HP Pavillion HPE190t vs. Dell XPS Studio 9000 vs. Alienware Aurora

[downfall1]

Hi im new here, but id like to get an opinion over which is the better computer i should purchase. I have a $2000-$2500 budget for a new computer. I priced out 3 computers, which I will be primarily be using for video production/editing and web development.

Alienware Aurora $2562

Genuine Windows® 7 Professional, 64bit, English
Intel® Core™ i7 960 (3.2GHz, 8MB Cache)
Alienware Aurora Desktop
Alienware™ High-Performance Liquid Cooling
1 Year Basic Service Plan
Dual 1GB GDDR5 ATI Radeon™ HD 5670 CrossfireX™ Enabled
12GB Triple Channel 1333MHz DDR3
No Monitor
1TB RAID 0 (2x 500GB SATA-II, 7,200 RPM, 16MB Cache HDDs)
Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Audio
Dual Drives: Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (BD-ROM; DVD/CD Burner) and DVD-ROM
Alienware Optical Mouse, MG100
1525 PCIe WLAN card with 11n mini-Card & external antenna
Alienware Multi-Media Keyboard

Dell Studio XPS 9000 - $2248

Genuine Windows® 7 Professional, 64bit, English
Intel® Core™ i7-960 processor(8MB L3 Cache, 3.2GHz)
2 Year Advanced Service Plan
ATI Radeon HD 5450 1GB DDR3
12GB Tri-Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 6 DIMMs
1TB Performance RAID 0 (2x500GB SATA 7200 RPM HDDs)
Soundblaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Audio
Dual Drives: Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (BD-ROM; DVD/CD Burner) and DVD+/-RW
Dell 1525 Wireless-N PCIe Card
56K PCI Data Fax Modem + EarthLink first 6 months at $9.95 per month
Dell Studio Consumer Multimedia Keyboard

HP Pavillion Elite HPE190t - $2454
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-980X six-core Extreme Edition [3.33GHz, 1.5MB L2 + 12MB shared L3 cache]
12GB DDR3-1066MHz SDRAM [6 DIMMs]
FREE UPGRADE! 1.5TB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive from 1TB
1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 220 [DVI, HDMI, VGA]
Blu-ray player & Lightscribe SuperMulti DVD burner
16x max. DVD ROM (player)
Premium Wireless-N LAN card
15-in-1 memory card reader, 1 USB, 1394, audio
No TV Tuner
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio
No speakers
HP multimedia keyboard and HP optical mouse


Which of the 3 can anyone recommend would be better?
On one hand the new HP one looks nice because it's the best price I could find on the new Intel i7 extreme edition. However I couldn't find any benchmarks or reviews on it yet. Plus it has only 1 firewire port, and the memory is only 1066MHz. And why buy the i7 extreme edition if it isnt overclocked?

The Alienware and Dell both have 1333MHz tri channel memory, BUT the processor is the i7 960. The alienware does have dual 1gb graphic cards which makes it a bit more expensive, but im not a gamer, and not sure i Need all that. There are many pros and cons to each machine.

Which one is right for me, and what does everyone think is honestly better for the price since the features are almost exactly the same?

Is the i7 extreme edition really better performance than the i7 960. Is there also a real big difference between 1066mhz ram and 1333mhz tri channel ram and how much of a difference?


Please help me, thanks for your advice.
peace.

 

[brennon7]

Don't get the XPS 9000 it has an underpowered PSU, it,s like 475 watts if I remember correctly. Had the xps studio 435t and it is the same. It blew up on me.

The aurora has unlocked bios allowing you to overclock the system (overclocked it will outperform the i7 980x) and an 875w PSU.
The aurora has liquid cooling.

HP has been having problems with the motherboards from what I heard it also has an underpowered PSU rated at 460 watts.

My vote is for the aurora.

Interested in building your own?



