Looking at getting new system, advice needed....

[BigGun]

I am currently looking at getting a new system & am seriously thinking about a system from alienware. If I should have a big concern with alienware, please say so. Below are the specs on a system I picked out, then some questions concerning video cards and windows xp home or pro. Constructive advise on anything with the system below is welcome & appreciated.

Dragon Full-Tower Case (340-Watt PS) (Space Black)
Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 1.8GHz 400MHz FSB
512MB DDR SDRAM (PC-2100)
107-Enhanced Windows Keyboard (Space Black)
Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer USB (Space Black)
60GB Seagate Barracuda ATA IV 7200RPM 2MB Cache
NVIDIA® GeForce4 Ti 4400 w/128MB Dual Monitor
KoolMaxx Video Cooling System (Standard Chrome)
SoundBlaster LIVE! 5.1
16X /48X IDE DVD-ROM Drive w/Software MPEG-2 Decoder
Creative Inspire™ 5.1 5300 Speakers - Black
Aliencare Toll-Free 1-Year 24/7 ONSITE Warranty
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition


One Question which Video Card is good one to get, seems to be tradeoff of $$. Below are the specs on the different cards available to choose from. The +/-$$ are based on the card in the above system. Advice on one of these cards is welcome.

MSI G3 Pro-VT64D  (-$32)  
 Memory: 64 MB    
 Memory Type:  460MHz DDR    
 RAMDAC Speed:  350 MHz*    
 Max Resolution: 2048x1536    
 Refresh Rate @ Max Res: 75 Hz    
 Slot Type: 4x AGP    
 TV-Out: Yes    
 Special Feature:  Video-In    
 
PNY Verto™ GeForce3 (-$19)  
Memory:  64 MB    
Memory Type:    460MHz DDR    
RAMDAC Speed:    350 MHz*    
Max Resolution: 2048x1536    
Refresh Rate @ Max Res:  75 Hz    
Slot Type:  4x AGP    
 TV-Out:    Yes    
 Special Features:  nfiniteFX™ Engine    
 
 PNY Verto™ GeForce3 Ti 500 (+$38)  
 Memory:    64 MB    
 Memory Type:   500MHz DDR    
 RAMDAC Speed:    350 MHz*    
 Max Resolution:    2048x1536    
 Refresh Rate @ Max Res:  75 Hz    
 Slot Type:   4x AGP    
 TV-Out:   Yes    
 Special Features:  nfiniteFX™ Engine    
 
 VisionTek Xtasy 6564™ GeForce3 Ti 200  (-$70)  
 Memory:    64 MB    
 Memory Type:  400MHz DDR    
 RAMDAC Speed:  350 MHz*    
 Max Resolution:   2048x1536    
 Refresh Rate @ Max Res:    75 Hz    
 Slot Type:    4x AGP    
 TV-Out:    Yes    
 Special Features:    nfiniteFX™ Engine    
 
NVIDIA® GeForce4 MX 440  (-$139)  
 Memory:    64 MB    
 Memory Type:  400MHz DDR    
 RAMDAC Speed:    Dual 350 MHz*    
 Slot Type:  4x AGP    
 TV-Out:    No    
 Dual Monitor:  Yes    
 Engine:  NVIDIA Shading Rasterizer    
 Triangle per Seconds:  34 Million    
 Fill Rate:  1.1 Billion Texels/Sec    
 Operations per Second:   1.23 Trillion    
 Memory Bandwidth:  6.4GB/Sec    
 
  NVIDIA® GeForce4 Ti 4400  ($0, built into system above)  
 Memory:  128 MB    
 Memory Type:  550MHz DDR    
 RAMDAC Speed:  350 MHz*    
 Slot Type:   4x AGP    
 TV-Out:  Yes    
 Dual Monitor:    Yes    
 Engine:    NVIDIA nfiniteFX™II    
 Triangle per Seconds:  125 Million    
 Fill Rate:  4.4 Billion AA Samples/Sec    
 Operations per Second:  1.12 Trillion    
 Memory Bandwidth:  8.8GB/Sec    
 
 ATI® Radeon™ 7500  (-$146)
 Memory:  64MB    
 Memory Type:  460MHz DDR SDRAM    
 Engine:  Charisma    
 RAMDAC Speed:   350MHz    
 Max Resolution:  2048x1536    
 Refresh Rate @ Max Res:  75    
 Slot Type:  4x AGP    
 TV-Out:   Yes    
 Dual Monitor:  Yes
 

One other question is windows xp home edition or professional? Is XP pro worth extra $61?

