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Dang Dell

C

CarterMarkham

n00b
Joined
Oct 26, 2004
Messages
29
I ordered a Dell 8400 PC with the 6800GTO card, (Yes I know it is a crippled 6800 GT, but its better than the x300 and x800 they have) Well come to find out, they are out of these cards and wont be expecting more in until December so my order is on hold. I dont want to wait that long. So what should I do? Should I have them upgrade the card to an x800XT (force them to give it to me at no extra cost, or pay a little more if I have to) OR should I have them ship it without a card, give me a refund (depending on how much they will give me) and just find a nice 6800GT PCI-Express card? I dont want to spend more than what the GTO is worth. So what do you guys think?
 
If your looking for a gaming pc, don't buy from Dell...Have another vendor custom build it to suit your needs.
 
Just say NO to Dell.

Unless you can't troubleshoot a PC on your own. There's a reason why their support is 'award winning' :rolleyes:
 
don't buy in to what these guys are telling you. They're right about the service, (if you didn't know their phone support is outsourced to India where the techs can barely speak english.) But some of the deals they have going on will get you some incredibly cheap components. Don't buy a gaming system through Dell, buy a base system from dell and upgrade the hell out of it. I think you're idea is right on. If you can get them to upgrade you to an x800 for free that's great (but unlikely.) Take the card off the order and watch for deals over the next couple of days and buy your own. You'll be much happier with a GT over a GTO anyways.
 
pigpen said:
don't buy in to what these guys are telling you. They're right about the service, (if you didn't know their phone support is outsourced to India where the techs can barely speak english.) But some of the deals they have going on will get you some incredibly cheap components. Don't buy a gaming system through Dell, buy a base system from dell and upgrade the hell out of it. I think you're idea is right on. If you can get them to upgrade you to an x800 for free that's great (but unlikely.) Take the card off the order and watch for deals over the next couple of days and buy your own. You'll be much happier with a GT over a GTO anyways.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I dont think, for some reason, they will give me a refund for what the card is worth. Do you think I should just have them install an x800 SE and sell it? Where/what brand 6800 GT PCI-Express card should I get. I see way too many all with different prices.
 
pigpen said:
don't buy in to what these guys are telling you. They're right about the service, (if you didn't know their phone support is outsourced to India where the techs can barely speak english.) But some of the deals they have going on will get you some incredibly cheap components. Don't buy a gaming system through Dell, buy a base system from dell and upgrade the hell out of it. I think you're idea is right on. If you can get them to upgrade you to an x800 for free that's great (but unlikely.) Take the card off the order and watch for deals over the next couple of days and buy your own. You'll be much happier with a GT over a GTO anyways.
Click to expand...

lol i buy dells for my company, cause they are fine for business applications and dell support really is a joke, having to explain the same goddamn thing over and over because these indians dont understand the problem.. bleh
 
anyone who has ever cut themselves on the giant case/heatsinks will tell you that upgrading dells is like upgrading a lawnmower.
 
Guys, I dont need to hear all this crap about Dell, I know it all already, thanks for trying though. I got this sytem because I thought it was a good deal and it is a big upgrade compared to what I have now.

So, that being said, can anyone answer my question above :) :) :)
 
Without knowing what the specs are for the system you bought and for what price you paid, it's hard to give my opinion. Personally, I would build a AMD 64 system with components purchased from NewEgg. You said this is a gaming system and Dell only sells Pentiums, but around here it is a well known fact that AMD 64 is better for gaming than the P4's....especially the Prescotts.

Your delima with the video card issue is exactly why I build my own boxes. That way I can put in it what I want to, not what Dell offers or has in stock.

There are other options to buying pre-built than just Dell.

You could check these out as well
Hewlett Packard http://www.hp.com
ABS Computers http://www.buyabs.com/
Michaels Computers http://www.michaelscomputers.com/ <---just kidding...don't buy here!!!!!!!
MicronPC http://www.mpccorp.com/
Gateway http://www.gateway.com
and then there's Voodoo PC, Falcon Northwest, and Alienware, but if you don't have the money to upgrade your card, you aren't going to have the money for these either.
 
Blah, blah, blah... <Insert Dell Bashing Here>

For the record, I am not a Dell fan either but he has a specific question that he asked. Given the question: "Should I wait for a GTO or spend another ~$100 to get the x800xt?"

My opinion is that compared to the GTO, the x800xt is well worth the upgrade charge. You could probably save a bit of cash and get an aftermarket PCI-E GT, but I'm willing to bet you'd have to wait for that as well. In my opinion, the x800xt > 6800GT > 6800GTO. If you have the extra cash, drop it on the x800xt. They are great cards even if they don't carry the almost non-existant PE rating.
 
I'm not familiar with the Dell linrup, but can the computer you purchased even run a PCI-Express card?

you need to have the appropriate slot to run the card.
 
The Dell I am getting is an 8400 P4 3.2 G HT, 1MB L2. 1 GB DDR 533, SATA, blah blah. YES it does have PCI-Express.
 
