Trying to beat Dell on the low-end rig

[Mogh]

Hi, I always build for the high end gaming rig and I usually beat Dell, but now comes time to build a lower end rig for the kids. At first I was going to build as I usually do but then I see I am $150 higher than Dell.

Any suggestions on how to keep the price down on building? Anyone know of some good rebates on this stuff to help equalize the price? Microsoft XP Home price is not helping.


These prices are all from Mwave and are about the same under New Egg.

Custom Build $649.00

1 Asus P4P800-VM Intel 865G w/Intel Extreme Graphics $94.00
1 Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHZ w/1M CACHE 533mhz 478-PIN (3yr) $168.00
1 RAM 256MB PC3200 400mhz $33.00
1 Antel SLK-3700AMB Mid Tower 350 Watt $59.00
1 Maxtor 40Gb ultra-ata 133 8.5ms $49.00
1 Sony 52x CDROM EIDE $17.00
1 Sony CDRW 48x/24x/48x $19.00
1 Mitsumi 104-Key PS2 $11.00
1 Microsoft Wheel Mouse PS2 $9.90
1 Viewsonic/Optiquest Q71 17" .27 1280X1024 $105.00
1 Microsoft Windows XP HOME $84.00


Dell $499.00
http://www1.us.dell.com/conten...=19&l=en&s=dhs

Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor (2.80GHz, 533 FSB)
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Integrated Intel® Extreme Graphics 2
256MB DDR SDRAM at 400MHz
40GB2 Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive
17 in (16 in viewable,.27dp) E773c CRT Monitor
Dual Drives: 48x CD-ROM Drive + FREE UPGRADE! 48x CD-RW Drive
Mouse/Keyboard

 

[nick1985]

your first problem is you are building an intel system.

 

[BenSkywalker]

What are you looking to do? How old are your kids?

At a quick glance, that is way too much processor for the rest of the machine, a 2.4GHZ with 512MB would smack that rig around running XP(actually, a P3 1GHZ with 512MB would likely slap around a 3.4GHZ EE running 256MB under XP)- also too much processor for the useless graphics also. If I was you, I would go with an Athlon XP, double up the RAM and grab a low end graphics card(or to save more, go with a nForce2 and integrated GF4MX with an AGP slot too)- it may not match the specs of the Dell but it will be a significantly better machine then either of the ones you have listed.

 

[JBDan]

My 2 cents worth. All you Dell haters and intel bashers you cannot beat Dells low-end systems! For the warranty and the stability you absolutely cannot go wrong with Dell! Good luck! 🙂

 

[mechBgon]

Um, the Dell has no AGP slot, for starters. 😱 Also, look at what a 3-year warranty brings the price of the Dell up to, since it will have some proprietary parts that you could only get from them. Then there's tax and shipping... 🙂

 

[JBDan]

Forgot! Reason I say this is because I have helped many customers choose Dell when I feel that what they want is not what I want to build for them. Some people just need a BASIC pc! And when these BASICS are needed, the convenience, warranty, price and STABILITY cannot be beat!

 

[JBDan]

lol I would never get a 3 year warranty with a pc 🙂

 

[LtPage1]

get a slower processor and double the ram.

 

[mechBgon]

Oh, and on a practical note: whatever you end up getting, I strongly urge you to implement all of the suggestions here under the Ongoing prevention section. Spyware is getting to be a significant problem, viruses and trojans too, so get it good and tight right from Day 1. An ounce of prevention... yeah. 🙂

 

[Kishan]

How old are these kids? Then you won't need to get a bigger video card. If they're just going to disney.com, you should be fine with the Dell. Also, check out for a free LCD coupon.

 

[JBDan]

Off topic that guide is great! I used it to build my first pc 1 month ago LOL

 

[SrGuapo]

Yeah, the dell may be a better choice for this situation... I would just get a 1 or 2 year warranty, since you may want to shove in an extra stick of RAM or whatever and it will void your warranty anyway. Dells make pretty good low-end PCs and would be great for the younger ones (how young are they?).

