Should I buy this Desktop?

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Sylvus
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Should I buy this Desktop?

Post by Sylvus »

My current computer is pretty old, I don't think it's even dual core. I have one 24" Dell monitor at home, and would probably upgrade this system to have a 24", and then rock the two of them together.

http://dealnews.com/Loaded-Dell-Studio- ... 76992.html

Good idea? Bad idea? Suggestions?

/edit: And how does dual-monitor work with gaming? Can you play a game (say, WoW for instance) with it stretched between the two? Is it crazy to do that with widescreen monitors?
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Re: Should I buy this Desktop?

Post by Ashur »

Looks like a solid machine to me. I'd pull the trigger on that deal myself if I hadn't just bought a PC last year.

Might I add that it is ALWAYS depressing to look at PCs when you don't need to buy one, because they're always better and cheaper than what you have bought previously.
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Re: Should I buy this Desktop?

Post by Aardor »

Most games lock you into full screen mode which will disabled the 2nd monitor (or rather, stop sending updates to it, or blank it out). If you monitors are the same resolution, you can force Vista (possibly XP, I only did this in Vista) to display at 1920x2 by 1200. Definitely upgrade to the 24" model so your resolutions are the same on both monitors. The only other thing you have to do is manually edit wow config files to display at your new resolution, and you can have it display across both monitors. Granted, the 3450 will eat itself (you'll probably reduce your FPS by at least half), but that card kind of sucks for anything more than wow, and maybe even wow at 1920x1200 with maxed settings. I would upgrade the video card if you get this machine, it's a shame to have a 2-3 gen old card bottlenecking an i7 (don't do it on the dell site, they're prices are high for the upgrades).
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Re: Should I buy this Desktop?

Post by Sylvus »

What about having a game open in one monitor and your desktop in the other? Does that only work with windowed games?

If you were going to replace the video card, what direction would you go? I don't want to spend too much money on this, I was mostly considering it because it looked like a pretty decent deal on a pretty beefy system for less than $1000. Keep in mind that my current video card is like an nVidia 6800 GT or somesuch. OLD!
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Re: Should I buy this Desktop?

Post by Aardor »

Sylvus wrote:What about having a game open in one monitor and your desktop in the other? Does that only work with windowed games?

If you were going to replace the video card, what direction would you go? I don't want to spend too much money on this, I was mostly considering it because it looked like a pretty decent deal on a pretty beefy system for less than $1000. Keep in mind that my current video card is like an nVidia 6800 GT or somesuch. OLD!
With wow, yes, you want to do Windowed mode, maximized, so then you can alt tab like it was any other window (i like maximized, since it can fill one whole monitor). Yes, that will only work in windowed games, otherwise it will pause when you alt tab to change displays/display modes, and makes some games freeze or lag when you tab back in.

I recommend the 4850. You can get them on newegg when there is a deal for about $115. No need to get it right away or anything, the 3450 should blow your 6800gt out of the water.
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Re: Should I buy this Desktop?

Post by Funkmasterr »

I would totally jump on that deal if I had the $, I need a new computer badly too. I say go for it, it's a awesome machine for a great price. You can always worry about the video card down the road if it becomes a hinderance to your gameplay.
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Re: Should I buy this Desktop?

Post by Boogahz »

Wasn't there a comment a while back about Dell using special cards that were generally smaller than the shelf versions? Could that potentially be an issue here, or was that only in specific models?
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Re: Should I buy this Desktop?

Post by miir »

The Studio XPS case should have no problem accomdating a normal length video card.
You might have problem with dual slot cards.
That model should have 2-3 PCIE x1 slots above the single PCIE x16 slot.

Only the small form factor desktops need to use proprietary, smaller form factor cards.
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Re: Should I buy this Desktop?

Post by Kluden »

The only suggestion I could make is upgrading the video card. (1) 24" monitor would kill that card in a relatively graphically intensive game. It could probably handle WoW with some distance settings turned down. 4800 series is what you want from ATI for 1920x1200.
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Re: Should I buy this Desktop?

Post by Xatrei »

I bought a Dell Studio last November (core 2 quad 2.33 Ghz, 6GB RAM, 500GB HDD and Radeon 3400 256MB video), and have been pretty happy with it. It seems to be basically the pre i7 version of what you're looking at. I got it to replace my XPS core 2 duo that fried, and it's only the second off the shelf PC that I've bought after I gave up building my own. I haven't bothered replacing the video card since I'm not doing any gaming on the PC these days, and the 3400 is adequate for what I do on the machine. I did add another 500 GB hdd and a second DVD burner (both cannibalized from my dead XPS). Like Miir said, you won't have any problems putting other cards into this case, there's plenty of space in the box.
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Re: Should I buy this Desktop?

Post by Soreali »

Their slimlines were the ones that needed smaller video cards which was annoying..


As for this deal, I'd jump on it.. Quad Core runnin 2.77 with 6gigs plus the rest of the specs seems like a pretty good deal.. Worse comes to worse you can just upgrade the card off of newegg.

Wish i had the cash to get a new rig...mine died a year ago and havent even though about trying to bring it back to life..
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Re: Should I buy this Desktop?

