Homebuilt vs Falcon NW vs. Alienware

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I'm sure Dells are better, but I can tell you I work for a school district, we have 1100 machines roughly, mostly Macintosh, but we have a few Dell systems, many of them have had to have motherboards replaced, hard drives, etc etc. Man, you will have probs with any of them. Get yourself a grounding wristrap, build it dude. You'll have more fun, and you will learn. And you'll know that good components are going into it, and knowing that, you'll probably have less problems. But don't think just because you buy a prebuilt you will have a sure thing. Also, remember when you buy components you should get a warranty on each component. If you have video card or motherboard go bad, you can send it back and return it. It's just your warranty is on each piece, not the whole deal.
 
If your going to build a high end system, then it's best to build your own. As far as the "hassle," it takes about 2 hours from opening the boxes to playing a game (If all goes well). It only take me an average of 1-2 hours to build one and have it up and running. Sometimes you can run into some problems that might tank that timeline, but overall with highend parts, will go together with less issues. The 2 areas where I won't let people skrimp is on Motherboard and Power Supply. Go for it and build it yourself, you'll have more pride in knowing you built itl Not to mention if your buy retail parts you will have 3-5 year warranty and tech support.
 
You know that the case that FNW uses is just a slightly modded, Silverstone Temjin series, SST-TJ03, u can buy a window panel if u want, heck u could save roughly a few thousand dollars by building ur own higend ssytem with fornt usb and mic/audio ports, and is a beautiful case!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=Tj03&x=0&y=0

the black one is my favorite at the item i was doing my first x2 3800 90 nm, build, i was looking for a nice case, and went with an ultra aluminus which is nice, but this is the true flagship case it absolutely beautiful!

I just could not afford the $300 price tag at the time, but now its like $230 after MIR, so if u are interested look into it.
 
MFM drives, usually using a Seagate controller card, and for me they always seemed to ignore the correct configuration the first dozen or so times but would work fine after that. That always took many hours.

I think the biggest I saw was 40MB, but I never got more than 30MB drives. Low level formatting, drives that would just spin up for no apparent reason and stall everything until they came back down.. I don't miss them.

Anyway, see if they'll build using a custom case. Most motherboards have the headers for front panel stuff, so it'd just take having someone who knows slightly more than their assembly-line parts to plug it all in.

I like this case. Two USB, firewire, and audio ports in front. I've never had a heat problem. I did replace the 120mm fan and added an intake fan for the HDDs, but those things weren't really necessary.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129018
 
only reason i mentioned the TJ03 is b/c the guy obviously likes the classy high end look, heck who doesn't? but it costs quite a it, but he can save way more just building using a TJ03 case, b/c thats what falcon northwest uses, they call it an icon case and they have specialty paintings, and modification's for it, but its costs an arm and a leg.....

i don't think he going to want an average econo-case....
 


Ahhh heh yeah MFM. I knew it started with an M. Yeah, thing is now that Im having flashbacks, for those involved with custom builds waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back then, the truth is it was easier in spite of there being few standards, etc. Mainly because there was no internet *shock* and no large retailers really, just a few medium sized ones. And no national chains.

So your options on buying the parts were...what you had access to. Of course all the compatability/driver issues really didn't exist either since games were only so demanding. No video cards :) No sound cards :/ And dos was not too hard to get working... BSOD might have been a punk band but nothing more.

I can't even remember the small chains out here in SoCal. I think HW Computers was one here in Los Angeles. Also I think there was a chain called ITC Electronics I used to go to a bunch though they sold small parts as well as electronic components. Business Land (?) was also a chain I think. Radio Shack was also very big and I guess national? Don't remember. I still want to punch that Tandy computer in the neck, chest, and eye area. Funny I have these wierd images in my head of driving to all these places to get my parts in joyful, kid-like glee. I guess things don't change 😉

Sigh. I feel like the sheriff in No Country for Old Men [and I'm only in my late 30's]

"The system building you see now, it's hard to even take its measure. It's not that I'm afraid of it. I always knew you had to be willing to die to even do this custom job. But, I don't want to push my chips forward and go out and meet something I don't understand. A man would have to put his soul at hazard. He'd have to say, "O.K., I'll be part of this custom build."
 