 

[Mogh]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Um, the Dell has no AGP slot, for starters. 😱 Also, look at what a 3-year warranty brings the price of the Dell up to, since it will have some proprietary parts that you could only get from them. Then there's tax and shipping... 🙂

Thats big, since I had a spare ATI 9500 Pro I was planning on putting in either the Dell or the custom build. The custom build there is really only mfg warranty but at least the Intel retail CPU is 3 year where I imagine the Dell would be only 1 year OEM. Shipping is free with Dell and would not be with Mwave or New Egg. So that is going to push it up a bit to.

I]Originally posted by: SrGuapo[/i]

how young are they?).

Kids are in their early teens and do some gaming but I want to spend the least amount possible and figure these specs are about right.

 

[BenSkywalker]

1 Asus P4P800-VM Intel 865G w/Intel Extreme Graphics $94.00
1 Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHZ w/1M CACHE 533mhz 478-PIN (3yr) $168.00
1 RAM 256MB PC3200 400mhz $33.00

$295

Exchange with-

Sempron 2400+ Retail - $63
Kingston 2x256MB(512MB) PC3200 ValueRAM- $92
Epox 8RGM3i(w/GF4MX)- $77

$232

Save yourself $63 there and crush either machine in real world useage.

1 Antel SLK-3700AMB Mid Tower 350 Watt $59.00
1 Mitsumi 104-Key PS2 $11.00
1 Microsoft Wheel Mouse PS2 $9.90

ASPIRE Black Turbo Case with 350W Power Supply, Model "ATXB2KL/350" -RETAIL -$53(shipped)
Logitech Deluxe Desktop Bundle (Deluxe Keyboard & S69 Mouse) PS/2 104keys -OEM -$18(shipped)

There is another $8.90 so that's $72.90 off- $576.10 and this machine is much better. Edit- Actually, if you use the same cheap RAM you had listed for you original configuration and just doubled up on it you would save yourself another $26($66 for 512MB vs the $92 I listed) bringing you down to $550.10.

 

[Kishan]

Originally posted by: Mogh


Kids are in their early teens and do some gaming but I want to spend the least amount possible and figure these specs are about right.

boys or girls? Most likely girls would use it for AIM. Boys for gaming. There ya go🙂

 

[Mogh]

Originally posted by: BenSkywalker

Sempron 2400+ Retail - $63
Kingston 2x256MB(512MB) PC3200 ValueRAM- $92
Epox 8RGM3i(w/GF4MX)- $77

$232

Since they do play some UT which is barely passable on the current ASUS CUSL2 PIII 866 that I built a few years back. So I think the Sempron might not be much better since isn't that kind of like the Sempron is the Celeron like the P4 is to the AMD Athlon 64?

So if I go with AMD Athlon 64 3000+ that would be $146.00 saving $22.00 and the
ASUS K8V-X VIA K8T800 $83.00 saving $11.00. A total of $34.00 saving but still not close enough.

I think what I need to do to get a more accurate comparison is find which Dell has the open AGP spot for a better comparison. The Dell site is not very forth coming when you get down to nitty gritty specs like this.

 

[ts3433]

I'd keep the Antec SLK3700AMB. Probably get a cheaper AXP or Semper with a 512 MB stick of RAM (dual channel provides very minimal benefit here, and 1x512MB would be easier to carry over to something else later on). Since you have a 9500 Pro and don't need onboard graphics, get something like a Shuttle AN35N Ultra for a motherboard. If you expect gaming might be slightly heavier later on, to the point where you obtain a new graphics card that might be CPU-limited with, say, a Semper 2400+, try an XP2400 mobile and a cheap HSF (I see the Speeze Falconrock recommended often, though I think my Zalman CNPS-3100 Plus was just a couple bucks more), so you can mildly overclock it to accommodate something like that later.

 

[BenSkywalker]

Since they do play some UT, currently on a ASUS CUSL2 PIII 866 I think the Sempron might not be much better since isn't that kind of like the Sempron is the Celeron like the P4 is to the AMD Athlon 64?

The Sempron I pointed out is comparable to a P4 in the 2.4GHZ range and I would wager heavily that it will be much faster with 512MB of RAM for any current game then a 2.8GHZ P4 paired with 256MB particularly with XP. The Duron is the chip that used to sort of be comparable to the Celeron, although the Duron tended to slaughter the Celeron in performance.

