New Dell - Comments? Suggestions? Created 18 years ago2005-12-10 15:16:19 UTC by kol

Ok - i'm getting a new PC - and it has to be a DELL - i won't go into the details of "why"

So, from what any of you know, what's the best option? Nothing too expensive now.

I want to be able to play HL? (at "lost coast" quality preferably )

So, any past experiences will be more than welcome.

What model of dell?

I have a Dell 8300 with Radeon 9800 Pro and plenty of RAM...Should be enough.

I have a Dell laptop! Dell is a great choice

Dell sucks...

Dell sucks...

...And you're better than the rest of us. We know. Now shut up.

I would suggest the following:

• 60gb hd minimum. The more space you have, the more you use. and hl2 is 4.5gb.
• 1gb ram. Again, the more you have, the more you use. And more ram=better for games like hl2.

Oh, and get an lcd.

...And you're better than the rest of us. We know. Now shut up.

Well said

Yeah just get those specs above.

I have a Dell.

Get a Desktop, though most Dell computers, with upgrades, can play Lost Cost.

Sadly, mine can't.

I've got a dell. What's there to tell? They've got good service, got a new graphic card (Radeon 9800 pro) when mine broke down.

:

This calls for some more pondering...

Thanks for your comments so far

I wouldn't buy a dell.. But if it's the only choice for you

personal, i would custom build, much cheaper, and you can spend most on wats important to you. so just go for the basic one, then customize the more important aspects.

why does it have to be a dell?

I trust Dell...

Never had a problem with them.

So far so good, someone hasn't said "Dude, your getting a Dell!"

dude your getting a dell!

...sorry, it had to be done!

No, no, not "Dude, your getting a Dell!" its "Dude.... your getting a Dell...."

I got an 8300 a while back and popped some more RAM and a new card in there. Works great for HL2 on maxed settings, for an affordable price.

<shakes head>

Beat whoever's paying into not buying from them.

heh, thats a horrible thing to do... shaking your 'ahske' at him!

Pwned you with my moderator powers!

why does it have to be a dell?

Whatever i get, it;ll be 21% cheaper than advertised That's why i have to get Dell...

Ok.. i've my eye on a "Dimension 9150 (D12917)"

Actually, with the discount, i could get the price to ?1337 lol
:

Intel? Pentium? D 830 (3.0GHz, 800FSB, 2X1MB Cache)

256MB nVidia GeForce 6800

1024MB Dual Channel DDR2 533MHz (2x512) Memory

320GB Serial ATA RAID 0 Stripe [2x160GB 7200rpm drives]

16x DVD+/-RW and 48-32x CDRW

19'' Flat Panel Display..

And other misc stuff (mouse.. etc)

If its "Bad" just because its Dell, then - well for those specs and that price...
I think that's great! Your thoughts?

whoa, nice specs. me sensing link with dell... hence to 1337 discount!!!! some nice ram there, not much wrong with anything really though.

my only question though is... does it have a floppy drive? most important nowadays !

@seventh: damn!

?900? Eh, s'alright. I'm not at all sure that DDR2 is the best for gaming at present, though, nor an Intel CPU. Come on m0p, we need you!

I don't think dell "Does" AMD...

But - will that machine manage Lost coast (well)?

i'll be abusing this machine with HL? for years ...

Yes, I'm sure it could, but I can't say that it will necessarily be the best for your dough.

Actually Dell 'does' AMD nowadays

I like the Dell ads on tv though;

"now you get double the memory, 512mb DDR!!!!!1one"

Wow.. i get a substandard amount of memory, thanks Dell!

Pentium D is terrible for gaming. You'd be better off with an Opteron 146 (or an A64 San Diego, or a Venice if you are on a budget, FX57 if you have plenty of cash), plus an nForce4 board and a 6800/7800. Or, you could wait for Intel's next platform to take off, I know for a fact it kicks pretty much everything out there, and it's still based on the PIII Tualatin. Owned. Although, you'd need for Asus to release a board that supports mobile chips (their upcoming mobile chip is going to be pretty good), as well as the product lineup to be released. Intel's current range (excluding the Pentium-M Dothan 7x0 series with an Asus board+adapter) sucks ass for gaming, it's a fact. They kick quite a bit of ass in A/V work, but when it comes to gaming, AMD is much better value for money, and performs better. Unless you splash out for one of those Pentium Extreme's with too much cache for any app to take advantage of, or a Dothan, Intel is pretty much shit at gaming. On DDR2, it has improved a ton as far as latencies go, but it's still lagging behind DDR1, which is capable of 1-2-2-5 (very very low latency) on nForce4. And on the Dell matter, Dell use refurbished components, and sometimes defective components which no other OEM will accept. Remember when your 9800 died a while back, ZombieLoffe? Blame Dell's component QC. They use components which are pretty much dead quite alot of the time.

you ejaculated whilst writing that, didn't you?

or an A64 San Diego, or a Venice if you are on a budget, FX57 if you have plenty of cash), plus an nForce4 board and a 6800/7800

Sweet: I'm looking at a San Diego on an nF4 with a 7800 :).

So, m0p, relatively good-quality DDR1 > relatively good-quality DDR2 for gaming, at the moment?

Well, nobody has tried DDR2 on a decent gaming platform yet, maybe it will perform great on an A64 system. But until nVidia release an AMD chipset with DDR2 support, yes, DDR1 is superior. Although, most DDR1 is trash, the only great DDR1 is Winbond BH-5, Winbond BH-6, and Winbond UTT, and maybe Samsung TCCD. Although all of those chips have been discontinued and have/will become increasingly rare to find on modules. BH-5, BH-6, and UTT are the only DDR1 modules that will run at 1-2-2-5.

Ok.. as far as choice, i'm pretty limited: its a dell...

But if Athalons + DDR1 make your game 10fps faster than and Intels with DDR2.. that's not really much of a problem.

The PC will be mostly used for "work": Macromedia stuff for web / Photoshop / Maya / MathLAB / Autocad / HL?

I think i'll settle on the Dimension 9150 : with a few better components, i'm getting rid of 2 year's worth of warranty - if anything breaks (and eventually it will) i'll spend the same ammount on parts as i would on the warranty - but the parts i'll get would be better than replacements.

Total price ?1,338.03 (with 19'' display and a "free" printer i can eBay later)

If i build my own with that ammount of cash, i'll be spending time, and i have very little of that.

I think once i get a solid PC that can do a fair job of anything i throw at it - from compiling & rendering to Movies & HL? - i'll build my own after that.

Thanks for all the comments!

If i build my own with that ammount of cash, i'll be spending time, and i have very little of that.

You don't have half an hour (decent speed) or two minutes (claimed m0p speed)?

err... it takes more than a Half Hour to build a PC... :

nope.

2 minutes sounds about right

I'm counting everything: buying components, "homework" deliverytimes, not just assembly. I can "Put together" a pc in 5 minutes yes, but actually building it from scratch - getting components etc.. That takes way too long.

some time online, and having to wait for Fedex? most people do that anyway