build or Dell

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If I had the knowledge now that I have three years ago you would've never convinced me to by a Dell, Fujitsu, or Compaq or any packet computer. I'd build. If you know someone whose good with 'Puters and has the time to walk around with you do it. Don't make the same mistake half of us idi...er THGC members made :lol: . My present system with the exception of the speakers and the monitor was bought @ebay. Now some will laugh but I got all these components through ebay about this time last year. (If you want I'll list 'em) I've still got that same system.

Plan on setting up a new one 'cause it's getting too slow for gaming and I know I'll be bored during the holidays so I'm gonna have to fill the <b>VOID</b> with something.

I'm just throwing out ideas. :wink:

<font color=blue> You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink it!</font color=blue>
 
lagger, hey!

Agree that u can build better rather than pay more for less. Here's my story and my question.

3.75 years ago i built a screaming PIII system for the time. It was based on an ABIT VT6X4 mobo, 600 MHz coppermine (slot 1), 256 MB of 133MHz ram, a 20 MB 7200 rpm hard drive, and a Vodoo3 2000 PCI graphics card. Years later I upgraded to a 933 MHz and added 512MB more of mem. It has served me very well.

Then, wanting to get into running 2 monitors and a TV tuner card (which eventually was hoping to be an HDTV tuner card), i started on my venture for a dual monitor graphics card. First i tried the Radeon 8500, but its tweaking was cluggy, and it's trying to run a second monitor with the dongle connected to the DVI port wouldn't work. A ton of calls to tech support (TS) yield that i had a bad dongle. To replace it would cost $35. It was 'the only piece in the box not coverd by warranty'. That is a quote. Well i returned the card to the retailer.

I then bought an ABIT Geforce4 TI 4200 (64MB) thinking there would be no (underline the word NO) compatability probs. Well here it is 4 months later and long story short, my card won't run the Direct Draw test in dxdiag in Direct X 8/1 for WinXP Pro. I found this out (ignoring other small seeming problems) when i went to install Warcraft III. The game would hang upon trying to run. My system won't even run 3DMark 2001 SE. Hangs evey time. Tried everything down to a bare mobo, newly formated HD w/ only Win XPro and no other cards in the system and all the right drivers (the 4-in-1's for the mobo and correct ones for the Siluro). The best i can figure after RMAing the board to ABIT (who thought it was a fan problem and an overheating chip ... huh) is that there is some incompatability w/ the VIA chipset on the mobo. Who'da thunk.

So it's time for an upgrade. But this time after the arduous (and i mean grueling) expieriences w/ expanding, I'm definately thinking of sticking w/ an intel chipset. U mention in this reply to Paulj, that the ASUS P4PE/L (where's the /L come from) is good and can do Hyper Threading CPUs. Yet u also state that it only does "P4 Socket 478 1.4 GHz ~ 2.53+ GHz ". Doesn't the HT technology only start w/ 3.0 Ghz and up?

I am very interested in building my new system upon an HT cpu and a mobo w/ "dual channel" DDR. Can u advise and keep very clear ur suggestions? Also, until this combo is available and/or become affordable what would be the fastest/most affordable system u might think of? (i'm thinking of an intel 845E sytem w/ R1066 mem even if it is a dead end system ... at least it'd be the fastest and most compatable eh?)

thanks
shiva D
 
I work @ Dell, in the Tech support for the new Dimensions, 2300,2350,4500,4550,8200 and 8250. and I rarley get calls on the 8200 series, the 2300's ARE CRAP!!!!!!!! 4500's are ok but I would get the 8200, the case is VERY easy to get into and work on (add and remove parts) there are NO Screws in the case... that goes for the 4500's also but the 2300's are totaly different, Dell doesn't make the 2300's case and it uses the cheapest parts out there, thats why its sooo cheap. End result you get what you pay for. If you want to bulid a PC then do it, if you want to just buy one then buy the 8200 series.

