Dell's prebuilt systems better than Anandtech's recommendation on build your own?

[JEDI]

Anandtech $504

Dell complete systems you can get for under $400.

Build you own (for budget systems) is no longer cost effective? Long live Dell???

 

[nick1985]

lol is this a joke???

do you like not having an AGP?
do you like 128 ram on winXP?
do you like integrated graphics?
do you like 5400 rpm hard drives?

if the answer is yes, buy a dell.

 

[John]

Originally posted by: JEDI
Long live Dell???

Long live stupidity.











j/k

 

[Sideswipe001]

Maybe you should benchmark the Anandtech one vs the Dell one before making this call.

After all, the Anandtech one isn't a "Scrape the bare bottom" system exactly. It's a quality value system with upgradeability.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Long live Dell for a work / office computer with zero gaming capability and no gaming upgrade path.

The AT system could be made into a good gaming system by spending another $50 (gf4 ti4200) and a very good one for about $650 (9800 pro).

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: JEDI
Anandtech $504

Dell complete systems you can get for under $400.

Build you own (for budget systems) is no longer cost effective? Long live Dell???

Depends on what you do (also not it's $600 by the time you add XP Home).
If you play a single 3d game, the Anand guide's PC will be infinitely better.
If you have any typical cache-starved applications (the ones that make a Celeron 2.8 look like a K6-II), the guide's PC will do better.
If you expect to get more peripherals or controller cards, the guide's PC will be better.
If you are Mechbgon, and need a u160 SCSI drive for office apps, the guide's PC will be better.
If you do nothing but browse the web, use Word every now and then, and check email, and don't mind waiting on a crippled CPU with not enough RAM and a slow HD, the Dell will be better.

 

[kyparrish]

Originally posted by: nick1985
lol is this a joke???

do you like not having an AGP?
do you like 128 ram on winXP?
do you like integrated graphics?
do you like 5400 rpm hard drives?

if the answer is yes, buy a dell.

ROFLMAO

 

[AIWGuru]

do you like not having an AGP?
do you like 128 ram on winXP?
do you like integrated graphics?
do you like 5400 rpm hard drives?

if the answer is yes, buy a dell.

Nick nailed it.
and I might ad:
proprietary, case, power supply and motherboard with limited expansion bays.
No hope of upgrading in any substantial way.
Also, do we really need another thread debating the same system building guide against the same dell model?
I mean, really.

Oh, and Jedi, Dell's cheapest computer right now is $399 AFTER $100 rebate. It uses a ridiculous celeron. Ad that to all of the above too.

IT'S A PIECE OF CRAP!

 

[AIWGuru]

BTW: it's possible to build a system just as crappy as Dell's for less money.
Start with the ECS K7S0M. It's got an integrated processor, HSF, video, sound, lan. Just insert case, ram, HDD, CDrom.
It's only $90.
Of course, no one recommends you do this because systems of this level of performance with no AGP slot are crap.

 

[Adul]

Originally posted by: AIWGuru
BTW: it's possible to build a system just as crappy as Dell's for less money.
Start with the ECS K7S0M. It's got an integrated processor, HSF, video, sound, lan. Just insert case, ram, HDD, CDrom.
It's only $90.
Of course, no one recommends you do this because systems of this level of performance with no AGP slot are crap.

why not go with a nforce 220 MB which can be had for 50 bucks

 

[AIWGuru]

Originally posted by: Adul

Originally posted by: AIWGuru
BTW: it's possible to build a system just as crappy as Dell's for less money.
Start with the ECS K7S0M. It's got an integrated processor, HSF, video, sound, lan. Just insert case, ram, HDD, CDrom.
It's only $90.
Of course, no one recommends you do this because systems of this level of performance with no AGP slot are crap.

why not go with a nforce 220 MB which can be had for 50 bucks

Cuz it doesn't have the processor and heatsink soldered onto the motherboard !
Although your option does provide an AGP slot and 5x the graphics power of the dell and 2x the audio capabilities....

 

[mechBgon]

If you are Mechbgon, and need a u160 SCSI drive for office apps, the guide's PC will be better.

ROFL! I'm that predictable, aren't I?

Hey, I could see an Optiplex GX270 or Dementia 4600 (dual-channel DDR, Northwood P4). But the Celeron-based single-channel-DDR jobbies, I'd have to pass, even for office stuff. Our VirusScan Enterprise is so power-hungry it's scary, and we've got a perpetual license for it. The number of viruses/etc doubles about every two years, and we want a five-year lifespan from the computers.

