PCA Forums

ok...i have a week or two before doing a major upgrade and need to decide which route to take:

1. build a system. basically will need a case, mobo, video card, and cpu. i have the rest.

2. buy a system. i'm a dell fan and their deals are pretty tough to beat. currently there are dual core P4 2.8 systems w/ 20" LCD for under $800. only weakness there is the video card included is weak.


thoughts on the sweet spots for mobo/cpu? if i build i would prefer AMD. X2's are nice, but if i'm not using apps that utilize it, then it's a waste of $$$.

not a big overclocker, even though i just read an article on Tom's about the Pentium D 805 dual core (<$140) that they got up to 4GHz. 3.6GHz w/ nothing but minor FSB tweaks. wow.

ideas?

Pity you didn't buy a month ago, they were going for 50% off.

You looking at the 9150 deal here? http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/ ... 91h5&s=bsd

$819 with 2.8GHz Dual Core, 512Mb, 80Gb, 20" flat panel, ATI x300SE video

You'll need to upgrade the ram to at least 1Gb for an extra $60 and upgrade the HDD to a 160Gb for $50

Then there's the video card. It's adequate for casual gaming, but if you're a serious gamer you need something way better. The Geforce 6800 upgrade seems to be a good deal for an extra $100 or you can defer the video upgrade until later.

Or were you looking at the E510 deal listed on GotApex.com:

$731 for 2.80Ghz Dual Core, 1GB DDR2 SDRAM, 80GB SATA?

The 9150 is actually a better system for a gaming rig IMO although both will do fine. Personally I'd rather buy the 9150 from the business division instead of the E510 from the Home division. You get MUCH better tech support from the business side.

One client just bought one and he dropped his wireless mouse on a tile floor 2 weeks after buying it and broke it. He called them and admitted that he broke it himself and they 1 day Fedexed a replacement wireless keyboard and mouse under warranty. I guarantee the home division won't do that.

You can obviously save more by building yourself, but your time is also valuable. Every time I build a new rig a swear the next time I'll buy a Dell because I don't have the time to build one, but I end up doing it anyway.

yup, the E510 was the first one i was looking at...the 9150 is also nice. i would probably sell whatever monitor that comes with it (or sell one of my current ones) to fund the video card upgrade. of course, the deals will change by then anyway...but i'm sure they will be similar.

i'd say i'm a light gamer...so nothing heavy duty needed. i usually stick with one or two levels under the current best vid card (but am WAY behind right now).

true about the time and building one. just not sure if i have the patience to do it anymore.

Well if the monitor doesn't matter to you then look at this system: http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/ ... 51h5&s=bsd

5150 which is equivalent to the E510, but you get it from the business division:

$559 for 2.8 Ghz, 1Gb, 80Gb HD, DVD burner, 17" LCD

Add the 160Gb HDD for $40 and upgrade from the onboard video to the ATI x300 for $50. You have a sweet system for $649 and enough money left over for a decent video card upgrade.

Oh, also, definately spend the extra $10 for the OS and Driver CDs unless you have an OEM Dell XP CD lying around already (you can always get the drivers online).

Before buying check GotApex.com for sales, and check this link for unpublished Business division special packages:

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/product ... l=en&s=bsd