Which system is better?

[Bonesdad]

Dell 4600C - $999

Intel P4 2.4Ghz w/ 533 Mhz FSB and 512K L2 cache
256 MB 333Mhz DDR Ram
40 GB 7200 RPM HDD
15" E151FPb Flat Panel Display
Integrated Intel Extreme Graphics 2
24x CDROM Drive
Small Form Factor Case
Win XP Home



Home Build - $1200


AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Barton
An NForce2 Mobo - Undecided, but about $90
512MB PC2700 DDR RAM (2x256)
80 GB WD Special Edition HDD (8mb Cache)
17" NEC 1760NX Flat Panel Display
ATI Radeon 9100
Samsung 52x24x52x CDRW/DVD Combo Drive
Antec 2600 Case w/ 350 watt PSU
Win XP Pro

Which of these systems is the best bang for the buck? This is a non-gaming system for a college dorm. I like the small form factor of the Dell, but how upgradeable will it be? If I tried to upgrade the Dell to match the features of the home build, I bet the cost would be the same or more...

 

[Hankysmoo]

the home build will be better

 

[mooglekit]

Hands down the home build, and it's oh so much more fun than a silly Dell! 🙂

moogs

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: mooglekit
Hands down the home build, and it's oh so much more fun than a silly Dell! 🙂

moogs

here here

 

[Hanzou]

Home build is a lot better and will upgrade a lot easier also.

 

[ElFenix]

if you're not gaming or video encoding you're not gonna notice any speed difference

 

[Speedy3D!]

256MB for winxp is stupid.

The homebuild is the best.

 

[BaboonGuy]

dont count dell out, they have some ridiculous deals on their good desktops sometimes -- u get a 9800 and an LCD monitor for not that much

 

[mooglekit]

hehehehe...:evil: buy the Dell, sell all the parts you don't want and replace them with better ones! Now if only Dell didn't use proprietary motherboard mounting in their cases....hmmmm....

have fun, I'm still a fan of the homebuilt...😉

moogs

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: Hankysmoo
the home build will be better

 

[karmasalad]

You're asking this q on a forum where practically everyone builds their own PCs?

Not exactly the best place to get an unbiased answer. 😉

But yeah, count another vote for the homegrown, especially if you like to tinker and upgrade.

 

[JBT]

home built, the dell system would be okay if u can manage another 256 mb of ram.

 

[borgmang]

Originally posted by: mooglekit
hehehehe...:evil: buy the Dell, sell all the parts you don't want and replace them with better ones! Now if only Dell didn't use proprietary motherboard mounting in their cases....hmmmm....

have fun, I'm still a fan of the homebuilt...😉

moogs

Consider the homebuilt version of the Dell.