All parts are better (except the cpu which can be overclocked) and it saves you about $500 dollars.

i7 930 $300
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115225&cm_re=i7_930-_-19-115-225-_-Product

Motherboard Asus Pro 1366 6bg/s and USB 3.0 $300
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131614&cm_re=asus_1366-_-13-131-614-_-Product

Haf 922 case $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197&cm_re=haf_922-_-11-119-197-_-Product

Power supply Corsair 650w PSU $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005&cm_re=corsair_650-_-17-139-005-_-Product

Ram 12gb $405
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145233&cm_re=12gb_ram-_-20-145-233-_-Product

OS windows 7 OEM Professional $134
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116758&cm_re=windows_7_professional_64-bit-_-32-116-758-_-Product

Video Card ATI 5850 $310
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125318&cm_re=5850-_-14-125-318-_-Product

Blu ray ROM ASUS $110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135203&cm_re=blu_ray_rom-_-27-135-203-_-Product

DVD RW ASUS $24
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135209&cm_re=Asus_dvd_burner-_-27-135-209-_-Product

CPU Cooler for overclocking which the asus board can do AUTOMATICALLY. $35
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065&cm_re=hyper_212-_-35-103-065-_-Product

HDD 1tb Spin point f3 $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&cm_re=spinpoint_f3-_-22-152-185-_-Product

Throw in a card reader for 30 bucks or so

total is $1888.00 with the i7 930 Which can easily be overclocked past 4.0ghz

If you really want the i7 960 $569

Total with the i7 960 $2157.00

 

[downfall1]

hi brennon7, thanks for the helpful advice. if i had the time and tenacity i would build my own computer as i know that would be cheaper, but time is of the essence so i def. need to buy a decent performance desktop from somewhere and those 3 seemed decent for the price.

but i have no idea how to overclock my system, can this be done easily and safely?
i would def. buy the aurora if i can do that myself and it's not complicated and time consuming.

 

[brennon7]

hi brennon7, thanks for the helpful advice. if i had the time and tenacity i would build my own computer as i know that would be cheaper, but time is of the essence so i def. need to buy a decent performance desktop from somewhere and those 3 seemed decent for the price.

but i have no idea how to overclock my system, can this be done easily and safely?
i would def. buy the aurora if i can do that myself and it's not complicated and time consuming.

Yes, it can be done easily and safely, you just need proper cooling. That's why the aurora comes with liquid cooling.

I haven't seen the bios on the Aurora, so I can't say how easy it would be for the aurora. But I know the bios are UNLOCKED so you can. I have an asus MOBO and it is too simple. I just hit auto tuning and bam. My i5 750 is operating at 3.7ghz. It all depends on the bios.

It's a matter of changing the multiplier and the FSB. 20x multiplier and 200fsb gets you 4000mhz. You might need to up the voltage a bit and check temps.

http://www.overclock.net/intel-cpus/538439-guide-overclocking-core-i7-920-930-a.html

 

[brennon7]

If you don't mind refurb units, here is a 25% off refurb AURORA coupon. good until 1000 people use it.

76$1RNGMRQJBMQ

Just found this one with the i7 975 extreme 12gb ram for 2129 after coupon with free shipping.

Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
Memory
12 GB Triple Channel DDR3 1333MHz (6 DIMMs)
Hard Disk Drive
640 GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200 RPM) 2nd drive
640 GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
Video
1.8GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295
Software Upgrade
64BIT Operating System DVD
Windows Live
Microsoft Works 9.0
McAfee Security Center, 30 Day
Processor
Processor: Intel Core i7-975 Processor Extreme Edition(8MB L2 Cache, 3.33GHz)
Hardware Upgrade
Alienware TactX Mouse
Alienware TactX Headset
125V Power Cord
Alienware High-Performance Liquid Cooling
Alienware TactX Keyboard
System Color
Cosmic Black
Media Bay
Single Drive: Blu-ray Disc (BD) Burner (Writes to DVD/CD/BD)
Certified Refurbished
Certified Refurbished
Base
Alienware Aurora ALX Desktop

For $2129

Under the MODEL SELECT AURORA ALX

www.dell.com/outlet

 

[buwish]

Best answer selected by buwish.

 

[hkfosho]

the power supply on the xps 9000 is fine, never had any problems with it. And if it seems to low for you, just replace it with a higher PSU, simple as that.