Guys! Alienware $2,604 or Build My Own?

[clairvoyant christopher]

I'm considering on either purchasing the 875watt Alienware Aurora for $2,604 or building my own computer.

Specs:

CHASSIS COLOR Lunar Shadow, Alienware Aurora Chassis edit
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7 950 (3.06GHz, 8MB Cache) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium (64 bit) + Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Coupon - Engli edit
VIDEO CARD Single 1.8GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 295 edit
MEMORY 12GB Triple Channel 1067MHz DDR3 edit
HARD DRIVE 750GB - SATA-II, 3GB/S, 7200RPM, 16MB Cache edit
OPTICAL DRIVE Single Drive: 24X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability edit
SOUND CARD Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Titanium edit
MONITOR No Monitor edit
KEYBOARD Alienware Multi-Media Keyboard edit
MOUSE Alienware Optical Mouse, MG100 edit
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis edit
My Accessories
ALIENFX AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue edit
AVATAR Alien Cyborg edit
WALLPAPER Alienhead Chrome Red edit
AUTOMATIC UPDATES Automatic Updates: Enabled

I have to have a top of the line computer because I'm a internet psychic advisor; I make money with my computer and I like to do gaming and play games like Crysis.

I want another desktop for my bedroom. Would I save that much money if I build my own? Is it hard to build my own if I have no experience?

All of you out there, please let me know your opinions.
Thanks.

 

[clairvoyant christopher]

950 is a complete waste

How is 950 a complete waste? I thought the faster a CPU speed the better.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Wow I guess being psychic dont apply to computers Shouldnt you just like know or something?

But really you can spend much less and get more if you build it yourself.

950 is a waste because you can spend less on say a 920 and overclock it thus getting higher clock speeds and more performance then the much more expensive 950.

Research a bit, build your own and save yourself a $1000 or so.

At least thats what my powers are telling me

 

[clairvoyant christopher]

The 920 can easily goto 4.5Ghz with great cooling. It's all you need

If you're talking about overclocking, I cant because I have a Dell XPS 435 and the Bios is locked. And I can't find any decent overclocking software.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

If you're talking about overclocking, I cant because I have a Dell XPS 435 and the Bios is locked. And I can't find any decent overclocking software.

Ok now im confused.

 

[clairvoyant christopher]

Ok now im confused.

You're confused because I was talking to Psychosaysdie. Do you overclock the CPU through the Bios?

 

[deeky]

Eww dell. People buy dell cause its premade and they don't know much about pc's I suppose.
I'd definitely say build your own. Its not hard and can save quite abit of money. Shop around for parts though, can make substantial savings without much risk.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

You're confused because I was talking to Psychosaysdie. Do you overclock the CPU through the Bios?

No im confused as to how a thread started about either buying a new Alienware or building your own turned into a Dell discussion. And since your powers epic fail once again Ill help. The overclocking that was being discussed was for the new homebuilt system and making it faster than the overpriced Alienware NOT about your current computer.

Oh and the thread header says "Guys" and not PsychoSaysDie only. 😀

 

[angry_ducky]

If you're talking about overclocking, I cant because I have a Dell XPS 435 and the Bios is locked. And I can't find any decent overclocking software.

Alright. I presume you want to buy this new computer for gaming. What games do you want to play, and what's your screen resolution? What are the specs of your current Dell? If I remember correctly, the XPS 435 was available with a Core i7 CPU. If yours has a Core i7, then you're throwing money away buying a new computer; a simple video card and possibly power supply upgrade would increase your gaming performance. If you want to overclock your CPU and your BIOS is locked, you can get a new motherboard for ~$200.

If you really want a new system, then building your own will save you a lot of money over Alienware, but please tell us what your current PC specs are; we could potentially save you a lot of money.

EDIT:I read your original post again, and realized that you want a second desktop for your room. I'd go ahead and build it yourself. As others have said, the Core i7 950 is a waste of money. It costs twice as much as the 920; the only difference between the two is 400 MHz, and that doesn't matter if you're going to overclock. Also, forget about the GeForce GTX295. The ATI Radeon 5000 series cards are out; two Radeon HD 5850s will outperform a GTX295 for the same money.

You should be able to get a build with an i7 920 and two Radeon HD 5850s for under $1500.

 

[clairvoyant christopher]

No im confused as to how a thread started about either buying a new Alienware or building your own turned into a Dell discussion. And since your powers epic fail once again Ill help. The overclocking that was being discussed was for the new homebuilt system and making it faster than the overpriced Alienware NOT about your current computer.