Since you have a 9500 Pro and don't need onboard graphics, get something like a Shuttle AN35N Ultra for a motherboard.

Good advice, I hadn't seen your post mentioning you had a graphics card when I was figuring out the list earlier(which is also why I said to go with 2x256MB). You can save yourself another $20 there for the mobo(although the RAM is the same price). That puts it to $530.

 

[mechBgon]

The custom build there is really only mfg warranty

And if you shop smart, that will mean 3 years or longer on the mobo, CPU, memory, power supply and hard drive. Plus they're all standardized, replacable products, and you can (!) do it yourself, instead of having to play Dell's game to get a problem taken care of.

Anyway, I know I would build. I love the flexibility of a nice standard ATX system. Example: I built my mom and dad a budget system to use for email, and heck, now it's morphed into a budget video-editing rig packing 160GB of storage, a 1.8GHz Duron, a Radeon 9200SE VIVO card and my old Pioneer A06 DVD burner. 😎 I might slap another 512MB of RAM and an AthlonXP 2600+ into it if they make a habit of this.

 

[Mogh]

I am suprised the retailers like New Egg, Mwave, Zipzoomfly are not trying to compete in some way with the likes of Dell. It would make a world of difference if they worked out something with Microsoft to drop the prices on XP Home.

They also did not help themselves with the prices which have seen gone way up across the board since October while Dell is offering all kinds of deals. For example P4 3.2 Northwood w/ 512 L2 cache, 800FSB was around $230 back then now it is $256.00. These little price increases across the board make it so I cannot match the numbers with Dell.

But still looking at Dells website to see if that model has an AGP slot since then the spec above would be comparing apples to apples.

 

[mechBgon]

What model are you trying to figure out, the 3000? It doesn't have an AGP slot, I checked. Three PCI, that's all.

 

[Mogh]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
What model are you trying to figure out, the 3000? It doesn't have an AGP slot, I checked. Three PCI, that's all.

Yes it was the 3000. So if compare the specs from what I posted Dell wins only if you are not going to add an AGP video card.

For the sake of comparision which is the next model up that does have an AGP?

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Mogh

Originally posted by: mechBgon
What model are you trying to figure out, the 3000? It doesn't have an AGP slot, I checked. Three PCI, that's all.

Yes it was the 3000. So if compare the specs from what I posted Dell wins only if you are not going to add an AGP video card

I guess if you have no interest in warranty, upgradability or serviceability, only the up-front purchase price, then probably so, yes. 😕 BTW, what's tax and shipping on the Dell for you?

Can't help wondering if we'll have a sudden flood of disappointed Dell owners when Longhorn comes out. "Help help, I cannot get the DirectX9-accelerated GUI to work!?!?!" Well duh, Intel Extreme Graphics 2 don't support it, newbies :evil: Good luck finding a DX9 PCI card in 2006... For Sale & Trade perhaps...

 

[Mogh]

Originally posted by: mechBgon

I guess if you have no interest in warranty, upgradability or serviceability, only the up-front purchase price, then probably so, yes. 😕 BTW, what's tax and shipping on the Dell for you?

Can't help wondering if we'll have a sudden flood of disappointed Dell owners when Longhorn comes out. "Help help, I cannot get the DirectX9-accelerated GUI to work!?!?!" Well duh, Intel Extreme Graphics 2 don't support it, newbies :evil: Good luck finding a DX9 PCI card in 2006... For Sale & Trade perhaps...

Actually, it sounds like you missed most of what I posted in this thread. I thought I was comparing identical systems at the start of this thread but what was pointed out is the 3000 has no AGP slot. So there would be no way of adding my spare ATI 9500 Pro. I have been building since the late 80s and have only brought a name brand once in 1989 (got burned) but for the kids PC could not help but to notice these Dell prices.

btw - shipping ground with Dell is free right now so if it was not for the AGP issue we are talking an even larger price difference comparing Dell to New Egg or Mwave.

 

[mechBgon]

Sorry if I missed your drift there. At the bottom of each model's page there ought to be a Product Details link that opens a new window where you can click Tech Specs and see what you're getting in the way of slots and bays.