Another "buying a Dell Computer question"

[Debrody]

SEraider...seriously...if I can build a computer, ANYONE can. A budget of $1k-$1.5k will provide an excellent gaming rig that can me modified and upgraded in the future.

Other items you'll need, case, power supply, DVD burner, sound card and OS.

It shouldn't take more than 5 or so hours to build the box, plus an hour or two for OS installation. PM me if I can assist.

Don't buy a Dell.

[gyrene81]

Max, try 4-6 hours for operating system including hardware drivers. the windows updates can take more than an hour, especially with the reboots.

[2bighorn]

HP now produces cheap consumer laptops (DV7) which are locked down to HP version of WIn8 through bios. The system doesn't allow you to install an another version of Windows, only the HP custom version which reads the product key straight from bios works. I've seen reports of people fighting with this up to great frustration.

Disable secure boot and enable legacy support in UEFI.

[SEraider]

SEraider...seriously...if I can build a computer, ANYONE can. A budget of $1k-$1.5k will provide an excellent gaming rig that can me modified and upgraded in the future.

Here's a list of items I'me putting together for a rebuild of the computer I built in '08

Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy bridge 3.4 GHz $219.99
G.Skill Ripjaws X Series (2 x 4 GB 240 pin DDR3 - $79.99
Asus P8Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb's USB 3.0 ATX Intel MOBO - $134.99
Seagate Constellation I TB 7200 SATA - $114.99 (budget cut from SSD)
Sapphire Radeon  7850-OC 2 GB - $185.99
Cooler Master Hyper 212 - $36.99

Other items you'll need, case, power supply, DVD burner, sound card and OS.

It shouldn't take more than 5 or so hours to build the box, plus an hour or two for OS installation. PM me if I can assist.

Don't buy a Dell.

Sorry, been away for a few days.  I'll look into building my own computer.  My biggest concern is the durability of the hard drive.  Maybe I can add an extra HD and have it back up on it weekly or something.  But I'll start with this list and go from there.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Disable secure boot and enable legacy support in UEFI.

I wasn't the one who had these problems, but thanks for the suggestion. The guy who posted about this had tried that too. IIRC the problem was that he couldn't get Windows activated on that hardware no matter what he did unless he used the original dvd.

[Debrody]

Sorry, been away for a few days.  I'll look into building my own computer.  My biggest concern is the durability of the hard drive.  Maybe I can add an extra HD and have it back up on it weekly or something.  But I'll start with this list and go from there.

Was using some Seagate HDD from 2001 to 2009, withouth any problems - was only letting it to rest because it was quite small (18GB) and was PATA. Then an other from 2004-2010. The current one (Western Digital) is in daily usage since 2009, no problems at all. I wouldnt worry too much about it.

Unless, of course, youre storing something really important data - then a backup is always a good idea.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Was using some Seagate HDD from 2001 to 2009, withouth any problems - was only letting it to rest because it was quite small (18GB) and was PATA. Then an other from 2004-2010. The current one (Western Digital) is in daily usage since 2009, no problems at all. I wouldnt worry too much about it.

Unless, of course, youre storing something really important data - then a backup is always a good idea.

I've had brand new hdds fail in 2 weeks and some last for 10 years. You're never safe without a backup.

[Bizman]

I've had brand new hdds fail in 2 weeks and some last for 10 years. You're never safe without a backup.

+1, definitely.

Statistically a hdd will fail within three months if it's prone to. If it lasts longer, it is likely to work fine until the final countdown starts after about two years. As we all know, there's no bigger lie than statistics. Nevertheless, sound advice is never to trust a brand new hdd, nor one that's more than two years old. The time in between is so short that neglecting backups doesn't actually save any time.

[Brooke]

I've been using Dells since Dell started, and have always had good results.

I use them for Aces High, and they work fine with good performance as long as I'm using a $125-$150 graphics card added in.

I think that Dells are great performance for the price.

If I were buying right now, I'd get:
Dell Inspiron 660 is $500 (i5-3330, includes OS, 500 GB HD, 4 GB RAM, DVD+/-RW, 100/1000 Ethernet, sound, keyboard, mouse)
Thermaltake 500W ATX12V power supply is $50 (from Newegg)
Nvidia GTX 650 Ti (rated best for price range by Tom's Hardware) is $130 (from Newegg)
total = $680

What I have right now is not as good as that, and it still allows me to run Aces High with stuff maxed out and 60 frames per second (including in thick clouds in special events).  (I currently have a Dell Vostro 460 with i5-2400 and NVidia GTX 550 Ti.)