Trying to out-do an Alienware machine

flogen

Hey,

My girlfriend's little brother has asked for an Alienware machine for Christmas (The X51) - he's been looking for a gaming PC for ages and has been saving up to cover some of the cost of this, so it'd be great for him to finally get it.

Given his efforts I was wondering if there was a way to make the money go a little further, so wanted to see if I could build anything better for the same price.

We're happy to throw a bit extra on to the cost to bring it that bit further, and I should be able to put it all together, but I'll need help in picking the right parts to begin with...

Here's what we're looking for:

1. What is your budget? ~€800

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? No

5. Do you need a monitor? Yes

5a. If yes, what size do you need. The bigger the better but cost is a factor - would rather put the money into the machine than spend too much on the monitor

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? Would need Wifi card - have or can get the rest

7. Are you willing to try over clocking? No

8. How can you pay? Cash, card, bank transfer

9. When are you purchasing? Within the coming weeks

Thanks!

Scirpt

flogen wrote: »

Hey,

My girlfriend's little brother has asked for an Alienware machine for Christmas (The X51) - he's been looking for a gaming PC for ages and has been saving up to cover some of the cost of this, so it'd be great for him to finally get it.

Given his efforts I was wondering if there was a way to make the money go a little further, so wanted to see if I could build anything better for the same price.

We're happy to throw a bit extra on to the cost to bring it that bit further, and I should be able to put it all together, but I'll need help in picking the right parts to begin with...

Here's what we're looking for:

1. What is your budget? ~€800

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? No

5. Do you need a monitor? Yes

5a. If yes, what size do you need. The bigger the better but cost is a factor - would rather put the money into the machine than spend too much on the monitor

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? Would need Wifi card - have or can get the rest

7. Are you willing to try over clocking? No

8. How can you pay? Cash, card, bank transfer

9. When are you purchasing? Within the coming weeks

Thanks!

Wow €799 for an i5 4440 and a 1GB GPU... How do they sell this ****
They don't even mention what PSU or Mobo it has, it's probably the cheapest around. You can get a lot more, the one I built a few weeks ago destroys that and it was only €700.

flogen

Scirpt wrote: »

Wow €799 for an i5 4440 and a 1GB GPU... How do they sell this ****
They don't even mention what PSU or Mobo it has, it's probably the cheapest around. You can get a lot more, the one I built a few weeks ago destroys that and it was only €700.

I figured as much - any chance you could tell me what you put together?

As I say, I'd be comfortable enough putting something together but need a lot of guidance in terms of getting everything I need (and ensuring they're all compatible).

Lu Tze

Is the small form factor of the x51 important? That will be be constraint on the build if it is and the it will likely be a bit more expensive for a good mini itx case (and psu to fit it depending on the case you may need a smaller PSU than standard).

flogen

Lu Tze wrote: »

Is the small form factor of the x51 important? That will be be constraint on the build if it is and the it will likely be a bit more expensive for a good mini itx case (and psu to fit it depending on the case you may need a smaller PSU than standard).

I don't think that's hugely important - will try to suss it out but I'd say he'd not be too bothered to have a more powerful machine that took up a little bit more desk space.

Scirpt

flogen wrote: »

I figured as much - any chance you could tell me what you put together?

As I say, I'd be comfortable enough putting something together but need a lot of guidance in terms of getting everything I need (and ensuring they're all compatible).

This is mine but could've done a bit better (i5 4670k for 10eur more with a different motherboard of course). And don't forget to use geizhals.de discount site to save €5-€10 on each part!

marco_polo

You could maybe roll with something like this, you could do without the CPU cooler to bring it on budget but I'd get it TBH. It will be much quieter and its really worth overclocking the FX6300 even a little bit, with absolutely no experience you could bump up the multiplier a few notches and make it an FX6350 .

Load of bits out of stock but hopefully be back next week, I'd make sure that everything is on stock on HWVS before ordering this close to christmas.

Item|Price
LG Flatron 22EA53VQ-P|€117.90
BitFenix Shinobi Midi-Tower USB 3.0 black, ohne Netzteil|€53.03
be quiet! SYSTEM POWER 7 450W - bulk -|€51.86
ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0, AM3+, ATX|€59.00
AMD FX-6300 Prozessor, Tray, Sockel AM3+|€99.90
2 x 4GB G.Skill RipJaws PC3-12800U CL9|€71.38
Samsung SSD 840 EVO Basic 120GB SATA 6Gb/s|€87.99
WD Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€52.43
ASUS PCE-N15|€14.90
HIS R9 270X IceQ Boost Clock 2GB GDDR5 PCI-E DLDVI-I/HDMI/2xMini DP|€168.97
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€28.67
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€825.02

..Brian..

Man Dell are unreal. €430 to upgrade that system to a gtx760?!! Robbing b@stards!

Scirpt

If he's young maybe try and get a budget flashy looking case like this, got it myself. Not the best build quality but a nice looking case means more to kids than easier cable management or space

Gbear

If he had his heart set on an Alienware he might be bummed out when he doesn't get one.

Be sure to stress that you weren't "cheaping out" by getting "inferior" hardware.

Include graphs and component by component comparisons if necessary.

Morf

Gbear wrote: »

If he had his heart set on an Alienware he might be bummed out when he doesn't get one.

Be sure to stress that you weren't "cheaping out" by getting "inferior" hardware.

Include graphs and component by component comparisons if necessary.

