I just finished purchasing my system and am waiting on one last, final part (the mobo). I have that sinking feeling in my stomach that I could have bought a Dell with roughly the same specs for the same price. Of course, I can't get the specs identical, but here's a compare and contrast:
My build: 2490.57 (after about 210 in rebates, which I'm sure I will have to go through some hassle to get, but after all taxes and shipping).
Lian Li PC-V1100 Plus II
Asus Rampage Formula
Q9450
8gb Corsair 6400C4DHX 4-4-4-12 Ram
Radeon 4870
WD Black Caviar 1TB
Samsung 245BW 24" Monitor
Sony BDU-X10S Blu-Ray Player
Pioneer DVD/CD-RW
Corsair 650TX
Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit
Logitech DiNovo Keyboard
Logitech MX Revolution Mouse
Dell's build: 2455.11 (after tax, free shipping)
XPS 420 Q9450
Windows Vista® Home Premium Service Pack 1
4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 DIMMs
Logitech Di Novo Edge Keyboard
24 inch E248WFP (Not sure how this compares to my Samsung)
nVidia GeForce 9800 GT 512MB (I think the 4870 is better, but by how much?)
1TB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 32MB Cache (probably the WD or a Seagate)
Dell Optical USB Mouse OM [310-8030]
Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD)
Integrated Sound Blaster®Audigy™ HD Software Edition
2Yr Ltd HW WRTY, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis, 24x7 Phone Support
Dimension XPS, Specialized Support
I left out all the software the Dell comes with (I own, and prefer, other software). I definitely win on some components: 8gb to 4gb Ram; BD player and a separate CD/DVD Writer (compared to a combo player); a better GPU; and my monitor may be superior. Does anyone know what chipset and PSU the XPS 430 uses? I probably win on those (important) ends as well.
If prices are pretty close, does it still make sense to build your own from the ground up? This is a moot question now, since I already bought everything and I gained the joy of learning about each component and how they all fit together. Tomorrow, when I receive the motherboard (finally!), I will hopefully get the satisfaction of hearing the beautiful beep of a well-built system. But I still want affirmation that I did better than Dell =).
My build: 2490.57 (after about 210 in rebates, which I'm sure I will have to go through some hassle to get, but after all taxes and shipping).
Lian Li PC-V1100 Plus II
Asus Rampage Formula
Q9450
8gb Corsair 6400C4DHX 4-4-4-12 Ram
Radeon 4870
WD Black Caviar 1TB
Samsung 245BW 24" Monitor
Sony BDU-X10S Blu-Ray Player
Pioneer DVD/CD-RW
Corsair 650TX
Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit
Logitech DiNovo Keyboard
Logitech MX Revolution Mouse
Dell's build: 2455.11 (after tax, free shipping)
XPS 420 Q9450
Windows Vista® Home Premium Service Pack 1
4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 DIMMs
Logitech Di Novo Edge Keyboard
24 inch E248WFP (Not sure how this compares to my Samsung)
nVidia GeForce 9800 GT 512MB (I think the 4870 is better, but by how much?)
1TB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 32MB Cache (probably the WD or a Seagate)
Dell Optical USB Mouse OM [310-8030]
Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD)
Integrated Sound Blaster®Audigy™ HD Software Edition
2Yr Ltd HW WRTY, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis, 24x7 Phone Support
Dimension XPS, Specialized Support
I left out all the software the Dell comes with (I own, and prefer, other software). I definitely win on some components: 8gb to 4gb Ram; BD player and a separate CD/DVD Writer (compared to a combo player); a better GPU; and my monitor may be superior. Does anyone know what chipset and PSU the XPS 430 uses? I probably win on those (important) ends as well.
If prices are pretty close, does it still make sense to build your own from the ground up? This is a moot question now, since I already bought everything and I gained the joy of learning about each component and how they all fit together. Tomorrow, when I receive the motherboard (finally!), I will hopefully get the satisfaction of hearing the beautiful beep of a well-built system. But I still want affirmation that I did better than Dell =).