As you know i m still on the hunt for a new pc and am most likely to buy it opver the summer hols. At the moment i am going for a Mesh Matrix PC.

Well was chatting to a mate and he mentioned his machine - which happens to be an Alienware.

Well he gave me the specs which are:

• Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme QX6700 2.66GHz 8MB Cache 1066MHz FSB - Overclocked to 3.2GHz!
  Includes Liquid Cooling!
  
• Dual 768MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8800 Ultra - SLI Enabled - Liquid Cooled!
• 4GB Low Latency DDR2 Performance SDRAM at 1066MHz - 4 x 1024MB
• Alienware® Approved NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI Motherboard
• Genuine Windows Vista™ Ultimate
• With Media Center Remote Control and Digital/Analog Combo TV Tuner
• 2TB (2 x 1TB) Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ 2 x 32MB Cache
• 2X Dual Layer Blu-Ray/DVD±RW/CD-RW Burner
• Killer K1 Gaming Network Interface Card - Smoother Online Gaming!
• Ageia PhysX PCI-Express Processing Unit w/ 128MB GDDR3
• Alienware® 1000 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply
  
• 30'' Dell 2560 x 1600 UltraSharp Widescreen Flat Panel - Supports Blu-Ray!

Well the whole thing costs $6,500 (ZAR 45,000)

So i was wondering whether he got completely ripped off or is Alienware really worth that price

personally alienware is currently the cream of the crop... they are bloody expensive BUT you have to look at it two ways:

1. If you have the money and not very technically involved then buying alienware is a good solution! They really know how to build quality products and you PAY for quality
2. It's feking overpriced, rather build your own system for almost 2k off the price

Personally for me I would say that is a rip off system if the guy doesn't really know his PC stuff it's a waste to him to get such a high end system.

For me I would much prefer to pay for a system that is half of that as I won't even utilize the system fully PLUS give it 1 year and you won't even get R20000 ZAR

Alienware is for rich kids with limited PC knowledge.

You get a crapload of extra benefits and accessories with their machines, but it's nothing that even remotely justifies the price.

That machine you posted above is waaaaay overkill, build something more modest yourself for a fraction of that cost.

This mate that CAB mentioned happens to be a hash addicted, son of a b****. I have no idea how he managed to get that much money as he is by no means rich

As for PC knowledge he has next to none, he knows the pc as box, screen and mouse.

Completely hopeless cause he is!
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As for alienware they are not worth the price at all, mostyo f the things you will never even use. M. MM stick with your Mesh Matrix PC as the stuff is good for the price.

In a nutshell - Rusty & Nukes are right

Besides i don't care too much for Alienware (I couldn;t even dream about affording that thing). I just want a good PC, name doesn't make any difference to me. Well the 8800 GTX - is it worth the extra cash for it.

My budget is about ZAR 13 - 16K. Can be adjusted

I would have to say yes! Despite its price the 8800 GTX is a beast and will surely keep you happy for the next 2 years (That thing still isn't in Bahrain - we have no 8 series cards at all here). So i had to stick for the 7800 GTX.

If you have the options go for it Matrix. You won't regret it

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Also i tweaked a Mesh Elite Storm on the site - here is the specs. What do you think'

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6750 Dual Core Processor(2.66GHz,4MB Cache,1333MHz)
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium Edition
Digital & Analogue TV Tuner PCI Card
Aluminium ATX Midi Tower + 550W PSU - Black [upg £ 30.00]
PCI-Express Mainboard - SLI nForce 680i SLI(C55XE) - Intel Core 2 Duo/Quad-Core - ATX [upg £ 80.00]
2GB DDR2 667MHz Memory - (2x 1GB)
500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive with 16MB Buffer
LightScribe Super Format 18x Dual Layer DVD Writer +R/-R/RW/RAM
768MB nVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX - Dual DVI, HDTV, TV-Out [upg £ 200.00]
Without 22" Widescreen Monitor [upg £ -130.00]
19" Widescreen LCD TFT Display with internal speakers [upg £ 100.00]
Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Sound Card (oem)
Creative Labs T6100 - 5.1 Speakers with Subwoofer
Logitech Cordless Keyboard & Cordless Optical Mouse
Free Microsoft® Works® 8.5 + 60 Days Microsoft Office Trial
2x IEEE1394 Firewire (onboard)
Multi-format Memory Card Reader

Its GBP 1030 (ZAR 15K)

unholy crap!
45K?

Ish.... And people buy these things?

personally for a system that I would use, rather take a 8800gts 320mb or a ATI x2900xt (over the 8800gts 640mb) in place of the 8800gtx/ultra... the extra 2k (ZAR) is not worth it if you are using a 19' LCD... given the fact that in 12 months the 8800gtx will be too dated when newer generation cards come on the market...

take history of the GPU's.

ATI 9800 came out which was all that for 2800 (ZAR) at the time... yet in 6 months nvidia came out with the 6800ultras to punish it a few months later ATI came with the most potent card the x800 that had everything except SM3.0... few months later majority of the games came out with SM3.0... and Nvidia launched the 7800 series and ATI followed with the x1900 range...

yes it's all good pretty but pricing of those cards average over 3k and last year when I was looking at the x1900 @ 4000 (ZAR) today it costs you R1500 second hand BUT given the fact nowdays the cards cost around 100 pounds = R1500 brand new... brillent mid range card segment nowdays (but without DX10) because of the 8800 range with DX10..

