Comp died, this time its for real :(

Lt.J.G.Pliskin · 03-07-2006, 03:37 PM

well after 4 years my computer bit the dust for real

after investigation it seems the motherboard went and some how managed to take out my video card and power supply as well, thankfully my hard drive seems to be ok. so now its time to rebuild, due to money constraints im going the way of the dell

so heres what ive got so far:

Model: XPS 400
Pent D Processor 820 w/ Dual Core Technology (2.80GHz, 800 FSB)
-Good?

OS: Windows Media Center 2005 Ed
-I think i will be putting in Professional on my own, is media center any good?

Memory: 1gb Dual Channel DDR2 at 533MHz-2DIMMS
-Good?

Monitor: 19in E196FP Analog Flat Panel
-FREE!!!

Video Card: 256mb PCI express x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-Out) ATI Radeon X600 SE HyperMemory
-i was talking to dynamic and he said this wasnt any good so ill be changing that eventually i will see how badly it sucks

Hard Drive(s): 320gb Performance Raid 0 (2 x 160GB SATA HDDs)
-Good?

CD DVD drive: 16x DVD+/-RW with double layer write capability
-got my own drives to put in

Sound: Integrated
-Dont care about sound so its ok

Hardware warrenty: 1yr Ltd warrenty, 1yr at home service and 1yr HW warrenty support

Total: $1,119.00

Hows that all sound? the way i figure with the free monitor and the memory upgrade it makes it worth the money, also are those two hard drives any good? ive never had dual HDs so im not sure. also the mother board seems half decent but i am lacking in the technical knowledge lol any way feel free to post thoughts and comments, or if u can find a cheaper place with the 1gb memory, free monitor and dual hard drives let me know although i had no luck. thanks in advance for replies

ps: how yall doing??

{OF}MillerTime · 03-07-2006, 03:41 PM

I would think an x800 minimum for a card.

{OF}Blong · 03-07-2006, 03:42 PM

I just bought that same system for wildflower except i went with the 6800 since for video card and dual dvd/cd drives because I already have burners.

mt dell doesnt offer an x800

Capt. Insane · 03-07-2006, 03:43 PM

Please, for God's sake, DO NOT BUY A DELL!!!! I've had nothing but trouble with them. First my power cable dies, then my mobo, then my hdd, then my keyboard, all in the space of two months! (And this is a "high-end" laptop.) Sure, the warranties are good and tech support helps if you can understand them, but still don't get a Dell. Trust me, you will regret it. Many years ago (around the PII times) we had a Dell desktop, and it was just as bad. The only good thing were the Altec Lansing speakers it came with, but those weren't Dell brand so that's why they still work (and I still use them).

ChemicalWarrior · 03-07-2006, 03:45 PM

I wouldnt go with Dell, if you want to save many there are many other better OEM options that will allow you to keep that system and get good performance out of it for much longer.

I'd suggest looking at PC Club, good prices, great customer service, and much more options.

Lt.J.G.Pliskin · 03-07-2006, 03:50 PM

bummer so im assuming that video card really does suck

heh capt they are not exactly my first choice but im not going to be able to spend more than that on a computer any time soon (for a long while actually) i tried looking on other sites such as ABS which has cheap PCs but they dont give me a free monitor

{OF}Blong · 03-07-2006, 03:51 PM

bah I dont care im tired of the stereotyping and I have owned a dell type system before and had no issues whatsoever (never had a laptop though). actually it was a compaq I had but dell now owns them haha. I know it will be a pain to uninstal all the crap but eh whatever

.

besides the price it was gonna cost me to UPGRADE her computer was only a couple hundred less than getting this one from dell.

Skull · 03-07-2006, 03:59 PM

laptop problems are far from the same a pc problems... I have a bunch of friends with dells.. they all run fine...except that they are all bone heads who don't use any preventive software!! so I end up cleaning them up!!

other than that.. they run fine...

Lt.J.G.Pliskin · 03-07-2006, 04:02 PM

not to shabby no monitor but heres what i got from the PCCLUB.com website

M/B GIGABYTE GA-K8N-SLI Motherboard - Socket 939 nForce4 SLI PCI-E ATX
CPU CPU,AMD ATH64 4000+ S939 1MB Processor OEM

OS MICROSOFTWINDOWS XP PRO

Memory TOTAL 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR400

Hard Drive 160GB HRAD DRIVE 7200RPM 8MB SATA2

2nd Hard Drive160GB HRAD DRIVE 7200RPM 8MB SATA2

Case APEX SQ-328 Case w/ 350w Power Supply - Mid Tower Black
Video Card NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS 256MB PCIE

CD-Writer 52X32X52+16X CD-RW/DVD COMBO DRIVE

TOTAL: $1,155.00

ChemicalWarrior · 03-07-2006, 04:33 PM

Dont get a single core 4000+, instead get a 3800+ X2 dual core instead, it'll give you a much better investment.

I really wouldnt go with two hard drives, and I would especially avoid RAID. It offers you no benefit honestly unless you have it for a backup. Instead get a cheap single drive, more reliable. RAID is a big no no that lots of people think is helpful to them, instead it just adds double the chance for data lost and next to zero performance benefit because you're never going to be hitting your hard drives enough for the benefit unless you're seriously doing video editing and then you'd be considering 10,000 RPM drives and 7200RPM.

Also, I'm sure you could get a DVD burner for only a little more. Which I highly recommend you doing.