System reccomendations?
 

I've been looking at the alienware comps alot lately, but I would like to build it on my own, just to see how it works. so does anyone have have any reccomendations of the components?

well, to tell ya the truth, it really depends on what you want to do with the machine. If you are going to be using it for gaming, and cost is no option, that is way different than a machine built for internet browsing and word processing. the funny thing is, i know machines built for professional word processing that end up costing more than high end gaming machines. ;)

So yeah, or maybe youd want a best-bang-for-the-buck deal. thats what I did with mine. good performance for the price.

so, to quote Micro$oft, "What do you want to do today?"-er, with it. hehe.

whatever you do, compare through www.pricewatch.com

Don't cheap out on no-name and whitebox parts, especially for your first build up.

Asus and Abit mobo's. The new Canterwood chipset is pretty nice looking, if you get a good top of the line P4 'C' class chip, but AMD is still plenty good and actually runs cooler than Intel now, according to latest thermal spec.

As for video, well, that's a war waiting to happen. I happen to prefer ATi, but many others will swear by Nvidia. If you want top end, get the 9800 Pro.

As for sound, I always recomend that people stay away from Creative Labs products. M-Audio makes a great card called the Revolution 7.1 based on the Via Envy24HT chipset. I upgraded to the M-Audio from the Audigy 1 and it was an amazing difference. Creative has consistant driver issues and hardware problems.

WD HD's are my current favourite, with the JB series being tops in my book. The 8 meg cache really helps.

it would be helpful to know how much youare willing to spend, but for the fact that you are looking at alienware I will guess that youare looking for a gaming machine, and that price is not a factor. Based on that I would say.

Asus a7n8x deluxe mobo
AMD 3000+ (barton) cpu
1.5gig of ddr 400 ram
harddrives with an 8 meg cache
CD-rw
DVD -r/rw+r/rw

as for the rest on video I would wait about a month because new cards are coming out soon. sound and network are on the motherboard (and the sound aint bad). The case should be picked out by what fits your needs and what you like the looks of.

The top of the line P4s along with the new chipsets that just came out are expensive but out perform everything else out there. So if price is no factor in your decision then that is where you should look.

If you have some sort of budget to consider but still want a pretty good gaming computer then I would look into AMD. Their new Barton chips are still expensive but that means some pretty fast- though somewhat older- processors have come down in price (XPs with the Thoroughbred B core). These are now very good buys and you can use the money you save on more memory, more hard drive space, a different video card, or just pocket it.

Like the Dude said, check out www.pricewatch.com for deals.

.
and whatever you do, get a solid mobo.
you'll thank me later.
.

If you are interested in OC'ing.

P4 2.4c/800 FSB
Abit IS7
2x256 TwinX Corsair 3200 DDR
Radeon 9500/9800 (The 9600 is slightly slower then the 9500)

And whatever else.

I'm selling some stuff also, but pm me for info on that. I won't build you a whole computer, but I always have high end spares.

Looking at these websites should tell you everything you need to know to figure out a top-end system. Heck Sharky even builds one periodically to show what's tops at the time.

http://www.overclockers.com
http://www.sharkyextreme.com

Yeah it is for gameing, but I do kind of have aa budget, tyhats why I decieded tto build my own, save some money:rolleyes:

Here's a silly question: what the dickens is alienware?

Alienware

Those are the most overpriced computers on the market.

Sixate: Thank you! I went to their web site and got this:






--Area 51
--Pentium® 4 @ 3.0GHz
--512MB DDR PC3200
--NVIDIA GeForce™ FX 5900 Ultra 256MB
--Price: $2,099.00
--Before all applicable rebates.

Given that would be in US dollars, it does seem rather pricey. As for me, I have an HP Pavilion with a 1.8 Ghz Celeron chip. Does me down to the ground, given that I am a writer by trade.

Thanks again!

www.newegg.com is another site to check for prices.

Seem pretty cheap, too.