dell xps 720 or alienware area 51?

[mindovermatter]

hoping some of you more computer savvy gamers can give a little advice.......thinking of buying a new gamer but have read conflicting reviews on the xps 720 and area 51 ; want a core 2 extreme qx6850, 2 gb corsair dominator, geforce 8800 gtx, and prefer the liquid cool

the xps looks like stacked newspaper boxes...... the alien is much better aesthetically, but is one any better than the other in functionality? leaning toward the xps though the motherboard is a bit dated. thanks in advance for any help

 

[Wisp]

Uh-uh. Stay away from Dell/Alienware. In the old days Alienware was great, but it merged with Dell, and its standards have slipped. BUILD YOUR OWN PC!!!! I cannot stress this enough. Also, 8800GTX --> 8800 Ultra. The difference is very noticable (to a PC gamer), also, 2GB Ram is a little low for the type of machine you're proposing... Bumb it to at least for, epecially if you're going Vista. If you lack the skills to build your own, go to your local computer shop and have them build a custom PC to your order. Also, RAM = DD3. I know these things, I work in a computer shop... I hope this helped.

 

[mindovermatter]

geeez- wisp, i wish i had seen your response earlier. i had considered building but i have had too much on my plate lately and went with the dell xps h2c- it has liquid cooling, 4 gb corsair extreme, qx6850 overclocked, dual geforce 8800gtx in sli. after spending several hours researching prices to build, time constraints got me and i bought the new dell. had i built i would have bought the alienware case (it is just toooo cool!) with pretty much the same specs. could have gone with the geforce ultra but would not have been able to take advantage of sli due to the higher cost of the extra card. my present computer is the xps gen 2- had it for over 4 years and it has been problem free. the new games are such system hogs, and i was hoping to not have to upgrade for a while so tried to get as much as i could afford. didn't get the vista- i'm sure i could've gotten used to it but my son hates it so went with xp media- can't use directx 10, but i could go to vista later if i needed to. my nephew will be doing most of the gaming- he's psyched about getting crysis. i did get the extended warranty for all the good it 'll do with the sucky service. if it doesn't perform maybe i can return and build my own. ugh....being impatient may have cost me

 

[CowSavior]

.... Where do you learn all this stuff?

 

[mindovermatter]

wow- talk about fast delivery- i ordered my dell 2408wfp yesterday afternoon and it arrived today at 1 pm. this is one BIG monitor......maybe too big......my 19" is more the right size for me but i needed an lcd for my new gamer pc and got a good deal. anybody needing a new one? i found out that dell will negotiate a bit on the sale prices listed online if you mention seeing it for less on ebay- got free overnight shipping too

 

[Wisp]

Ah. Oh well. Hopefully you won't have issues. Personally, I'm cynical about Crysis, nor do I have the specs to run it (C2D @ 2GHz, 800 FSB, GeForce 8500, 500mhz, 512DDR2 VRAM), but all it is is a tech demo with a plot tacked on to it. Oh well. It DOES look pretty. I'm cynical about both Dell and AW, seeing as they merged, and Dell machines have a nasty habit of going bad right after the warranty expires... Oh well. Best of luck!

 

[mindovermatter]

Dell machines have a nasty habit of going bad right after the warranty expires

their service does have a terrible reputation.
can't say anything bad about the sales dept- they had to have shipped within a couple of hours of my order.

the monitor being too big may end up being a good thing with my eyesight getting worse. it actually got pretty good reviews so i am hoping it lives up to expectations- i won't buy again for several years if everything goes well, just can't afford to do this very often.

one more question if you have the time- my new pc has the nvidia nforce motherboard, have you found them to be reliable, and do you recommend the ageia physx accelerator.....or is it a waste of money?

 

[Wisp]

I have an Asus Mobo with an intel chipset, don't know too much about the nForce or ageia, but I know nForce is supposed to be pretty good...

 

[mindovermatter]

thanx wisp- guess i'll pass on the ageia then, if you haven't heard much on it either it must not be anything to get excited about

 

[Wisp]

I'm not THAT huge into comp gaming, but I am reading CPU magazine right now... drooling over several thousand dollar computers...