Oh and the thread header says "Guys" and not PsychoSaysDie only. 😀

A psychic can't just know everything, computers have so many technical parts to put together. If I could just go out and predict building a computer without learning then I would be a millionaire! And I only talked about my Dell to point out that I can't overclock it because the Bios is locked. But I'm serious about building my own computer & overclocking. My clairvoyance can't predict overclocking & lucky lotto numbers as well.

 

[angry_ducky]

A psychic can't just know everything, computers have so many technical parts to put together. If I could just go out and predict building a computer without learning then I would be a millionaire! And I only talked about my Dell to point out that I can't overclock it because the Bios is locked. But I'm serious about building my own computer & overclocking. My clairvoyance can't predict overclocking & lucky lotto numbers as well.

In terms of building a computer, it's not all that difficult; there are plenty of good step-by-step guides online to help you along. Just do a quick search; you should come up with a bunch of useful stuff. In terms of overclocking, there are also several guides online. There are guides for overclocking graphics cards, guides for overclocking Core 2 Duos, guides for overclocking AMD processors, guides for overclocking Core i7s; you name it, and there's probably a guide for overclocking it.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

A psychic can't just know everything, computers have so many technical parts to put together. If I could just go out and predict building a computer without learning then I would be a millionaire! And I only talked about my Dell to point out that I can't overclock it because the Bios is locked. But I'm serious about building my own computer & overclocking. My clairvoyance can't predict overclocking & lucky lotto numbers as well.

LOL dude you work for a psychic hotline. You read from a checklist like any telemarketer. I was being humorous in my first post but if you want to seriously say you have some kind of "powers" Ill call you on that BS.

I was not rude to you ( sarcastic smily at the end of the first sentence of the first post) and actually tried to help answer your questions. I certainly tried not to let my true feelings about how so called psychics are no better than con men or how you basically make a living stealing from people who for the most part have no education hence have low paying jobs and are the members of society who can least afford to spend money on crap like that. But hey the old scam business usually does pay well as evidenced by the $2600 you want to spend on a "work" computer.

I think Penn and Teller did an episode of BS about this kind of crap.

Brother Beavis is done preaching now.

 

[clairvoyant christopher]

In terms of building a computer, it's not all that difficult; there are plenty of good step-by-step guides online to help you along. Just do a quick search; you should come up with a bunch of useful stuff. In terms of overclocking, there are also several guides online. There are guides for overclocking graphics cards, guides for overclocking Core 2 Duos, guides for overclocking AMD processors, guides for overclocking Core i7s; you name it, and there's probably a guide for overclocking it.

Here are the specs of my Dell that you asked for:

Item Number Quantity Item Description
224-4399 1 Studio XPS 435T
317-0067 1 Studio XPS 435T, Intel Core i7-920 processor(8MB L3 Cache 2.66GHz)
317-0076 1 6GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz
330-0915 1 Dell Consumer Multimedia Keyboard
320-7810 1 No Monitor
320-7889 1 1024MB ATI Radeon HD 4870 GDDR5
341-8517 1 640GB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive 7200 RPM
421-0084 1 Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 Home Premium 64-Bit Edition Edition English
330-3184 1 Dell Resource DVD with Application Backup
420-8873 1 Dell Dock Consumer
420-8874 1 Dell Video Chat
463-2282 1 Dell Owners Manual installed on your system,click on icon after system set-up to access
421-0323 1 Windows Live Search,Multiple User Interface
421-0427 1 Dell Movie Store
420-9691 1 DataSafe Local BackUp 2.0 Basic
420-6436 1 Vista, PC-Restore, Dim/Insp
330-1158 1 Dell USB 6-Button Laser Mouse
313-4593 1 56K PCI Data Fax Modem
410-1867 1 ADOBE READER 9.0 MULTI- LANGUAGE
313-7425 1 16X DVD+/-RW
420-8152 1 Roxio Creator 10.2 Dell Edition
421-0543 1 Power DVD 8.2, DVD
313-7878 1 Soundblaster X-Fi Titanium
313-4514 1 No Speaker Requested
430-3347 1 Integrated 10/1000 Ethernet
410-2156 1 Norton Internet Security
2009 MUI, 15-Month
420-8103 1 Microsoft Works 9.0, English

As I said earlier I want another desktop for my bedroom. From what you just said, I think that there is some hope after all on building my own computer. If it takes more time and patience then it's worth it. And as I understand everything right you can't upgrade a Dell or Alienware without a hassle. If I build my own computer I want the best parts for it such as CPU, graphics card, ram, cooling, harddrive, and motherboard.

