Gaming Rig - The Lesser of 2 Evils

[nxs-rage]

Hi, I am looking to buy a new gaming rig in Canada (higher prices for parts + not so many retailers). My goal is to optimize my experience for a Dell 24inch ultrasharp screen at 1920x1200 and aim to future proof my system as much as possible. I have a good idea of the parts to buy from Newegg, but have no clue how to assemble them and honestly do not have much time/energy to learn from scratch. Additionally, local stores around me offer either overpriced parts or hardly have any experience assembling core i7 rigs.

Given all this, I am looking into the following systems. I apparently get more for my money with Dell. However, the rig will be limited to 6GB of RAM due to their Mobo. Does Alienware have better builds to justify the difference? I need some help here.

P.S. Is adding a SoundBlaster card worth the money or should I stick with the original?


Alienware Area 51 X58

Intel® Core™ i7-920 2.66 GHz 8MB Cache
Alienware® P2 Chassis with AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling
Alienware® Standard System Lighting
Alienware® Standard System Cooling
Alienware® 750 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply
Single 1,792 MB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 295
6GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 3 x 2048MB
Alienware® Approved Intel® X-58 Motherboard- Socket 1366 Core i7 Ready, Dual Triple Channel DDR3 Memory
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium (64-bit Edition) with Service Pack 1
250GB SATA 3Gb/s 7,200RPM 16MB Cache
20X Dual-Layer Burner (DVD±RW)
High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio
Standard Keyboard
Razer DeathAdder™ 1800dpi 3G Infrared Gaming Mouse
1-Year AlienCare Onsite Service and 24/7 Toll-Free Phone Support

CDN$2,735 Shipped + tax

XPS 730x

Intel Core i7-940 (2.93GHz, 8MB cache)
Aluminum with Clearcoat Chassis
AlienFX Lighting
Copper base Heat Sink with aluminum fins
EPA compliant 80+ 1KW power supply
ATI Radeon HD4870X2 2048MB
6GB Multi-Channel DDR3 at 1066MHZ (3x2GB DIMM)
Intel® X58 Chipset
Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 64-bit Home Premium (English)
1.28TB Performance RAID 0 (2 x640GB SATA-II, 7200 RPM HDDs)
16x CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Dell Consumer Multimedia Keyboard
USB 6-Button Logitech Mouse
2GB DATASAFE ONLINE 1.1 FOR SDO/DIM/INS/XPS
3 year - Next Business Day Parts and Labor On-Site Service

CDN$2,682 Shipped + tax

Thanks!

[Cptn Vortex]

Why would you get those? Just get one built up! Where are you located?

[MpG]

The first answer you'll get here is whether you're certain you're don't want to just build everything yourself. If not, fair enough, it's not for everyone.

Unless they've changed more recently, Ailenware's customer has apparently been going downhill over the last few years. And I'm not quite seeing what else they're doing to justify the increased cost. You've got a better processor, better harddrives, better warranty, and (theoretically) a better power supply. Unfortunately, there are way too details missing to judge the quality of either system for certain. If I was limited to those two choices, I think I'd be going for the Dell.

Edit: See, I told you that'd be the first answer

[Eagle Eye]

Lol same shit different pile. As far as I am concerned dude we could build you a similiar and better looking system for a lot less.

If my arm had to be twisted and I mean twisting to the point of breaking I'd get the Dell, better warranty, cpu, bigger PSU, more HDD space. Just out of curiosity does that include a monitor in there somewhere?

As such there are things to consider here:

Alienware Area 51 X58

Intel® Core™ i7-920 2.66 GHz 8MB Cache (I'll take the 940 in the dell instead)
Alienware® P2 Chassis with AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling
Alienware® Standard System Lighting
Alienware® Standard System Cooling
Alienware® 750 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply
Single 1,792 MB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 295
6GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 3 x 2048MB (Lots of ram, but seriously DDR3-1066)
Alienware® Approved Intel® X-58 Motherboard- Socket 1366 Core i7 Ready, Dual Triple Channel DDR3 Memory
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium (64-bit Edition) with Service Pack 1
250GB SATA 3Gb/s 7,200RPM 16MB Cache (Pathetic, immediate upgrade necessary)
20X Dual-Layer Burner (DVD±RW)
High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio
Standard Keyboard
Razer DeathAdder™ 1800dpi 3G Infrared Gaming Mouse
1-Year AlienCare Onsite Service and 24/7 Toll-Free Phone Support (Is that the best they could offer on a $2700+ machine)

CDN$2,735 Shipped + tax

XPS 730x

Intel Core i7-940 (2.93GHz, 8MB cache)
Aluminum with Clearcoat Chassis
AlienFX Lighting
Copper base Heat Sink with aluminum fins
EPA compliant 80+ 1KW power supply
ATI Radeon HD4870X2 2048MB (I'd prefer nVidia, but thats just me)
6GB Multi-Channel DDR3 at 1066MHZ (3x2GB DIMM) (Again with the ram)
Intel® X58 Chipset
Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 64-bit Home Premium (English)
1.28TB Performance RAID 0 (2 x640GB SATA-II, 7200 RPM HDDs) (Rather impressed, but striped array is scary business with that much space)
16x CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Dell Consumer Multimedia Keyboard
USB 6-Button Logitech Mouse
2GB DATASAFE ONLINE 1.1 FOR SDO/DIM/INS/XPS
3 year - Next Business Day Parts and Labor On-Site Service (Much better than the Alienware)

CDN$2,682 Shipped + tax

Regards,

EE

[JD]

+1 for the Dell. Much better value, though still pretty damn expensive.