I would go with the ATI card instead of waiting for the crippled GT.
 
If you really can't wait, then go for the x800xt (they weren't offering it in the 8400 model when I got mine), but if not the GTO may be a better value than you think.

If they're sold out of them now, chances are they'll have to purposefully cripple some PCI-E GT/Ultra cards to replenish the line, so the next shipment will probably have an even better chance of softmodding than the first... and getting PCI-E GT for ~$300 is a pretty good deal IMO. I'm happy with mine anyway :p
 
Im currently running on a dell that ive upgraded the crap out of (cpu, ram, videocard)

The tech support started to suck last year with the outsourcing---now just a bunch of guys with accents that i cant understand, and who are reading off cue cards and cannot answer any questions beyond "How do i boot into safe mode'

But the fact that they replace stuff i break has helped me- gotten 1 replaced PSU, 3 replaced ti4600s and a replaced a monitor.

Best would be to see if you could get it with a very cheap videocard (using the phone sales, not internet)

Happily, the sales calls are still in america, and know what they are talking about...

For example when asking about buying more RDRAM, the techsupport said that "Oh yes- you only need to buy one piece of RDRAM and it will work."

phone support actually knew that RDRAM needs to be used in pairs...
 
I called them tonight and I was going to see if they would upgrade it for me. WELL the rep tells me that they DO have the graphics cards in stock and he re-submitted my order. It should ship Nov 8th. Im just so BLAH about the situation. I have gone through 4 order numbers now. They keep changing them
 
Wolf-R1 said:
Just say NO to Dell.

Unless you can't troubleshoot a PC on your own. There's a reason why their support is 'award winning' :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
They never said it was their support that was award winning ;)

"gotten 1 replaced PSU, 3 replaced ti4600s and a replaced a monitor"
Wow, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

I'd go with ibuypower. It would keep costs a lot lower than dell, and have a lot of the DIY customization.
 
I don't see any other computer venders dealing out 40% coupons along with other stackable coupons... I only buy dells when the prices are basically a steal. Otherwise I perfer building my own PC.
 
Techx said:
lol i buy dells for my company, cause they are fine for business applications and dell support really is a joke, having to explain the same goddamn thing over and over because these indians dont understand the problem.. bleh
Click to expand...
I hate Dell as much as the next self respecting techie, but get a clue.

Buy Dell's as a small business and pay for business tech support with the purchase price.

The tech support still sucks if you actually know what you're doing, but is leaps and bounds better than the home tech support. It is even based in the US, with actual English speaking Texans answering the phones.
 
I like my Dell 8400, it's a very nice system for the price. Quiet, solidly built, stable.
 
It's an X800XT SE . So in otherwords, 6800GT=X800XT> 6800GTO >X800XT SE. SE's have half the memory bandwidth AND they also get slightly lower core and memory speeds.


edit: whatever X800XT>6800GT....see below post. Trust me, I don't play favorites with a particular brand because it is stupid. I buy what is best whether for performance, value, or whatever. And another correction, I meant X800SE. I was just trying to pointing out the difference that the SE attached to ATI's video cards make. A lot of people committed to buying dells seem to overlook that and then wonder why my custom built computers seem to be faster overall than their similar dells.
 
OriginalReaper said:
I'd go with ibuypower. It would keep costs a lot lower than dell, and have a lot of the DIY customization.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if I'd be recommending IBuyPower. I don't know how well they put together/test/troubleshoot thier desktop components, but I have not at all been impressed with their Laptop department and based on that I would be wary of any system they build. Presently my friend (whom I spent 6hours with identifying all the problems with the custom laptop they built for him and figuring out which components were failing) is waiting to recieve his laptop back from them (probably coming this Friday). If this were only the first problem he'd experienced with IBuyPower, I'd be likely to ignore it, but he's got a full trend going since this is the 2nd time he's had to send the thing back for RMA for many of the exact same issues he had in the original product. Anyway sorry to hijack the thread, I just felt a response to the ibuypower comment was warranted, and you can be certain I'll be posting the entire story on the forums when its all said and done.

/end threadhijack
 
Rix2357 said:
It's an X800XT SE . So in otherwords, 6800GT=X800XT> 6800GTO >X800XT SE. SE's have half the memory bandwidth AND they also get slightly lower core and memory speeds.
Click to expand...

Ummm... Where the hell did that come from? Is there such a thing as an XT-SE? I somehow really doubt it, but I'm far to lazy to google it. You realize that would be the same thing as saying "Giant Midget" right? In ATi land, the XT represents the top of the line while the SE represents the bottom of the line. Per Dell's web page, it is an XT. Same core/memory clocks, memory bandwidth, etc.

Edit: Oh, nevermind. I just read it again and saw that you put the 6800GT equal to the x800xt. I have now relegated you to nVidiot in my mind and understand that you have an agenda.
 
There's a lot of strange information being supplied in this thread.

To my knowledge, the Dell 8400 series DOES NOT configure with the high-end ATI video cards. If you want the x800 XT then you have to buy a Dimension XPS series - great computer, but very costly.

