Home built versus Dell???

[arameth]

OK, after doing some homework for a few days, I thought I had a decent system spec'd out:

abit nf7-s (2.0rev)
512mb RAM (corsair 256 low latency w/ platinum heat spreaders, CAS2)
AMD Athlon XP 2500+ (Barton 333)
ATI Radeon 9700 (non pro)
NEC DVD-DR

I already had the case and hard drives.

Total cost for the parts was going to run me just under 700, including shipping and taxes.

I was just about to spend Friday's paycheck on the new system, when I saw a post in the "hot deals" about Dell selling the following system:


Dimension 4600
p4 2.4ghz at 533fsb
256mb RAM (333)
40gb HD (7200 rpm)
4X DVD-RW/CD-RW
keyboard, mouse
ATI Radeon 9800 128mb (non pro)


Came to 829, minus 150 MIR = 679 (free shipping). If I can, I'm going to try to find my Dell catalog and see if it has any coupons...or try to beg others for theirs

Now I'm torn...I don't know much about Dell as far as them building good gaming systems. This system is just going to be used for gaming, stuff like Star Wars, Everquest, and web surfing.

First, which would you all think would perform better? I'd have to add some RAM to the Dell system of course.

Any insight or comments would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[DarkKnight]

dells are ok, but I think the parts in your computer are better than the dell system. I doubt dell is using low latency corsair ram or a motherboard that is good as yours. Also, you can probably build a system with better colling than dell you so can overclock that 2500+ CPU.

 

[lchyi]

When you build your system by yourself, you're not only getting valuable experience, but you hand picked your parts for quality. You have a pretty sweet set up right there, that system has potential, it might cost more but think about what you're putting in there. You're basically buying brandname parts. Dell has it's own parts made for them and as far as quality is concerned they're not bad. But what options you have to overclock I'm not sure, what extras they took out, you'll never know until you get it. But since they do everything internally (the building, part making, assembly line production style) you'll probably get a better price from them. I don't know it's a trade off, but if I wouldn't have built the systems I've built then I would know a lot less about hardware.

 

[MDE]

With the home built you know what's in there and more importantly it CAN be overclocked. Depends if you want tech support or extra speed. I'll take the speed any day.

 

[Hankysmoo]

Get the Dell if your lazy
Build it yourself if you enjoy building systems and want to be able to customize it

 

[FullRoast]

If you build it yourself, you know exactly what's in the system, upgrade options, etc.

You didn't list software cost costs. If you have to buy an OS (I assume the Dell comes with Win XP) your total goes up.

Do you know your way around computers or are you likely to need support?

I like building my own systems, but I doubt I save any money on them.

 

[Schadenfroh]

build it yourself

 

[dexvx]

The Dell by far is the better deal, parts wise.

Whether or not you want to build it is up to you, but component wise, they are the same quality, except maybe the ram (Dell normally uses CL 2.5 sticks).

 

[sniperruff]

get dell if:
- if you need a new OS
- you don't have 2,3 hours to build, config a system
- you like dell
- you are confident about dell rebate

build your own if:
- you don't want to mess with rebates
- get cheaper ram, CAS2? get cheap brand name like crucial or kingston
- you enjoy building ur own comp, which a lot of people do =D

conclusion:
- everything inside dell is generic... pretty much
- dell has superior specs however
- expandility for both system is pretty much the same, the AMD being already at the end of its road and the dell has a cheap mother board, and intel changes it mobo chipsets like 3 times a day

good luck

 

[igowerf]

The Dell system will work fine for gaming. Even with "generic" components, it will be fast. Plus, if any of these generic components fail, Dell will replace them for you if they're still under warranty.

 

[arameth]

Thanks for all the responses thus far...

I've been building systems for years now, but it's been 2 years (way too long) since my last....but I'm more than able to put one together.

I'll be supplying my own OS for now, in either case...if I go Dell, will reformat and reinstall a fresh copy of XP pro and Win2K.

From what I'm hearing, it's a pretty close call...

That ATI Radeon 9800 that comes with the Dell is calling to me pretty hard...but the Abit board has some nice features that the dell system does not have.

I guess it comes down to this:

Does anyone have a spare stackable % off coupon code for Dell Business they'd be willing to send to me?

If I can't find one by tomorrow, I'll go with my own system. I"m sure I'll be happy with either system I go with.

Thanks again!

 

[dexvx]

I think Dell only offers DVD+RW's if that makes any difference to you. Just dont get the formats screwed up, otherwise you're going to have a lot of problems burning stuff.

 

[sniperruff]

oh yeah remember the most important thing is that dell biz will tax the crap out of most orders. paying like $60 tax for a $849 system is no fun if you ask me

 

[BaboonGuy]

the only thing i can see that is a better spec than that computer above is the 9800 - which basically means the difference (compared to the 9700 np) of super high anti-aliasing to high anti-aliasing. an overclocked 2500+ will far outperform the 2.4 ghz (especially since its not a HT enabled 800 fsb). many of the 2500+s now, especially the new newegg ones, reach 3200+ speeds at default or close to default voltage.

 

[brettjrob]

Actually a fairly tough decision... normally you're wasting money by going with pre-built, but in this case the cost factor may actually be in the Dell's favor.

On the other hand, it would really bug me to have a system with cheap mass-produced components and no ability to overclock. A 2500+ overclocked to 3200+ levels will almost always outperform an older 533FSB P4, which is another consideration. You could also go for an ABIT IS7 and P4 2.4C and overclock it to around 3GHz for not a whole lot more cash.

