Bulid it or buy it?

[Shadowneko]

Hi...well I'm considering either bulding or buying(from Alienware) a mega gaming PC. It will play FFXI but I wanted it capibile of playing a few other PC things and doing stuff like editing video/using it as a homemade DVR. IF I buy it I will have several questions for the sales rep but basicly here's what I'm gonna do with it:

1. play games- FFXI, FPS games that came out withing the last 3-5 years, maybe a flight sim, and stuff like Age of Empires 3.

2. Homemade DVR/video editing- I'd like to record things off my dish network like a Tivo and I know this is posible with the right TV turner card. I know next to nothing about TV tuners so it would take some looking into to find the right one. I also want a real sound card insted of just those darn sound chips...I'd rather have a Stero than a little tranisitor radio XD(buring DVDs goes this way too). Also I need a huge HDD to work with all these giant video files. I can't seem to find anything bigger than 750 gigs on the retal market.(the bigger the HDD the better in my opinion!)

3. Normal PC stuff- kinda self explanitory and any cheap PC will do this...also some webpage editing would be nice...

4. Posibly a PC fax machie...well if I install a modem XD

5- Wi-Fi capible- usually this means adding a card so I'll need a slot for it ^^

What I have in mind:

I was looking for a good motherboard with at least 3-4 regular PCI expansion slots and no onboard video. This does not seem easy to find anymore and most of the ones I could find are SLI capible.(two video cards hardly seems worth the expense to me...what's your take?) I was also looking for an AMD and not a Pentium...plus at this point I do not want Windows Vista!(yes I can get XP from Alienware). Once I configed the PC I wanted form Alienware it was about $3,500 without additional software or a monitor. I have a very low opinion of LCDs and could not find any CRT montiors for sale there...

Bulding it:

Like I said I went around...the 3 cards I need to install are 1. a Sound Baster, 2. a Wi-fi card and 3. a TV tuner.(I have DSL and dial-up stuff is optional) I found one or two boards but none of them were exactly what I wanted...and at least one of those had 2 onboard NICs(heck I only need one if I ever decide not to run off wireless)

I also saw AMD's Quad core chip but $400+ is alot of money for a processor...it's probabaly neat but I think I might just get a high-end Athlon 64 X2 right now....


What do you think...build it or buy it?

[Eohmer]

Re: Bulid it or buy it?

Build it!

I built mine, and I'm so glad it did. I have the parts that I wanted in it and runs great. It has been since I first turned it on. Not only that, you get a good feeling knowing you built it yourself.

[Mhurron]

Re: Bulid it or buy it?

You can build pretty much the same system you'll get from Alienware (dell) for cheaper if you build it. Don't get those overpriced pieces of junk.

Currently a Core2 Duo will outperform anything from AMD.

[Amele]

Re: Bulid it or buy it?

you will always be able to build the -same- computer for less than what alienware charges; assuming you buy all your components online and not from you local best buy, lol.

also: I'm surprised to hear you have a low opinion of LCD's in these days of <5ms latency and 20"+ screens. (I realize dead pixels can still be a problem) but you should be able to get CRT's on newegg or through the electronic store fronts for compusa and best buy (newegg will probably have the 'best' selection)

SLI capable motherboards do not need to be run in SLI mode (since SLI is an nvidia thing anyway, if you went with an ATI card you would be using a single card solution by default) it sounds like you want a pretty high end machine (3500$ from alienware buys alot of bells and whistles) and *most* (if not all) of the high end motherboards will be SLI capable.

if you're looking at using an AMD chip, you may want to wait for the next generation to come out (sometime late this year) since they will be switching to the AM3 socket and the newest chips won't be compatible with your current rig. this is less of a concern if you don't intend to upgrade this PC after building it.
(also, for the love of god. get an AM2 socket AMD if you go AMD and can't wait for the AM3. 939 is an old platform and your motherboard choices will be limited if you want high end specs.)

most 'gaming' platforms will have 2 onboard nic's - this allows them to be used as bridges for network purposes; get used to it. you'll want at least one for those times you can't use wireless if you LAN at all, or for that matter, if you ever have a problem with your repeater.

unless you have a -very- high end soundblaster (I can't tell if you have the card already or are looking to buy one to put in) most of the onboard sound systems are going to be very comparable (again, until you get into very high end sound systems, including very high end speakers; or need unusual output.. since most onboard sound is either s/pdif or direct channel)

if you're planning to do significant video editing, consider setting up raid striping, and get as much ram as you can afford (4 GB's etc) it sounds like you know enough about computers not to need tips on remembering fans or sizing the power supply, but just as a reminder (since it gets forgotten often) make sure you have at least two 12V rails if you're using a modern PCI-E videocard.

