So, I have about a week until I can order my new computer, so I need to start making decisions. I am choosing between either simply buying a system from Dell, or building my own. As pointed out by Tim, building a system is also a little more fun (I built my second computer, in 2002). I had previously be leaning toward a Dell system, but now I'm not so sure. If I were to build it, this is what I've come up with:
Barebones System
$231.87
AMD Athlon X2 6000+ AM2 Dual Core. (Case / Motherboard / Processor / Fans.)
Memory
109.96
4 GB DDR2-667 RAM (x4 1GB)
Hard Drive
86.00
500 GB Western Digital SATA
CD/DVD
31.99
Samsung 20x DVD/RW
Monitor
206.99
LG ELECTRONIC 20 Inch Widescreen LCD
OS
100.99
Windows Vista Home Premium 32
Input
25.99
Wireless Keyboard / Mouse
Flash Drive
19.55
2 Apacer Pen Drive
Audio
19.99
Microsoft LifeChat LX-3000 Headphones
TOTAL: $811.24
Though the Mac Man has cheap / free case and power supply for me, it was practically the same price to get a barebones set than simply buy the same motherboard and CPU. Looking at the specs, a comparable Dell system would be around $1300. Let me know if you have any thoughts on this (like I'm missing something really important or something). :) I could get a Dell system that is in the $900-$1000 range (which is actually in my price range; $1300 is too much), but some of the specs wouldn't be as good (less RAM, for example). The advantages, of course, of getting a system from Dell would be an improved warranty, and of course the fact that everything comes put together. :)
LotD: Hard Drive Clock. Rather geeky, which makes it pretty sweet.
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8 comments:
I had this dilemma once myself. Unfortunately my comp fried and I needed a quick fix (bot a friends computer old computer). So I'll be facing this dilemma in the futures.
Heres my humble opinion:
Do some hardcore MoBo research. There are lots of good hardware reviews on the web. The boards on cheap barebones systems aren't always very good. For instance the 'default' in your link only has two PCI slots, and only 2 RAM slots (for only 2GB max). It looks like you have 4 RAM sticks listed below your system selection.
Internet selection. Cables aren't much of problem in apartments, but when you move to a house they could be problematic. Either get a wireless internet adapter at the start or make sure you have plenty PCI slots...
SATA hard drives rule; I love mine.
Vista requires careful research as well. Lots of companies haven't updated drives yet. You *have* to have lots of RAM too (looks like your shooting for 4GB so that's good). A good duel core is also "required", and you have that covered as well. You might be able to find a cheap bundle with XP and you can upgrade to Vista in a year or two.....
I may have missed it but I do not see a video/graphics card in your list. This is another thing you will *need* for Vista (and for EverQuestII !! - and StarCraft2)
More to follow if I have time.
Good luck!!!!
I was thinking that I may be able to keep the same video card in my current computer (256MB Radeon 9600 I believe). I would be going with one of the other motherboards (that I believe costs the same) and more memory slots.
Make sure there are Vista DD's for your card.....
Couple quick comments in no particular order (may have more later when I have more time):
1. DVD burner - For the same price, you could pick up a light-scribe dvd burner with the same specs so you could burn images and text onto the top of your discs. They're kind of fun for special occasions.
2. I noticed the resolution on the 20 inch widescreen monitor goes up to 1600x1050. We got some Dell monitors at work that cost maybe a tad more, but pretty close, that go up to 1600x1200. It's really nice to have that extra screen space compared to my monitor at home.
3. Good choice on Vista 32 bit. Even though you could buy the 64 bit version, the driver support is not even close yet.
4. I strongly second Dan on his advice about being careful about what motherboard you get with a barebones system. Also, check on the power supply. A couple things I looked at when picking out mine were:
A. How many PCI vs PCI Express slots are there? If you might want to have an SLI (Nvidia) or Crossfire (ATI) setup in the future (dual video cards working together) for gaming, you need to consider that now and get a motherboard that supports it.
B. How many IDE and SATA devices are supported? Older boards might have more IDE and less SATA, newer ones are the opposite.
C. What do the reviews say about your board? Check review sites and/or NewEgg and see what problems people have had.
D. How big of a power supply is included? If you want to run use SLI or Crossfire, you need a lot more power with the newer video cards that have been coming out recently. Not necessarily for right now, but when they start coming down in price and your 9600 feels old in the tooth. Also, the watt number on the power supply isn't all you want to pay attention to, because you can have poor power supplies with big specs.
One more thought. Your 9600 is most likely an AGP video card. Your new motherboard will have PCI Express instead of AGP, so you will need a new card.
"If you build it, they will come."
Sorry, couldn't resist. I built my last computer a few years ago with a barebones system. I agree with everything that's been said so far. Be careful about the MOBO in the barebones system, number of slots, etc.
I second the opinion about Vista 32 vs 64. Stick with 32.
As for support from Dell vs support from yourself, I would say that if you save $500 on the system, and then end up having some issues, you've still got a $500 buffer for repair/replacement. So I'd go with building it yourself, as long as you've got the knowledge.
Also, I tend to reuse old 40-80 GB hard drives instead of getting really big ones. I had a 250 GB drive once that I used for everything, but it died, which meant that all of my data was unavailable until I could replace it and restore from backup. Now I have 4 separate hard drives in my machine that I've cannibalized from other systems. If I have a problem with one drive, the rest of the system runs fine while I work on the restore. Just a thought.
Backup? Is that some sort of dessert?
And yet another suggestion... ;-)
I don't know what you have for a credit card (or if you just have a debit card), but some will automatically extend the warranty on anything you purchase. My American Express, for instance, automatically adds an extra year to the manufacturer's warranty, for free.
Might be worth checking into, whether you go with a pre-built system or build your own.
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