Alienware.

[Sieb]

A rather overpriced box of normal name brand parts. Being all name brand is a good thing, the overpriced is not. You can build the exact same box (minus the plastic covered Antec case) for about 200-500 less.

They also farm their support out to the closest outfit to the customer. We were one of them, and never got paid.

They are easier to support and upgrade since they are off the shelf parts as opposed to OEM stuff like Dell. I had one long ago, it lasted me quite a while. I now build my own, and for customers. Other than the name and case, there really is no point in dropping on one. A Boxx is more usefull if you are doing dedicated 3d work. Or build your own. And NEVER buy off the shelf PCs no matter the deal. :) I would rather ordere a dell than buy a Comcraq at BestBuy.

[athosghost]

Amen to that. Stay away from compaq at all costs.

[Saurus]

But Alienware’s cases are nice:drool:

[athosghost]

Yeah, and have you seen their cg add? :surprised :buttrock:

[kex]

ive seen the alienware case's for sale and im gettin a look-a-like one in the uk for £30 ($47?)

[Joel Hooks]

The cases ARE nice, but I doubt they are worth the huge multiple hundreds of dollars markups.

They aren't even Antec, they are Chieftec.

I reccomend building with a nice antec (or chieftec) case from newegg...

[Saurus]

Originally posted by kex
ive seen the alienware case's for sale and im gettin a look-a-like one in the uk for £30 ($47?)

Where do they sell these cases (web site) or Alienware sells them.

Saurus

[dmonk]

Thanks you guys. I would build my own, but I've never built one before.

I know what to get a I am just scared to put it together.

[dvornik]

I don't own alienware but I've heard good things about them. I'm sure if you are hesitant about building your own system alienware is a good option. As far as workstations go Alienware and Boxx are priced very competitively at the moment. Unfortunately AW only sells dual-processor workstations with rather limited options. You can't get a pro video card with a "gaming" system for instance.

Don't be scared to put a computer together. I'm not sure how much money you can save (if you consider the time you invest in it) but it is certainly good to be in control of your system and to know exactly what's under the hood.

[kex]

Looky !!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.xoxide.com/allcases.html

has alienware cases and every other type u could dream of for good money i think ? owell cheaper than buying a whole new pc just for alienwares case.

[show]

when i was buying the pc i have now i always compared the total price of all the parts i was getting to an equivalent system (sometimes worse) on boxx and alienware sites, I constantly ended up with about £500-600 cheaper and i ended up with a much better coolermaster case anyway :)

If your worried about building your own, all i can say is that theres no need to be, build it on a worksurface by a oven and just touch the oven everynow and then to earth yourself, or you could always get an earthing matt with a static bracelet if your really worried :)

[marc]

your wrong kex. alienware have a new line of cases. i forgot who manufactured them. just ask they told me. wouldn't mind getting my hands on one though. i posted about it 6 months ago.

[marc]

or just not plug the computer into the power? BE WARNED. building your computer is difficult. guides online do not provide enough detail. trust me. if something goes wrong. u won't be able to trouble shoot without buying extra parts to test a see what is faulty. basicly u may end up taking it to a shop with a hefty repair bill. it sounds simple and it looks like u've read enough and know what everything is. but if its your first time u need someone who knows what they are doing?

[Sieb]

Its really not that difficult. Once you start looking at the pieces, its all pretty self explanitory. TroubleShooting just comes from experience. Computer parts are pretty resilient now adays. The small static discharge from your finger is fairly harmless, most chips are built to handle way more. But its always good to play it safe. And all retail parts come with directions. And there are more than enough techs on this forum to help you out.

[kex]

uto build a pc easily just take the side panel off the machine ur using (prob best when the machines not turned on but im not a safety freak) ul see how the basics go together next comes reading the manual that comes with motherboard. that should contain nearley every thing you need to not burn the thing out. urm if u are worried and dont have friends that can help u out if disaster strikes. you want to try and buy from a place like alien or boxx or other similar companies. if ur a person that hassant even upgraded ur machine hardware wise then i wouldnt dive in and build the whole thing just yet.

yeah i agree thier not that hard to build but you have to know the basics of what ur doing and when things go wrong they normally go very bad if its first time.

i have a friend that builds up extreme static hes burnt out thousand of $£s worth of computers just buy touching them i watched him atcually crackle a old sound card i had just buy holding it then it wouldnt work at :(

[DeathCarrot]

afaik no-one sells the new alienware predator (or whatever they call it) style cases yet (yeah we all know the old ones were just chieftecs...) youre very lucky to find one on ebay, and if you do, they go very quick, and the price is always rediculously high..

but really even though i do think the alienware cases are nice, i would still rather make my own rig than buy an alienware, or any other brand really.. way too expensive.. :shrug:

[Sieb]

The new cases are still chieftech/antec/dragon chasis, just alot of plastic around them. I still prefer the original over the new ones.

