Buying a Gaming PC

slow down Vincethelion, some of us can't keep up with your sales pitch! Though if you tell me Olympic divers use dell then I'll buy a dozen!

Are you following me camera guy?

I may be a complete idiot... which i'm hoping im not... But just by navigating from dell.com i cant seem to find where to build my own tower. I've gone through some searches and customized a few different computers but i still haven't found a start from scratch and build option. Ecth help me out plz

 

You dont build your own from scratch. You pick which model you want to start with. Model Uber. Model Uberer, and Uberest.

 

From there, you can select if you want a bigger hard drive or different vid card. Stuff like that.

 

 

Hmm, ok than. Which model should i look to be upgrading than? the lowest gaming model is just at the top of my budget so are these the specs i should be looking for or do i need to upgrade anything?

 

XPS 625 - 899$

 

Processors

AMD Athlon™ X2 5600+ Black Edition (2.9GHz/65W)

- i remember kimball saying something about a quad-core and i think this is only a duo :/

 

CD ROM/DVD ROM

Single Drive: 16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability

 

Memory

2GB3 Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 2 DIMMs

 

Hard Drives

500GB4 - 7200RPM, SATA 2 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache

 

Video Card

ATI Radeon HD4670 512MB3

 

Sound Cards

Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio

 

Hardware Support Services

1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty,5 InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis6

 

 

Everything up to the warranty can be upgraded, so just asking for an opinion from bang/father/ecth/(everyone else) on which things i should upgrade and which things are fine as is.

If it comes with vista, get 4gb of ram.

 

I dont know ATI cards - but otherwise it looks like a good deal.

 

=)

coming from your macbook, that configuration is going to seem like heaven in PC form.

 

As is,...you may run into some frame rate issues if you play some newer FPS's on high settings, but even then this PC will have you lovin' life.

 

the video card in that bundle you showed is:

 

video card:

GPU/VPU: RADEON HD 4670

RAMDAC: Dual 400 MHz

Video Memory: 512MB

Memory Type: GDDR3

Memory Interface: 128-bit

Stream Processors: 320

Core Clock: 750 MHz

Memory Clock: 1000 MHz

 

that is pretty nice! It's on par with the nVidia 9800 gtx's.

 

I'd say go with that and see if you like it. the beauty of desktops is the absolute ease of upgrading individual components.

 

you may eventually want to upgrade the Memory(RAM) or Video Card.. but give that one a go. you're going to like it.

 

and FYI the "Black Edition" processor in that rig is one of the best out there for overclocking should you want more juice out of the cpu. but again, save that for later.

 

<3 kp

 

edit: stang is right.. if they load it with vista, you're gonna want to bump up that memory to 4gb

Edited March 4, 2009 by Killerpriest

Yes they load it with vista... Bumping up the memory to 4gb and upping the warranty from 1 year to 4 years and it turns out at 1273$. A little out of my price range but i guess i'll just have to suck it up and wait another paycheck or so =/

 

KP - Yeah im pretty excited about it. I'm pretty over trying to game on my macbook so this will be nice.

 

Ecth- I remember you saying that it came with a base 3 year warranty, but it defaulted to 1 year. Is this only on certain CPU's or did i do something wrong?

 

No you didn't do anything wrong. The business machines will default to a 3 year on site warranty. Consumer machines will depend on the price point of the system that you're buying. It's all laid out on the site. The ATI card that you've got is fine, I'd go with an nVidia if at all possible considering they're the ones that are pushing the envelope at the moment. If you're going to buy a new machine I'd actually recommend that you get an Intel Core i7 CPU. They're the new standard chips for Intel and a CONSIDERABLE upgrade in performance. Those boards can also handle Triple channel memory as opposed to the dual channel that the sys you're looking at can handle.

 

The XPS machines really are pretty nice and I haven't seen any systemic problems with the hardware. They're the flagship PC's for Dell so they go to great lengths when you purchase one to back it up. The way I see it though, you can save up some cash and buy/build a system that is going to last you a while unmodified, or you can peace meal it and get one that's going to be obsolete in a year.

 

If you want to be in it for the long haul here's the build that I'd run.

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/con...-studio-xps-435

*Edit* I didn't realize that it was going to save the customized one in my cache. Here's the specs I was looking at:

My Components

PROCESSORS Intel® Core™i7-920 processor(8MB L2 Cache, 2.66GHz)

OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-Bit

WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis

MEMORY 6GB Tri-Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 6 DIMMs

HARD DRIVE 500GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive

OPTICAL DRIVE Single Drive: 16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability

MONITORS No Monitor

VIDEO CARD ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB

SOUND CARD Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio

SPEAKERS No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)

KEYBOARD Dell USB Consumer Multimedia Keyboard

MOUSE Dell Laser Mouse

MODEM No Modem Option

 

My Accessories

ANTI-VIRUS & SECURITY Norton Internet Security™ 2009 Edition 15-months

PRODUCTIVITY SOFTWARE No Productivity software pre-installed

 

My Service

REMOTE ACCESS Dell Remote Access, free basic service edit

DATASAFE ONLINE BACKUP Dell Online Backup 2GB for 1 year

 

ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM

Studio XPS Studio XPS 435

Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9.0 Multi-Language

LABELS Windows Vista™ Premium

*Edit*

 

I skimped on the warranty to keep the price down, but with this hardware you're basically future proof. The only thing that's going to bite you in the bottom is storage space and the possibility of a Blue ray player. But both of those are VERY easy upgrades and will be SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper if not done through Dell (here's where you start learning how to work on your PC).