Post by Ashur »

I just put XP on one of those small form factor desktops for my brother-in-law, a Dell OptiPlex 260. 1.7ghz Celeron 1GB RAM 40GB HDD. If you think that sounds pathetic, consider his old one was a P3 497mhz CPU 256mb RAM and a mighty 6 (six) GB HDD (full)... also w/ XP.

Damn heavy for being so tiny! I'd just tell him to buy a new one, but he just got laid off.
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Re: Should I buy this Desktop?

Post by Aslanna »

NO! YOU SHOULD ABSOLUTELY NOT BUY THAT DESKTOP!
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Re: Should I buy this Desktop?

Post by Xouqoa »

I prefer building my own machine and then upgrading it as necessary, which you really can't do with a Dell.

That said, it looks like a decent system at a decent price.
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Re: Should I buy this Desktop?

Post by miir »

Xouqoa wrote:I prefer building my own machine and then upgrading it as necessary, which you really can't do with a Dell.
Unless you're buying a a small formfactor desktop, or a bottom-of-the-line Vostro, your options for upgrading a Dell (or HP/Compaq, Gateway, Acer, etc) aren't particularly restrictive.

Midrange systems from Dell/HP/Compaq all have multiple PCIE slots, empty dive bays and ram slots.
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Re: Should I buy this Desktop?

Post by Sylvus »

Xouqoa wrote:I prefer building my own machine and then upgrading it as necessary, which you really can't do with a Dell.

That said, it looks like a decent system at a decent price.
Is there anywhere you could recommend that would have a comparable case, mobo, processor, ram, and hard drive for a couple hundred less than that (leaving out the cost of the 23" monitor)? I don't really want the monitor it comes with...
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Re: Should I buy this Desktop?

Post by Winnow »

Sylvus wrote:
Xouqoa wrote:I prefer building my own machine and then upgrading it as necessary, which you really can't do with a Dell.

That said, it looks like a decent system at a decent price.
Is there anywhere you could recommend that would have a comparable case, mobo, processor, ram, and hard drive for a couple hundred less than that (leaving out the cost of the 23" monitor)? I don't really want the monitor it comes with...
It takes some research but going to

http://www.hardforum.com/index.php?

and then hitting Newegg for the parts will save you money and/or get you a better system and you wont be stuck with a few parts you really didn't want.
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Re: Should I buy this Desktop?

Post by Kluden »

You got to remember though, that dell warranty is pretty nice to have for backup. Just don't tell them about any upgrades and they will still send you the new parts, or the tech to install them, if you have that warranty level. That's always something nice.

I always build my own too, and am active on hardforum for all my researching, so I second there for finding that stuff out.
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Re: Should I buy this Desktop?

Post by Fash »

That's a pretty sweet system and price. I just bought a Mac Mini 1.83 C2D with 2GB of ram for ~$750...
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Re: Should I buy this Desktop?

Post by Aslanna »

It depends on how much 'hassle' you can put up with if something goes wrong. Building your own takes research to make sure the components you get have a good chance of working together. And even then there's no guarantee you wont run into issues which will then take more hours researching that and trying to resolve them. If you just want a system that works from the get-go then a pre-built one with a warranty, such as from Dell, is the way to go. imo!

As far as getting stuff you don't want, such as the 23" monitor, I'm sure you could always sell it on ebay or something or keep for a backup.
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Re: Should I buy this Desktop?

Post by valryte »

Screw that 23" monitor. 23" isn't a common size plus on a deal like that you're getting a crappy monitor. Invest the money and make sure you get a decent monitor. I'd research a decent monitor based on your budget, then find a Dell desktop with the config that you want and call them up and see what deal you can get. As for building your own, all I can say is unless you are hardware savvy, have the time to research the parts, and don't mind the troubleshooting forget about it.
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Re: Should I buy this Desktop?

Post by Winnow »

That 23" monitor is only 1920 x 1080 resolution, so you're missing 120 pixels from the standard 1920x1200 24" monitors. It's formatted for HDTV.
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Re: Should I buy this Desktop?

Post by Sylvus »

Yeah, the more I look at this system, the less I want that monitor. The only problem is, after looking on hardforum and then pricing components online, I think it would cost me more to build that system without the monitor than it would to buy it with the monitor. Like hundreds of dollars more.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
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Re: Should I buy this Desktop?

Post by Marbus »

If you look for coupons from Dell and just watch the site for a week or two you can get one similar w/o the price of the monitor.

I configured pretty much the same system for my sister back in Jan with that monitor (which I find very nice) for $1020 but with an Nvidia 9800 GT 512. It's smokin' fast.

I use to build all of ours and while I still build my personal machine, I've started buying Dell for my wife and kids. Why? price/performance.

When Dell got out of using AMD for desktops for a while they were selling the old ones cheap, especially the refurbs (you still get a year warranty).

I got a 3800+ wtih 2GB, 360GB drive, dual drive, media card reader, mouse, keyboard etc... for like $275. This is when those processors were still running about $146 on NewEgg. It's an AM2 MB so if I need to I can always upgrade but I thew a used 7600GT in it and it runs EQ2 and WoW at 45 fps+ in 1650x1080... that's all the boys need for now.

If you have a monitor, check out their Outlet store. You can only keep stuff in your cart for 15 minutes and they are adding stuff ALL the time. I picked up a laptop for half price last year by just watch it for a couple of weeks.

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