[DeathCarrot]

Originally posted by Sieb
The new cases are still chieftech/antec/dragon chasis, just alot of plastic around them. I still prefer the original over the new ones.
i never knew this, do you have pics of the insides or something?

[heavyness]

dmonk,

if you feel like you can build your own or know someone who can help, go for it. you can save alot of money. the hardest part of building your own PC is deciding what pieces/parts to buy, and making sure they all play along w/ each other nicely.

if you have the money and not to sure about yourself, go Alienware. that way, you know the computer is going to work and you get good tech support [and if it doesn't work, send it back, something you can't do if you build a computer]!

i would start by going threw the history of the Tech and Hardware Forum for threads like "is this good computer setup" and also look for anything Greg Hess has said, he knows his stuff.

side not : do not get a Dell [i have 2]

[dmonk]

I going to pick out parts and give it a try. I do have a friend that can build it for me, but If i was going to buy aal the peices I figured I'd try to do it myself. I figure I have to do it eventually.

What about wearing rubber gloves. I have no problem just following the directions, but I'm not really a tech, I just read alot. I worried about the little problems that might come about the woun't be in the manual.


What if I made a llist of waht I want to get, post it and you guys tell me if it's good?

[dmeyer]

Originally posted by dmonk
I going to pick out parts and give it a try. I do have a friend that can build it for me, but If i was going to buy aal the peices I figured I'd try to do it myself. I figure I have to do it eventually.

What about wearing rubber gloves. I have no problem just following the directions, but I'm not really a tech, I just read alot. I worried about the little problems that might come about the woun't be in the manual.


What if I made a llist of waht I want to get, post it and you guys tell me if it's good?

Sure. :beer: Fire away.

[dmonk]

CHIEFTEC (Brown) Metal Server Workstation Tower w/ Plastic Front Cover, Model MX-01BNDU U2F BN - OEM **Weights Only 18LBs!**
Specifications:
Form Factor:ATX
Drive Bays: External 4 x 5.25", 2 x 3.5", Internal: 4 x 3.5".
USB/IO: 2 x USB 2.0, 1 x IEEE 1394 (Firewire)
Expansion Slots:7
Case Fans: 1 x Side panel more info>

Intel Pentium 4 (800 FSB) Motherboard Model D875PBZLK OEM
Specifications:
CPU:Supports Intel Pentium 4 processor with a 400/533/800MHz (mPGA478-pin)Supports Hyper-threading
Chipset: Intel 875P
IDE:2x IDE with Ultra DMA 33 and ATA-66/100 support
SATA: 2x SATA 150
RAM:4x 184-pin DIMM connect, Double Data Rate DDR266/DDR333/DDR400 support
Slots:1 x AGP 8X, and 5 x PCI
Ports:2xPS2, 6x USB, (see pics)
Onboard RAID; SATA
Onboard LAN: Gigabit 10/100/1000 Intregrated

Intel Pentium 4 / 3.0CGHz 512k socket 478 Hyper Threading Technology 800 MHz FSB - OEM
Specifications:
CPU: 3.0GHz
Type: Pentium 4 Northwood
Cache: 512K
BUS: 800 Mhz
Socket: 478
OEM Version (Heatsink/Fan sold sepperately)

ENERMAX EG651P-VE(FMA). 550W Power supply(with Copper Shielding for better EMI reduction) for AMD K7 & Pentium4. Meet AMD K7 and Intel ATX +12V 1.2 and ATX 2.03 version (Pentium 4 fully support). Ultra cooling design: one 9 cm fan intake heat and one 8 cm fan exhaust heat. Fan Speed monitored by M/B & Adjustable. 9cm Thermal Control Fan.

Leadtek NV30 Geforce FX5800 8XAGP 128MB VGA, DVI, & TV-Out RETAIL
Specifications:
Chipset: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5800
Memory: 128 DDR 128-bit 4ns
Bus: 8X AGP
RAMDAC: 400MHz, .13 Micro
Max Resolution: 2048x1536 @ 75/75/60Hz
Max DVI Res: 1600x1200
Max TV-Out Res: 1024x768
Support VGA, DVI & TV-Out.