The best you can do with the 8400 series is a 6800 GTO card.

Why not just wait for Dell to ship the 8400 with a normal 6800 GT?
 
Michael Younger said:
There's a lot of strange information being supplied in this thread.

To my knowledge, the Dell 8400 series DOES NOT configure with the high-end ATI video cards. If you want the x800 XT then you have to buy a Dimension XPS series - great computer, but very costly.

The best you can do with the 8400 series is a 6800 GTO card.

Why not just wait for Dell to ship the 8400 with a normal 6800 GT?
Click to expand...
I didnt want to wait forever for them to ship it. I was going to see if they could put the XT in my 8400.
 
Michael Younger said:
There's a lot of strange information being supplied in this thread.

To my knowledge, the Dell 8400 series DOES NOT configure with the high-end ATI video cards. If you want the x800 XT then you have to buy a Dimension XPS series - great computer, but very costly.

The best you can do with the 8400 series is a 6800 GTO card.

Why not just wait for Dell to ship the 8400 with a normal 6800 GT?
Click to expand...


This is correct. Sorry if I was confused before but I am not a Dell regular so didn't know that the x800xt was not available with the 8400. I guess this is a sales strategy to "encourage" people to buy more expensive systems. Very odd. Although I must say, had I been paying attention I would have picked up one of those XPS systems with the 40% off without a second thought.
 
I did get one of the XPS on the 40% off deal and I have nothing but good things to say about it. I was able to open the 4 pipelines with rivatuner and have had no artifacts, or any problems.It is well worth the wait for the GTO. Its a huge case from what I had. 20" Tall x 20" lenth x 9" wide. It came with a 460 watt power supply and a few extra fans in the back. I know dell gets knocked a bit but this is really impressive. I did get the 20" flat panel also. With 16ms time, games look awesome.
 
There are tons of smaller places to buy pre-made computers from. I personally would always stay away from the big ones and go to a smaller shop. KC Computers is a good choice. Go check out their Reseller Rating if you don't believe me.
 
People are talking about Dell coupons and 40% off deals? What the? Am I missing something here?

Where are you guys finding this stuff?
 
type in www dot fatwallet dot com into your browser, and go into Forums --> Hot Deals

mkay
 
SystemERRor said:
Im currently running on a dell that ive upgraded the crap out of (cpu, ram, videocard)

The tech support started to suck last year with the outsourcing---now just a bunch of guys with accents that i cant understand, and who are reading off cue cards and cannot answer any questions beyond "How do i boot into safe mode'

But the fact that they replace stuff i break has helped me- gotten 1 replaced PSU, 3 replaced ti4600s and a replaced a monitor.

Best would be to see if you could get it with a very cheap videocard (using the phone sales, not internet)

Happily, the sales calls are still in america, and know what they are talking about...

For example when asking about buying more RDRAM, the techsupport said that "Oh yes- you only need to buy one piece of RDRAM and it will work."

phone support actually knew that RDRAM needs to be used in pairs...
Click to expand...

Actaully at the end of its life, the new 32 bit rdram could in fact run in a single dim configuration.Dell was running the cutting edge mobo before rdram went the way of the dodo
 
I dont know... Did Dell ever use single channel RDRAM. I have a late model 8200 right now and its dual channel. 8250, I think it was, changed to dual DDR.
 
I am not sure regarding Dell but i know that 32 bit existed and Dell usuly jumps on the new shit. I used to run a p4T533-c in dual channel PC1066 rdram and it blew away ddr back then since system architectures did not realy take advanatge of ddr at the time. I considered the new ASUS board along iwth the new 32 bit but changed my mind thats why i am aware of the single channel stuff. It was wierd and only hand one knotch; Mushkin sent me some Samsung 32 bit by accident when i wnet pc 1066 on the rdram it was realy odd looking stuff.
 
My bro just purchased the same system with the 256mb pci-e 6800gto with the $500 off coupon and he got the whole system for $1189 with free 2 day shipping and no tax along with a free 19" flat panel. Good deal if you ask me, even if it's a dell ;) He just got it today and we did some gaming on it and it is pretty damn smooth. Although the score is a little low in 3dmark03. He's scoring around 9600 and i was expecting it to break 10k. Must be the drivers though.

The card is pretty good, but didn't meet my expectations. I would go with the 6800 though but if you can't wait the x800xt is pretty good and should perform just as well.
 
dreamreality said:
My bro just purchased the same system with the 256mb pci-e 6800gto with the $500 off coupon and he got the whole system for $1189 with free 2 day shipping and no tax along with a free 19" flat panel. Good deal if you ask me, even if it's a dell ;) He just got it today and we did some gaming on it and it is pretty damn smooth. Although the score is a little low in 3dmark03. He's scoring around 9600 and i was expecting it to break 10k. Must be the drivers though.

The card is pretty good, but didn't meet my expectations. I would go with the 6800 though but if you can't wait the x800xt is pretty good and should perform just as well.
Click to expand...
thats a good deal
 
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