And Dell and Alienware are the same damn company so who cares

Funny though: Area-51 X58 (Click Design)

Just run of the mill hardware. I remember back in the day where they are least rebranded everything to seem like Alienware. Now you can clearly see it's an ASUS P6T motherboard with a 1200W ThermalTake ToughPower PSU and some Dominator RAM coupled with some shyt heatsink that's similar to the stock Intel one but seems to be a different fan?

[cadaveca]

I have a good idea of the parts to buy from Newegg, but have no clue how to assemble them and honestly do not have much time/energy to learn from scratch. Additionally, local stores around me offer either overpriced parts or hardly have any experience assembling core i7 rigs.

I noticed at first the longer warranty with the XPS system vs. the 1-year of the Alienware...

Buying a pre-built system like this does give the ease of just opening the box, turning it on, and having it ready to go, having testing already done with drivers and such sp that everything jsut works as it should, but it's to the point now that the systems you have listed feature off-the-shelf parts anyway, so the total extra cost you pay is for that convenience.

That said though, that cost, most often is $100's of dollars...

But do you plan to use the system for just games, office-type stuff, CAD/Video rendering, etc? HD video content, used partly as a media pc?


Here's the same thing from NCIX, without shipping, HD-DVD/BluRay, 2TB of HDD, fully assembled and tested, with randomly picked keyboard and mouse:

NCIX Gaming Bundle ASUS P6T Deluxe Motherboard & 6GB Corsair TR3X6G1600C8D DDR3-1600 RAM Unassembled NCIX.com SURPRISE SPECIALS!
Available in limited quantities only, with a limit of one (1) per customer. Hurry! No rainchecks or Price Matches for these items are available after limited quantities are sold out. Note: Your order for these items are counted only after you've completed your purchase. In Stock 36107 $599.99 $599.99 1 x Corsair XMS3 Dominator TR3X6G1600C8D 6GB DDR3 3X2GB DDR3-1600 CL 8-8-8-24 Core i7 Memory Kit 1 x ASUS P6T X58 Deluxe ATX LGA1366 DDR3 3PCI-E16 PCI-E4 CrossFire SLI SATA2 SAS Motherboard

*Free Goliathus Omega Mousepad Razer Lachesis Banshee Blue Gaming Mouse 4000DPI 9 Button Optical USB NCIX.com SURPRISE SPECIALS!
Available in limited quantities only, with a limit of one (1) per customer. Hurry! No rainchecks or Price Matches for these items are available after limited quantities are sold out. Note: Your order for these items are counted only after you've completed your purchase. In Stock 26524 $74.99 $74.99 1 x FREE Razer Goliathus Omega - Control Mouse Pad 270MM X 215MM X 4MM NOTE: Free gifts can only be claimed in this shopping cart and cannot be added after the order is processed.
All free gifts and promotions are limited quantity only.
Free gifts will only be honored after order is submitted, but may not be available unless you order right away.
Select a FREE GIFT and click Update Cart to remove.

LG GGC-H20L BLU-RAY HD-DVD Reader BD-ROM 6X HD DVD-ROM 3X DVD+-RW 16X8X6 DL 4X Black SATA Software In Stock 26553 $139.98 $139.98

Antec Twelve Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Case 1200 ATX 12 Drive Bay No PS Top USB2.0 1394 Audio eSATA In Stock 29853 $195.99 $195.99

Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.B 1TB 1000GB 7200RPM SATA2 16MB Terabyte Hard Drive OEM *3YR MFR Wrty* In Stock 35729 $118.99 $237.98

Logitech G15 2ND Gen Gaming Keyboard USB Black Silver Amber LCD Panel Programmable Backlit Keys In Stock 26151 $68.99 $68.99

Antec Truepower Quattro 850W Power Supply ATX V2.2 EPS12V 20/24PIN Active PFC 80PLUS Dual 8PIN PCI-E In Stock 24765 $179.98 $179.98

Intel Core i7 920 Quad Core Processor LGA1366 2.66GHZ Bloomfield 8MB LGA1366 4.8GT/S In Stock 34598 $368.98 $368.98

BFG GeForce GTX 295 576MHZ 1792MB 1.998GHZ GDDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDMI HDCP Video Card In Stock 35672 $609.99 $609.99

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition 64BIT DVD OEM In Stock 22438 $147.67 $147.67

PC Assembly and Testing with 1 Year Limited NCIX System Warranty (PRE-CONFIG OS If Purchased) Assembly and testing requires an additional 4-5 business days to ship your order once all parts are in stock. Does not include any water cooling or server CPU installation. 1 Year Limited Warranty on system components only when assembled by NCIX. In Stock 7842 $50.00 $50.00


Check to delete an item YOUR TOTAL $2,674.54 Shipping and final tax calculation will be calculated at checkout
ALL PRICES QUOTED IN CANADIAN FUNDS
Total Shipping Weight: 71.1 lbs

^^^This is what I would do for approximately the same cost...

[Killswitch]

I have a friend who has a Dell XPS 730X, and before that he had an XPS 720, and before that a Dell............ etc, etc.

I offered to build him a system but he loves the warranty. If any hardware problem comes up all he has to do is call, bitch a little bit, push the right buttons, then voila! The next day a tech is at the door swapping parts for him, and they'll do whatever it takes to get him up and running again. They'll even ship a whole new tower if they have to....... and they've done it for him

If you're not capable of building your own system, Dell is your #1 bet IMHO.

P.S. - Alienware is a subsidiary of Dell. Alienware - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Eagle Eye]

As I said before...same shit different pile.

hehe,

EE

[Seldszar]

I would take the Dell as well. Better processor and warranty mostly.

[Digikid]

Are you guys crazy? Dell just plain SUCKS. Their customer support is next to none and the computers themselves cannot be upgraded in certain areas unless you put a DELL ONLY part in it. Good luck speaking to a CSR that can speak proper english.

Sry guys....but I say to BUILD one up.