So my pc is six years old (replaced most of the parts) and its time to find a new computer. I'm looking for something stylish yet packs alot of power for gaming. I want a laptop for portability but I could probably still go with a desktop. After looking at Cnet and Consumer Reports I have no Idea what I should get. I do like the design of the Dell studio xps 16 but I'm not sure how gaming performs on it. Alienware's m15x and m17x are good for gaming, but they're pretty pricey and I dont really like the new design. I'm open to any and all opinions. I figured afterdawn is the place to ask since alot of people here are heavy into new technology. thanks in advance!
You say gaming, you know that a desktop with just an average mid-priced video card will kill most laptops in performance? If you want to be close you should consider spending more than what you already deem pricey.
After customizing the studio xps 16 laptop and the studio xps 8100 desktop and comparing I see what you mean. After picking most of the higher end parts for the xps 8100 it would come out to around $3600. I checked out dells 8100 since consumer reports rated it the highest again? any recommendations on desktops? If I found I need a laptop for school or others I could probably buy just a basic cheap model.
The big issue here is that laptops have to be built for you, whereas you can assemble a desktop PC yourself. When looking at the high-performance area of the market, you pay a lot more to have a system built for you. Add to that laptop components being far more expensive than desktop versions, and for a performance equal you'll spend a fortune. Unless you desperately need gaming on the move, you would be better off building your own gaming PC (even if you've never done it before, there are plenty of people here who can guide you through the process) and buying a basic laptop that has a good battery life. Gaming laptops have appalling battery life, even with extra-capacity batteries fitted.
Hmmm I have replaced most of the parts on this dimension 4600 (Memory, hard drive, graphics card, cd/dvd burner). The only thing is If I get in trouble its nice to have a warranty or support to fall back on but the main thing is the hospital I work for has a program where we get a discount on computers and they deduct it from our paychecks over 18 months.
Then it basically comes down to assessing yourself what gets you the best deal. Consider how much you would be willing to pay as a lump sum (or finance, if eligible) for a PC you could build yourself, then find yourself the best thing you'd get for the equivalent cost after your discount, and see how they compare. If you can state a specific budget, I can spec the best you'll find for the money, but what you're willing to spend in either instance is of course your decision.
$3600 Is was how much I was probably going to pay for a that xps 8100 after picking the parts I wanted. I have a great monitor so I definately don't need that. Windows seven and the new i7 chip-set is a priority. Not sure the future with blu-ray burning but I have a blu-ray player so I'm good there. I definately want alot of memory and dual drives since I do a lot of downloading.
$3600 is an extraordinary amount of money. If self-building you can get a pretty much top-spec PC and monitor for that. i7 930 CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115225 X58A-UD5 M/B: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128422 12GB Corsair XMS3 RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145235 2x HD 5870: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150476 Intel 80GB SSD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167016 WD1002FAEX HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533 WD20EARS HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136514 Zalman 850W PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817379007 Coolermaster HAF 932 case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160 6x Scythe SFF21G fan: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185065 (as replacement for 230mm fans) Scythe Rheobus Extreme fan controller: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811995016 Noctua NH-U12P SE2 CPU cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608014 24x Optiarc DVD burner: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118030 Dell Ultrasharp U2410 monitor [if required]: http://www.mwave.com/mwave/SKUSearch_v3.asp?px=DM&scriteria=AA97430 This lot comes to $3400. Feel free to add more WD20EARS HDDs as required.
I'm sorry I should have clarified. I can spend that amount on a prebuilt system since my company will charge me in installments otherwise I'll have far less play money. In your opinion what system bang for buck would you recommend. As much as I'd love to build my own system I dont have the cash on hand for it right now. Thanks again for all of your advice!
Short answer is I wouldn't. For that sort of money you are literally wasting hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on the ability to have someone build a system for you. It isn't worth the waste, really it isn't.
