Are you dreaming with the best computer?

[Hell-In-A-Handbasket]

i have repaird a couple Alienware, not only do they crash alot / unstable, but they are overpriced

not worth it imho, they were bad when they were just alienware, they are just worse now that they are dell

  acido00 said:

Hi friends

Yesterday i bought this computer!

but only in my dream ,but i make come true in virtual reality :(

Nota: Windows Vista Free upgrade

Cost: $8,679 Dollars

[Bobster]

A fully maxed out Dell XPS M2010 laptop. Which costs ?3957 ($7780)

[jerzdawg]

  Hell-In-A-Handbasket said:

i have repaird a couple Alienware, not only do they crash alot / unstable, but they are overpriced

overpriced yes... but crash alot?... thats all user generated... there is nothing special about alienware that would cause it to crash more than any other windows based pc...

[chconline Veteran]

Exactly, a computer is a computer, and I don't think Alienware uses generic parts in their systems.

[PGHammer]

  jerzdawg said:

overpriced yes... but crash alot?... thats all user generated... there is nothing special about alienware that would cause it to crash more than any other windows based pc...

Unless you have IBK errors more...

Due to issues with NForce680i motherboards, I've changed the Dream Configuration (both motherboard and graphics):

Intel Core2 ExtremeQuad QX6700

Intel D975XBX2 motherboard

4 GB Corsair XMS2 Dominator (four 1 GB 5-5-5-15 sticks)

ATI Radeon X1950 XTX Uber Edition/David Orton Edition

Creative Sound Blaster X-fi Fatal1ty Professional Series

Three Hitachi DeskStar 7K500 SATA hard drives (two in RAID 0)

Two SAMSUNG SuperWriteMaster SATA Multi-format DVD Burners with LightScribe Support

PC Power and Cooling Turbo-Cool 1KW-SR

ThermalTake VA8004BWS Armor Extreme Edition Case

Logitech Z-5300E 5.1 speakers

OS: Windows Vista Ultimate Edition and Ultimate x64 Edition dual-boot

Keyboard: Ideazon ZBoard (black)

Mouse: Microsoft Wireless LaserMouse 5000

Why Intel's most expensive desktop processor? Future-proofing. I went with a double-shot of Vista Ultimate for the same reason.

I went entirely SATA for the drives to improve airflow; also, the Hitachi DeskStars are still some of the best bang-for-the-buck SATA hard drives around. The same applies to the Samsung burners: on top of them being SATA, they are also black (to match the case).

PSU? PC Power and Cooling: when failure is NOT an option.

Logitech speakers: Because I *refuse* to overpay for Klipsch (and you will).

Why X-Fi? Despite Vista's lack of support for EAX, it still supports OpenAL, and there's only one OpenAL accelerator on the OS. The FPS includes the X-RAM support of the original Fatal1ty without the extra features I have no use for.

The ZBoard is self-explanatory, but the Wireless Laser Mouse is bound to raise eyebrows. However, it shouldn't: it matches the ZBoard, it matches the case, and it's the best wireless mouse available - period.

[chconline Veteran]

  PGHammer said:

Intel Core2 ExtremeQuad QX6700

Intel D975XBX2 motherboard

4 GB Corsair XMS2 Dominator (four 1 GB 5-5-5-15 sticks)

ATI Radeon X1950 XTX Uber Edition/David Orton Edition

Creative Sound Blaster X-fi Fatal1ty Professional Series

Three Hitachi DeskStar 7K500 SATA hard drives (two in RAID 0)

Two SAMSUNG SuperWriteMaster SATA Multi-format DVD Burners with LightScribe Support

PC Power and Cooling Turbo-Cool 1KW-SR

ThermalTake VA8004BWS Armor Extreme Edition Case

Logitech Z-5300E 5.1 speakers

OS: Windows Vista Ultimate Edition and Ultimate x64 Edition dual-boot

Keyboard: Ideazon ZBoard (black)

Mouse: Microsoft Wireless LaserMouse 5000

Uhh... right. I don't think you need to change the graphics for the motherboard, and most 680i issues should be addressed (A few of my friends still has certain issues, but that's alright, nothing major). Asus Striker Extreme + 2x8800GTX in SLI needs to be put in there, along with some OCZ FlexXLC and Creative X-Fi Elite Pro.

The Hitachi's are nice, but definitely not the best around... for pure performance, you'll need like... 4 Raptors in RAID 10 for ultimate redundancy and performance :p And add 4 more SATA2 Seagate's. Also, why do you need 2 OS's in dual boot when you can just use x64 vista :| Those speakers are not top end, and the laser mouse is... again not tops.