Give it another 6 months and ATI or Nvidia will bring out a newer card that handles DX10 much better than the current 8800gtx range.

Price wise with a new range card it'll most definatly be around the price of the 8800gtx...

Moral of the story? buy a affordable mid-top range card as it will still have some resale value when the newer generation GPU's come out.

Having the TOP GPU with a mediocre CPU simply means you have a mediocre PC... bottlenecks by other components.

rather have a decent mid-top range system than a half arse CPU/RAM with a potent GPU!

Any suggestions Fishfly for complete specs?

depending on how deep your pockets are

but if budget is around 15k... then

This is a guideline:

8800gts 320mb - as it's DX10 mid-top range card and cheapest for it's performace/value
AMD 6000+ or Intel Core 2 Duo - when prices drop
DDR800 is the minimum
Liteon/benq/LG DVDRW
19' (2/5 grey-to-grey) decent millisecond LCD BUT NOT ACER OR MECER! good all rounder would be viewsonic/LG/or so you need to compare text, dvd playback and gaming quality - although a 22' is nicer
Mid range intel or AMD mobo - not the bloody expensive crap
Unless you have a decent 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound don't bother getting a creative x-fi sound card. the onboard is more than decent enough @ 4.1

I will certainly get me one, i know exactly from whom i will get it from....








Dear Santa Clause....

The Alienware is worth every cent, you pay for the quality building etc. etc. etc. it oozes class!!!!

I know allot about custom building machines but lets face it. If I had a spare couple mil lying around id get an Alienware, sure I could build one, but if I could afford to send my butler to America in my private jet get him to pick me up one and fly him back in time to take me back to the airport for my Monocco trip it all makes sense.

Why build one when Alienware could build it better and they do all the work.

The question that comes to my mind with AlienWare buyers is simple "Who would spend so much money on that?!" You could get the exact same specs (minus their custom case) for half of that price minus the things you don't truly need, being:



Just those alone should be more than R15 000.

That's just my two cents. I don't see how people can get so hyped up about AlienWare - maybe more people should just read hardware reviews online and learn that the only way to choose the best hardware / equipment is for -you- to choose the best based on what you know yourself. It actually makes me feel ill thinking of the possibilities with that kind of money to throw around just on hardware...

Sorry I missed that when posting - it's hardware like that when you're considered an enthusiast. I personally LOVE building computers and I assure you there would be no difference between for example me building it with my passion and the way they build it. There are no different ways of mounting a CPU, etc

Alienware add in so much crap[ into the system here and there that you will never need nor notice that it exists to somehow justify the damn tag! Really not worth forking out that much money.

Same goes for the DELL XPS and stuff

Good looking PC doesn't justify pay that much cash for it

LOMMMIE!!! Another new machine!

Rather get a new GPU put into it - And get me a new one while you are at it

I agree - but these days people have become so brand aware that they buy AlienWare to show off - much like fashion, etc. The thing in my mind is I can understand the quality of brand names for clothing, etc but for something -I can build myself, all chosen by me-, there is no comparison.

In fashion, it's what outside that counts - for IT it's a mixture of both and it's getting that right which requires real skill. In my opinion if you want performance hardware / a proper system you should first know your stuff and start reading first.

People who buy AlienWare are not knowledgeable enough in hardware to actually decide for themselves and buy it just for the brand name. I always chuckle to myself when I walk past people's desktops showing AlienWare logos, imagery, etc thinking to myself that they really think they look "leet" when they have those desktops / fanboyism of AlienWare? I think quite the opposite, actually.

Best wishes

RavenServers

Personally I love fiddling around with components and building a decent system for a great price... but given that I have tons of money to blow for no reason I would love to get my grubby paws on a Alienware and see exactly what's so great about the worksmenship of the system...

Ravenshield what you talking about ????



30' MONSTER GOODNESS!!!! of couse you need it! but the blu-ray is overkill in the interim

When it comes to DELL you pay for the name. They actually test all their components with Windows/whatever and ensure that you never have to struggle to get drivers/etc for their hardware combinations. Perfect for the corporate world, but i wont buy one for home use, that is for sure.

Hi,

(It's RavenServers, btw ^^). What what I basically meant is this - the AlienWare system quoted above is a gaming machine through-and-through. I don't know about you but even with 21" you start to "look around" the screen when playing certain games - Your perception can't grasp the whole monitor at once (unlike a movie - you can concentrate on certain elements and certain points naturally and it won't affect you. You rarely need to see the whole screen at once as a whole when watching a movie - more like concentrating on a single character, car, etc).

I hope that elaborates my point.

Best wishes

RavenServers

Hi Raven Servers,

That was a good response. Well done!

You migh want to add the



to your signature so that you wont have to type it up everytime

Hi,

Well I used to have a signature until for some reason you can't promote advertising - even though it is simply a signature with a link, not a post... I therefore await the fate of my signature

Best wishes

RavenServers

Voodoo is the cream of the crop.
http://www.voodoopc.com/?ppc=DSp143174450#/productsomen

Way to dig up an old thread there chief!