Alienware

Rivera Bladestrike · Post by **Rivera Bladestrike** » August 11, 2003, 11:26 pm

I'm thinking of buying a top of the line PC, I was thinking either from Dell or Alienware. Problem is, when I configure a similar PC, Dell costs $3700 and Aleinware costs $3100 or $2900 depending on anthlon or pentium. I've heard great things about Alienware, but before I make an investment like that, I want to know if anyone has bought from Alienware.

Kudo · Post by **Kudo** » August 11, 2003, 11:34 pm

Alienware = win !

Coatlicue [KoE] · Post by **Coatlicue [KoE]** » August 11, 2003, 11:44 pm

my husband and I bought from Alienware a year ago and love it

Bubba Grizz · Post by **Bubba Grizz** » August 12, 2003, 12:22 am

Dell builds for the common user.

Alienware builds for people like us, Gamers.

Go with the pros.

Drolgin Steingrinder · August 12, 2003, 1:01 am

If I didn't have to pay a 25% danish sales tax and deal with possible shipping across the Atlantic in case anything was wrong with my puter, I would buy only from Alienware. It's the only company where I've never heard anything bad about their products or services.

Tenuvil · Post by **Tenuvil** » August 12, 2003, 1:37 am

C). Build it yourself.

Deneve · Post by **Deneve** » August 12, 2003, 1:55 am

Tenuvil wrote:C). Build it yourself.

i second this, i looked at it and i can make a computer that would smoke a AW for about $1200 minus the fancy colors =/

Keverian FireCry · Post by **Keverian FireCry** » August 12, 2003, 2:19 am

A friend of mine just bought a computer from Falcon Northwest and he is extremely happy with it. You could give their site a look to see if you like anything there too.

http://www.falcon-nw.com/

Just another option.

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » August 12, 2003, 2:24 am

isnt that the pc company advertised during the luclin installation?

Keverian FireCry · Post by **Keverian FireCry** » August 12, 2003, 2:46 am

Yeah and in a couple of the advertisments in a one or two of the expansions, I think.

Vaemas · Post by **Vaemas** » August 12, 2003, 8:08 am

Have gone with Dell desktops as well as building 2 machines myself. As much as I love my Dell, any future systems I purchase are going to be self-built. Cheaper that way.

Chidoro · Post by **Chidoro** » August 12, 2003, 10:47 am

It's strange that you'd get an alienware for less than a dell being that the former tends to charge a premium for their expertise on getting pc's to humm.

I got a Dell as a wedding gift this past november and it's very nice. I also know that it was pretty damn inexpensive considering it was stacked very nicely(~$2,200).

However, I've heard nothing but great things about Alienware, service-documentation-overclocking-etc are all supposed to be top of the line. If you're worried about them being reputable, I wouldn't

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » August 12, 2003, 10:56 am

i'm sure alienware rules, but i build all my PCs myself. You save tons of money, and it isnt that hard. I had no clue what i was doing the first time i did it. Any information you need is out there on the internet (so dont throw out the old working computer just yet

)

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » August 12, 2003, 10:57 am

Definately build it yourself. Besides the cheaper price, you know more about your system than anyone else. You know every single detail of your system and have reciepts for each item should things go wrong. I take comfort in that.

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » August 12, 2003, 11:01 am

plus shit doesnt go wrong cause you didnt cut corners using cheap ass components

Mort · Post by **Mort** » August 12, 2003, 11:44 am

And for the love of God, get a 800 front side bus.....with a 3.2mhz fucking insane.

2 Gigs of RAM with the paging file off, also....teh win.

Throw a 5900 in it, and she's smoking. Prolly can do the above for $1200-$1400 (W/ case and everything). Get 2 10,000 RPM ATA Drives and stripe them. I just helped on one of these systems and will be getting mine together in a week. I watched Win XP install in about 4 mins, about shit myself. Boot to desktop in about 5 secs.

Build it yourself!

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » August 12, 2003, 11:47 am

Mort wrote:And for the love of God, get a 800 front side bus.....with a 3.2mhz fucking insane.

2 Gigs of RAM with the paging file off, also....teh win.

Throw a 5900 in it, and she's smoking. Prolly can do the above for $1200-$1400 (W/ case and everything). Get 2 10,000 RPM ATA Drives and stripe them. I just helped on one of these systems and will be getting mine together in a week. I watched Win XP install in about 4 mins, about shit myself. Boot to desktop in about 5 secs.