[PGHammer]

  chconline said:

Uhh... right. I don't think you need to change the graphics for the motherboard, and most 680i issues should be addressed (A few of my friends still has certain issues, but that's alright, nothing major). Asus Striker Extreme + 2x8800GTX in SLI needs to be put in there, along with some OCZ FlexXLC and Creative X-Fi Elite Pro.

The Hitachi's are nice, but definitely not the best around... for pure performance, you'll need like... 4 Raptors in RAID 10 for ultimate redundancy and performance :p And add 4 more SATA2 Seagate's. Also, why do you need 2 OS's in dual boot when you can just use x64 vista :| Those speakers are not top end, and the laser mouse is... again not tops.

The problems the 680i has had are definitely detracting, and the 975X supports CrossFire, not SLI (so a GPU change is a necessity with the mobo swap). And those are by and large *chipset* issues, not motherboard-specific (while best known with the EVGA nForce board, even the Striker Extreme has most of the same issues). And, unfortunately, RAID is one of the biggies.

The Raptors are faster, but there are definite *capacity* issues (each Raptor is 320 GB, while each DeskStar is 500 GB). Worse, unless you add a RAID controller, not even the Striker Extreme can support ten SATA drives natively (hence only one RAID pair, and a separate drive for the swapfile that is non-RAID).

Klipsch? Definitely top-end; also, definitely a top-end price. Logitech's 5.1 5300-E is a good alternative that's around half the price of the Pro Media 5.1s. The Elite Pro got rejected for the same reason the original Fatal1ty did: too many features I won't use (in particular, the extra ports and the drive bay). Why the dual-OS option? While Vista Ultimate x64 is further along support-wise than XP Professional x64 Edition, it *still* has driver issues hardwarewise. Thus it's not *completely* ready for prime-time yet; however, it does deserve consideration (it also supports the entire 4 GB of RAM, while Vista Ultimate x86 does not).

I specified a *wireless* mouse for a reason similar to why I went all-SATA for the drives: cord-clutter reduction. I have had *one* Microsoft mouse fail in almost twenty years (my current rodent is the Olde Reliable PS/2 IntelliMouse 1.3a; black, of course). Unlike some, I use my personal machines for far more than straight gaming boxes; for that reason, I need a mouse that's just as comfortable in Outlook and Excel as it is in NFS Carbon or Supreme Commander. Lastly, as I pointed out, it *does* match the case *and* the ZBoard.

While it's a definite *dream box*, I refuse to forget why I got into BYOPC in the first place: I would rather not sacrifice versatility or fall into the trap of buying features I will *never* use.

Also, I have two last items: Online Service and retailer. The *dream box* is not only actually buildable, all the parts are available from a single retailer: MicroCenter (http://www.microcenter.com) that also has brick-and-mortar convenience (they offer in-store pickup for most items purchased online). My online service choice is actually one of the easier choices: Verizon FIOS 15/2. It not only exists, but it's actually available in my area, and for basically what I pay for CHSI now (while being over twice as fast).

Don't stop dreaming; however, your dreams should be attainable and actually make *sense*. Otherwise, you're simply *chasing the dragon*.

[Kraftman]

Specifications

* Two 3.0GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon

* 16GB (8 x 2GB)

* 750GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s

* 750GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s

* 750GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s

* 750GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s

* NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 512MB, Stereo 3D (2 x dual-link DVI)

* Apple Cinema HD Display (30" flat panel)

* Apple Cinema HD Display (30" flat panel)

* Two 16x SuperDrives

* Both Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and AirPort Extreme

* Fibre Channel Card

* Apple USB Modem

* Apple Wireless Keyboard and Apple wireless Mighty Mouse - U.S. English

* Mac OS X - U.S. English

* Mac OS X Server (Unlimited-Client)

* Final Cut Express HD preinstalled

* AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Pro/Power Mac (w/or w/o Display) - Auto-enroll

All for the cool price of $22,630.00 CAD or $19,151.99 U.S.

[GM_Axis]

I basically have my dream computer. Maybe a bit more realistic but, I just laid down the money because I was tired of always looking in.

[NoneAvail]

Me,

Brand New Macbook Pro with everything maxed out to the limit!

[TEX4S]

  pS- said:

It's his dream, who really dreams about computers anyway?

Thats what I was thinking....LOL

  Hell-In-A-Handbasket said:

i have repaird a couple Alienware, not only do they crash alot / unstable, but they are overpriced

not worth it imho, they were bad when they were just alienware, they are just worse now that they are dell

Dell will only screw-up what was already the most over-rated systems on the planet.