Man shure is alot to read here,
I was like you 2 years ago and went with Falcon,paid 3400.00 for a sweet system,7900gtx SLI and thats not even the best proc>amd 4000+ The best would of added an additonal 900.00>FX60..man expensive.Well anyway I was happy and my system never had any issues.Eventually I started tinkering with overclocking and next thing I know I was upgrading the memory then the CPU then the video cards as the technlogy improved.It then became more of a homebuilt than Falcon.I now build my own and save a hell of alot of money.My advise to you is build your own and get more for your money.
Also if you want front panel mic and head phones here is a new card that will allow that
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3334003&Sku=A452-1008&SRCCODE=GOOGLEBASE&CMP=OTC-GOOGLEBASE
 


I guess you haven't picked up one of these Antecs, other than the plastic front panel, they can double as furniture. They're as heavily built as an IBM XT.
 


I don't think I saw parts in any chain store, I had to either order them through the HUGE Computer Shopper magazine or a couple of local electronics wholesalers.

If you missed out on the fun that was Sound Blaster under Windows 3.1, you missed a lot. I built many using Pro Audio Spectrums, which took two (or three for full SB compatibility) IRQ's and two DMA channels. Once you were done allocating port addresses and IRQ's, then you had to map upper memory to get all the drivers loaded and leave 610kb or so of conventional memory so programs would run.

I ran a 3 line BBS under Windows 3.11 with 8MB of RAM. I could even run a flight sim without significant lag, as long as not all three were downloading. You can't even load Word in 8MB now.
 
OK go too Frys or micro center tell them what you want and thy will build it for you for a 100 bucks or so 3k in parts and you have enough for a nice screen
 
You could go to voodoo, or get the blackbird 002 with voodoo dna, it has front mounts and its upgradble, or you could just buy the compnents go to a local computer shop and have them hook up compnents and software and give you the box when its done
 


Haha no I remember all that, trust me. But before the first sound cards came out (and then Vodoo a long time ago making the first real acceptable mainstream video cards, etc.) but I mean back in the daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

And yeah I thought about it again after I posted and said it was easier to build a PC back then and realized I'm gonna flop. It was harder in different ways, and mainly info gathering. I used some semi-illegal BBS' back then for info (and pirated software I'm not too pleased to admit).

I guess though nowadays there are SO many options and the higher end is still more expensive today than high end back then. Today though there is 20x the range from low end to high end.

I guess I might do what one person did above and that is maybe get a FNW and then over time use it as my sandbox to upgrade and build with each component over time.

The problem I had with the Dells is that the MOBO was always proprietary so I never bothere with CPU/mobo upgrades or seating in a new PSU, etc.
 



I looked into the Vodoo because HP has made quite a turnaround, but from many posts it seems there are some issues with some of them (growing pains or just normal distribution, not sure) and the customer service and response from Voodoo has been quite crappy.

Who knows if the HP name pushed more units out than the Voodoo guys can support, they were always ghetto, or just tons of issues. Also it seems no one in HP knows much about the blackbird from a support standpoint according to the complaints, and some 'reps' didnt even know what the blackbird was. So you have the HP name on it but the smallness of Voodoo to support it (for now).

Maybe in a year or two things will be smoother there. And this is not from personal experience, just from reading blogs/message boards.
 
Im a older gamer too, except i only get to play a few hours a month, how in the hell do you find time to play seversl mmorg's

 


Dell/HP/etc. have their place, if you're rolling out an office of machines then they make sense but they make compromises that you end up dealing with if you're looking to upgrade later.

I don't think high end's more expensive, those 20-40MB MFM drives were $1000+ (in 80's dollars) for quite a while and it wasn't long ago that $1/meg was a deal in IDE drives, and $10/meg for RAM.

There're definitely more options now, but the upside is that if you go with standard parts, most solutions should be fine. Upgrade paths are the biggest question, and with Intel dropping four new chipsets in a year, there is no right answer there other than wait, but eventually you have to pull the trigger.
 