Build it yourself!

i'm in love

masteen · Post by **masteen** » August 12, 2003, 12:57 pm

Plus, you can put the money you save into a totally sweet case, with a window in the side, cold cathode light kits, lighted fans, and some EL cables.

Oh yeah, and a Type-R case badge will REALLY make it run fast!

Adelrune Argenti · Post by **Adelrune Argenti** » August 12, 2003, 1:07 pm

I hear the Type R badge adds another Ghz at least in the proper config.

Truant · Post by **Truant** » August 12, 2003, 4:01 pm

Also makes the chicks throw their panties at you, swooning.

noel · Post by **noel** » August 12, 2003, 4:48 pm

I build all of my PCs. I just finished overhauling my PC. I did it all myself, and it fucking screams. I'm getting 100+ FPS in UT2K3 (a reasonable benchmark) at 16x12-full detail and I'm very happy with the performance improvement.

For those of us that know how to build PCs, load OSes, or have a good friend that knows how, building PCs is by far the best way to go. The thing is though... We have people on this board who are being affected by an RPC issue that Microsoft had a fix up for on their Windows Update site weeks ago. We have people that need to be told to get the latest DirectX, Video Drivers, etc. on a weekly basis. These people should not be building their own PCs. No offense meant at all. There is a reason that Dell, AOL, and other companies that provide service that goes along with their product are so successful. As unpalatable as using AOL would be for me, or buying a PC that I could build myself would be for me, for my Grandparents, it's a good way to go. For some of my friends, it's a good way to go. So if anyone wants to buy a PC, and they don't have the time, knowledge, or friends to hook them up with one they can build themselves, Dell, Alienware, and some others are good choices.

I have an Alienware Laptop. It kicks fucking ass. I have used their service exactly one time for a minor issue, and their service was top-knotch. Alienware PCs are designed and tuned for gaming. Alienware is the correct choice out of Dell/Alienware if gaming is the intended purpose.

If you or someone you know can acquire the parts and build the box yourself, without shopping very hard, you could probably build a system for a third less the cost, but you would be supporting yourself. Alienware's service is excellent. For those who are not computer knowledgeable, that may be worth the additional cost.

As an aside: I used to want to know more about computers, networking, etc., but I can tell you from personal experience, especially today... At times ignorance truly is bliss.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » August 12, 2003, 5:55 pm

Aranuil wrote:As an aside: I used to want to know more about computers, networking, etc., but I can tell you from personal experience, especially today... At times ignorance truly is bliss.

A-FUCKING-MEN!

The #1 reason I don't miss my old job in network support is because my old hobby is back to being just that. I don't regret doing it, because the skills I picked up have served me well and helped me to excel at my current job. But I used to go home and not want to look at a PC.

Melrin_Specclaster · Post by **Melrin_Specclaster** » August 12, 2003, 9:14 pm

Yes you can save money by building your own, but it can be a real pain in the ass as well. Also if you build your own you have 0 support and your warranty will be a pieces, parts warranty and most parts wont have over 90 day warranty. So if you just really want a machine to play on without the headache, buy one built. It can go great, but if you get 1 bad part you're stuck troubleshotting, RMA'ing, etc. And you end up really pissed off usually cause you just want to play. I've built lots of pc's and have made money doing it and gotten lots of red ass, so ask yourself which is more important to you. Sure you can come here and ask questions, but if something breaks do you want a company behind your problems for resolution or yourself.

Lohrno · Post by **Lohrno** » August 12, 2003, 9:17 pm

Truant wrote:Also makes the chicks throw their panties at you, swooning.

Or their "Depends"...

-=Lohrno

Karae · Post by **Karae** » August 12, 2003, 10:24 pm

Deneve wrote:
Tenuvil wrote:C). Build it yourself.
i second this, i looked at it and i can make a computer that would smoke a AW for about $1200 minus the fancy colors =/

Or $1500 with the fancy colors...

noel · Post by **noel** » August 12, 2003, 11:28 pm

Deneve wrote:i second this, i looked at it and i can make a computer that would smoke a AW...

Please explain to me what secret technology you're using that will allow you to 'smoke' an Alienware. A self built, non-overclocked PC will perform as well as an Alienware, or perhaps 1% faster, but there will be no smoking. The 3.06Ghz processor you buy is the same that Alienware will buy. The FX5900 Ultra you buy will be the same as in the Alienware. The 800Mhz FSB will be the same, and the PC3200 memory will be the same.