Dell Dude
 
I run a small computer business and I was interested if you could tell me a detailed specification for the computer you are looking to build. I get my parts from a wholesale distributor and I can get all the name brand stuff. If you send me a note with the info I would be glad to send you a quote of how much I could get it for you for. My prices are real low so let me know what you need nd I would be glad to help you out.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by compuconnection on 12/10/02 05:09 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 
Yeah you are right, HT starts with the 3.06Ghz. My preference is for price/performace value for a new system. If you are looking for a new PC to pass the time until a dual channel HT solution becomes available I would get something that will get the job done but not much more. But that's just me. My real question would be what would happen to the computer once the dual channel motherboard become available. I mean if you were going to keep it then getting a nice one now would be good. If you are looking for a good quality dead end computer, buy AMD. AMD motherboards already do dual channel DDR400 and they have the standard goodies like SATA and RAID or whatever you are into. A nice AMD board would perform pretty good now and then you would just need to replace your board and CPU when dal channel DDR400 is accepted by Intel next year just like you would if you bought anything now and replaced it.

Anyways I don't really know what you want but if you want to let me know I run a computer business and I buy all my stuff at wholesale. I am just starting out so I am trying to get people good deals by selling them stuff at or near my cost. I can basically beat any prices out there by a little bit. Let me know what you need and I'll let you know how much you can save.
 
Hey guys!

just got a new "Small and Medium Business/December 2002" catalog from Dell and guess what was on the inside cover (page2)? A P4 3Gig HT system for $1699 and free shipping. This has got to be the deal of the year. Yeah it's got a crappy video card, a small hard disk and not to many extra's. But w/ a 48x cdrw/dvd, a monitor and 1066 RDRAM (4.2 gigs of bandwith ... even if it is the old 16bit kind) this has got to be a killa system 'for the money'! Artifice ...tell me if u don't agree. I can't even by a good Asus P4t533 board, memory and the same cpu for under a thousand bucks! and here's a whole system with an HT cpu and the fastest memory, all built and ready to go! U guys seen this. I work around the corner from a Gateway store and they can't even come up with a better price ($2400 is the best they can do). Unfortuneately i'm not in a position to even go in on the deal. Hard times at Ridgemnot High. But if i could get a system ... here it is. An intel 850E chipset and all the trimmings. What do u guys think?

later dudes,
 
I would recommend caution. If it sounds too good to be true it may be so.

I can build a system like that for $2300 cost, all top of the line components. no monitor. That's inlcuding a 9700 Pro. Why would you do otherwise with a high end system?

It sounds like Dell is skimping somewhere. But since you aren't really serious about getting it I guess it doesn't matter.

<font color=red>It may be obvious, but I can't see it for the smoke.</font color=red>
 
I can't speak for the Small Business part, I only deal with Home and Home Office. but I can tell you that as far as Video cards and Sound Cards go, Dell gets cheap ones. everything else is good, and if the parts go bad dell with replace it. Its the holiday season and Dell and HP and Gateway are trying to sell the most so they are going to put up good prices on the PC, and remember they buy the CPU's in Huge Bulk so they get disscounted prices. thats another reason they can be sold cheaper too.
 
Hey Paul/Arti

Again, simply because i can get a system, put together, up and running, cheaper (by more than just marginal), with the help of mass purchasing like Arti says. Also for the "simple" or "first time" conscious type of buyer, this is really a lot of computer for the money. Most i've ever seen in retail in a long time. Sure the vid cards are chaep and the sound card is junk. But an Audigy can be had for little money (under 100) and as far as vid cards go that can be remedied for smaller than what u say u can build for. Plus a new box, monitor, OS etc. Not bad. NOt bad. Tell ur company good work Arti. I am going to try to make this happen. After all ... it is Christmas!

True though, would love to get the Assus P4T533 so i could evenutally use the 32 bit RIMMs along w/ the HT P4s. Think this would be a slightly faster mobo. However all the tests seem to show that the old 16bit dual channel RIMM technology still yields 4.2 gigs of bandwith for the mem/cpu interface. This is the beginning of the next level!!!. HT tecnology and the bandwith to use it!

