What computer to buy?
 

My computer finally took a dump from all the porno downloading.. so I am looking at possible getting a new one, but I am so confused at all the Pentium D, Pentium Xeon and all the bullshit. I want to spend the minimum amount possible, but want a 3+ gHz, 2mb ram 256 vid card and a nice flat screen.

I am mainly doing internet crap.. gaming, music and other crap. I was looking at the Dell 510 that comes with all the crap above, AND a 20" widescreen LCD for about $1300 (ebay with warrenty new), but I read that the Dell X400 is better for gaming.. but I would not get the widescreen monitor and it would cost about $1600 from Dell.. is there really that big of a difference?

I don't think the monitor is anything to be concerned about. You will adjust to whatever size is in front of you in my honest opinion. I know I did. If your really hard core into gaming. Get the Dell X400 if it is actually better for gaming. Otherwise. Get which ever one is prettier.

Alienware stuff looks pretty insane for gaming, but they tend to get a bit expensive when you start adding options. I've heard good things about Sony's Vaio line but again, those can get pricey.

I played around a bit with Dell's XPS 400...here's what I got for an even $1500 (including a 19" LCD monitor)

-3.2GHz processor
-2GB RAM
-320GB HDD
-256MB PCI video card (you could upgrade to an nVidia GeForce 7800 256MB card for another $250 or go all out on a ATI Raedon X1900 512MB carb for another $400)

That's the basics...if you REALLY like gaming, you can add a physics accelerator for another $250. But hey...I don't ever play games online or even on my comp outside of Newgrounds and Yahoo bullshit, so what do I know?

Well here is what I got..

Dimension E510 ,Intel Pentium D Processor 940 with Dual CoreTechnology (3.2 GHz)
464-8220 4GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
310-5324 Dell USB Keyboard
320-4706 20 in (20 in viewable) 2007WFPWide Aspect Digital Flat PanelDisplay
320-4382 256MB ATI Hyper Memory PCI-Express X16 (DVI/VGA/TV out) Radeon X600 SE
341-3280 250GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200RPM)
341-2274 No Floppy Drive Requested
412-0688 Image Restore
412-0721 Dimension Dell Support
420-4927 Windows Media Player 10
420-5646 Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, English without Media, for Dimension
463-2282 Dell Owners Manual installed on your system,click on icon after system set-up to access
420-5460 Complimentary courses: Look for EU icon
420-5476 Dell Direct Download
420-5924 Icon Consolidation Application
420-5769 Internet Search and Portal
310-6264 Dell USB 2-button mouse
430-0412 Intel Pro 100M Integrated PCI NIC Card
313-3840 56K PCI Data Fax Modem
412-0705 Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0
313-4129 16X DVD-ROM and 16X DVD+/-RW
420-5781 Sonic Cineplayer
420-5790 Roxio Creator Basic/MyDVD Basic
313-2758 Integrated Audio
313-2198 No Speaker Requested
412-0850 Network Associates McAfee 7.0,English,90-day Trial
412-0787 AOL for Broadband
420-3224 Broadband Icon for Inspiron
412-0687 NETZERO ISP
420-5256 Netscape ISP
412-0803 Corel WordPerfect 12 plus Trial of Quartro Pro and Presentations
950-7447 4 Year Limited Warranty
900-3963 Type 15- Third Party At Home Service with Nights and Week ends, 24x7 Technical Support, 3 Year Extended
412-0359 Soft Contracts - Qualxserve
900-9773 Warranty Support,3 Year Extended
960-6380 Warranty Support,Initial Year
960-6160 Type 15- Third Party At Home Service with Nights and Wee kends, 24x7 Technical Support,Initial Year
983-2207 Thank You for buying Dell
464-5503 PC Restore Recovery System by Symantec
412-0865 Basic digital Music,Photo and Game experience

Cost $1450 in all...

Why get a dell when you are talking about computer gaming? They have some decent computers but personally I find it better to custom build them. That way you know what exactly you're running and what upgrades to find.

for real.. was about to suggest it.. it's not hard to do AT ALL. I built mine myself.. lets you know exactly what you're running, and saves you some money.. Only downside is you have to make sure everything is compatible. Some hardware might not like working with other things even if they are compatible.

Compatibility isn't too much of a hassle considering it's for an excellent cause. Personally I find working to make things cheaper a great way to save a buck. heh.

get the dell

Yea I did.. I don't have the knowledge or time to build my own computer.. And I need it NOW. I figure when something breaks I can call Dell and ask WTF instead of having to call all the different manufac and asking them.

I figure this thing should scream with this setup though...

I'm with you Mike. I probably have the knowledge to build my own setup...but I'm not 100% sure and I don't want to get everything together and discover I fucked some small connection up and then have to take it all apart to look for the problem. I just wanna plug it in and go. And you're right...the setup you listed should go like a motherfucker. I mean shit...4GB of RAM? Damn. Just make sure to check the response time on that 20" LCD. I know a lot of the bigger monitors have shit for response times which sucks if you're a gamer.

Response time is 16ms .. I read that anything less than 20ms is fine, and 16ms worked great on any 1st person shooters..

In my experience the computers are only fast right out of the box. Once you put anything/everything you actually want to use they tend to slow down.

You'll enjoy your computer. I'm a rather large Dell fan do to their customer service.

Building your own is always an option. I've had to do it a few times for work, and in that time i realized two things.

1. There is nothing saved by doing it yourself.
2. It's always nicer to a warranty.