Pimp my Computer

[BusterStacks]

Yes, that is overkill on RAM. You won't see any gains with 2gb except in the cost of the system. Also, don't get a VAIO... ever. They suck SO badly it's rediculous.

[theantelope]

Get the system from Dell with the least RAM possible. Then buy more RAM from a much cheaper source. There are hundreds of stores on-line selling RAM for much, much less than Dell does.

[surfdoc]

Looks like 1 GB of ram on newegg is about 200-300. Getting 512 only I would save 328 on the new DELL. Is this really worth the hastle of putting it in myself?

[PITTM]

i just got rid of my 2.0ghz vaio for a 3.6 ghz dell with 1 gig of ram and a 6800 gto. i would really recommend staying away from sony as they use nonstandard parts that cannot be easily upgraded.

i would also really recommend getting the 6800 over any of the X--- series. nvidias dual monitor display system has worked a lot better for me than ati's did, i had some problems with the ati tearing my images and it ended up looking pretty poor. with my current system EVERYTHING blazes. i am running 4 poker screens on my right monitor and if i wanted to(it would be pointless, but i could do it) i could run half life 2 at 80 fps while doing it. even with the dell systems you get a non-atx power supply, meaning that it cannot be easily upgraded. i would say if you know enough, buy the parts off newegg and build your own. otherwise if youre on a budget go to dell, if you can afford it, build a falcon northwest. a buddy of mine bought a pc from there and he loves it and everything is easily replaceable. good luck man.

rj

[PITTM]

get a bigger harddrive, 2 gigs of crappy ram is overkill, just get 1 gig and then buy some good aftermarket ram. also, i would say getting the 3.4 ghz processor over the 3.2 is worth the little amount they charge to upgrade. otherwise its pretty much exactly the same as the computer i recieved this week. pm me with any questions about it.

rj

[PITTM]

yes, getting better ram is well worth it. the dell case swings open with the touch of a button and it exposes the ram slots for EASY installation, just put it in and close the case and youre done with the installation, its really not much of a hassle. speedy ram is probably the most underrated part of any system. if you can, pay the small price to get the faster ram that dell offers. good luck.

rj

[droolie]

I would seriously consider getting a custom build if you can find a local place that will do this for you. I got a kickass rig that way a couple years ago. The key is buying only what you need and buying all components in the consumer "sweet spot". This means not the absolute newest technology w/fastest everything but the thecnology that is about 9mos. old and was 2nd or 3rd fastest at the time it was new. Many places will install it all for you free of charge if you buy many of the components through them. When I did it I had already purchased the DVD burner, video card and harddrive off of newegg for ridiculously cheap. The geeks at the computer store were more than happy to match them up with a reasonably price box, processor, motherboard, RAM, etc and threw the components I brought in free with purchase of the other stuff.

You can save hundreds and get a better total package with no cheesy components whatsoever.

[surfdoc]

The ram Dell offers is either dual channel ddr2 at 400 MHz or 533 MHz. Is the faster actually "good" ram?

[surfdoc]

Why do I need a bigger drive? I will not be storing any video or pictures on it as I already use a G5 Mac for this stuff.

[surfdoc]

How does this look. Less RAM, upgraded processor.

SYSTEM COMPONENTS
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Dimension 8400 Qty 1
Pentium® 4 Processor 550 with HT Technology (3.40GHz, 800 FSB), Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition Unit Price $1,694.00
Dell Home Customers: ONLINE ONLY: Save 25% on the purchase of select Dimension™ desktop priced at $1199 or more (before tax and shipping)! (affiliate only online offer)
Limited Time Offer! Remove Coupon
- $423.50

Catalog Number: 29

Module Description Product Code Sku Id
Dimension 8400 Pentium® 4 Processor 550 with HT Technology (3.40GHz, 800 FSB) S348H [221-5712] 1
Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition WHXP [412-0409][412-0688][463-2282][420-4834][420-4927][412-0749] 11
Memory 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz (2x512M) 1GB5 [311-3978] 3
Keyboard Dell Quietkey® Keyboard QK [310-1582] 4
Monitor No Monitor N [320-3000] 5
Video Card 256MB PCI Express™ x16 Nvidia® GeForce 6800 GTO Graphics Card 256GT68 [320-4076] 6
Hard Drive 80GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) 80S [341-1055] 8
Floppy Drive and Additional Storage Devices No Floppy Drive Included NFD [340-8442] 10
Mouse Dell Optical USB Mouse OM [310-4037] 12
Network Interface Integrated Gigabit Ethernet IN [430-0742] 13
Modem 56K PCI Data/Fax Modem DFAX [313-2279] 14
Document Management Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0 AAREAD [412-0705] 15
CD ROM/DVD ROM Dual Drives: 16x DVD + FREE UPGRADE! 16x DVD+/-RW w/dbl layer write DV16DVP [463-4682][420-5079] 16
Sound Card Sound Blaster® Live! 24-bit ADVANCED HD™ Audio SB1024 [313-2431][313-2720] 17
Speakers Dell A425 Speakers w/Subwoofer A425 [320-2479] 18
Productivity Software WordPerfect®, Powerful Word Processing CORELM [412-0701] 22
Security Software No Security Subscription NS2 [412-0754] 25
Digital Music Dell Jukebox - easy-to-use music player and CD burning software MMBASE [412-0741] 27
Digital Photography Paint Shop™ Pro® Studio trial, Photo Album™ Starter Edition DPS [412-0744] 28
Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options 1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr At-Home Service, and 1Yr Technical Support S111OS [950-1260][950-3337][950-9797][412-0360][960-2800] 29
Dial-up Internet Access 6 Months of America Online Membership Included AOLDHS [412-0585][412-0625][420-3224][412-0687] 37
TOTAL: $1,270.50

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