Opinions Needed

I am in the market for a new computer. My dream computer is an Alienware desktop, shown here: http://www.alienware.com/product_pages/ ... .aspx?cs=1 (it's the one for $4,299). Needless to say that it is uber expensive and I'd probably have to win the lottery to buy it, so I'm looking into other options. I've been approved for financing for a Gateway computer, but I don't know too much about them. This is the one I'm interested in: http://www.gateway.com/products/GConfig ... 0xl&seg=hm . What do you guys think?


EDIT: Well I just called the company that I was approved for financing through. They're talking about having to pay thirteen weeks of payments before they even send out the computer! I told them I would think about it and call back - yeah, right. That is ridiculous. By that time I could have a brand new computer purchased outright. I still would like some opinions about the Gateway system, is it any good?

Gateways are horrible! We had one or two and both crapped out. Yes, that was many years ago but I still havent heard anything but bad things about them. They use cheap parts and thats really what puts them behind say, Dell in that market.

Dell uses high quality brand name parts that are backed by both Dell and the manufacturer.


You can get a GREAT deal on a Refurbished Dell XPS. Refurbished means that someone didnt like it within the first 30 days and sent it back. Dell takes it all apart, re-tests every part then reassembles the computer in new packageing. I got a 1 year old Dell XPS Gen 4 for about 800-1000 bucks cheaper than it retailed and I used some of that money to get a 17inch flat screen LCD.


I cant reccommened Gateways to anyone, sorry. I had 2 with crap parts that failed on a regular basis. A girlfriend with a Gateway that did the exact same thing wtih patchy service AND I worked in a computer repair shop for about 4 months and saw more Gateways in that time than anything. Infact, it was like a 6:1 ratio of Gateways to Dells coming in.

if you dont get a custom i would go with an alienware there really good

they may be over priced but when i got mine and played some games i expierence absolutely no lag. and how it operates depends on how much money that you are wanting to spend and whay model that you buy

and your machine is much much better from what i heard about it

buy a dell.i bought one that was custom built and its great till it crashes.then there is no tek support,dell xps is the way to go.i run about 250 fps while playing nolimits in a big park about 450 with sm and a amazing 130 fps on rct3

Well I am looking to get a custom made computer, if push comes to shove I will purchase one off the shelf from Best Buy, CompUSA or one of those stores so long as it has what I want, but I really want one with custom parts. Either way I'm going to save up and buy it outright. So Gateway isn't the way to go, eh? What about HP, my computer that I have now is a HP, and it's lasted quite a long time (5 years and two upgrades later). The only problem with mine now is that I can only max it out at 512MB of memory, and the hard drive is only 30GB. I want a much bigger computer than that.

not that my opinion really matters but i would strongly advise not buying something like that from bestbuy...

Really what it comes down to is your budget, so if you can provide an estimated amoutn of what you're going to spend, I can put up some recommendations for you.

Originally posted by Hyper_Goliath

Really what it comes down to is your budget, so if you can provide an estimated amoutn of what you're going to spend, I can put up some recommendations for you.

I am looking to spend anywhere from $1,500 to $2,500 for my next computer.

you could get a really good pc for that budget i'll do a search real quick and post some links if you want
edit: what type of monitor do you want do you want lcd or just any monitor

laptop or desktop?

^Thats why I didnt buy my dell used. I priced out the exact parts that were in it and I was spending around 100 dollars more, maybe 200.

considering Ive been putting together computers for years, I am just sick of it. They never go together like they should and more importantly I always get one peice of equipment thats damaged or not what I ordered. And I usually order from respecctable places, its just the nature of electronics.


Plus if you figure in labor (which you arent) but I do because Id rather spend my time doing other things, then its way worth it. Id never buy another brand new machine though. Refurbish or (shudder) custom build from here on out.

do you own your own store or do you work for someone

I like desktops. I would prefer a flat panel monitor, an AMD processor, at least 1GB of memory, a minimum of a 120-200GB hard drive, a Nvidia GeForce video card, and a SoundBlaster or better sound card. I've seen some pcs with specs like this, but I want the best pc for the money.

if your going with nvidia i would go for the geforce 7800 its a really good card...

http://ibuypower.com/mall/lobby.htm
look around here ^

they have good machines, weekley specials, decent prices, cool cases, etc etc

You chose a bit of an odd time to upgrade is the thing...AM2 is around the corner and is to use DDR2 RAM which should increase performance slightly, and Intel's Yonah core is looking quite promising (even though im an amd fanatic, even I have to admit that...). Also, ATi's new set of cards is priced astronomically, and while nVidia does have best bang for the buck, ATi is bound to have lower prices on most of their cards, if not, all of them, very soon.

I'm getting ready to built my own computer next month before I leave for Speedweeks at Daytona. Here's the parts I'm going to use but they are subjact to change.

AMD Athlon 64 3800+ 2.4GHz
A-Top XBlade ATX Mid Tower
A-Data 1GB Memory (2x)
ASUS NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard
Sapphire Radeon x850XT 256mb PCI-E
Maxtor 300GB SATA 150 Hard Drive
Floppy Drive
DVD Burner
570w Power Supply
Windows XP Home w/ SP2

The total cost right now (with shipping) is just below my max price limit, $1,200. I'm really looking forward to builting it.

Originally posted by SixFlagsFiesta

$1300

w 17 Inch flat panel LCD $1545

AMD 64 X2 3800+ 2.2 GHZ (Dual Core)
Asus SLI Ready Motherboard /w 7.1 Audio and Raid
1 GIG Corsair
1 250 GB WesternDigital SATA HDD
PCI-E Nvidia BFG 7800 GT OC 256 MB (ATI is recommended as they get better FPS in NoLimits)
CD Burner
Microsoft Windows Xp Pro Operating System

Basically thats what I got...for 1300 bucks from Dell. I think I have one level down on the graphics card and I am running a 3.4ghz P4. Plus I have 2 Drives...DVD player and DVD/CD burner combo. Plus the wicked keyboard it comes with which IMO, no keyboard out does the Dell Quietkey and Ive played on tons of keys. Just nothing like these.


But, again, thatll be brand new and mine was used. So theres the trade off plus that one is a bit more powerful however, I have yet to find something to bring this thing to its knees aside from crazy video editing

Originally posted by SixFlagsFiesta


Is that socket 754 or 939?
And why not get a board that supports
SATA II?

It's socket 939 and the board has 4 SATA II slots.

Oh I see, I'll look at some right now.....um what would they be under at newegg cause I don't see SATA II under interface.

Originally posted by SixFlagsFiesta

Originally posted by Hyper_Goliath

You chose a bit of an odd time to upgrade is the thing...AM2 is around the corner and is to use DDR2 RAM which should increase performance slightly, and Intel's Yonah core is looking quite promising (even though im an amd fanatic, even I have to admit that...). Also, ATi's new set of cards is priced astronomically, and while nVidia does have best bang for the buck, ATi is bound to have lower prices on most of their cards, if not, all of them, very soon.

Do you mean the AMD X2?

If so thats socket 939 which already supports dual channel DDR2

No, I mean AM2, the new socket. The FX-60 is the last 939 socket processor. Also, no AMD 939 board supports DDR2, i'm 99% sure. AM2 will be designed to utilize DDR2, that's one of the reasons for a new socket. It's basically a redesigned socket 940 not compatible with today's 940 proccy's.

Newegg has some good prices on pc components. I bought my video card for my current pc from them.