Custom Or Pre-built

[daniel]

for gaming and designing

[Ste]

Then if he likes to game and does video editing and stuff thats video card and CPU intension he will def want a custom, in this case. you should focus on RAM, CPU and video card. Im not saying everything else is unimportant, im just saying don't be cheap in those areas.

[fluffles]

in that case build it.

dell do not game.

they just don't.

[BloodySunday]

You can save some money on the RAM the RAM you have listed is overclocking RAM and since hes not going to OC get some good PC3200 instead.

[RedDragon]

Why are you guys bashing Dell? LOL

I have a Dimension 8300 and have not had a single problem with it. IMHO Dell makes the best Prebuilts, I have seen the others and HP solder there graphics cards onto the AGP slot lol. And I can play every game that is out right now no problem at all. My specs are:

Pentium 4 2.6 GHz @ 3.2 stable with Hyper Threading and 800 MHz FSb

yes my proc is overclocked, I live in Albuquerque, NM and a guy in one of my MEMs class works at Intel and me and him OC'd my comp with software and some hardware modifications.

1 GB Corsair XMS

Sapphire Radeon 9800 pro 256 MB with R360 core @ 9800 XT with VGA silencer

120 GB 8MB cache Western Digital for Windows and other progs

120 GB 8MB cache Maxtor Diamond Max Plus SATA for games

Samsung DVD and CDRW drives

SoundBlaster live 5.1

 

So Dells are not bad I love mine better than most custom builts at LAN partys, we were all playing UT04 and mine seemed to load up the fastest.

[10Gauge]

all i got to say is reddragon you are lucky. i don't know anybody that has a dell whom take it to lan parties. wow lol. i would like to add that and forgive me if i'm wrong, but doesn't dell come with their own software that's like windows services for like your printer and such? and oh yeah if he is going to game on it make sure that the lcd will have a fast enough response time.

[Nerm]

RedDragon, have you ever owned a real custom built pc? I think it is great that you have the bawls to stand up for dell on an overclocking enthusiast site. I work on computers for a living and the ones I and my customers have the most trouble with are Dell's. You must be very lucky or terribly sheltered. I challenge you to build your own rig sometime and then decide which you would prefer lol.

[RedDragon]

all i got to say is reddragon you are lucky. i don't know anybody that has a dell whom take it to lan parties. wow lol. i would like to add that and forgive me if i'm wrong, but doesn't dell come with their own software that's like windows services for like your printer and such? and oh yeah if he is going to game on it make sure that the lcd will have a fast enough response time.

429935[/snapback]

 

No you can use your own drivers for the printers etc. Only CD I use is the OS and driver updates for the chipset, and bios from the Dell website. Everything else I dl of a site or use the CD that came with the device. Also I am not the only one that brings a Dell to LANs you should see all the old beige cases lol.

 

RedDragon, have you ever owned a real custom built pc? I think it is great that you have the bawls to stand up for dell on an overclocking enthusiast site. I work on computers for a living and the ones I and my customers have the most trouble with are Dell's. You must be very lucky or terribly sheltered. I challenge you to build your own rig sometime and then decide which you would prefer lol.

430162[/snapback]

 

LOL Terribly sheltered? No, I work, go to class and hang out on the weekends your average college student. Moneys tight apt. rental, school. books. bills etc. I put aside $50 - $70 a month for a new PC. By this summer I'll have enough to build one and yes I do know how to build a custom PC. Built one for a friend a few months back. And more than likely your customers are having software related issues which all pc's have lol.

[zigen]

wow ur standing up for a dell....ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

[The_WRATH]

they got that one gaming desktop as well, the xps or whatever, i got to strip down the xps that has the lga 3.2 extreme edition cpu, i took the audigy 2 zs plat, sold the cpu, mobo, and the funky, dual 120mm fan cooler. the parts sold nicely on ebay

[CrackHead]

Well from past experience Dell's along with other pre-built computers are great in the since they were designed for the average joe to preform mild work loads...internet, word processing, and listening to music.

 

If you are getting this computer for someone who is 90% computer illeterate than I would suggest a dell and just make sure it has atleast 1gb of ram and a decent video card since you said he was a gamer. The reason why I say this, is because he will always be able to contact their tech support when he faces an issue...and he gets a warranty also (dumb people usually need one lol) But beware pre-built systems have limtations on what can done to them in the since of upgrading later down the road!!!

 

But if he knows what he is doing to some extent and is willing to learn then most diffentatly get a custom built. (Thats what I did and my computer turned out great...Just to give you an idea how ignorant I was in the matter, it took me 2 weeks to install a video card and about the same amount of time for the ram but now I have my own custom computer)Odds are it will last longer, look better, run better, and you got the pride knowing you built it! If this is the case I would let him do all the work but you should be behind him every step of the way so he will be able to get the feel for his new computer know it inside and out and not worry about f*ing anything up since you are thier to ensure that.

[Ste]

I personnally could never go back to prebuilts Im sure you could build urself a better and prolly little cheaper computer, for about the same price as the cheapest {full} prebuilt. thats sad.