[Lephturn]

Get the GeForce 4 Ti 4400.  Nothing else comes close for the $.

XP Home vs. Pro depends on your personal needs.  If you want to run a home LAN, get pro.  Check Microsoft's site, the have a little thingy that will ask you questions and recommend which version you should choose.

Nice system.  I wouldn't buy that CPU unless I planned to OC the snot out of it.  For the same $ you could get a faster AMD system, or get one just as fast for less money.

Also... do you plan to watch DVD's on your machine?  If not, why get a DVD drive?  Personally, I think I'd swap that out for a decent burner instead.

[BigGun]

Ok...

Here is the same system except switched out Intel for AMD processor, the price is almost identical.

Dragon Full-Tower Case (340-Watt PS) (Space Black)
AMD Athlon XP 2000+ Processor 266Mhz FSB
Cooler Master DP5-7H53F High-Performance HSF
512MB DDR SDRAM (PC-2100)
107-Enhanced Windows Keyboard (Space Black)
Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer USB (Space Black)
60GB Seagate Barracuda ATA IV 7200RPM 2MB Cache
NVIDIA® GeForce4 Ti 4400 w/128MB Dual Monitor
KoolMaxx Video Cooling System (Standard Chrome)
SoundBlaster LIVE! 5.1
16X /48X IDE DVD-ROM Drive w/Software MPEG-2 Decoder
Creative Inspire™ 5.1 5300 Speakers - Black
Aliencare Toll-Free 1-Year 24/7 ONSITE Warranty
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition


One thing on noticed on this system is the mb on has 2 usb port instead of 4 on first system. How does this AMD compare to the Intel system? what about AMD XP 1800+? 1900+?

Thanks in advance

[BigGun]

Originally posted by Lephturn
Also... do you plan to watch DVD's on your machine?  If not, why get a DVD drive?  Personally, I think I'd swap that out for a decent burner instead.

Don't really plan on watching movies on the machine. To take the dvd drive off only reduces the price by $70. If I add the CD-Rom they offer it is +$127, to add the CD-RW is +$171. I currently have a CD-RW that I could throw into the machine. The DVD-Rom seemed the cheapest avenue, maybe I am mission something?

[Lephturn]

Well overall, AMD's "####+" rating will relate to equivalent P4 speed generally.  IE, an Athlon XP 2000+ will be generally slightly faster than a P4 2 Gig.  Some games particularly will favour the P4's (such as Quake 3) and some will favour the Athlons, (such as flight sims that use a LOT of FPU like AH).  It would be fair to compare the 1.8 Gig P4 to the Athlon XP 1800+, they would be very close in performance.

I think the best bang for the buck in the Athlon line is right at the 1900+ mark right now.  I'd go with that.  It will be faster overall and in AH I'd bet than the P4 1.8 you priced before.  The two systems compare pretty well othewise... they'd be quite close in performance, although an XP 2000+ would be faster than the 1.8 Gig P4.

As for the USB ports.... well yep I suppose it does have 2 less USB.  This could be easily solved with a USB hub if you have more than 2 USB devices though.

As for the DVD, if you are not watching movies on it a DVD drive is a waste of money IMO.  If you DO plan to watch DVD's on your computer, then be sure to get a hardware decoder instead for better performance.  Other than movies, there is almost nothing coming on DVD yet for the computer.  The only exception I know of is Microsoft's Developer and Technet subscriptions.  Otherwise a DVD ROM drive is a waste of $ in my view.  A regular old CD-ROM drive should be at least $50 cheaper than a DVD-ROM drive.