Maxtor 200GB 8MB Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive 6Y200P0 Maxline Plus 9
Specifications:
Size: 200 Gigabytes
Interface: IDE ULTRA ATA133
Seek time: 9ms
RPM:7200
Data Transfer: 133MB/sec
Cache: 8MB

2 Kingston DDRAM 512MB ECC Registered Memory- Retail Package Kingston Value Ram, DDR PC2100 Registered, Cas Latency 2.5 512 Megabytes. Model KVR266X72RC25/512

Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum (Model SB0240P) - RETAIL
Audigy 2 Internal Drive: All the analog & digital ports you'll need for simple desktop connectivity including a super-fast SB1394 FireWire port
DVD-Audio: The only PC solution to enable the Advanced Resolution era of 24-bit music fidelity w/192kHz in stereo & 96kHz in 5.1
106dB SNR:
Sound support: 6.1 surround sound/Gaming
Multiple 24-bit/192kHz DACs for ultra-quiet 106dB SNR
Audigy¢â 2 chip & EAX¢ç ADVANCED HD
Comes with Remote,5.25" Front Interface panel, Software and Games Bundle
and built in Dolby Digital EX decoder

PLEXTOR PX-W4824TA/BPS/ 48x24x48 CD-RW - OEM
Specifications:
Interface:E-IDE (ATAPI-4)
Speed:48x CD-Write, 24x CD-ReWrite, and 48x CD Read
Buffer:4MB Burn-Proof technology eliminates buffer underrun errors
Average Random Access <65 ms
MTBF 60,000 POH
Windows 98/2000/ME/XP Compatible
Mac Compatible (software not included)
OEM (Includes Manual and CDROM )

SONY DDU1621/B2 BLACK 16X DVD ROM Drive (48X CD-ROM Speed) - OEM
Specifications:
Black Color Bezel
Interface: EIDE ATAPI
Buffer: 512KB
Access time: 80-220ms DVD, 165ms CD
MTBF: 100,000 POH
Sustained Data Transfer Rate: 1800~3600 kB/s

Total:$ 1,841.00

Monitor and everything else I can get cheat around hear.

Does anyone know anything about Pinnacle Dv?

Thanks guys

[dmeyer]

dmonk,

looks like a pretty solid rig so far...a few things to ask:

What are your main uses for this machine? Prof 3d only? Some 3d and some gaming? Lots of gaming and some 3d?

Editing and/or compositing?

Do you spend a lot of time rendering?

What apps do you use?

These answers will help refine the rig for your specific uses. (ie: If you're a Lightwaver you'll want to stick to Intel for it's optimization, while the Athlon is a strong competitor for Maya users, or if you are a heavy compositor you'll definitely want more RAM). First thing though is I would personally go for a Western Digital SE hard drive, 8mb cache. They tend to perform a bit better than the Maxtors in many instances - the ATA133 of Maxtor as opposed to ATA100 of WD doesn't mean much as you'll never come close to saturating even the ATA/100.

[dmonk]

Mostly 3d, editing and the basics (internet)

I don't do much gaming so that's not a priority.


I will be doing a lot of rendering in a few month, I will start freelancing for a guy in NY.

I am getting XSI. Right now I'm running an academic license on a P3 866 mhz with 256 mb of memory and an absolute crap graphics card.

Thanks for the help.

[Sieb]

Taken from MaximumPCs review:
Many months and hundreds of thousands of dollars later, the new chassis was born. Made of injection-molded ABS plastic (and not the excretions of the Hive queen), the new case maintains the functionality of Alienware’s current case, and offers all the standard airflow and EMF safeguards. But it also comes with a few special modifications:

There is nothing fancy or groudbreaking about the case. If you look at any reviews (like MaximumPCs), or look at the pics on their site, compare these with Antecs or Dragons on newegg or chieftechs site, it is the exact same chasis as all other Chieftecs, just newer (only the drive chasis have changed). And a mass amount of plastic covering. Which is fine for Alienware, they can pull off the look. Its nice to finally see some character showing up. But I can do without the flamboyantcy of it. (and wouldn't dare take it to a lan party) I would actually preferr Dells gaming machine case over Alienware's look wise, but I would still take a stock Chieftech for its tried and true design. I had a green cathod behind the bezel of mine so green light shined out through the vents.. They copied off of me.....

Alienware has always used Chieftech Dragon cases except for their early machines that used Supermicros (which was the Alienware I had, pre multi color days. I had to do mine myself).

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