pc

The Radiator

im lookin for a new computer for a bitta gamin on cod and battlefield 3, is this up to spec: http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=d00asw01&c=ie&l=en&s=dhs&cs=iedhs1&model_id=alienware-aurora-r3

Specs:
English Genuine Windows®7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
3.3GHz Intel® Core™ i5-2500K (6MB Cache) Quad Core Unlocked Processor with overclocked Turbo Boost t
1GB AMD Radeon™ HD 6870
4GB 1333MHz (2x2GB) Dual Channel Memory
1TB - SATA-II, 7,200rpm, 32MB Cache
DVD+/-RW (Read/Write) 24x
Integrated HDA 7.1 Dolby Digital Audio
Display Not Included
Alienware Multimedia Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)
Alienware Optical Mouse

I know its better to build your own, but i would like to have someone to turn ro if things to wrong

thanks

Fluffy88

Just put that together there and got a grand total of € 1,299.00.

I also put together a few days ago a rig that I would like to build,
https://secure.scan.co.uk/aspnet/Shop/SavedBasket/Show.aspx?id=c92da8b38b06425ba4af6b43ab8c7df8
Grand total of €1,313.82 and it was under the 1300 the day I put it together and it is including a monitor, so swapping the monitor for an OS, keyboard & mouse and will will end up at pretty much the same price.

I am under the impression the self build would eat your computer for breakfast (although I am sure there is issues with that build, you would still get a similar spec pc for the same price), so I guess what I am saying is, you would get a hell of alot more for your budget if you build it yourself.

And if I threw together a very similar build to the alienware you would get something like this,
Total build cost: €742.24 + €30 shipping
4GB-Kit G-Skill RipJaws F3-10666CL7D-4GBRH €37.73
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 €173.55
ASRock Z68 Extreme4 (B3), Sockel 1155, ATX €151.97
XFX RADEON HD 6870 900M 1GB DDR5 DUAL DP HDMI DUAL DVI €155.69
FRACTAL DESIGN Gehäuse DEFINE R3 Black Pearl €89.75
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1000GB, SATA II (HD103SJ) €45.14
Samsung SH-223C bare schwarz SATA €19.41
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 650W €69.00

That's saving €500, which isn't a bad saving at all. You would have to put an OS, Keyboard & mouse on top of that, but you would get them for < €100.
P.S. I am not a pro at this, don't take either of those builds to be "Good", I just am trying to show you how much cheaper/better it would be to self build. And if you went with the hwvs build you can opt to have them put it together for you and install the OS if you bought it from there.

deconduo

For that price you could get 2 6950s in Crossfire, a 128GB SSD, a great CPU cooler allowing for 4.5GHz+ OCing, a much better case and 8GB of RAM. It even comes out a few euro cheaper:

Total build cost: €1,261.72 + €30 shipping
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit (SB-Version) €74.51
Intel Core i5-2500K Tray, LGA1155 €172.72
8GB-Kit G.Skill RipJaws-X PC3-10667U CL9 €58.13
FRACTAL DESIGN Gehäuse DEFINE R3 Black Pearl €89.75
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1000GB, SATA II (HD103SJ) €45.14
2 x Sapphire HD6950 1G GDDR5 PCI-E DL-DVI-I+SL-DVI-D / HDMI / DUAL MINI DP €193.73
Crucial RealSSD C300 128GB Retail €182.69
ASRock P67 Extreme4 (B3), Sockel 1155, ATX €130.55
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 650W €69.00
Samsung SH-222AB bare schwarz SATA €17.78
Scythe Mugen 2 Rev. B, CPU-Kühler, für alle Sockel geeignet €33.99

Now, as you said you don't have the ability to ring up dell if anything goes wrong. However, each individual part has 3-5 years warranty or more which is much better than dell's 1 year parts + service. So if something does break after a year its still covered.

Building it yourself may seem like a daunting task, but its really not that difficult and its a lot of fun when you get down to it.

If you still aren't convinced, scan or overclockers offer a building service. This would work out cheaper than dell but it would still be better to build your own.