 

[jj463rd]

I think that you're wasting everybody's time here.You don't want to learn how to build a PC because you're scared about messing up (or just enjoy wasting peoples time) when everybody here knows that it is a pretty simple and enjoyable thing to do ( a minor sense of accomplishment) as well as save some money.
It's not as difficult like it was 15 or 25 years ago with a gazillion sets of jumpers that had to be properly configured.So you are better off buying that Alienware and calling in (and later paying for) support when you have problems with it.Many of us here do our own support for ourselves so we don't have to pay or call.

 

[clairvoyant christopher]

LOL dude you work for a psychic hotline. You read from a checklist like any telemarketer. I was being humorous in my first post but if you want to seriously say you have some kind of "powers" Ill call you on that BS.

I was not rude to you ( sarcastic smily at the end of the first sentence of the first post) and actually tried to help answer your questions. I certainly tried not to let my true feelings about how so called psychics are no better than con men or how you basically make a living stealing from people who for the most part have no education hence have low paying jobs and are the members of society who can least afford to spend money on crap like that. But hey the old scam business usually does pay well as evidenced by the $2600 you want to spend on a "work" computer.

I think Penn and Teller did an episode of BS about this kind of crap.

Brother Beavis is done preaching now.

I'm not a con artist, I'm also a Police Psychic Detective and I often work with the police. I don't charge a fee for my services when I'm working with the police. For you to say that all psychics are con men is not true. There are a lot of people who are serious about questions on love & money who need guidance. If I get any legal or health questions I always refer my clients to the proper professionals that can help them. And as far as customers having no education, there are some psychics on the network I work with that charge between $40-$50 a MINUTE, which means that a lot of wealthy people call on a regular basis.

You are entitled to you're own opinion.

 

[clairvoyant christopher]

I think that you're wasting everybody's time here.You don't want to learn how to build a PC because you're scared about messing up (or just enjoy wasting peoples time) when everybody here knows that it is a pretty simple and enjoyable thing to do ( a minor sense of accomplishment) as well as save some money.
It's not as difficult like it was 15 or 25 years ago with a gazillion sets of jumpers that had to be properly configured.So you are better off buying that Alienware and calling in (and later paying for) support when you have problems with it.Many of us here do our own support for ourselves so we don't have to pay or call.

How would you know that I'm wasting everybodys time? Why would I be scared about messing up? What you're doing is making up rude remarks to me. You don't even know me! YOU'RE NOT A KIND PERSON to say remarks like that. As a psychic I know that there is no way in hell that you can even make predictions like that without ever talking on the phone or talking in person.

When people go out of their way to be rude for no reason whatsoever, its because their lives are miserable.

How can you even prove that I'm wasting everybodys time and that I'm scared about messing up? You can't.

 

[randomizer]

If he is wasting your time, why are you responding? If you are not interested in answering the OP's questions and would prefer to attack their choice of profession, stop posting in this thread.

OP edited to remove off-site link, as advertisements are not needed to answer the question, not that the link worked anyway.

 

[angry_ducky]

I think that you're wasting everybody's time here.You don't want to learn how to build a PC because you're scared about messing up (or just enjoy wasting peoples time) when everybody here knows that it is a pretty simple and enjoyable thing to do ( a minor sense of accomplishment) as well as save some money.
It's not as difficult like it was 15 or 25 years ago with a gazillion sets of jumpers that had to be properly configured.So you are better off buying that Alienware and calling in (and later paying for) support when you have problems with it.Many of us here do our own support for ourselves so we don't have to pay or call.

I think that, if the OP wants to learn to build his own PC, then who are we to get in the way of that? While we cannot make the decision to build or buy for him, we can provide the pros and cons of both options to help steer him in the right direction. The point of this forum is for people to ask questions and get help with them. As you and I have said, building a PC isn't too difficult nowadays. If the OP wants to go down that road, we are here to help...

 

[clairvoyant christopher]

I think that, if the OP wants to learn to build his own PC, then who are we to get in the way of that? While we cannot make the decision to build or buy for him, we can provide the pros and cons of both options to help steer him in the right direction. The point of this forum is for people to ask questions and get help with them. As you and I have said, building a PC isn't too difficult nowadays. If the OP wants to go down that road, we are here to help...

Thank you for you're support. I will build my own. Here in Beverly Hills, CA so many people are having their computers built through Maingear. These computers are so over priced that it's a joke. These computers run over $8,700. These computers have some of the highest ratings for being the fastest computers ever made. I've seen these computers on C-NET and PC Mag, they have water cooling, I don't want to go that far.

 

[Wisecracker]

I'm considering on either purchasing the 875watt Alienware Aurora for $2,604 or building my own computer. ~~~~

I have to have a top of the line computer because I'm a internet psychic advisor; I make money with my computer and I like to do gaming and play games like Crysis.