[Celeal]

Re: Bulid it or buy it?

I was trying to build a similar type of PC in my previous computer too. I will list some mistakes that I had made, hopefully it is helpful to you:

1. If you are trying to good quality sound from your PC, before you look into sound card, make sure your machine does not produce much noise: the fans, the DVD-roms, the box/case/tower, the hard-drives, etc. If some component in your system is noisy, it may affect you while you are watching videos or listening to music from your PC.

For example, if your box has bad ventilation/air-flow, it can be noisy. You may heard the nosie of some DVD-roms when it is spinning the disc, very annoying. The fans, especially the ones with small radius and turning at high frequency, it may produce a high pitch noise. When your system gets old and dust sucks inside, if may affect the ventilation, thus, increase the noise.

In my last PC, I was trying to cut the cost in the box/case/tower, and ended up with a system sounds like a washing machine when the system is running. It was a failure T_T

Dell's computers is very quiet, I suggest you to check it out ^^'

2. Good sound card should match with good speakers! It is essential. Cheap speakers won't cut it. The "entry-level" is okay for games, but not quite enough for movies. For music, 2.1 system should be enough. If you are going for 5.1 system, 7.1 system, etc, makes sure you have the space to set it up. Location of the speakers matters.

3. For TV-tuner, don't use ATI's All-In-Wonder graphics card. ATI's driver and software for video capturing and editing is garbage. I am not sure about other hardware...

But for software and OS as a whole, you want to minimize the drop-frames you have while you are capturing live-video (like TV-shows, etc). I am not sure about you computer background or background on video capturing/editing on PC. If you are new to this I suggest you to vist other forums or websites for those, you talks about codecs/software/tools, and how to build a system for that purpose.

[Amele]

Re: Bulid it or buy it?

1. If you are trying to good quality sound from your PC, before you look into sound card, make sure your machine does not produce much noise: the fans, the DVD-roms, the box/case/tower, the hard-drives, etc. If some component in your system is noisy, it may affect you while you are watching videos or listening to music from your PC.
For example, if your box has bad ventilation/air-flow, it can be noisy; you may heard the nosie of some DVD-roms when it is spinning the disc, very annoying. The fans, especially the ones with small radius and turning in a high frequency, it may produce a high pitch noise. When your system gets old and dust sucks inside, if may affect the ventilation, thus, increase the noise.
In my last PC, I was trying to cut the cost in the box/case/tower, and ended up with a system sounds like a washing machine when the system is running. It was a failure T_T
Dell's computers is very quiet, I suggest you to check it out ^^'
2. Good sound card should match with good speakers! It is essential. Cheap speakers. The "entry-level" is okay for games, but not quite enough for movies. For music, 2.1 system should be enough. If you are going for 5.1 system, 7.1 system, etc, makes sure you have the space to set it up. Location of the speakers matters.

I very much agree with point #2. (of course, I'm a bit of an audiophile^^*) for point 1. the absolute best way to make sure your pc runs quietly is to do a good job screwing everything in. (screwless cases may look nice but most are pretty noisy) Dell makes quiet cases by skimping on fan counts (the last dell I worked on had only three fans, powersupply, gpu, and 1 case fan), a properly built gaming pc should have *at least* two case fans, a cpu fan, a power supply fan, and a gpu fan. most gaming rigs will have 3 or 4 or more case fans, plus all of the above component fans (some power supplies have a second fan as well). this is going to make some noise, turn your speakers up. To help with noise, get a sturdy case and more efficient fans (larger fans, higher quality fans etc) you should generally get the 'largest' fan that will fit in the mounting spot on your case. good airflow is essential to a healthy pc long term, and it's very much worth sacrificing some 'quiet running' to make sure the pc lasts longer.

if fan noise really does bother you, look into water-cooling.^^

[Shadowneko]

Re: Bulid it or buy it?

also: I'm surprised to hear you have a low opinion of LCD's in these days of <5ms latency and 20"+ screens. (I realize dead pixels can still be a problem) but you should be able to get CRT's on newegg or through the electronic store fronts for compusa and best buy (newegg will probably have the 'best' selection)

Let me explain: I work on a tech support line where I take lots of calls on dead LCD monitors.(in between broken PCs) The montiors themsevles do not seem to be very good and have a life span of five years or less. One of The most common issues is that after a period of time(3-5 years...and it's more like 3) the backlight burns out and the screen goes dark(the other one is power issues). The last really good CRT I got lasted me through two PCs(about 10 years)...with the only drawback being that maybe it didn't support some of the higher resoulutions...prompting a replacement which I'm still using on my dad's plain old internet PC...

So I just don't trust LCDs to work for more than a few months before they blow up in my face....