*************

I dont really understand the reason this guy posted this thread - his system is far from "the best" and the minute I saw that Aegia card in his setup - I thought "yep.....a n00b!"

If someone wants to go all-out its easy to rack up $13,000 @ Falcon NorthWest's site - and have a much better built "dream machine"

(Remember a couple of years ago there was that fake company called Go-L computers - they had a bunch of made up computer specs that sounded simply amazing, using Vapochill phase-change cooling, with 5" LCD screens on them - you could get like 32 Gig RAm systems 5 Ghz Pentium4 and like 5 feet of LCD screen for about $45,000 ???

I had 2 articles published about them in MaximumPC about trying to contact them because I wanted them to build me one of their computers (for about $15,000) - and nobody ever responded, no computers were ever REALLY sold, yet they had all of these unbelievable review/testamony from customers...(that never existed) - guy was a complete fraud - but it wasnt a scam to get money because they wouldnt collect - hell I wanted a system and couldnt get anyone to take my money....

[sundayx Veteran]

My dream computer is actually reachable. I dont need the uber hardware, stuff i dont need/will eventually not use/be obsolete when new tech comes out anyways, so here it is.

C2D E6700

2GB DDR2

8800GTX... single

200GB

DVDRW/BR

on a 20/24" Viewsonics...

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

for the most part the computer i have is my dream machine i just need to wait for my new parts to get here to make it a bit better because it is getting old (about a year old now) i am going to add a few more TB of HDD space and perhaps another Gb of Ram to it. i also want to get a New Graphics card.

[NienorGT]

Intel Quad Core Xtreme QX6700

Asus Striker Extreme

Dual eVGA 8800GTX Black Pearl

4GB OCZ PC2-9200 FLEXXLC EDITION

2 Western Digital Raptors 150GB

2 Seagates Barracudda 7200.10 750GB

Liteon 20x DVD?RW SATA

Koolance PC4-1026BK Case

PC Power & Cooling Turbo Cool 850 SSI ATX 850W

:whistle::

[Sedriss]

Qty. Product Description Savings Total Price

1

SONY Blu-ray DVD Burner With 5X DVD-RAM Write 2-Tone P-ATA/E-IDE Model BWU-100A - Retail

Item #: N82E16827131034

Return Policy: Manufacturer Warranty

Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan 1 Year Service Net 1 Peripheral Extended Plan -- $49.99 2 Year Service Net 1 Peripheral Extended Plan -- $69.99 3 Year Service Net 1 Peripheral Extended Plan -- $99.99

-$20.00 Instant

$699.99

$679.99

1

SILVERSTONE SST-TJ07-B Black 4.0mm ~ 8.0mm uni-body aluminum outer frame, 2.0mm aluminum body ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail

Item #: N82E16811163060

Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

-$20.00 Instant

$319.99

$299.99

2

Fujitsu MAX3147NP 147GB 15,000 RPM SCSI Ultra320 68pin Hard Drive - Retail

Item #: N82E16822116012

Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan 1 Year Service Net 1 Peripheral Extended Plan -- $49.99 2 Year Service Net 1 Peripheral Extended Plan -- $69.99 3 Year Service Net 1 Peripheral Extended Plan -- $99.99

$1,099.98

($549.99 each)

1

NEC Display Solutions LCD4610-BK Black 46" 8ms DVI Widescreen LCD S-Video Monitor - Retail

Item #: N82E16824002131

Return Policy: Limited Non-Refundable 30-Day Return Policy

Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan 1 Year Service Net 1 Peripheral Extended Plan -- $149.99 2 Year Service Net 1 Peripheral Extended Plan -- $259.99 3 Year Service Net 1 Peripheral Extended Plan -- $339.99

$4,099.99

2

eVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail

Item #: N82E16814130072

Return Policy: Limited Non-Refundable 30-Day Return Policy

Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan 1 Year Service Net 1 Peripheral Extended Plan -- $49.99 2 Year Service Net 1 Peripheral Extended Plan -- $69.99 3 Year Service Net 1 Peripheral Extended Plan -- $99.99

$30.00 Mail-in Rebate

$1,159.98

($579.99 each)

1

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail

Item #: N82E16829102191

Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan 1 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $39.99 1 Year Service Net 1 Peripheral Extended Plan -- $39.99 2 Year Service Net 1 Peripheral Extended Plan -- $49.99 2 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $59.99 3 Year Service Net 1 Peripheral Extended Plan -- $59.99

$259.99

1

PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 1KW-SR EPS12V 1000W Continuous @ 50?C Power Supply - Retail