1) Was single (though always dated) for a while so once I came home, it was all me and orcs baby!
2) Now I'm engaged but no kids - once that hits, I'll have to google MMORPGs to remember what they are
3) I don't watch much TV except for sports so my free time is online instead of infront of the a glowing box
4) If I play enough MMORPGs, maybe just like the movie TRON, I can one day... *hic* uhhhh *hic* nevermind
 
O.K...A lot of people are not going to like this; but, this might be n option.
Why don't you try costco.com...they have free s&h on most comps and if u aren't happy return it to the store and they will give u a full refund. You have 90days to try it out.
I returned mine only because I decided I wanted to build my own and wanted certain parts. But dollar value, it costs about the same to buy from newegg than to get it at costco. Just go under desktops, then gaming comps.
The selection isn't that great right now, but they do change there products...just another option.
 


Oh trust me, I checked. I'm not sure if most people reading this have a Costco in their state but I check them for _anything_ I buy before I go elsewhere. Besides having the best return policy, period, they also have the best prices for any item if they carry it, period.

They had the Samsung 226BW back in the day and at one point, the price was the same basically as newegg yet I could walk in there, buy one, check the panel, and if bad...at least I stand in line, return it, and try another.

But yeah, until they carry the Blackbird or similarly configured high-end machines, nothing there for now for the level I want.

But yes, good idea and valid point.

The wierd thing about Costco is you'd think they would never carry really high-end items. Last week I saw an 80k diamond ring their with GIA certs! I once bought a pair of $400 Maui Jims when they used to carry the higher end stuff. Better glasses and price than I could find in the any sunglass store in Bevery Hills 😉 I've had the glasses for almost 6 years now and except for my computer and car, best purchase I ever made.

Plus their $1.50 combo pizza slices *hic* are the best.
 
I will build you a computer including 21" monitor for $1800 and it will smoke any solution from another brand thats under 3k.

That falcon $5500 is LOL.

The new 45 Nm chip clock to 3.6 easily running very cool.
9800 GTX is the pretty cheap and really fast.
DDR2 ram is DIRT cheap
And onboard sound and lan on the motherboards is really good nowadays.
The gigabtyle P35 DS3-L? I believe, its like $84 and can overclock almost as good as a $300 X48 board.

Medium level system is like $900 with everything, and top of the line is like $1600.

I can;t imagine dumping huge money on a pre-made system. Build it yourself. I am in the LA area, you want to pay me to come teach you and assemble it right there?

LAAkuma
 
i suggested to the original poster that he find a local brick and mortar store; since i believe he's in los angeles county that will service/support his high end custom rig. where i live there are these type of stores that do know how to build a gaming rig with special order components; not only that several stores like these local to me have built 50,000+ computers and tons of custom high end gaming computers.

i suggested he have them order a quality power supply like pc power & cooling and that it's very important to have that. basically a Tier 1 quality type.

if you look on www.resllerratings.com for example you'll see that lifetime ratings on www.dell.com, www.gateway.com, etc.. aren't good. these are just a few examples of companies that would be sold at costco or bestbuy, etc.. plus with lower end pc's you don't get big enough quality power supplies for power hungry high end components like 9800gx2, etc.. not only that if you poke around enough on review sites of things like gateway you'll find that the 700watt power supply gateway includes on it's high end gaming machine isn't good quality like a Tier 1 would be.








 
Ok, you guys did it!

Both my ego, curiosity, desire for a challenge, and general boredom have pushed me to the edge. I'm going to build it!

It's not as much because of the $$$ as it is that no one has a configured box that really meets my need. Falcon is the closest but there are just a couple things I wish were available/different and the price is just high enough that if FOR ANY REASON things don't work perfectly...then I'd be dissappointed.

I'd wait to see what the Dell XPS 730 (if it comes out) is like but after my XPS 630 experience, not sure it even makes sense to wait and see - especially since I need something by May 20th - Conan Online release date 😛 In fact, I can't start ordering parts until Dell receives my second XPS 630 that is still in transit and then credit me back my $$$ (wonder how long that takes :/)

So I'm going to do it!

Now here is the scary part. I can't find a good guidance/suggested approach/parts FAQ on any site.

Basically, I found a good thread (and now lost it) for example for Tier 1, Tier 2, etc. PSU's.

Is there a thread anywhere that would help answer some of these questions? For any of these, I never worry about $$$ as much as good quality and functionality - since you usually always get what you pay for.

1) Upper-tier cases? I would like a very well constructed case with great cooling/high fan quality. No bling bling needed, just damn good functionality. Do most upper-tier cases come with enough fans or do most people always have to add extra fans?