The difference is you will pay less, not that you will outperform. Pull your head out.

Lohrno · Post by **Lohrno** » August 12, 2003, 11:41 pm

Aranuil wrote:
Deneve wrote:i second this, i looked at it and i can make a computer that would smoke a AW...
Please explain to me what secret technology you're using that will allow you to 'smoke' an Alienware. A self built, non-overclocked PC will perform as well as an Alienware, or perhaps 1% faster, but there will be no smoking. The 3.06Ghz processor you buy is the same that Alienware will buy. The FX5900 Ultra you buy will be the same as in the Alienware.

The difference is you will pay less, not that you will outperform. Pull your head out.

Sure there will...if you forget to put the heatsink on...

-=Lohrno

Deneve · Post by **Deneve** » August 13, 2003, 12:15 am

Aranuil wrote:
Deneve wrote:i second this, i looked at it and i can make a computer that would smoke a AW...
Please explain to me what secret technology you're using that will allow you to 'smoke' an Alienware. A self built, non-overclocked PC will perform as well as an Alienware, or perhaps 1% faster, but there will be no smoking. The 3.06Ghz processor you buy is the same that Alienware will buy. The FX5900 Ultra you buy will be the same as in the Alienware. The 800Mhz FSB will be the same, and the PC3200 memory will be the same.

The difference is you will pay less, not that you will outperform. Pull your head out.

sorry, i didn't clarify that very well, it would smoke a AW in the same price range, cheapest AW is 1500 and it would get smoked by a homemade that cost about 1200, in order to get 1gig of ram on a AW you have to drop $2500 on it, sorry i didn't write that very clearly

Vailex Darkfury · Post by **Vailex Darkfury** » August 13, 2003, 10:21 am

Can you put hydraulics in computers yet? I need some bump in my trunk.

XunilTlatoani · Post by **XunilTlatoani** » August 13, 2003, 10:42 am

Alienware's are nice and pretty. As Coat said, we love ours. We did have our Athlon CPU fail after a year, but at least that's not an overly expensive part to replace.

I agree though...with discount sites like newegg and others, it is very inexpensive to put together a system yourself, and you can buy a nice LCD monitor with the money you save =P

noel · Post by **noel** » August 13, 2003, 10:53 am

XunilTlatoani wrote:Alienware's are nice and pretty. As Coat said, we love ours. We did have our Athlon CPU fail after a year, but at least that's not an overly expensive part to replace.

Xunil,

I agree though...with discount sites like newegg and others, it is very inexpensive to put together a system yourself, and you can buy a nice LCD monitor with the money you save =P

I personally wouldn't want an LCD monitor yet. At the current time, I don't feel the cost justifies the bling bling. I have yet to see a flatscreen that does 16x12 in a retail store, and for high speed gaming, a CRT will still refresh faster than an LCD.

Deneve,

I completely agree with the cost thing on a part for part basis, but people don't buy Alienware's (or Dell's etc.) to save money, so that's really not a relevant argument. They buy them to save time, save support hassle, or because they don't have the knowledge to do it themselves. It's really a circular argument.

Anyway, having same-day-onsite-support is pretty fucking sweet. I rarely have computer problems that I can't determine the root cause of, but after a full day of troubleshooting networks, like Masteen said, I may not want to come home and HAVE to do that. I don't mind it, but someone else might, and to that someone else it might justify the added cost.

While you might be able to smoke an Alienware from a cost perspective, piece for piece, you're not taking into account what the added cost gets you. For a high-performance gaming system, you could do a lot worse than an Alienware.

Edit: I did a quick search (read: as little time as possible invested) to see what a 16x12 LCD costs. I looked at Viewsonic and Sony because I've purchased both in the past (though I have only owned Sony monitors in recent memory). The majority of the LCDs they sold are either 1024x768 (bleh) or 1280x1024. For Viewsonic, the 1600x1200s range in price from ~$1250-$2699 (23 inches of bling bling at the high end). Sony was slightly more expensive at ~$1500-$2499 (23" here at the top end too).

In conclusion, Flat Panels are obviously what we will all have on our desks in the next 5 years, but I don't think that their current price/performance is a good purchase.