[DAVENRINO]

BgMaw,
I bought a 1.4 Athalon from Alienware last June. Sounds like you on the right track but for $195 I would also get the 3 year on site warranty.  What component in a computer costs less than $195?  They sent a tech (local contracter) to my house in Hawaii to install a new motherboard and power supply.  That's what I call service and that's why I buy from Alienware.
DJ229

[bloom25]

Leph, you are mostly right.  The rating is vs a Northwood cored P4.  That 1.8 Ghz P4 he had originally is not a Northwood, but rather the older Willamette.  (Northwood 1.8s are labeled 1.8A.)  An XP 1500+ would be faster than that a Willamette 1800 Mhz CPU.

(Take a look at a recent CPU review on http://www.anandtech.com to see how it breaks down.  A 1900 or 2000+ will perform very closely, and generally between a 2 Ghz to 2.4 Ghz Northwood P4.  The XP 2100+ is just the slightest bit slower than a 2.4 Ghz Northwood overall.

One thing that may make some difference in pricing - AMD is releasing a new Athlon XP core on the 2nd.  This will likely result in price drops on the rest of the XP line.  Unless you want this right away, it wouldn't be a bad idea to make sure you are getting a MB that can support these newer processors for better future upgradability.  It's likely AMD will release a 2200+, along with some lower speed grades.  These lower grades would be a good deal.

[BGBMAW]

I just bougth new system..Why not the ATI Radeon 8500??

And Pleasse buy Intel..i bougth a few thousand dollars of there stock when it was at 19 a share!! weeeeee..lolollo    

You are going to be stoked any way you go with new sheeattt...!!!


BiGB...................BGBMAW  

[214thCavalier]

Why not the ATI ?
Because currently the GF4 series kinda blow it away.

[mrsid2]

This is a personal reference, but IMO a totally black computer is butt ugly..

From the list above I'd ditch all Intel stuff and WindowsXP HOME immediately. It's a POC.

If you want a fast and reliable OS I'd take W2k pro. If you must take XP, at least pay the extra to get the pro version. XP home is considered to be a major security risk for the users, not to mention you can't use it for your work for example if needed.

The Gf4 is a good choice for a displaycard, keep it.

[Pongo]

Alien ware is a very expensive place to buy a PC..
Like twice as expensive as buying it in canada...

[Starbird]

Geforces have an mpeg2 decoder built in. I believe radeons do also. Theres no need to buy a seperate hardware controller, unless they feature options you want or need (not sure what thouse would be).

[bloom25]

Only ATI cards have hardware MPEG-2 decoders onboard Starbird.  The GeForce series of cards do not have this feature AFAIK.  It isn't really important, as most DVD drives are bundled with software Mpeg-2 decoding programs that support a much wider range refresh and resolution options.  (PowerDVD is an example.)  At one time, when CPUs weren't nearly as powerful as they are today, the video quality from the hardware decoders was better than software decoders.  That is no longer the case.  Both are about the same in quality, with a big advantage to the software based decoders in features.  Their only disadvantage is higher CPU utilization (imagine that - software based requiring CPU resources ).

My opinion on the Radeon 8500 card is the same as most of ATIs products in general.  Good image quality and excellent reliability, hampered by generally buggy drivers and slow updates.  The GF 4 series of cards are also much faster than any other series of graphics cards available today.  I'd recommend a GF 4 Ti 4400 (or a 4200 when they are available to save a little money).

ATI is rumored to be gearing up to release a new card soon as well, so it's hard to say how long they will release driver updates for their earlier cards.  (Another nVidia advantage is that their drivers can be used on almost all their graphics cards from the TNT 1 all the way to the GF 4.)

[bloom25]

Hmm, coming from you Lephturn I know you suggested the hardware decoder for a good reason.  What is it exactly?

[mrsid2]

Bloom a hardware decoder does more than just decode the picture. It also gives out 5.1 surround sound etc. features which are impossible with normal software decoders.

I think this is the primary reason. I wouldn't get a DVD for computer anyway because a proper dvd-player nowadays is cheap, easyer to use, silent and less prone to malfunction since it has nothing to do with a pc.

Watching movies from a pc is extremely inconvenient.. Computers often are noisy, you have to boot them and start applications to watch a movie.. Unless you pay extra there's no remote control.. etc.