Combo system...Dell and aftermarket, thoughts?

Long time lurker, first time poster.

I am shopping for a new system and operating on about a $600 budget (new baby is expensive).

I have built a couple systems and also purchased a system from Dell with good results on both. Dell has a special right now of the following for $399 w/ free shipping:

Dimension E521
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 3800
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Basic
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs
HARD DRIVE 160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
OPTICAL DRIVE 16X DVD ROM Drive
VIDEO CARD NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE Integrated Graphics GPU
SOUND Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio

I was wondering what you guys thought of that along with dropping these items in it to beef it up:
RAM
Video Card

That's $570 for the system (+/- a few bucks). It would be replacing:
P4 3.2ghz (northwood)
1mb ram
9800 Pro
Viewsonic VX922 (this will carry to new system)

So what do you think?
Worth the money?
Wait until I can afford a Core C2D? (probably months away)
Any changes to the above to make it better? (without adding a lot of cost)

I will be using the system for gaming (EQ2, Oblivion, etc), office, web-browsing, email and other basic uses.

Thanks in advance everyone.


~Jason

Get this and a nice lcd monitor. Buy a dx10 card when they drop in price.

I've had Dells for a long time. They are difficult if not impossible to upgrade. My E510 won't take a GTX, 8800 or other long video card, more than 2 hard drives, etc. It has a BTX mobo, making a real upgrade all but impossible. My next system will be a build with a big solid case that will become an evolving platform. That way I will be able to take occasional leaps in performance such as processor / mobo and so on.

There are some good threads here about building budget systems. My advice is to wait until you can ramp up your budget a bit. By then prices will drop and you will get considerably more bang for your buck. I'd avoid VISTA like the plague - unproven, driver-deficient corporate bloatware with anti-user features focused almost entirely on security (MicroSoft's, not yours).

Excuse me while I call bullshit. I've talked to Dell techies and they themselves have told me that I would not be able to reuse a couple of Dell parts that I was planning on including in a new build.

Just off the top of my head I can tell you that the mobo/cases are built to be used only together. Say otherwise so I can start ignoring you and move on with my life.

Excuse me while I call bullshit. I've talked to Dell techies and they themselves have told me that I would not be able to reuse a couple of Dell parts that I was planning on including in a new build.

Just off the top of my head I can tell you that the mobo/cases are built to be used only together. Say otherwise so I can start ignoring you and move on with my life.

Not true. While you have to be careful about the physical dimensions of the various possible components as you would in ANY build, not just an upgrade of a Dell, there are really no proprietary restrictions on most, if not all, newer Dells.

I don't know what those Dell techies really said. All I know is my own experience with upgrading a Dell 4600.

To the OP: Some things to consider (from someone who has been there and done that...as opposed to those who haven't):

1) Your motherboard will probably be your biggest problem when upgrading. The Dell-supplied motherboards tend to have fewer PCI slots, for example, than others...perhaps because they are designed to fit into cases smaller than ATX-size. Keep in mind that Dell might still use slower motherboards with locked BIOSes. There goes the overclocking option.

2) You probably can use a third-party power supply such as Antec. Maybe some older Dells needed proprietary power supplies. My 4600 doesn't.

3) You can use whatever case that your motherboard will fit into.

4) Use whatever RAM you want. Just keep in mind that you will be wasting money on the fastest RAM if your Dell-supplied motherboard won't be able to take advantage of it. There is no use in upgrading to fast RAM (more than 533 Mhz) if the Dell motherboard can only handle 533 Mhz or slower.

5) No restrictions on hard disks, CD/DVD drives, etc. Just make sure that your motherboard has SATA connections before buying a SATA drive.

If your intention is to buy a cheap Dell and then upgrade the heck out of it in order to achieve a fast, powerful system, then I'd advise against it. If this is your intention, it would be better to build from scratch.

If your intention is to buy a cheap Dell and then upgrade a little here and there to get a decent, moderately fast system, then go ahead.

I thank you all very much for your feedback and input.

I do not particularly want Vista, but it is what comes with the system. Considering an OS (whether XP or Vista) is another ~$100 to the cost of a "from scratch" system it part of the reason this system is in my price range at the moment.

$850 vs. $399.... notice the difference?
Don't need a monitor.

That's my experience as well on my previous Dell.

No problem, no plans at all to overclock.

Right. Good point and the exact reason why I picked some 533Mhz to purchase with timings the same as the stock memory.

You got it. I am realistic enought to know that my $500-600 isn't going to build a blazing system. That said, it should be a significant upgrade to what I have now. It will meet my currents needs (not my desires). I will not have a lot of $$$ tied up into something when the time comes and I CAN afford to build the system I desire.

No, I really dont think I could stand onboard video for anywhere near the time it will take me to afford my next system; I game too much.


Thanks again to all the replies. I am going to sleep on it today and make my decision tonight. The Dell offer expires tomorrow.

I didnt have any issues with my previous Dell power supply when upgrading. Do you think the stock PS will support the 7600GT ???

The new Dell power supplies are 305 watt units, and as always, that's rated as max sustainable load. It should handle your graphics card just fine.