While I would normally recommend custom built without thinking twice, that is certainly a great deal on the Dell (almost too good to be true!). If you don't mind not having a custom-built system with the parts of your choice, this may a good deal to get in on.

 

[Gunbuster]

So with the Dell you have a better video card, OS/restore CD, 1 year warranty from a single entity, a new case and extra 40gig hard drive, full tested and assembled system for less money.

Why would you not pick the dell

 

[mechBgon]

The Dell is only packing 256Mb of RAM, if you typed your info correctly. You're not going to want to game on that amount of RAM. It's an i865PE chipset, so you have some options, the most sensible ones being to either add a second pair of DIMMs yourself, or else buy either more modules or higher-capacity ones from Dell at time of purchase.

 

[Budmantom]

Tech support is a big plus.

The Dell will be a lot easier to sell in one year.(especially to your average Joe)


And Dell = Free case, os, hd

 

[runamok1]

One thing you must know. Dell power supplies and motherboards cannot be used with OEM parts. I.e. you can't replace a Dell power supply with a Antec one. Likewise you can't put an Asus MB with a Dell Power supply.

I *think* there may be adapters available. The pin out molex plug is different although the plug is the same. You will fry the power supply or motherboard if you do this. So I always feel in th long term brand name parts are the way to go. And I DOUBT you can overclock ANYTHING on a Dell. So for instance the price diffenence between a 2.4c p4 and a 3.2c p4 is large (a couple hundred bux), but many 2.4cs will overclock to 3.0 or 3.2 (Mine is 3.12 and stable so far)...

Good luck. I've run into this before and ALMOST gone dell. They make much better machines tha e-machines (duh), compaq and HP and in my opinion gateway.

I do buy Dells for folks that just want it to work.

OK, nuff babbling.

 

[Lonyo]

If you buy the Dell you will need some more RAM.

 

[dexvx]

Originally posted by: runamok1
One thing you must know. Dell power supplies and motherboards cannot be used with OEM parts. I.e. you can't replace a Dell power supply with a Antec one. Likewise you can't put an Asus MB with a Dell Power supply.

Have you been living under a rock for the last year? Thats been changed.

 

[Jeff7181]

I always say to go with the custom build. Mostly because then you can pick and choose EXACTLY what parts you want. Say you get the Dell and it has onboard sound that doesn't do justice to the speakers you got... ad another $80 for an Audigy 2. 256 MB of RAM is the least I'd recommend for a computer used ONLY for web browsing, e-mail, etc. Ad another $50 for 512 MB of cheap PC2700 stuff, or 256MB of good PC3200 stuff. Plus, those P4's are memory bandwidth hungry, so it's not going to be happy with PC2700... you'd want to use PC3200 with it anyway... so about $100 for 512 MB of PC3200 RAM.
Now days, a 40 GB hard drive fills up fast if you do any kind of downloading... or feel like putting some CD's on your computer in MP3 form, or a few movies. Hell... between regular programs, and my games, I'm using 20 GB. That's half your drive used up just like that. And for some reason, I doubt that hard drive is a high quality one... you can pick up a Western Digital Caviar SE 80 GB drive (the one with the 8 MB cache) for $60 at Best Buy this week.
They also have 256 MB of PC3500 HyperX RAM for $50... not a bad deal.

The pluses I see for going with the Dell are that you get an OS, it comes to your door assembled and ready to use just as fast as you can unpack it and plug it in. The 9800 is another plus. I don't really consider tech support a plus, because I've found whenever I've called them in the past, that they spend more time telling you not to worry, and that they'll help you solve the problem more than they actually spend solving the problem... that is IF they can help. Some of those tech support operators are really dense. The warranty is ok I guess... although all the parts you'd buy yourself would have warranties on them... and places like newegg.com are very good about their RMA policies if a part is DOA.

But... that 2.4 Ghz 533 P4 isn't gonna have the gonads to run tomorrow's games... so if you're planning on building something more future proof, you might want to reconsider that. With the XP2500's that are coming out of newegg, you're all but guaranteed a 2.2 Ghz overclock on default voltage.

In the end, you MAY end up spending a little more money on a custom built PC... but you get higher quality componants that perform better and leave you with more upgrade options for the future. Pretty much with a pre-assembled, you get what you get and if it doesn't do what you want, you get a whole new one.

 

[jarsoffart]

Originally posted by: dexvx

Originally posted by: runamok1
One thing you must know. Dell power supplies and motherboards cannot be used with OEM parts. I.e. you can't replace a Dell power supply with a Antec one. Likewise you can't put an Asus MB with a Dell Power supply.

Have you been living under a rock for the last year? Thats been changed.

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.

 

[Twista]

i love sony pc system the p4 2.53 533 sony is very nice.

 

[arameth]

My thanks for everyone for giving me lots to think about...

However, now things have gotten more interesting:

The Dell machine is now a little better...it's 800FSB instead of 533:

2.4Ghz (800FSB)
256mb (400mhz)
40gb 7200rpm
4x DVD+RW/CD-RW
ATI Radeon 9800 (non pro) 128mb
KB, mouse, etc.
No monitor, speakers.


Price has dropped slightly to 809, less 150 MIR = 659 + tax (shipping is still free)

Again, I'm really torn...If I go with the Dell, I'm now operating at 800FSB...and have a pretty decent upgrade path in the future.

BTW, is this Dell deal good enough to post in the Hot Deals forum? Or is this just so so? On that note, let me take this minute to make a shameless attempt to beg for any Dell SB coupons

Thanks again...