 

I went with the studio XPS for one reason: it's a newer design, and as such is taking advantage of the latest hardware that we've got available. I checked through a couple of sources and ATI is the only thing you've got for graphics options on these guys, but honestly as robust as that card is it's not a big deal. And Video cards are cheap if you want to trade out to something bigger down the road.

 

Think of it like this: you can use Dell as a starter PC. All the little stuff that Kimball or I would recommend that you take can be added in later with minimal effort. And it's not like you don't have access to guys around here that know what the hell they're doing.

 

And if you chose to get the YTT contract for this thing (Optional warranty upgrade). There's a pretty good chance that I could be the one handling your Tech support needs personally. (Since they're moving me to the consumer line. Bastards...).

 

Or you could just hop on vent and talk to me or Kim for free. Your call. ^_^

Edited March 5, 2009 by Ecthelion

and FYI the "Black Edition" processor in that rig is one of the best out there for overclocking should you want more juice out of the cpu. but again, save that for later.

I guarantee you that the Dell BIOS is going to be less then friendly for overclocking. It's not something that we really want our consumers messing around with. If you're considering OCing Q, SERRIOUSLY BUILD YOUR OWN SYSTEM! lol.

im so not down with overclocking, i know the argument is if you keep it cool it's fine. but im not fine with pushing expensive equipment to it's boundaries >

Well before fathers post i had never even heard of Overclocking and so forth have no idea what it is or how to do it beyond that its like a limit breaker for your cpu(hidden FF reference ftw). I don't really "plan" on having a need for this, the only thing i can see me doing for the next few years is playing my MMO's and watching videos/web surfing. Im not very techish but i dont think I will need to OC to do this.

 

KK i built it up, i think i may go with the warranty anyways because i'll probably kick myself if i dont. I guess your right though, if i'm going to build something than i might as well make sure its still going to be kicking ass in 2-3 years. It just means i'll have to wait a lot longer until i get it

 

Boo!

 

Just buy now and pay later, like the rest of us americans! =)

 

I'd also recommend not getting the extended warranty. If something breaks in the first year, you're good, beyond that you're going to want to start swapping in new parts anyways.

Good point again stangy, with technology flying as fast as it is upgrades will most likely be readily available a year after anything goes down. I'm also going to look into the monthly payments option because i dont have any credit yet so it might be a good way to start building.

I forget how young you are.

 

Yeah it would be if you can - you'll pay thru the nose for it in intrest over time, but thats how you start building credit.

 

After that you get a CC, start some chargin', pay some intrest on those for a bit and pay it off, then other larger things in life.

One with no debt is a rich man. I hate having debts and actually I have none. Not even on house, mind you I have had to pay for the house for a long time (like 10 years) but now it is over. I do not believe in building credit. When you have a decent job people will run after you to loan much more money than you need. If you ever lose your job with no debts you can relax and find a new job it gives you some freedom. Anyway it is the way I see it.

 

So I suggest you to purchase what you can afford not more.

So....

 

Nearly 3 months after i said it was supposed to happen, I finally bought my PC.

 

I ended up going with the Studio XPS that Ecthelion sent me and it has been AWESOME so far. Started right up coming out of the box and has been giving me 60 FPS in Dalaran with the settings cranked. I'm basically in love

 

Since i went with Ecth's PC he won the contest and was rewarded his 500 Gold

 

Also a special thanks to Shaddy for the recommendation to get a Samsung. I ended up picking up a Samsung T240 24' LCD monitor from newegg and its beautiful. No dead pixels or anything (PHEW!!!!). But those damn bastards at Newegg dropped the price 30$ the day after i bought mine .

 

I'll post pics later, im babysitting my brother for a while than i head on a short family vacation. Hope everyone is doing good and IMISSU!!!

Post more than just pix of your computer!

nice dude, grats!

Awesome - Congrats!

 

Post a link to your monitor - That sounds dead sexy!

So here are the Pics!!!

 

Here is the new Dell

 

 

Here is the Mac i used to play on

 

 

Here is the difference lol

 

 

And Here is my new UI now that my comp won't lag due to addons

 

 

Yeah

 

 

nice mousepad q, lol

 

also, I know that rogue!

Haha thanks It was a gift from my girlfriend (9.99$ special at spencers). And the boobs are perfect for supporting your wrists, i love the sqishy gel implants lol.

 

And yeah you do!!! Im being sneakeh in your honor <3

Gratz on your computer

Glad you like it man. If you need any kind of support for it let me know I can look into stuff for you. They've moved me to a tech only queue now but I still have all the same resources that I used to. Anything you want to know about the box, your warranty, or policy feel free to ask.

 

I do have one question though, I was wondering if you had the same reaction to those things that I did when I saw one.

"Holy hell that's big!"

my dell XPS tower was huge, like wouldn't fit under my desk huge T_T