Getting new PC, advice?

[gabyyyyy]

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this seems to be the main point. we have a few dell desktops at work and they seem nice

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You don't have desktops at work, you have WORKSTATIONS. There is a huge difference. Dell makes decent stuff for buisness use. It is their home computers that have gone down the crapper.

[gabyyyyy]

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Finally, if you listen to gabbyyy when making a purchasing decision, don't blame the rest of the posters here if your wallet catches on fire and your computer spontaneously combusts.


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Since you choose to make [censored] personal so be it.

Any person who has had any experience with fixing or building computer hardware knows that building your own is the only way to go. I did say Dell WAS the leader in home and buisness computing. Fact is recently they have been catering to the budget consumer. When the price falls, so does the quality. Of course you can get a custom top of the line PC at Dell. You will not however be paying $400. Try closer to $2000.00.

You obviously are not keen on the tech aspect of things, and that is ok. Just do not doubt everything people say just because you own a Dell and it runs ok. The older models 2+ years ago were top quality. Today's junk that they push off the assembly line is pure garbage, unless you shell out a couple thousand.

[paland]

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Any person who has had any experience with fixing or building computer hardware knows that building your own is the only way to go. I did say Dell WAS the leader in home and buisness computing. Fact is recently they have been catering to the budget consumer. When the price falls, so does the quality. Of course you can get a custom top of the line PC at Dell. You will not however be paying $400. Try closer to $2000.00.

You obviously are not keen on the tech aspect of things, and that is ok. Just do not doubt everything people say just because you own a Dell and it runs ok. The older models 2+ years ago were top quality. Today's junk that they push off the assembly line is pure garbage, unless you shell out a couple thousand.

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Wow!! I actually agree with everything gabby says here. The only way to go is to build one. A motherboard is the heart of a computer and thats where I would spend time and find a very good one. Now days, you can build a computer in 1-2 hours, and then spend a couple more for the software, depending on what you have. I would never buy a computer from any store.

If you really want a great computer, find a nerd and have him/her build it for you. You buy the parts and they slap them together. Pay them a bit for their work and you will still have a great deal.

[TimM]

Yes you wont get a Counter Strike worthy computer for $400 from Dell, and that game is fairly old. You can get a web browsing, word processing machine for that much though:

http://www.slickdeals.net/category/s...uerywords=dell

(Fast processor but very skimpy on RAM, video card, Hard Drive and other accessories)

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If you really want a great computer, find a nerd and have him/her build it for you. You buy the parts and they slap them together. Pay them a bit for their work and you will still have a great deal.

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MWave will do this for you. Pick all the parts and they will assemble for a fee. You can probably get a good gaming system for $1000-$1500 w/o monitor.

[netphax]

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[videopro]

My Dell Desktop is a big disappointment. My bargain E-Machines performs better and has much more bang for the buck. Don't forget to add a dual-monitor card! Having 4 - 6 tables spread over two monitors is awesome!

Mike
www.professionalpoker.com

[videopro]

If $$ is no object they are the highest rated performance machines. -
Mike
www.professionalpoker.com

[BusterStacks]

Ugh, you guys are retarded. First of all, yes you WILL get a counterstrike worthy computer for 400$, since Counterstrike doesn't need hardware rendering. I run it on my laptop which is a p3 800/integrated graphics. Second of all, I built my computer, but you are just an idiot if you think Dell does not make a good system. For the money it cotsts you, you can NOT build an identical system for cheaper (until you get to the high end stuff, and even then its not by much). Sure I would like to say everyone should build their own, but the fact is, not everyone should. Do you know that AMD processors come underclocked when you buy them? Do you know IDE configuration for your drives? what about motherboard jumpers? Not everyone knows this stuff, and for many people it can be a really big headache. I sell computers at my job and have built many, and for the love of god I can't figure out why ANYONE would recommend a freaking VAIO. You know what a VAIO is? It's a 3rd party computer with a Sony tag on it, doubled in price. Their laptops suck balls, and their desktops are put together with NO concern for future upgrades (i.e. - small FSB, smaller RAM chips) and for that matter, the last VAIO I delt with was using a proprietary PSU. If you know what that means, you know how bad that sucks. Next I'm going to see someone recommending eMachines or TigerDirect. Dell makes a good machine, just don't get the bundled crap they want to sell you, especially not their extended warranty.

Edited - Back to the topic, here's what you get:

P4 at LEAST 2.8 w/HT, 800mhz FSB
PC3200 RAM (At least)
ATI video card (9800 pro is a good buy now, non-pro is the same)
^this card will do dual monitors, pick up 2 of the Dell 2001fp or Samsung 213t. These have the resolution you want. However, LCD monitors are not AS good for gaming.
Make sure you get at LEAST a 7200rpm hard drive (maybe 10k)

If you do all that, you will be fine. I'll setup a configuration at Dell or some other place if you like.

[holeplug]

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I want to be able to run 8 poker tables, from 4 different sites, winamp, musicmatch, aim, mIRC, 2 internet explorer browsers, a DVD, counterstrike

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Do you play counterstrike alot or are any good at it? I used to play it everyday for awhile. I dunno if you ever heard of CAL or CPL but I've done that as well. Also if your gonna use it for newer games (Doom 2) I would never buy a Dell. Their not the worst PC's in the world but you will lose alot of performance if you don't configure your own.

[Gurney]

http://outlet.us.dell.com

if in doubt of the hardware quality, buy the 3 year in home warrenty.

I have a 8300 3.0G xp pro, dual (raid) 120 hard drives, 1024ram,dvd drive,cdrw drive,floppy and Zip drive too. Top of the line (at the time) and I saved over $1100 @ the time-versus new.

My laptop from work is an IBM thinkpad 600E, indestructible. The best dame laptop I ever had, just wish they would get rid of OS (NT).

Just my 2 chips worth,

Gurney