[Omniblast]

Re: Bulid it or buy it?

Let me explain: I work on a tech support line where I take lots of calls on dead LCD monitors.(in between broken PCs) The montiors themsevles do not seem to be very good and have a life span of five years or less. One of The most common issues is that after a period of time(3-5 years...and it's more like 3) the backlight burns out and the screen goes dark(the other one is power issues). The last really good CRT I got lasted me through two PCs(about 10 years)...with the only drawback being that maybe it didn't support some of the higher resoulutions...prompting a replacement which I'm still using on my dad's plain old internet PC...

So I just don't trust LCDs to work for more than a few months before they blow up in my face....

Things don't last as long as they use to. Even still, I'd rather get a LCD over a CRT. 200 bucks isn't too much to spend on getting a LCD monitor. I just bought a 226BW from Samsung, and it's working beautifully. I mean seriously, when you do get a high end video card, is it really going to work with your 10 year old monitor that doesn't even support DVI? I don't just build my rig's to run FFXI. I try to maintain a balance between photoshop, watching videos, ripping dvd's, & playing games (Supreme Commander, Company of Heroes, CounterStrike: Source, Day of Defeat: Source, F.E.A.R., & FFXI)

[Shadowneko]

Re: Bulid it or buy it?

I also forgot to add that some users(friends of mine) have reported fadeout and blurring with cheap LCDs durring marthon gaming sessions.

DVI is too new to worry about and most of the cards I've seen...even high-end ones have dual outputs...as in one VGA and one DVI...

I have yet to see a staight up DVI card...but if there is one...well I have seen adapters too ^^

[Amele]

Re: Bulid it or buy it?

as far as I know, the default configuration for current and last gen videocards is now 2x dvi, 1x s-video.

there are many dvi-vga adapters available, this is true.

and all the complaints you've mentioned are much more common on low-end LCD's. if you're looking at dropping 3000$ on the tower, you should at least do yourself a favor and get a good gaming monitor too (both CRT and LCD are an option, but get a new one). it's generally true of computers and especially true of LCD's: you get what you pay for.

the biggest advantage to LCD is that the device is smaller and lighter for the same screen size, has a lower power draw, and is less prone to room lighting interfering with the apparent brightness/depth of color. CRT has better prices for the same screen size (for most levels of quality), and is less prone to mechanical failure (dead pixels, dead backlight, etc) but is more likely to appear dim in a well lit environment.

both types can be prone to vertical tearing (sync issues) and to flicker depending on refresh rates.

[Omniblast]

Re: Bulid it or buy it?

I also forgot to add that some users(friends of mine) have reported fadeout and blurring with cheap LCDs durring marthon gaming sessions.

DVI is too new to worry about and most of the cards I've seen...even high-end ones have dual outputs...as in one VGA and one DVI...

I have yet to see a staight up DVI card...but if there is one...well I have seen adapters too ^^

corrected for emphasis.
usually you DON'T want to buy a "no name" brand LCD. Since you did mention that you worked for a support line company and you do know about customers having problems with lcd's you know that you might want to plop some extra money on insurance/warranty? or buy it with a credit card that offers you protection on your purchase extending your warranty by an extra year. (American Express offers that, Capital One does so as well.)

Paying well for a pc/monitor is well worth it when you put your money into it. Think of it as an investment for your eyes.

Any of the major nvidia cards 6800+ all use DVI. I don't see VGA anymore. Any card that you buy from the store within the last 2 years are all DVI. What are you buying then? $50 video cards? My last video card cost as much as a ps3.

[Jei]

Re: Bulid it or buy it?

pre-built computer is more expensive. Especially with alienware, that's the extreme case of overpricing.

Buying a pre-built PC is good for the tech support tho, if you think you'll need to call them up to help fix your problem. If you're quite content with troubleshooting your PC, I'd recommend building your own.

[Mhurron]

Re: Bulid it or buy it?

Any of the major nvidia cards 6800+ all use DVI. I don't see VGA anymore. Any card that you buy from the store within the last 2 years are all DVI.

And many, if not most come with a DVI -> VGA adapter.

[Murphie]

Re: Bulid it or buy it?

If I weren't so incredibly clumsy, I would build my own computer. I would enjoy the savings, and not having a bunch of stuff I don't want on my PC. But I am clumsy, and thus would likely mess something up beyond repair. And then I would be SOL, and I would cry. Like a baby. And people would laugh. Possibly with pointing. Oh who are we kidding? The pointing is pretty much guaranteed.

[Murphie]

Re: Bulid it or buy it?

See? Guaranteed.

What I'm hoping for is to one day make friends IRL with someone who is good at this sort of thing. And then I will just buy the parts and ask them to assemble it for me. And then they will laugh. And point.