Falcon #1 who is #2?

You're welcome, Chris and thank you for the PM. I'd just finished reading it and replying. I fully understand your situation and there are no hard feelings. Feel free to write me any time!

:) :cool: ;)
 
Romulan said:
Well maybe my thinking is flawed but, I thought that Fragbox overcharges the system for you so when you get it its pretty much ready to go and you dont have to tamper with any overcharging.
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Not sure what you mean by "tamper with any overcharging". If you mean overclocking, I doubt that FNW does that because it voids most warranties. With "pretty much ready to go" it helps to have an understanding of system builders do when they put a system together; they basically connect the major components and turn the thing on to make sure that the PSU works, the mobo posts, the memory works and the video card works. If they are really good they may test the components individually with their test bench equipment. With a system, they will update and tweak the BIOS settings for your components, chipset drivers, install the OS, install more drivers and updates, update the OS, and then turn it on to make sure that it works. Most reputable system builders will do some form of QC with systems before they send them out the door. This may include a series of "burn in" stability tests on the memory, video card, and overall system. These tests may take an hour or run overnight. If a system builder just slaps things together and hopes for the best, you've chosen the wrong vendor. Just ask them how they prep and QC their systems before you place the order and make sure they give you a warm and fuzzy feeling. Good system builders will then send you the installation and backup CDROMs that the software came on. Basically, any system you get from a reputable builder should be "ready to go". Getting a binder with the settings that are already on your computer and benchmarks that you will probably run on your own anyway aren't worth the $1000 price premium IMO.


Romulan said:
As far as Puget they seem really impressive but just like you guys said about resellerratings they must really push this considering they have a huge banner to tell people to go and check that out and its at 9.91 which is unbelievable..
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I think they have a huge banner becuse they are pretty proud of their rating, not because they made it up. Like I said, having a poor or limited Reseller Rating is a flag for me. It may be because FNW caters to a different non[H] crowd that may not be aware of Reseller Ratings. I've never had a company that I bought something from ask me to submit a favorable Reseller Rating for them. Not like Newegg that offers you a discount for a favorable review on their website. It's just a tool that I use to help make a purchasing decision that is independent of a company's own marketing.

Romulan said:
One thing to note though was the monarch at the time was using the 270w power supply not the 350 that they offer now...I really have not made up my mind and in fact I probably should just go with a normal tower and avoid all this overheating issues and overcharing prices
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I think that the 350w is also kinda puny for today's components...it is a standard ATX sized PSU and can easily be switched out.

A normal tower will always be better able to deal with noise and heat and performance issues, as well as easier to upgrade. Its disadvantage is weight and mobility. Like another poster said, you will still need to connect to a mobo, mouse and monitor with an SFF (and desktop). It might make sense to buy a laptop if your primary consideration is mobility. Understand that you will have to pay a a higher premium with laptops than with SFF or full size system because they are more difficult to build and upgrade on your own. They are available with pretty much the same components that larger systems have these days. Companies can consequently charge more for components, system building and the luxury of easy mobility that comes with a laptop. You will pay more now for a laptop and can expect it to age more quickly as upgrade options will probably be limited, so unless mobility is your number one concern, don't look at laptops.

Whatever direction you go, you will have to make some compromises on cost, performance, mobility, weight, noise, heat, support, reliability, bling, upgradeability and peace of mind. Just don't overpay for those compromises that are not as important to you.
 
Excellent reply, c1001. Very informative, full of facts and not conjecture. You did a really good job answering all those questions and I just wanted to point out that I'd noticed. We could use more people like you on the forum.

Great job!
 
Ya thanks for your reply and going through all those points I mentioned.

I currently have a laptop a dell 9100, pentium4 3200 60gig 7200 hard drive etc. I just want something that can be portable and pack a lot more power then my laptop which really can not cut it for me.
I will have to research making my own system a bit more after reading Gators post, maybe its easier then I thought.

I have narrowed it down to either Puget or Fragbox though.
 
I considered buying a Falcon a few years ago, before i started building. They where VERY helpful over the phone, helping me decide, without pressuring me into anything, and helping me save where i could, where it would not effect the performance i was looking for. Also, they DO overclock the system. They do this to the point of stability/performance, so you will have the fastest, yet stable, configuration for the situation. They also do a 3 day testing period, which is nice, because if something breaks in that time, they replace it, test again, and, if it passes, ship it out. The issues in the Review of the Fragbox have been fixed as of late (if i remember, it was an issue with the Xpress 200 chipset/BIOS) Anyway. Falcons are very nice systems, and would adequetly fit your needs. I dont know anything about Puget, and this is the first i have heard of them.

My own opinions, of course, stray away from an SFF. If i where you, and traveling alot, i would look into the FragBook, rather than the FragBox. The Thin and Lite model has a 128mb x700 graphics card, and the Desktop replacement has a fully fledged 7800gtx (i think.. of course, you can swap it out, since it is a removable PCI-E chip) I would look into those. (this last little bit is what i would do if i where you, not really saying you SHOULD, because you might not mind carrying around a monitor/tower/keyboard/mouse all the time. Personally, i would just prefer to carry the laptop and a mouse.)
 
RaphaelVinceti said:
I considered buying a Falcon a few years ago, before i started building. They where VERY helpful over the phone, helping me decide, without pressuring me into anything, and helping me save where i could, where it would not effect the performance i was looking for. Also, they DO overclock the system. They do this to the point of stability/performance, so you will have the fastest, yet stable, configuration for the situation. They also do a 3 day testing period, which is nice, because if something breaks in that time, they replace it, test again, and, if it passes, ship it out. The issues in the Review of the Fragbox have been fixed as of late (if i remember, it was an issue with the Xpress 200 chipset/BIOS) Anyway. Falcons are very nice systems, and would adequetly fit your needs. I dont know anything about Puget, and this is the first i have heard of them.

My own opinions, of course, stray away from an SFF. If i where you, and traveling alot, i would look into the FragBook, rather than the FragBox. The Thin and Lite model has a 128mb x700 graphics card, and the Desktop replacement has a fully fledged 7800gtx (i think.. of course, you can swap it out, since it is a removable PCI-E chip) I would look into those. (this last little bit is what i would do if i where you, not really saying you SHOULD, because you might not mind carrying around a monitor/tower/keyboard/mouse all the time. Personally, i would just prefer to carry the laptop and a mouse.)
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Thanks for that post. I agree with what you are saying. I decided to buy a Talon or maybe a Puget instead of a SFF. I already have a good laptop for work and vacations although it doesnt handle mmorpgs very well due to its Radeon 9700 gfx card.
 
arabdon1203 said:
if you want gaming tbh I would go with a dell xps and 7800gtx, can't be beat :D
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Hehe that was a good one! Ive owned 3 Dell's and although not unhappy with them price wise I dont think they really can compare to some of these smaller companies in many areas. Last time I had a problem with my laptop It took me 30 minutes to talk to someone and the person was in Inda and barely spoke English.

But I do know you were kidding :)
 
Romulan said:
Does it shorten the computers life? is it worth it?
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For most people it's really not worth it. Not these days.

Technically it does shorten a component's lifespan, but odds are you'll have moved on to another machine before it matters.
 
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