Topic: Computer for WAR

[Razor]

Don't scare us like that!! 

So when you getting a computer that can handle WAR?

[Sidewinder{DoH}]

I'm thinking at the end of summer probably. I may go with a dell like you since I don't know how to build one.   

[Woapalanne]

I'm thinking at the end of summer probably. I may go with a dell like you since I don't know how to build one.   

Great way to learn is just to get the parts and force yourself to do it.  really parts can only fit one way so the trick is just getting the right parts.

[Sandman-XX]

All it takes is one bent pin on a CPU to throw away 300+ dollars tho..

[Thor]

All it takes is one bent pin on a CPU to throw away 300+ dollars tho..

Funny you should say that. I did just that the last time I built a computer.

[Sidewinder{DoH}]

   Ya I was thinking that someone from here did that. 

[Razor]

My main reason for buying a Dell XPS was money... but I am really liking it, and not sure I mentioned this here but I reinstalled the OS and all the bloatware is gone... its not actually built into my OS restore cd... which is awesome!

[Thor]

Good to know. I'm seriously considering going that route when I get around to it, for a few reasons. Now, did you just reinstall it over the existing OS or did you format and install?

EDIT: I split off the topic and moved it since we were derailing the original thread with computer talk.

[Razor]

I just slapped in the install disk and let it do its thing... it moved a lot of my old files into a separate folder and made it look like the HDD was clean, but I wasn't really concerned enough to notice if it formatted or not.

I was expecting the Dell support centre shit to be built in but other than the windows welcome screen having a dell symbol in it I have not seen any of it.  It was easy to get all of the drivers i needed, Dell puts them all on the same page for you... where they also had the support centre... I downloaded and re-installed all of it except that.

Dell has separate customer service for the XPS machines, I have never had an initial wait on calling in longer than 20 minutes, and most times it was only 5 if at all.  It was sort of a weird diagnostic process trying to figure out that my problem was in fact RAM.... largely because it manifested itself originally as an intermittant video driver problem, until the card failed completely.  I had the new card in the mail within about 3 days.

The XPS customer support will also let you do a lot of the physical work on the machine yourself if you seem to know what you are talking about.. which was nice that I didn't have to wait for someone to come to my house or to have to send it away needlessly.  Its nice that they recognize their customer base for the XPS systems as having some more informed people in it.... plus really its cheaper for them to sit on the phone with me for an hour while I swap a few ram card around than to send out a tech to do it.

Now that the issue is gone I have been playing Age of Conan on nearly full graphics (a few things that just really dont need to be cranked right up) with frame rates varying from 30 in the large cities with lots of people to 60-115 in other areas.

I noticed they only have one model of XPS 720 now (the Red one with the 1000 watt PSU, but you can get XP on it.. which was an option I don't recall having), but they released the 730 which seems really loaded (although the price reflects that fact). I was pleasantly surprised when I opened my box to see two very large fans in it, one that blows onto the PCI cards and one that is dedicated to a very large CPU cooler... leading me to believe that I could probably overclock my CPU without too many worries (which is also easy to do in the XPS BIOS).

Just noticed right now that they now also offer the core 2 quad q9450 @2.66Ghz... which is a 45nm cpu... an option that I did not have but would have jumped at for the only $200 increase over the stock q6600 I have... just my luck for timing I guess.  Looks like they are also shipping vista with SP1 now... also something they didnt have 2 months ago.  Seems like they have changed the Ram and vid card options as well, cant get the GTXs but the overall price has also dropped a lot (bout $1000 less for what I just did a build of from what I payed).

I also just did a pretty decent build of the 730 which came to $5800 CDN (with max warranty).  They don' offer nVidia cards in this model for some reason, but they do have the better ram like I have.  They offer two CPUs at good prices (the C2 Q9450 @2.66 and Q9550 @2.83)... the C2 Extremes are just crazy.  The hybrid water cooling is an interesting touch. They also seem to have lower prices on the extra warranty for this machine than the 720, the maximum being a 5 year complete care coverage for just slightly more than 4 years on the 720.

While I wish I had had the option for the 45nm card I am glad I was able to buy my machine with teh GTX vid cards and the better RAM... As I said I may replace my CPU in the next year or so.. and perhaps upgrade to a 64bit OS to allow more RAM (which may include buying a new vid card).


Can you tell I am bored at work right now?

[Woapalanne]

Buying a pre-made computer is really something one should look into before building.

If I could have I would have purchased an Apple Mac Pro to run Windows.  I was thinking Dell but we just have too many problems with them here at work. 

In the end, building is cheaper I think.

[Sidewinder{DoH}]

If you plan on upgrading your cpu, in a year there should be some decent speed increases. Considering the next architecture due out probably early next year will have speed increases of over 20% for the same cpu speed. This should also drop prices on older cpu's a fair amount.

[Sandman-XX]

Agreed, Sidewinder, as long as it isn't a new socket also, meaning a new MB to go along with that new CPU.

[Sidewinder{DoH}]

No luck there, cuz it is a new socket. Although we have had a 3 year run so thats pretty nice.

http://sunnytalkstech.blogspot.com/2007/10/intel-nehalem-will-be-socket-lga-1366.html

[Razor]

yeah, its impressive the range of CPUs that run on the 775 socket.  Not really surprised that such a radically improved architecture requires a different socket though.

[Razor]

Just a note that Dell appears to have reworked their XPS gaming machines a bit, the 720s are limited to be lower in price and they have more options for the 730s now, the liquid cooling is no longer manditory on it, they have a couple good builds with the new 45nm chips (not extreme ones if you are looking to saves some cash) and also now have the new nvidia geforce 9800 GX2 cards as an option (not just the ATI cards).  Prices are not too bad, wish they had this type of build when I ordered.