I was trying to propose the HP d325 to our top IT person as an alternative to Celeron-powered Optiplex GX60's with no AGP slot. The d325 is basically a standard microATX nForce2 system with an AthlonXP, and from the specs I'm guessing it's based on a Shuttle MN31N or something very similar. AGP slot, onboard dual-VGA GF4MX, etc. The idea went over rather poorly. That's too bad, because I could see an nForce2 system with an AGP slot having more value if we sell them at the end of their service life.

So far I've just been building what Adul suggested, nForce 220D systems (Asus A7N266-VM/AA, AthlonXP 1800+ to 2400+, 7200rpm IDE drive). They're stable and pretty fast for an IDE-equipped system. I'd take the nForce 220D with a 2400+ and a Cheetah 15k.3, over my Athlon64 with a fast IDE drive, if I had to pick.

 

[Cerb]

I might warm up to Cheatahs if I had to do spyware and virus scans daily during working hours...

 

[InlineFive]

Originally posted by: Cerb
I might warm up to Cheatahs if I had to do spyware and virus scans daily during working hours...

What? mechBgon is a nice cheetah.

 

[gherald]

Personally I think two of these on a R0 are a better option than anything here ... anyone disagree?

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: PorBleemo

Originally posted by: Cerb
I might warm up to Cheatahs if I had to do spyware and virus scans daily during working hours...

What? mechBgon is a nice cheetah.

Heh . I usually don't pay attention to avatars, else I'd have made a bad Atlas pun.
$150 for under 40GB just isn't easy to justify.

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: gherald
Personally I think two of these on a R0 are a better option than anything here ... anyone disagree?

For file scanning and doing actual work, there might be some benefit, but even the Raptors are expensive. Also note that if a sysadmin wants a u160 or u320 SCSI card, all he has to do is wait and be observant. It's amazing how many such things can get thrown out. If there is enough server equipment being upgraded (espeically when old stuff tends to get thrown out), a ~60GB u160 RAID 5 would be somewhat easy to come by.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: gherald
Personally I think two of these on a R0 are a better option than anything here ... anyone disagree?

RAID0 doesn't make 'em seek faster, or endow them with working Command Queueing either But not having tried it myself in real life... *shrug* ...you never know. I'll make it the comparison between a street rod and an Acura NSX. The street rod is going to be hard to beat... in a straight line. Make a real road course, with an experienced driver who can shift well, and which car is he going to turn faster laps on? You tell me.

Originally posted by: PorBleemo

Originally posted by: Cerb
I might warm up to Cheatahs if I had to do spyware and virus scans daily during working hours...

What? mechBgon is a nice cheetah.

Awww.... shucks

(I am the creator of the Cheetah avatar BTW, as well as Wolf, Dragon and some of the others... I oughta do some more one of these days)

 

[gherald]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
RAID0 doesn't make 'em seek faster, or endow them with working Command Queueing either But not having tried it myself in real life... *shrug* ...you never know. I'll make it the comparison between a street rod and an Acura NSX. The street rod is going to be hard to beat... in a straight line. Make a real road course, with an experienced driver who can shift well, and which car is he going to turn faster laps on? You tell me.

Yes but most new motherboards come with a dual SATA raid option, whereas for 15k SCSI you have to fork over money for the controller and only get half the storage... so in terms of which is the best "deal", can anyone argue against the Raptors?

 

[Zebo]

Down the line every single component on evans guide is superior to that dell.

I admit dell is the grand champion of volume priced systems...But they suck so does thier CS.

Here you want a Dell but even a bit better...

CPU & Cooling AMD Duron 1.8 (OEM) - $43
Cooler Master HSF - $4.50
Motherboard PC Chips KM266 "M825LU" $41
Memory Kingston ValueRAM 128MB DDR PC-2100 $25
Video Card - Onboard -$0
Monitor AOC 7ELRA 17" CRT Monitor $85
Computer DYNAPOWER Light-Blue ATX Mid-Tower Case with 300W Power Supply $22
Sound Card Onboard sound $0
Speakers CT OG-691 Black 2.0 Multimedia Speakers -$5
Networking Onboard 10/100 Ethernet $0
Hard Drive Western Digital 7200 rpm WD400BB (40GB) $54
CD-RW Liteon $32
KB and Mouse- 2000 SMART One $14
OS- XP home- $95

Bottom Line - $420.50

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: gherald

Originally posted by: mechBgon
RAID0 doesn't make 'em seek faster, or endow them with working Command Queueing either But not having tried it myself in real life... *shrug* ...you never know. I'll make it the comparison between a street rod and an Acura NSX. The street rod is going to be hard to beat... in a straight line. Make a real road course, with an experienced driver who can shift well, and which car is he going to turn faster laps on? You tell me.

