Computers and such

[Rosuav]

Heh, I stand corrected then. This not being an area of my expertise, I was just googling and reading, same as you

[Savaric]

Most of the parts arrived today. Newegg says its 3 day shipping but I ordered it Sunday afternoon. Pretty damn fast.

I can't believe what a tiny little thing a cpu is. It's only about 1.25x1.25", flat, and looks very unremarkable. I'm amazed at what it does.

[Rosuav]

Originally posted by Savaric
Most of the parts arrived today. Newegg says its 3 day shipping but I ordered it Sunday afternoon. Pretty damn fast.

I can't believe what a tiny little thing a cpu is. It's only about 1.25x1.25", flat, and looks very unremarkable. I'm amazed at what it does.

And most of what you see there is the packaging anyway. So you install this tiny package with a tinier bit of silicon inside - and then put a ginormous heat sink/fan assembly on top of it

[Savaric]

Build is complete. Got everything put together and all updates/drivers installed. Actually putting the parts together is pretty easy. Getting the software in and everything tweaked takes more effort.

* e6750 Intel 2.6 Ghz
* Asus motherboard, P5K intel P35
* Western Digital Caviar 160 GB SATA II, 7200 rpm
* Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4DHX 800 DDR II (2x1GB)
* Cooler Master Centurion 5 ATX Tower
* Corsair 520 w psu
*eVGA 8800 GTS 320 mb

Total came to 1070 w/shipping, etc. Minus rebates it was 980. Dell system was 1250 for an E6550 processor, 250w psu, 8600 GT, 100 card. Note if I wanted to upgrade my graphics card I'd have to buy a new psu as well. Then someone certified has to install it to keep the warranty valid. There's quite a large disparity in what I got from building verse what I would have gotten with Dell. Granted, that was a 4 yr warranty and 3 years McAfee. All these parts I've chosen very carefully and are good brands with 3 yr warranties. This computer finishes booting in about 6 seconds, course it's pretty clean at the moment.

Hands down building is the way to go. Although this took a bit of trial and error on getting it all set up. Some of these parts are fragile and can be easily messed up during the build. You have to do a lot of research to choose the right parts and make the thing come together. However, I have learned quite a bit about pc components and installation from this. As a con I don't think just anyone can do it (i.e. the technologically challenged). I enjoy technology so I don't fret so much when troubleshooting. Others might end up pulling their hair out. Patience is a plus.

Finally this thing is pretty quick. Really great computer and runs cool. Handles call of duty 4 at max setting with no problem. Don't think that's a very specific comparison but it's fast as hell to me!

[Rosuav]

Thanks Sav! Love the level of detail. Couple of points:

Originally posted by Savaric
Granted, that was a 4 yr warranty and 3 years McAfee. All these parts I've chosen very carefully and are good brands with 3 yr warranties.

That's unusual for Dell, incidentally - they usually offer _less_ warranty rather than _more_. (I don't count 3 years of McAfee as much value when I'm building a system - it's a good service to offer to the canonical dumb Windows user, but 99% likely a geek has AV etc already, and will just stick another computer on it.) Also, most unusual to see a FOUR year warranty. Usually it goes 12 month, 24 month, 3 year, 5 year. All the same, I wouldn't put much monetary value on that last year of warranty. (Incidentally, what's the warranty on the HD? They often have five or more years on them.)

Hands down building is the way to go. Although this took a bit of trial and error on getting it all set up. Some of these parts are fragile and can be easily messed up during the build. You have to do a lot of research to choose the right parts and make the thing come together. However, I have learned quite a bit about pc components and installation from this. As a con I don't think just anyone can do it (i.e. the technologically challenged). I enjoy technology so I don't fret so much when troubleshooting. Others might end up pulling their hair out. Patience is a plus.

Quoted for emphasis. Doing it yourself is good when you can manage it, but if you bust anything, you're probably not covered by the warranty. If all you want is "get me a computer that works", then buy off the shelf, because you have to be at least somewhat geeky to put your own together.

[Savaric]

I think the warranty on the WD hard drive is 5 years actually. Have to check. And I doubt Dell puts western digital in their builds.

Dell warranty is base 1 year. The 1250 quote is with an extended 3 year warranty, bringing it to 4. That's quite a bit extra actually, think 150 or 200 was added to the total cost. Kinda a rip when you consider that most parts already have a 3 year warranty. Also I didn't have to pay for the OS. If you buy Dell you're shelling out for the vista/xp that you probably already own.

[Sier]

Bad things about dells I think is that the vista cd they give you will only install on dell computers. If you get a new system later, you have to get a new vista.

[Rosuav]

Originally posted by Sier
Bad things about dells I think is that the vista cd they give you will only install on dell computers. If you get a new system later, you have to get a new vista.

Actually, that's true of a lot of manufacturers. In fact I think that Vista enforces this - an OEM copy cannot be installed anywhere else. MS try to do this with XP, too, in that they won't let you phone-activate an OEM copy if you say that you're upgrading your computer (they'll do it if it's retail). Of course, with XP you just have to say "My hard drive crashed and I'm reinstalling" - because that happens pretty often, and the MS "support" people know about it.

[Gesslar]

That's probably due to MS license scheme. The license for your copy of Windows is not user-based it's PC-based.

Using the same CD on different computers is a violation of the license. Now, one could argue that maybe one has another license that was purchased from MS, but MS would just ask: where's the CD for that license?

[Savaric]

Originally posted by Sier
Bad things about dells I think is that the vista cd they give you will only install on dell computers. If you get a new system later, you have to get a new vista.

What a scam.