Build or Buy my dilema becasue of Insane prices in Ireland

[dos1986]

Hi guys Im from Ireland and picked out the parts for the pc I was going to build on here with help from a few kind guys a few weeks ago anyway Im From Ireland which has insane prices and limited places to buy the parts so I want your help in deciding wheter to build the pc below(I have never built a pc before but I have the time and feel I can do it) or buy from Dell.

http://www.komplett.ie/k/k.asp

Here is what I have built so far

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=322631&s=sc Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz € 192.50

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=322929 MSI Neo-F

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=312091 TwinMOS DDR2 PC4200 2048MB Dual Pack KIT € 201.01

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=326957&s=sc Sapphire Radeon X1950PRO 256MB GDDR3 € 204.01

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=309535&s=sc Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB € 81.51

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=325416&s=sc Samsung DVD±RW burner, SH-S182M, 18x € 38.01

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=322198 Hiper PSU ATX 530W Black, Type-M, 120mm Fan € 70.00

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=309270 Cooler Master Centurion 531 Silver Case € 76.00

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=327649&s=sc Microsoft Windows XP Home SP2b € 98.00

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=322054&s=sc LG 19" LCD L1919S-SF TCO-03 Silver, 1280x1024, 8ms, 1400:1 € 209.00

Comes to €1330 including shipping so what do you think good bad should have kept my old pc what do you guys think? Thanks

Dell pc is here http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/dimen_9200?c=ie&cs=iedhs1&l=en&s=dhs the one on the left for €1690

I have a friend who works in dell who gets 15% off pcs so it costs €1430 just a €100 more than my build the only downside of the dell pc I see is the PSU its only 390 watt so I will have to change it when I get a new graphics card

 

[tlreaves]

You build looks good. If your willing to spend an extra 100 euros anyway why not put it down on a 6600 cpu or more ram so you can upgrade to vista later w/out any hitches.

Also, you can still get the E6300/6400 and bump it up to E6700 speeds very easily and safely and save the 100 euros to spend on a sound card. Integrated sound cards can steal FPS in games and other programs.

The Dell is 100 euros more plus the cost of a decent PSU. I would build it myself, its fun, fulfilling, and leaves you open to cheaper upgrades in the future.

 

[Zorg]

What is in the DEll e.g., MB, RAM etc. I would bet that the Chinese no name PS is indicative of the rest of the parts. The board is probably stripped with no bios features. the RAM is probably no name slowest that they could find etc. If you feel competent then build it yourself. Take the $100 and put it on the part of your choice. I will never buy a Dell, HP, Gateway again. EVER EVER EVER!!!!!

p.s.
If you do get the dell be sure of compatibility before changing out components esp. PS. I heard (not seen) some of their PS were miswired so if you buy a replacement it had to be from them or else.. BANG--SMOKE. Also make sure the case is ATX and not BTX. They were making some BTX cases and that makes upgrades a problem.

Good Luck

 

[tlreaves]

He has the link in his post.

 

[Zorg]

I saw the link. As far as I can see It has a motherboard and 2 gig of RAM. What MB and what RAM? That's the rub.

 

[tlreaves]

Dell has its own memory suppliers and more than one so that would probably be hard to find out, you'd probably have to have the DIMM in hand and inspect it yourself. I would imagine it is just Value ram since this is not a gaming PC per-se. As for the MB, Dell uses cusom made Intel Mobos for the Dimension PC's. P965 Chipset. All this info is from the Dell website via the link he provided.

Specifications
Dell™ Dimension™ 9200 Service Manual

Processor

Processor type
Intel® Pentium® 4
Intel® Pentium® D
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo

Level 2 (L2) Cache
at least 2 MB on Intel Pentium D, Pentium 4, and Core processors

Memory

Type
dual-channel 533-, 667-, and 800-MHz DDR2

Memory connectors
four

Memory capacities
512 MB or 1 GB

Maximum memory
4 GB

BIOS address
F0000h

Computer Information

Chipset
Intel P965 Express Chipset

DMA channels
eight

Interrupt levels
24

BIOS chip (NVRAM)
4 MB

NIC
Integrated Intel 82566DC Gigabit Network Connection

System clock
800- or 1066-MHz data rate (depending on your processor)

Video

Type - PCI Express

Audio

Type - Sigmatel 9227 audio codec

Internal 7.1 channel or PCI option cards

Expansion Bus

Bus type
PCI 32-bit (PCI Specification 2.2)
PCI Express x1, x4, and x16 (PCI express 1.1a)

Bus speed
PCI: 33 MHz

PCI Express:100 MHz

Bus throughput
PCI Express:

x1 slot bidirectional speed - 500 MB/s

x4 slot bidirectional speed - 2 GB/s

x16 slot bidirectional speed - 8 GB/s

PCI connectors - three

PCI Express (x1) connector - one x1

PCI Express (x4) connector - one x4 (x8 connector wired as x4 electrically)

connector data width (maximum)
4 PCI Express lanes

PCI Express (x16) connector - one x16

 

[Zorg]

Interesting, but not surprising. I am sure it is value ram, but that's what he chose in his build. Why does Dell have a custom (proprietary) designed Intel board? Why would they pay more for the customization? Or better yet, what did they strip out? Does the BIOS have absolutely no OC features or any other settings, other than the most rudimentary? This has historically been the case with Dell, HP, Gateway etc. Of course they don't want some fool to fry the machine by OCing it and then blame Dell. I suspect that, based on the ram that dos1968 has specified he/she won't be OCing. However, Dos1968 may want to OC later and I am 99.99% sure he/she can't OC that Dell. So why limit yourself? Also, I have not kept up on Dell boxes but I am assuming that this MOBO is ATX and not BTX. If they are still pumping BTX out there after it has virtually been abandoned it's one more reason to build instead of Dell. Last thing, did Dell have the board made to go with their proprietary power supply or is that whole miswired PS just a rumor?