2) CPU cooler? When I buy the CPU (tempted to try the QX9650), do you first power up without glueing on the cooler (tempted to get Zalman XNPS7000B-ALCU LED one unless there is a better best-of-breed air one?) in case there is a problem and you need to return the CPU? How long can you try the system before it is dangerous to run the CPU without a cooler?
Which of these top-4 listed would you use? http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=zalman

3) PSU. Anyone have the link to the tier-classification for PSUs I've seen floating around? Since I will likely always just stay with the fastest single GPU vs. SLI anytime soon, is there any real reason to go for 1000watt vs. 750watt if I will have 1 GPU, 2 hard drives, and 2 DVD/equivalent drives?

4) Mobo/memory - For Penryn processors, it seems most upper-tier system builders are going with 790i because of the SLI support. Since I only will likely ever have 1 GPU, any reason to not consider the X48 boards? I also notice NewEgg has more reviews on 790i boards vs. X48 boards - and since both require DDR3 - I guess I'll stick with 790i because then at least I have the SLI potential should I decide to use it one day. Also, who is the best DDR3 mfg? I know for DDR2 (back a ways now), Corsair was king...but who is it now?
Considering: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188025
P.S. Does the 790i support the ESA software from Nvidia to monitor temperatures, control fans, etc?

5) GPU - Still have not decided but whether I go 9800GTX, 8800Ultra, or 9800GX2 - I don't think there are any considerations I need to make for the rest of the system when using these other than SLI if I use more than one which I am not (right?) [well besides the PSU and I'll probably go 1000 watt just for the SLI potential one day]

6) Sound card - Going with Fatal1ty Platinum since this is the only way that I know of being able to have front-headphones automatically cut off the main speakers AND have the creative console software switch to headphone mode. I realize I can put a jack up front to use headphones with regular XIFI cards but it won't switch over automatically, cut off the main speakers, etc.
Considering: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102014

7) Hard drives - nothing strategic here to consider as I'm not going raid... 1 Raptor and 1 250 or 320 gig storage drive as I already have a Windows Home Server I set up that stores most everything else.

8) Bluetooth - I mostly need this for my pocket pc phone (6800 from Verizon) to synch up without a cable... What is best option?

9) Any other key considerations? I'm most worried about common pitfalls people don't consider until the parts arrive and you're like 'crap, why didn't someone tell me?!?' i.e. anything about returns to know or consider, other assembly/compatability issues, etc?

THANKS!
 
I've returned to the thread at the perfect moment.

Great choice on building your own. What is your desired budget (I know you were looking at a $5k+ FNW box but the amount can change when you build your own).

If you're not going to SLI, get an Intel board. The NVidia ones run hotter, and the Intel boards are supposed to overclock better.

Don't run without a cooler, ever. Use thermal paste every time as well. Clean up is <5 min (some rubbing alcohol and a coffee filter will do the job).

I'll have to look at the higher end products for some of the items, but I can give you immediate advice on a few parts.

Case: Antec P182 (or P182SE). I love it. Very clean lines, very cool, wonderful to work with. Possibly the P190, but I haven't done enough research to let you know.

PSU: Hmm, it appears the PSU Tier list I had bookmarked is gone. There is one on Tom's Forums as well, but I don't have that link.
Corsair 620HX. If you don't SLI, you don't need more. The HX is modular as well.
If you decide to use multiple GPUs, get the PC P&C Silencer 750W X-Fire edition because it has the PCIE 8 pin connectors for newer/future video cards.
If you get the Antec P190, it comes with dual power supplies, so ignore this section.

CPU Cooler: Thermalright IFX-14, Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme or Xigmatek HDT-S1283.

Hard Drives:
Raptor or WD 640GB (WD6400AAKS). The 640GB actually beats the Raptor in places, and is cooler and quieter.

Motherboard:
I would go with X38, and DDR2 ram at this point. DDR3 just doesn't give you the benefit.

Sorry for the varied links, this was a quick search for linkable info on items I know about.
I can say the Xigmatek is easy to install and works wonderfully, the P182 is gorgeous (if you like that look), quiet and cool, and the WD 640GB is worth it. I've only had these parts for a short time, but I couldn't be happier.

I'll edit with more info once I find it.
 
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