Marbus · Post by **Marbus** » August 13, 2003, 11:29 am

I have been building my own PCs since the early 90s. Back then it could REALLY be a nightmare. As someone said, it still can be, but in general it's pretty easy and pretty cheap these days.

If you buy a good motherboard from a reputable company, a decent case etc... you really shouldn't have any problems if you are careful and use common sense. Sure there are some of you who SHOULD NOT build you own (you know who you are). But I think most people on this board could handle it.

I recently built a decent performance Athlon system for my wifes parents. Used 512MB DDR333 (PC2700), Athlon XP2400+ (MB will go up to 3200+ Barton), 120GB ATA drive with 8MB cache, DVD, CDRW, Antec Case, LeadTek GF5600 MyVIVO (they aren't gamers) AND 19" monitor for <$800. Sure you can get a cheap system from Dell or HP for a little less but you are stuck if you want to upgrade. From this system I can upgrade the processor when it comes down in price, add up to 3.5GB MORE RAM and upgrade the Video Card (a lot of those cheap system don't have AGP slots. The case has an Antec TruePower power supply so it's super quite... just can't be it.

Marb

Ebumar · Post by **Ebumar** » August 13, 2003, 11:29 am

We have flat pannels here at work. The only reason why, though, is because their colors look more like print media than anything else, and in a graphic design job, this is a big thing. For gaming, though, stick with the same old tube stuff. Mucho bettero~

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » August 13, 2003, 12:06 pm

anybody tried to work one of those Apple Theater displays on a PC?

noel · Post by **noel** » August 13, 2003, 12:14 pm

I haven't looked at it, but it should work. Sony sells one that looks almost exaclty like it.

I haven't priced them in a while but when they came out they were like 2k I think. >< Might be wong about that, but I know they were bank.

Post by **Sylvus** » August 13, 2003, 12:32 pm

I don't know if they have changed it in the last year or two, but those Apple displays used to have a proprietary connection that was a bitch to convert to working with a PC. Someone at work ordered one and after it sat around unused for a month or two, my company sold it on ebay.

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » August 13, 2003, 12:44 pm

http://www.mediaworkstation.com/2003/07 ... review.htm

maybe your company should have done a google search

Post by **Sylvus** » August 13, 2003, 12:47 pm

I think it was 2 or possibly even 3 years ago, Voro, I'm sure they did a google search at the time. =p

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » August 13, 2003, 12:52 pm

some jerk on my hall has one of these (but he has a Mac).

Marbus · Post by **Marbus** » August 13, 2003, 1:27 pm

We have a guy here at work with 2 of them... but he has written like three books on Using Oracle with True64 and done network layout which Compaq/HP used in Ads so I guess he needs it... personally I'm just trying to swing a new laptop as my old one is... well just that OLD.

One thing no one has mentioned is the new Dell gaming system. They are using the old XPS name on it but the reviews I've read show it pretty much ranks right up with with Alienware and Falcon Northwest but you get the Dell service and warranty (if that matters) I also think it's a tad cheaper but I'm not for sure. At work we pretty much use all Dell for our internal network, corporate PCs and laptops. While we also have a LOT of HP/Compaq and IBM my group has had EXCELLENT luck with all the Dell equipment. For the price, you just can't beat'em...

Marb

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 13, 2003, 2:12 pm

Voronwë wrote:anybody tried to work one of those Apple Theater displays on a PC?

H8 Apples...but those displays look so nice....damn it!

As for the topic, if you have time to research, you > box of rocks, and don't get frustrated easily, build your own computer. The people that are still whining about OCing being a bad thing don't have a clue. If you do your homework, you'll find that there are always CPUs out there that are better for OCing than others. If you're going to take the time to research and build your own computer, then you'd be a fool not to take something like the Intel 2.4C CPU and make it a 3.2GHz CPU with about 2 minutes of effort changing settings in the bios. That 200.00 you save goes toward a very nice item for your computer such as memory, hard drive speed or size, motherboard, video card....all which will further increase the performance on top of what you would have had if you bought the 3+HGz CPU.

On top of that, if you do your homework you'll get much better individual parts for your computer over a store built computer (or for less money).

It really comes down to time....if you have no time and lots of money, buy a premade computer. If you have time and the interest, hop on the internet and research some things. You'll learn a lot about computers. It will take you serious research time the first time but the next time you're ready to build a computer, you'll have that initial knowledge already in place and can simply build off of it and research the new technology.

