Advice on a current decent spec machine

Horsefumbler

Yo

I'm thinking of getting a new pc not sure whats hot at the moment. Use it for gaming quite a lot.

Was looking at a dell xps with quad core 2.4 intel cpu, maybe 3 gb ram and i'm not sure wat gfx card 8800 gtx maybe or would dual be 8800gt be better? ( not much in price diff)

Or would anyone advise different spec?

Budget is about 1500 -1600

thanks in advance

Sqaull20

Dual 8800gt is faster by a nice bit faster than a single 8800gtx...

Dell have some good deals, especially mid range gaming systems...

Example sub €550 gaming system

E Value

305-D032012

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/minicat/ie/en/services_vostro200_3?c=ie&cs=iebsdt1&l=en&s=bsd&~ck=expbuy3

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E4500 Processor (2.20GHz,800MHz,2MB cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium - English
1Yr Basic Warranty - Next Business Day Included - No Upgrade Selected
No 19" Wide Monitor
2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024]
500GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 16MB DataBurst™ cache
Integrated Intel® Graphic Media Accelerator X3100
16x DVD +/- RW Drive
Dell™ Entry Quietkey USB Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)
Dell 2 Button USB Optical Mouse

Add the class 9600gt for €170 for a gaming system on the cheap

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=346880

High end sub €1500

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?b=&c=ie&cs=iebsdt1&kc=D4X63002&l=en&oc=D03X6053&rbc=D03X6053&s=bsd

Intel® Core™ 2 Quad-Core Processor Q6600 (2.40Ghz, 1066MHz FSB, 8MB cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium - English
No Warranty Upgrade
Monitor Not included
2048MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024]
Hard Drive 500GB NCQ SATA non Raid (7200 Rpm)
DUAL 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800GT graphics card
16X DVD+/-RW (Read/Write DVD, CD)
Dell™ Enhanced USB Multimedia Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)
Dell Optical Scroll Premium Mouse

1,462.89

Honestly I wouldnt buy a high end system off Dell, they are the best in the business for mid range systems but for high end you get machines like below which will destroy a dell in terms of build quality/performance....

http://www2.hardwareversand.de/3/pcconfigurator.jsp?pcConfigurator.gpOnly=0

Monster off a pc, built and delivered for €1300

http://i32.tinypic.com/205wgp2.jpg

Sqaull20

Note, I wouldnt bother with Sli unless it comes free like in the Dell systems eg they are giving you 2 8800gt's for €73 less than a single 8800gtx....

The only sli setup that makes since price/performance wise is the 9600gt as you can get 2 of them for €270 and look at the performance...


http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/geforce_9600_gt_sli_performance/page4.asp

Beating an 8800 ultra :eek:

jonny72

Theres an XPS on the dell outlet site for 1100 inc VAT and delivery

quadcore, vista, 3 gb ram, 320 drive, 8800gtx, warranty, etc.

irlrobins

Not building or upgrading to moving

Horsefumbler

Thanks for the advice guys.

That german site looks quite good I've ordered off them.

Sqaull20

Horsefumbler wrote: »

Thanks for the advice guys.

That german site looks quite good I've ordered off them.

What did you get?

Horsefumbler

HV20D896DE 4096MB DDR2 Corsair Twin2X CL 5, PC6400/800
HV1125UWDE ASUS P5N-E SLI, Sockel 775 nForce 650SLI, ATX
HVR850CMDE ATX-Netzt.Coolermaster M850, modular, 850W
HV1023DQDE Club3D 8800GTS, 512MB, NVIDIA Geforce 8800GTS, PCI-Express
HV1023DQDE Club3D 8800GTS, 512MB, NVIDIA Geforce 8800GTS, PCI-Express
HV203FAHDE Coolermaster Mystique RC631-SSN1 ohne Netzteil silber
HV23CXXADE Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Audio
HV20QT67DE Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 tray, 8192Kb, LGA775, 64bit, Kentsfield
HV33EVP3DE MS Windows Vista home premium 32bit Englisch
HVZPCDE Rechner - Zusammenbau
HV1341S2DE Samsung HD403LJ 400GB S-ATA II, 16MB Cache
HV207N2BDE Samsung SH-202N beige bare Lightscribe
HVZSOFTDE Software-Installation
HV30ZAC7DE Zalman CNPS8000 Sockel 775/754/939/940

I mostly stuck with what you recomended squall

Horsefumbler

Just thought I'd give an update on this.

I received the PC a few days ago. I plug it in turn on the power button and.... nothing. The power switch button wire had obviously come loose from the mobo. No biggie I guess it actually happened with a diferent PC i bought so I just corrected it.

Then problem number 2. The front case fan either doesn't turn on at all or does but spins very slowly and makes a horrible loud noise. It's clearly broken/faulty.

I paid then to assemble and install software and all though they did both of those things I fail to see how these issues went unnoticed when they were building it as they've been present since I first used it.

So much for german efficiency :rolleyes: Can't say i'm too impressed really.

I could probably send it back and get them too fix it but that would be a pain in the ass for me. I'll probably just replace the fan in the front myself out of my own pocket.

Just thought I'd give some feedback, even if it is negative, so anyone else ordering from them can get a clearer picture of what to expect.