Yes but most new motherboards come with a dual SATA raid option, whereas for 15k SCSI you have to fork over money for the controller and only get half the storage... so in terms of which is the best "deal", can anyone argue against the Raptors?

Personally, I have two 18GB Cheetahs and they rarely get more than half full, so it wouldn't matter to me if the Raptors were 200GB capacity, the extra capacity has no functional use to me. And I would have to be even less brilliant than usual to entrust my work to a RAID0. Remember, this is work, not a gaming rig.

(hint: I do not have a warez/pr0n/MP3/DVD collection on my work computer! or my home computer either, for that matter)

And I already own two SCSI controllers, the less-expensive being $38, and four LVD SCSI cables & terminators. To give you some perspective on what an antivirus scan entails on my work computer, look here and note both the number of files and the time taken to scan them. Granted, that was after a revamp of my Toolbox utility kit, with some redundant Office AIPs that needed deleting afterwards. The total was normally about 500,000 files, not 900,000. I also split off that role to a separate computer later. But I think you get the general idea

 

[AIWGuru]

Originally posted by: Zebo
Down the line every single component on evans guide is superior to that dell.

I admit dell is the grand champion of volume priced systems...But they suck so does thier CS.

Here you want a Dell but even a bit better...

CPU & Cooling AMD Duron 1.8 (OEM) - $43
Cooler Master HSF - $4.50
Motherboard PC Chips KM266 "M825LU" $41
Memory Kingston ValueRAM 128MB DDR PC-2100 $25
Video Card - Onboard -$0
Monitor AOC 7ELRA 17" CRT Monitor $85
Computer DYNAPOWER Light-Blue ATX Mid-Tower Case with 300W Power Supply $22
Sound Card Onboard sound $0
Speakers CT OG-691 Black 2.0 Multimedia Speakers -$5
Networking Onboard 10/100 Ethernet $0
Hard Drive Western Digital 7200 rpm WD400BB (40GB) $54
CD-RW Liteon $32
KB and Mouse- 2000 SMART One $14
OS- XP home- $95

Bottom Line - $420.50

Most people don't have a need to tack that last $95 on there

 

[Zebo]

you forget what dell wants for shipping and tax.

Sub-total $499.00
Shipping $160.00
Tax $49.47
Total Price $708.47 - $100.00 rebate

Looks like the dell is $608.47


While newegg only charged me $27.50 shipping bringing the total to less than $450...


You can never beat a home built period.

Down the line every single component on evans guide is superior to that dell.

I admit dell is the grand champion of volume priced systems...But they suck so does thier CS.

Here you want a Dell but even a bit better...

CPU & Cooling AMD Duron 1.8 (OEM) - $43
Cooler Master HSF - $4.50
Motherboard PC Chips KM266 "M825LU" $41
Memory Kingston ValueRAM 128MB DDR PC-2100 $25
Video Card - Onboard -$0
Monitor AOC 7ELRA 17" CRT Monitor $85
Computer DYNAPOWER Light-Blue ATX Mid-Tower Case with 300W Power Supply $22
Sound Card Onboard sound $0
Speakers CT OG-691 Black 2.0 Multimedia Speakers -$5
Networking Onboard 10/100 Ethernet $0
Hard Drive Western Digital 7200 rpm WD400BB (40GB) $54
CD-RW Liteon $32
KB and Mouse- 2000 SMART One $14
OS- XP home- $95

Bottom Line - $420.50

 

[gherald]

If you need redundancy, a regular IDE disk is a perfect way to periodically back up a RD0. I happen to have a 3x IDE RD5 for backup, but that's extravagant.

I never run manual AV scans (real-time is the way to go) so your screenshot doesn't mean much to me, but I agree it seems pretty fast.

I could never live with that little space though... most people can fill up 20 gigs pretty quick. My computer at work was 25gb last I checked.

 

[gherald]

Originally posted by: Zebo
You can never beat a home built period.

Indeed.