stick with the one you picked.

Edit: I also forgot to mention Creative are prepping a nice little hack that will convert Directsound into OpenAL under Vista more details on Extremetech.

B00MSTICK

You'd probably could get a quad core pc for that money

brianon

Think I am gonna go for this...

https://www.komplett.ie/k/shoplist.asp?mode=edit&ShoppingListId=407006

Monitor from overclockers...
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-038-SA

Am I missing anything?

Really want a fairly quiet PC this time. You reckon there is anything 'noisy' in that bunch ?

zappb

Brianon, wait one second kid before you pull the trigger - have a look at this sweet deal

http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=11531&cat=8

you can't do better....

8T8

Just pointing out that Samsung display does not support HDCP so if you ever plan on watching HD-DVD/Blu-ray movies with the PC it can only be done over the VGA connection. It wont be allowed over the DVI without HDCP support. If you wont be doing that kind of activity then it doesn't matter.

Komplett also says access denied on your shopping list.

brianon

8T8 wrote:

Just pointing out that Samsung display does not support HDCP so if you ever plan on watching HD-DVD/Blu-ray movies with the PC it can only be done over the VGA connection. It wont be allowed over the DVI without HDCP support. If you wont be doing that kind of activity then it doesn't matter.

Komplett also says access denied on your shopping list.

Thanks. I just bought this...
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-021-BQ

Shopping list is...
* 324815 ABIT AW9D-MAX, I975X, Socket-775,SATAII, Silent Otes,2xGbLAN,DDR2,ATX, 2xPCI-Ex16
* 326870 Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional, 64MB, EAX® ADVANCED HD™
* 321129 Crucial DDR2 BallistiX PC5300 2048MB CL3 ,Kit w/two matched BallistiX 128Megx64
* 327248 Gainward GeForce 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3, PCI-Express, "BP8800GTX-768-TV-DD"
* 322633 Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz Socket LGA775, 4MB, BOXED w/fan
* 303911 Logitech Z-5500 5.1 THX, DTS, 5 Satellites and Subwoofer, 505 Watt
* 325581 NEC DVD±recorder AD-7173 IDE Silver OEM Duallayer,LabelFlash,Multirecorder(Ram)
* 324467 OCZ Technology Powersupply ATX/EPS 700W, 120mm Fan, SATA, 4/8pin CPU, 20/24pin
* 310553 Thermaltake Kandalf Silver, Aluminium Super tower (Without PSU)
* 316737 Western Digital Raptor 150GB SATA 16MB 10000RPM
* 312473 Zalman CNPS9500LED Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler, Socket 478/775/754/939/940

L31mr0d

Did you not buy Flaccus' PC off adverts? Or are you buying 2 behomath rigs :eek:

brianon

Two rigs? Well one is for just mp3s and movies.
Only kidding

I have ought his PC, but there is no monitor and also he is not sure yet as to when it may be available. May not be until end of Jan !

So yes, I have bought Flaccus' PC. But provisionally as he says himself

brianon

Update * I have ordered my new rig
Product Name Qty Line Total
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional Soundcard - Retail 1 £69.99 (£82.24)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 400GB 4000KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM 1 £79.99 (£93.99)
Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail 1 £182.99 (£215.01)
NEC AD7170A 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM 1 £18.50 (£21.74)
Sony Floppy Drive - Black 1 £4.99 (£5.86)
Akasa Mirage 62 Aluminium Case - No PSU 1 £83.99 (£98.69)
Tuniq Tower 120 CPU Cooler 1 £28.99 (£34.06)
Scythe S-FLEX 1200RPM Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan - 3/4 pin 2 £21.90 (£25.73)
Saitek Eclipse 2 Illuminated Keyboard - Blue/Red/Purple 1 £28.99 (£34.06)
Intel Extreme D975XBX2KR BAD AXE 2 975X (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard - Retail 1 £149.99 (£176.24)
BFG GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail 1 £384.99 (£452.36)
CellShock 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 PC2-8000C4 1000MHz Dual Channel Kit 1 £239.99 (£281.99)
Seasonic M12 Modular 600W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply 1 £99.99 (£117.49)
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) 1 £5.99 (£7.04)


Thanks to you all especially Flaccus for his help choosing the parts.

IgsTer

nice rig man..top notch stuff.. 8800gtx

awhir

aww me so mad i want all that:(

StRiKeR

spending that much money on a system with just a 7950GX2 is a waste of money, and as a ex employee I would say not to buy and build your own or get it else where and you defo made better choice there

how you like the 8800GTX image quality in games? awesome isn't it