Merry Christmas guys, God bless and good luck
shiva the D
 
No problems with dell here..

My brother bought a Dell 8100.. P4 1.5 ghz, 256 rdram, geforce 2mx.. 40gb hard drive, winME, really nice 17" Monitor(high ass resolutions)
Cd-rw...

No problems what so ever, pretty fast machine... Runs games fine.. for what he does it's nice.. also came with Harman/Kardon Speakers.. and a Printer

it was around 1200 when he bought it.. back when 1.5 ghz was like the newest procesor..

Good Support, All manuals are easy to read ... it's a perfect OEM to go with if your a starter with no Monitor and the rest of those perhipherals

This Community is like a Second Family!!
 
Woa. You dug this one up. :smile: . The price is lower now. And with the rebate a definite consideration. The Yamaha has the cool ability to burn a label on the disc.

<font color=red>The solution may be obvious, but I can't see it for the smoke coming off my processor.</font color=red>
 
Hey bro, just for the hell of it check out freewaytech.com. They have pretty damn good prices and products. Also freeway has been around for 9 years and got high ratings on BBB. Check them out, later.
PS:BBB(better business bureau)
 
<A HREF="http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1148.html" target="_new">http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1148.html</A>

<font color=red>GOD</font color=red> <font color=blue>BLESS</font color=blue> <font color=red>AMERICA</font color=red>
 
Artifice - Since you work at Dell, I'll ask you this. I understand that Dell no longer ships an OS (XP) CD with new computers. If you have to reinstall or repair corrupted files, what does Dell do for you. I'd never buy a rig without all the appropriate software disks. So tell us, what's Dell's new policies on these issues

But Officer, I wasn't speeding - I was qualifying ...
 
My best friend works for Dell Corporate Sales. He still builds his own computers. With my help of course (cheers for me) I've heard every horror story their is about Dell. Truth is, Dell is all proprietary stuff. Their cases are about the most difficult thing in the world to take apart or modify or do anything with. Their Mobo's are about the most non-modifiable on earth. Their tech-support people have the I.Q.'s of the average Chimpanze. They use the same tech-support faq crap that you can find off their website to diagnose your problems when your on the phone. If you call in to ask what kind of xxxx is on my mobo? What kind of HDD do I have? What kind of this that or the other, 9 out of 10 times they tell you they will have to get back to you and never do. 5 years ago I would have told anyone who wanted to buy a computer that was pre-built to go with Dell. But these days, they've gone down the toilet. Michael Dell sits up in his corner office (It's in Dell #1 and the #1 is right above his office BTW) and he actually will come down to cuss people out who are smoking outside in front of their building during their breaks. WTF is that? The guys worth a gazillion bucks and he's got nothing better to do than cuss out his own employees for burning a butt on their break? The only reason my best friend still works their is cause they pay really well if you can keep your head down and your mouth shut. But yes, they do buy cheap stuff these days. Better than most pre-built companies. But your still better off building your own.

Aliu

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
--Albert Einstein
 
I totally second what you say re: Dell. I have an older Dell - they were decent back then, but tech support, etc has gone down the tubes. Most of the time, you get a tech from Bombay now - they may know stuff, but it's so hard to cut through the accents. Try calling customer service - you get in a loop and never get through. A couple of choice points: (re: Dell)
1. New PC's don't ship with an XP CD (OEM or anything from MS) - you get a boot disk and a resource CD only.
2. Their flagship 8200 series features rambus memory and only 2 DIMM slots - if you wanted 256 K and planned to buy memory sticks cheaper elsewhere - you'd have to 2 128 sticks to toss.
3. Check their power supply - minimal - underpowered.
4. And yea - their mobo's are totally a nightmare.

I have never built a computer - but I will now - even if it costs me hundreds more - Dude, no more Dell!

But Officer, I wasn't speeding - I was qualifying ...
 
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