Another nice thing about building your own is that you can continuously update your main computer and your second and third computers slowly get built with the hand-me-down parts from your top computer...which also gives you more of an excuse to upgrade individual parts of your computer from time to time.

If you don't like messing around with electronics (it's not really that hard, it takes initial knowledge like anything else) then definately buy something like Alienware.

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » August 13, 2003, 2:17 pm

i have a celeron that has been overclocked for literally 4 years. only had overheating problems in August in Florida, when i couldnt even Air condition my shitty little place to less than 80 degrees.

Ajran · Post by **Ajran** » August 13, 2003, 2:36 pm

Just remembers all electronics are powered by smoke... if you let the smoke out your done.

rhyae · Post by **rhyae** » August 13, 2003, 2:49 pm

When you all say "do your homework" and build your own. Who do you trust for info?
There are plenty of sites to look at on how to build a PC, but which ones really know what the hell they are talking about, and which ones are just blowing smoke?

ps florida is hard on PCs, my vid card melted

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 13, 2003, 2:57 pm

Go here for starters.

http://www.hardforum.com/

Excellent Forums for building computers, compatibility and OCing.

noel · Post by **noel** » August 13, 2003, 3:20 pm

Also, http://www.tomshardware.com is a great place to stay up to speed on the most recent happenings in hardware.

Personally, I think overclocking is fucking stupid. When you overclock, you invalidate the warranty of your product and open yourself up to heat damage issues (yay!). CPUs and Video Cards are designed to run in very specific conditions and configurations. If they could safely run faster, the manufacturer would sell them that way to gain an advantage over their competition. Overclocking and dealing with the cooling issues/potentially rendering your CPU and/or video card INOPERABLE all for MAYBE a 5%-10% improvement in performance?? Sorry, it's just not worth it.

Lohrno · Post by **Lohrno** » August 13, 2003, 3:31 pm

Aranuil wrote:Also, http://www.tomshardware.com is a great place to stay up to speed on the most recent happenings in hardware.

Personally, I think overclocking is fucking stupid. When you overclock, you invalidate the warranty of your product and open yourself up to heat damage issues (yay!). CPUs and Video Cards are designed to run in very specific conditions and configurations. If they could safely run faster, the manufacturer would sell them that way to gain an advantage over their competition. Overclocking and dealing with the cooling issues/potentially rendering your CPU and/or video card INOPERABLE all for MAYBE a 5%-10% improvement in performance?? Sorry, it's just not worth it.

I don't know, because I dont do it, but I think for the money that some people spend on it, you might as well just buy a faster CPU heh. I've heard stories of people making a 2ghz into a 3 ghz machine, etc. I think it's more of a 'Because we can' thing though.

-=Lohrno

Marbus · Post by **Marbus** » August 13, 2003, 3:42 pm

I have to agree that in general it's not worth it. I did OC an old 300a to 450MHz for my sister because money was tight at the time and for the price and ease of OC it was a no brainer. Never had a problem with it, just upgraded her last year too.

Marb

PS - Although some are just stupid, the hardware reviews on NewEgg sometimes off decent recommendations or at least pitfalls others have had with the same hardware.

Truant · Post by **Truant** » August 13, 2003, 4:03 pm

Lohrno wrote:I don't know, because I dont do it, but I think for the money that some people spend on it, you might as well just buy a faster CPU heh. I've heard stories of people making a 2ghz into a 3 ghz machine, etc. I think it's more of a 'Because we can' thing though.

-=Lohrno

If you can OC a CPU to a speed and get reliable performance for less than the price of a new CPU at the OC speed, sure do it. But there isn't THAT much of a price gap in the cost of CPU's. OMGIAMRETARDEDCAUSEALOTISTWOWORDS out there do it to brag...like it makes their computer cock bigger or something.

Lohrno · Post by **Lohrno** » August 13, 2003, 4:14 pm

Truant wrote: If you can OC a CPU to a speed and get reliable performance for less than the price of a new CPU at the OC speed, sure do it. But there isn't THAT much of a price gap in the cost of CPU's. OMGIAMRETARDEDCAUSEALOTISTWOWORDS out there do it to brag...like it makes their computer cock bigger or something.

Exactly

Speaking of Cock...I wonder if someone ever got a giant phallic object from a sex shop and made it into a case mod.

-=Lohrno