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Dell vs BYOC ?'s

C

~Cursed~

Gawd
Joined
Dec 15, 2000
Messages
828
Ok, this is not your typical "should I build or buy" scenario. I've built my own computer and I've had it for a while. I need a computer for my wife now. I found a great deal on a dell and I'm curious to see how mine would stack up to it. I'm a FPS gamer and I'm getting Doom3 as soon as it hits the shelves...which system would be better suited to play it? I'll give the other to my wife.

Here's the specs on my computer, it's budget-built and not overclocked:

AMD 1.8ghz
ECS K7S5A motherboard, ver. 1.0
1gig RAM (2 Dane-Elec 512's)
80gig Western Digital w/ 8mb
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb
dvd, cd-rw, logitech z340's, 350w ps...other standard stuff

The Dell specs:

P4-3060
256mb (2 DIMMs @333mhz)
80gig Western Digital w/ 8mb
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb
48x cd-rw...and some other stuff.

For the price that I can get this dell, there's no way I could build a comparable computer with the same specs. So either way, I'm getting the dell....but which would be faster?

Also, just for general knowledge, what's the seat-of-the-pants-feel difference of the P4-2800 vs the P4-3060?

Thanks in advance!
 
drop in a better processor (like an athlon xp 3000) and you should be good to go on the old one. The Dell has a serious bottleneck with regards to RAM and the video cards are exactly the same. Hardly the kind of situation in which you would want to buy a whole new machine.
 
Without a doubt, your system is the one to go with. I honestly don't think 256mb is even going to meet the min req of doom3. Or...... why don't you just put your 1GB of memory in the dell and give her the other? Just my 2 cents
 
The 256mb is the total....2x 128mb's@333mhz.

Also, the radeon in the dell is an out of the box card, not the OEM that dell sells with their systems.

I was thinking of splitting the memory between the 2....512 in the old and 640or 512 in the dell (2 slots, not sure if I'd want to keep both 128's in there).

Does this make anything better?

Also, how well does the p4-2800 perform against the xp 1.8ghz?
 
which dell is that, and how much are you planning on paying for it? I'm about to buy a computer to bring with me overseas, and I'm leaning toward buying a dell 400sc, putting some ram in it and the best vid card out instead of building me a complete new system. Looks to be about $448.00 for the "barebones" 2.8ghz 400sc not including tax and the $100 mail in rebate
 
Neb said:
which dell is that, and how much are you planning on paying for it? I'm about to buy a computer to bring with me overseas, and I'm leaning toward buying a dell 400sc, putting some ram in it and the best vid card out instead of building me a complete new system. Looks to be about $448.00 for the "barebones" 2.8ghz 400sc not including tax and the $100 mail in rebate
Click to expand...

It's the 4600.....watch which Dell you purchase...some of the cheaper one's don't have an AGP port...which is why I'm looking at the 4600's.

Where are you going overseas?

EDIT: Oh, and around $400, same as you.
 
foenix said:
Without a doubt, your system is the one to go with. I honestly don't think 256mb is even going to meet the min req of doom3. Or...... why don't you just put your 1GB of memory in the dell and give her the other? Just my 2 cents
Click to expand...

"For his wife" -- so the puter with 256 won't be playing any Doom3. Meanwhile, yeah 256 sucks, but another 256 dimm would be cheap, and she gets a warranty so that he won't have to screw with it later. Minimum 1 year -- upgradable. Any specific questions on the Dell, ask me - I used to work there.
 
AR said:
"For his wife" -- so the puter with 256 won't be playing any Doom3. Meanwhile, yeah 256 sucks, but another 256 dimm would be cheap, and she gets a warranty so that he won't have to screw with it later. Minimum 1 year -- upgradable. Any specific questions on the Dell, ask me - I used to work there.
Click to expand...

I'll be doing any maintenance on the computer...I'm fairly computer savvy (and you can google just about anything), just trying to get a grasp on the performance aspect.

Are Dell's worth anything in the performance department?
 
~Cursed~ said:
It's the 4600.....watch which Dell you purchase...some of the cheaper one's don't have an AGP port...which is why I'm looking at the 4600's.

Where are you going overseas?

EDIT: Oh, and around $400, same as you.
Click to expand...

I was also looking at the 4600, but the 400sc seems to be of a higher quality, not to mention the 400sc has the 400mhz fsb :) The 400sc comes with sata, 8x agp, a quite (when not at full bore) cooling system, and last but not least, a very nice clamshell case.

[/dell salesman speech]

on the con side, you'll have to order through dell small business and will probably be taxed (don't need to be a sb, you can just put your name in the company field) But as far as I've seen that is about the only real con to it; unless you're shooting for that lcd deal with the 4600, that is another factor.

I originally intended to go full out and get an amd fx-53, but after review my options, it seemed as if both intel and amd are about to switch their sockets and chipsets, so I'm thinking I'm going to build a decent rig that'll hold me over till then. 400sc seems to fit the bill rather well for that purpose. (esp. considering the whole computer costs less than the amd fx-53, lol)

http://www.aaltonen.us/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8
400SC FAQ, with pictures and more info :)

oh yea, I'm getting stationed in misawa, japan
 
Neb said:
I was also looking at the 4600, but the 400sc seems to be of a higher quality, not to mention the 400sc has the 400mhz fsb :) The 400sc comes with sata, 8x agp, a quite (when not at full bore) cooling system, and last but not least, a very nice clamshell case.

[/dell salesman speech]

on the con side, you'll have to order through dell small business and will probably be taxed (don't need to be a sb, you can just put your name in the company field) But as far as I've seen that is about the only real con to it. Aside from the fact that it isn't exactly bleeding edge :p

I originally intended to go full out and get an amd fx-53, but after review my options, it seemed as if both intel and amd are about to switch their sockets and chipsets, so I'm thinking I'm going to build a decent rig that'll hold me over till then. 400sc seems to fit the bill rather well for that purpose. (esp. considering the whole computer costs less than the amd fx-53, lol)

http://www.aaltonen.us/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8
400SC FAQ, with pictures and more info :)

oh yea, I'm getting stationed in misawa, japan
Click to expand...

What branch? I'm Air Force, currently stationed in Arkansas. I was over in England for 2 years....and Nov 2003 to Mar 2004, I was in Iraq.

I'm sure you'll enjoy japan.
 
~Cursed~ said:
What branch? I'm Air Force, currently stationed in Arkansas. I was over in England for 2 years....and Nov 2003 to Mar 2004, I was in Iraq.

I'm sure you'll enjoy japan.
Click to expand...

air force also :)
 
To ~Cursed~ and Neb: I would personally like to say to the two of you, as a former military man myself, THANK YOU for what you are doing. ;)
 
IceDigger said:
Arent dell radeons underclocked or something?
Click to expand...

Nope. They don't do anything to anything (why take the time?), and the only real "proprietary" component is the power supply.
 
AR said:
Nope. They don't do anything to anything (why take the time?), and the only real "proprietary" component is the power supply.
Click to expand...
Yep. Although Dell's current power supplies use the standard ATX+12V connection, their housings are proprietary - which means that Dell's power supply units will fit only Dell cases and won't properly fit standard ATX cases, nor will standard ATX power supply units correctly fit Dell cases.
 
E4g1e said:
Yep. Although Dell's current power supplies use the standard ATX+12V connection, their housings are proprietary - which means that Dell's power supply units will fit only Dell cases and won't properly fit standard ATX cases, nor will standard ATX power supply units correctly fit Dell cases.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the only place I think anyone has found (edit: only reliable place) was directron for copies of dell power supplies.
 
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