Ok so I'm thinking of using the money I get from my car I'm selling and building a PC and using the hospital program at a later date for a basic laptop. However I'm gonna have less to spend now, Can you help me decide on parts for around 2600? A few other questions: would I be alright going with this case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146018 What is the purpose of 3 different hard drives? I'm guessing the SSD is for higher performace. ones for large storage and the other? Finally do I need both video cards or is that for peak performance? Thanks again for all your help and experience
That sounds like a reasonable plan. I own the case you listed, while I'm not currently using it, I will be again very soon, it's a very nice case. However, it is quite small and cramped inside compared to some of the cases you would find, which will make a high end PC run quite warm. Some careful planning, however, and you can still run a high-end system in one without too much noise or too high temperatures. It was only when I wanted to use four GPUs instead of two that it became impractical. For a system for $2600 all-in, two GPUs is all that is realistic (especially since GPUs are more expensive than they were). $2600 is still a big budget for building a PC though, so you can still get some nice stuff. I will need to know really if a monitor is actually required before proceeding. If you're happy to use your HDTV, that is obviously more that can be spent on the PC itself. Assuming you are using the TV, I will psot a system below. The three different hard drives are different 'tiers' of speed. The SSD is for the fastest of the drives, but very small for space, so to this you install Windows, some critical programs, and maybe the game you play the most often (assuming this game suffers from long loading times, if it doesn't, there is no need to put it on the SSD). The Caviar Black is a reasonably large, fast hard drive. This is the drive suiutable for installing all your games to, as while it is no match for the SSD, it will still boast an impressive read/write speed. The Caviar Green is a much slower, but huge hard drive. Installing games to this drive would work fine, but it would be noticeably slower, drives like these are included as you mentioned 'lots of downloading' - assuming multimedia content like TV, movies, software and so on. Caviar Green drives are by far the best value way of getting big amounts of storage space. As for the two video cards, Crossfire technology has matured a lot over the last few years, and in a large number of games having two cards will double your performance in games. Remember that the most important component when playing games is not the CPU, but the graphics card. That decides how smoothly the game will run at a given setting. Lots of very demanding games have been released in the past few months, so one HD5870 will be pushing it at 1080p resolution, and you will be likely to need to cut back on graphical detail in order to keep games running smoothly. Thus, two are included to bump the performance up substantially. So then, for $2600, minus a monitor: Core i5 750 CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215 P55A-UD4P M/B: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128409 8GB Corsair XMS3 RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145267 Noctua NH-U12P Cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608014 2x XFX Radeon HD5870: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150476 Intel 80GB SSD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167023 WD1002FAEX 1TB HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533 WD20EARS 2TB HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136514 NZXT Lexa Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146018 Sunbeam Rheobus Extreme Fan controller: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811995016 3x Scythe GentleTyphoon Fan: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185091 2x Nexus 80mm Fan: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835610004 Zalman ZM850-HP Power supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817379007 This comes out with about $100 to spare, minus the delivery cost. As you see I have done what I think is the best plan to upgrade the cooling system in the Lexa to handle the pair of video cards. I have also chosen a Core i5 system as these are not reliant on a central northbridge chip, and can therefore withstand higher temperatures without stability issues anyway. I have also chosen the i5 to save money, as it works out quite a lot cheaper than the i7. The disadvantage of this route is that, for the time being, it doesn't look like you will be able to upgrade the system to a 6-core CPU should you want to. However, the i5 750 is still an enormously powerful CPU, and is within a few percent of the i7 930 in games, as i5 CPUs actually handle games slightly better than i7s. It's worth noting that i5 CPUs also use less power than i7s, which saves on power usage. The i5 is limited to 16x PCI Express bandwidth versus the full 32x that the i7 offers. However, using HD5870s, this only causes a 2% performance drop, so you wouldn't notice a thing. Lastly, I don't often specify systems with large amounts of RAM and tower coolers, I am reasonably confident that the two will fit together, but I cannot guarantee it as I have not done so myself. The only potential issue here is that the closest memory slots to the CPU cooler could potentially interfere with the fit of the fan attached to it, due to their height. Should this turn out to be the case, you would have to use normal-size memory, i.e. standard XMS3, instead of Dominator type. The reason I have chosen Dominator type is because when I ran 4 standard memory sticks in my NZXT Lexa, they got quite warm, as the cooling of the case as explained before, is not ideal. Just a warning I'd mention, it may well be absolutely fine, but it's something you should be aware of.
Thats awesome sammorris, thanks for all your help and expertise. I have a Samsung SyncMaster XL2370 so I dont need a new monitor, mouse or keyboard. However what software or drivers do I need? I know I'll need to buy windows 7 does all the hardware come with the necessary drivers? This is all pretty much plug n play right? no soldering?
Windows 7 will install all the complex drivers automatically. However, it is recommended to get the updates from the manufacturer's website for sound and graphics drivers, as they enable features you otherwise wouldn't have. There is no soldering involved in the assembly of a computer. All you need is the parts, and a standard screwdriver.
Ok finally getting around to purchasing these components. The case has quite a few fans already in it. Do you recommend purchasing the additional fans listed?
Where can I find detailed information on installing all these parts? So far I only have the motherboard, power supply, case, cpu and one of the hard drives. I installed everything into the case so far. just a lil confusing on which connections go where. I'm pretty sure they're where they need to be, I just want to be certain.
just remembered that there aren't any cd/floppy/dvd/blu-ray drives. are pretty much all compatible? should I invest in a blu-ray burner? I have a ps3 so I don't really need a blu-ray player but it might be nice to have.
Just about any DVD burner or bluray burner will work, as the board supports both SATA and ATA, but I would still go with a SATA drive (they are a lot more common anyway). The question of bluray burner is one you have to answer yourself...some people never burn any disks at all, not even cds and dvds...while others have already burned out their bluray burners by burning thousands of disks. Personally, I would just get a dvd burner...and the only reason I get a burner is because "reader-only" DVD drives are all either very crummy or extremely expensive.