 

[Zorg]

Also, is Dell going to provide a disc with the OS on it or is it the old press F11 to boot from the backup like HP. Also, sometimes it is a pain in the $ss to get all the bloatware/trackingware off of the computer. I know they only load the system with the massive amount of crappy software to further enhance your computing experience...yeh, right. The bloatware alone is reason enough not to buy from any major PC manufacturer.

 

[PCAnalyst]

Hi guys Im from Ireland and picked out the parts for the pc I was going to build on here with help from a few kind guys a few weeks ago anyway Im From Ireland which has insane prices and limited places to buy the parts so I want your help in deciding wheter to build the pc below(I have never built a pc before but I have the time and feel I can do it) or buy from Dell.

http://www.komplett.ie/k/k.asp

Here is what I have built so far

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=322631&s=sc Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz € 192.50

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=322929 MSI Neo-F

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=312091 TwinMOS DDR2 PC4200 2048MB Dual Pack KIT € 201.01

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=326957&s=sc Sapphire Radeon X1950PRO 256MB GDDR3 € 204.01

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=309535&s=sc Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB € 81.51

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=325416&s=sc Samsung DVD±RW burner, SH-S182M, 18x € 38.01

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=322198 Hiper PSU ATX 530W Black, Type-M, 120mm Fan € 70.00

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=309270 Cooler Master Centurion 531 Silver Case € 76.00

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=327649&s=sc Microsoft Windows XP Home SP2b € 98.00

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=322054&s=sc LG 19" LCD L1919S-SF TCO-03 Silver, 1280x1024, 8ms, 1400:1 € 209.00

Comes to €1330 including shipping so what do you think good bad should have kept my old pc what do you guys think? Thanks

Dell pc is here http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/dimen_9200?c=ie&cs=iedhs1&l=en&s=dhs the one on the left for €1690

I have a friend who works in dell who gets 15% off pcs so it costs €1430 just a €100 more than my build the only downside of the dell pc I see is the PSU its only 390 watt so I will have to change it when I get a new graphics card

The motherboard shows that it does NOT support PC4200... you need minimum PC2 4300...???? probably a typO. It also has onboard RAID which is good for some storage upgrades. Core Center comes with..... not a bad utility. Good overclocker.

Your build looks good... not sure about the TwinMOS ram though... is that your only option in that price range?

Good HDD... server edition... not the YS model, but you only have 1 anyways.

Only one PCIe x16 slot... no room for crossfire if you decide you want it later.

 

[Zorg]

If memory serves me right PC4300 became PC4200

 

[Omnituton]

Hey dos1986,

I feel your pain ...(I'm Irish too)...and am also tired of paying over the odds for technology here. Just so our american brethern can gauge our plight...I went into Maplins electronics the other day and almost cried to see an ATI 1900 priced at 520 euros (approx 685 USD)! madness!! Even then, they'd have to order it in if you wanted it.

Build looks fine to me, and I post only for two reasons...1: if you come accross a site that delivers components to ireland at reasonable prices ( I already use komplett) please let me know and 2: some info on DELL 9200 series.

1: Dell underrates its power supplies and they used to offer an option of an ATI 1900XTX with the 9150 which was superceded by the 9200. This card was of course was a "special" dell model...not sure what features it didn't have.

2: similarly for sound cards and motherboards (if you decide to splurge on an XPS700)...all features may not be present.

3: Upgradabilty, is apparently, not so much an issue as it was...including PSU's...though it is well worth researching this on dell forums if you decide to go that route.

4: The 9200 seems ok..but I've been told by owners that it is a noisey beast...and naturally aftermarket coolers etc will void any warrenty...if that 'safety' option is worth much for you. Personally, I doubt Dell support is worth the hassle.

5: Finally, if you can look at a dell 9200 and get excited then your a different kind of animal to me. Its butt ugly at worst and uninspired at best.

If your inclined then building your own will be a rewarding experience and one hell of a way to really get to know what it is you're sitting in front of.

 

[Zorg]

I just got this link from a post by Dean7 on another thread. It relates to the power supply/custom motherboard issue.

http://www.quepublishing.com/articles/article.asp?p=339053&rl=1

VIVA LA DELL

 

[PCAnalyst]

I don't know Zork... that article was written in 2001. Many things have changed since then... or should have.

 

[bananabox]

You build looks good. If your willing to spend an extra 100 euros anyway why not put it down on a 6600 cpu or more ram so you can upgrade to vista later w/out any hitches.

Also, you can still get the E6300/6400 and bump it up to E6700 speeds very easily and safely and save the 100 euros to spend on a sound card. Integrated sound cards can steal FPS in games and other programs.

The Dell is 100 euros more plus the cost of a decent PSU. I would build it myself, its fun, fulfilling, and leaves you open to cheaper upgrades in the future.

i think 2gigs of ram is enough to run vista

 

[tlreaves]

Vista w 2 gigs is like XP with 1 gig. Plus rule numero uno, you can never have too much ram.