A powerpoint presentation too? :pac:

Jaafa

Morf wrote: »

A powerpoint presentation too? :pac:

Just a quick one like.

marco_polo

Morf wrote: »

A powerpoint presentation too? :pac:

Sounds like the worst christmas day ever :pac:

flogen

marco_polo wrote: »

You could maybe roll with something like this, you could do without the CPU cooler to bring it on budget but I'd get it TBH. It will be much quieter and its really worth overclocking the FX6300 even a little bit, with absolutely no experience you could bump up the multiplier a few notches and make it an FX6350 .

Load of bits out of stock but hopefully be back next week, I'd make sure that everything is on stock on HWVS before ordering this close to christmas.

Item|Price
LG Flatron 22EA53VQ-P|€117.90
BitFenix Shinobi Midi-Tower USB 3.0 black, ohne Netzteil|€53.03
be quiet! SYSTEM POWER 7 450W - bulk -|€51.86
ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0, AM3+, ATX|€59.00
AMD FX-6300 Prozessor, Tray, Sockel AM3+|€99.90
2 x 4GB G.Skill RipJaws PC3-12800U CL9|€71.38
Samsung SSD 840 EVO Basic 120GB SATA 6Gb/s|€87.99
WD Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€52.43
ASUS PCE-N15|€14.90
HIS R9 270X IceQ Boost Clock 2GB GDDR5 PCI-E DLDVI-I/HDMI/2xMini DP|€168.97
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€28.67
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€825.02

Looks great - thanks!

Scirpt wrote: »

If he's young maybe try and get a budget flashy looking case like this, got it myself. Not the best build quality but a nice looking case means more to kids than easier cable management or space

Yeah - I think a flashy looking case would seal the deal alright... by the way, was there supposed to be a link to your rig in your previous post?

Gbear wrote: »

If he had his heart set on an Alienware he might be bummed out when he doesn't get one.

Be sure to stress that you weren't "cheaping out" by getting "inferior" hardware.

Include graphs and component by component comparisons if necessary.

Yeah - I'm conscious of that. He's not the type that tends to get too hung up with a brand and would know the value of the higher specs.

Morf wrote: »

A powerpoint presentation too? :pac:

Perfect!

Scirpt

flogen wrote: »

Looks great - thanks!



Yeah - I think a flashy looking case would seal the deal alright... by the way, was there supposed to be a link to your rig in your previous post?



Yeah - I'm conscious of that. He's not the type that tends to get too hung up with a brand and would know the value of the higher specs.



Perfect!

Oh yeah sorry, fixed it.

BeerFear

If not planning on overclocking you could leave out the cooler. I'd probably leave out the SSD as well and get a better graphics card. I don't think the young lad would mind if it takes an extra 10 seconds to boot up.

BeerFear

Item|Price
be quiet! SYSTEM POWER 7 500W - bulk -|€53.59
8GB-Kit G-Skill RipJaws PC3-12800U CL9|€66.03
WD Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€52.43
Aerocool X-Warrior black, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€41.50
LG Flatron 22EA53VQ-P|€117.90
Intel Core i5-4570 Box, LGA1150|€164.99
ASRock B85M-HDS, Sockel 1150, mATX|€51.44
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€566.87

Graphics Card: 7950 3GB 216.00

Total:782 euro

Your sacrificing a lot to get the SSD and cooler added to the build. i5 will outperform 6300 any day of the week and that graphics card is much much better. That is a non overclocking processor but you could add the SSD back in if your feeling generous

flogen

Scirpt wrote: »

Oh yeah sorry, fixed it.

Thanks

BeerFear wrote: »

Item|Price
be quiet! SYSTEM POWER 7 500W - bulk -|€53.59
8GB-Kit G-Skill RipJaws PC3-12800U CL9|€66.03
WD Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€52.43
Aerocool X-Warrior black, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€41.50
LG Flatron 22EA53VQ-P|€117.90
Intel Core i5-4570 Box, LGA1150|€164.99
ASRock B85M-HDS, Sockel 1150, mATX|€51.44
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€566.87

Graphics Card: 7950 3GB 216.00

Total:782 euro

Your sacrificing a lot to get the SSD and cooler added to the build. i5 will outperform 6300 any day of the week and that graphics card is much much better. That is a non overclocking processor but you could add the SSD back in if your feeling generous

Looks good - is it short-sighted to go without the cooler or (without over clocking) is it genuinely unnecessary?

SterlingArcher

If you need to save some more money pixmania

Doing cheap 7870 for only 135.

But build looks good and will run games high settings. A damn lot higher than that alienbeware.

No need to overclock either. With a cheaper case and considering he younger might be best to give a miss.

marco_polo

flogen wrote: »

Thanks

Looks good - is it short-sighted to go without the cooler or (without over clocking) is it genuinely unnecessary?

Its definitely not an essential, stock one will be louder under full load but if you don't need the PC to be absolutely whisper quiet it'll be just fine.

Had something similar to BeerFears (very nice) build in the cart earlier but couldn't bring myself to drop the SSD, so went down the FX6300 route. Its definitely a luxury item as well although personally I just love how snappy they make a PC feel and I couldn't go back to without one myself . Whichever way you go you'll have achieved the goal of the thread and then some

Doesn't look like that XFX on amazon will ship in time for Christmas though, so might need to source it elsewhere if getting a HD7950. HWVS have pretty much stopped selling them by the looks of it so if you wanted to get everything there a GTX 760 would be about the same price range and a decent alternative.

circadian

marco_polo wrote: »

Sounds like the worst christmas day ever :pac:

Unless his name is Dave Gorman.

flogen

Many thanks to everyone for your help in this.

At this stage it may not happen as a Christmas present but if not it will happen shortly afterwards - and if that is the case, he'll be able to "approve" the spec beforehand and get involved in putting it together too, so no harm there!