(holds forefingers to temples) I'm thinking of a system .... 😱


In case there is too much cosmic debris between us:

Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition: $189

MSI 790FX-GD70 AM3 790FX: $165

2 x Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 1Gb @ $155/pop

G.Skill 6GB (3 x 2GB) CL7 DDR3 1333: $135

XIGMATEK Dark Knight CPU Cooler: $45

OCZ Freeze Thermal Compound: $6

Combo: Corsair 750w PSU & Western Digital Caviar Black 1Tb hard drive: $195 ($175 AR)
(valid till 10/08/2009)

HP Black 24X DVD Writer - Retail : $32

Antec Twelve Hundred Computer Case: $160


Roughly $1,350.

If you cannot channel my build instructions 😗 pay a local yokel $200 to build it for you --- and install a copy of the Win7 RC (which you will have to purchase next Spring).


But you already knew that, didn't you ?


(j/k btw!)

 

[clairvoyant christopher]

(holds forefingers to temples) I'm thinking of a system .... 😱


In case there is too much cosmic debris between us:

Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition: $189

MSI 790FX-GD70 AM3 790FX: $165

2 x Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 1Gb @ $155/pop

G.Skill 6GB (3 x 2GB) CL7 DDR3 1333: $135

XIGMATEK Dark Knight CPU Cooler: $45

OCZ Freeze Thermal Compound: $6

Combo: Corsair 750w PSU & Western Digital Caviar Black 1Tb hard drive: $195 ($175 AR)
(valid till 10/08/2009)

HP Black 24X DVD Writer - Retail : $32

Antec Twelve Hundred Computer Case: $160


Roughly $1,350.

If you cannot channel my build instructions 😗 pay a local yokel $200 to build it for you --- and install a copy of the Win7 RC (which you will have to purchase next Spring).


But you already knew that, didn't you ?


(j/k btw!)

Thank you so much for the information.

 

[OvrClkr]

With 2,600$$$ you can build a monster that will crush any alienware.....

Building is the least of your worries as long as you take your time and ask questions if you hit a wall.

Most peeps that buy an alienware can care less how much they spend, others just buy them for the case among other things....

The GTX 295 is waste as well since you can get more or less the same performance from the 5870, cheaper/draws less power/DX11 .....

 

[tecmo34]

My Recommendation, if you are willing to spend $2,600 on a system!!

Cost: $2,330.87
■CPU: Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail
■MOBO: ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
■RAM: OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P1600LV6GK - Retail
■HSF: XIGMATEK Intel Core i7 compatible Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler - Retail
■SSD: Intel X25-M SSDSA2MH080G1 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD) - OEM
■HDD: SAMUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
■PSU: Antec CP-850 850W Continuous Power CPX SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC "compatible with ... - Retail
■GPU: 2x XFX HD-587A-ZNF9 Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card w/ATI Eyefinity - Retail
■DVD: SAMSUNG DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223L LightScribe Support - OEM
■Case: Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail
■Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
■OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders w/ Tech Guarantee - OEM

Edit: Add in addtional cost of $150 for a keyboard and mouse... My recommendations for a gaming setup:
■RAZER DeathAdder RZ01-00150100-R3M1 Black 5 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Optical High Precision Gaming Mouse - Retail ($49.99)
■Logitech G15 USB Wired Standard Gaming Keyboard - Retail ($89.99)

 

[clairvoyant christopher]

(holds forefingers to temples) I'm thinking of a system .... 😱


In case there is too much cosmic debris between us:

Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition: $189

MSI 790FX-GD70 AM3 790FX: $165

2 x Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 1Gb @ $155/pop

G.Skill 6GB (3 x 2GB) CL7 DDR3 1333: $135

XIGMATEK Dark Knight CPU Cooler: $45

OCZ Freeze Thermal Compound: $6

Combo: Corsair 750w PSU & Western Digital Caviar Black 1Tb hard drive: $195 ($175 AR)
(valid till 10/08/2009)

HP Black 24X DVD Writer - Retail : $32

Antec Twelve Hundred Computer Case: $160


Roughly $1,350.

If you cannot channel my build instructions 😗 pay a local yokel $200 to build it for you --- and install a copy of the Win7 RC (which you will have to purchase next Spring).


But you already knew that, didn't you ?


(j/k btw!)

Thank you so much for the information. This forum is exciting, I've never felt so moativated to build my own computer! I'm seeing not only the savings, but I'm also seeing how more of a computer you get thats more reliable. Goodbye Dell.

 

[RAFU]

I recomand ypu to bulid it yourself,because you'll feel happy that you bulid up your OWN PC,not pre-asambled,and i like the parts you choosen for the do-it yourseft configuration.