Item #: N82E16817703007

Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

$599.99

1

Logitech Z-5450 315 Watts 5.1 Digital Speaker System - Retail

Item #: N82E16836121133

Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan 1 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $39.99 1 Year Service Net 1 Peripheral Extended Plan -- $39.99 2 Year Service Net 1 Peripheral Extended Plan -- $49.99 2 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $59.99 3 Year Service Net 1 Peripheral Extended Plan -- $59.99

$329.99

1

Logitech VX Revolution Black 7 Buttons Tilt Wheel USB RF Wireless Laser Mouse for Notebooks - Retail

Item #: N82E16826104016

Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan 1 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $14.99 2 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $19.99

-$30.00 Instant

$20.00 Mail-in Rebate

$79.99

$49.99

1

G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail

Item #: N82E16820231122

Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

$569.99

1

ASUS Striker Extreme LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX The Ultimate Gaming Motherboard - Retail

Item #: N82E16813131074

Return Policy: Limited Non-Refundable 30-Day Return Policy

Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan 1 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $49.99 2 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $79.99

$419.99

1

Microsoft Windows Vista 32-Bit Ultimate Single Pack DVD - OEM

Item #: N82E16832116213

Return Policy: Software Return Policy

$199.99

1

KOOLANCE EX2-750BK System Cooling Systems - Retail

Item #: N82E16835127006

Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan 1 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $39.99 2 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $59.99

-$10.00 Instant

$349.99

$339.99

1

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Kentsfield 2.66GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80562QX6700 - Retail

Item #: N82E16819115011

Return Policy: Processors (CPUs) Return Policy

UBISOFT Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter - OEM

Item #: N82E16800992001

Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

-$49.99 Combo

$1,034.99

$985.00

Subtotal: $11,094.85

Calculate Shipping

Zip Code: FedEx Express Saver FedEx 2Day FedEx Standard Overnight APO/FPO-Military ONLY FedEx International Economy-PR ONLY UPS Guaranteed 3 Day Service UPS 2nd Day UPS Next Day Saver

Shipping: $0.00

Redeem Gift Certificates

Claim Code:

Security Code:

Gift Certificates: $0.00

Apply Promo Code Promo Code: $0.00

This cart qualifies for No Payments for 6 Months with Newegg.com Preferred Account

Grand Total:* $11,094.85

[chconline Veteran]

  PGHammer said:

The problems the 680i has had are definitely detracting, and the 975X supports CrossFire, not SLI (so a GPU change is a necessity with the mobo swap). And those are by and large *chipset* issues, not motherboard-specific (while best known with the EVGA nForce board, even the Striker Extreme has most of the same issues). And, unfortunately, RAID is one of the biggies.

Right, last time I checked, I did mention "680i" in my post, which specifically refers to the chipset. Also, even so -- a single 8800GTX is much of a preference over dual X1950XTX nowadays :huh: Why waste all the electricity and room in your case creating all the extra heat when you can get a single card for a cheaper price. For a single card configuration, it doesn't matter if you use i975X or 680i. Upon initial release, the chipset has issues in handling disks in RAID and file corruption, but the latest BIOS update should address most of the issues. I have a bunch of friends who owns an Asus Striker Extreme, Asus P5N32-E SLI, and EVGA 680i and the ones I know complained a lot less after the BIOS update. You should read my post again.

  PGHammer said:

The Raptors are faster, but there are definite *capacity* issues (each Raptor is 320 GB, while each DeskStar is 500 GB). Worse, unless you add a RAID controller, not even the Striker Extreme can support ten SATA drives natively (hence only one RAID pair, and a separate drive for the swapfile that is non-RAID).

Wow a separate drive for swapfile :laugh: Yeah you really need like 500GB for swap, lol. And in my configuration, 4+4 = 8? The Asus Striker Extreme has 6 SATA drives controlled by NVIDIA. That's not 10, and then if you want... add 2 more in external (eSATA) via the onboard Silicon Image 3132 controller for 2 eSATA connectors. You probably won't use that much space though, and it would be hard to find a mainstream case that can accommodate 6 drives. NAS boxes are created for a reason.

  PGHammer said:

Klipsch? Definitely top-end; also, definitely a top-end price. Logitech's 5.1 5300-E is a good alternative that's around half the price of the Pro Media 5.1s. The Elite Pro got rejected for the same reason the original Fatal1ty did: too many features I won't use (in particular, the extra ports and the drive bay). Why the dual-OS option? While Vista Ultimate x64 is further along support-wise than XP Professional x64 Edition, it *still* has driver issues hardwarewise. Thus it's not *completely* ready for prime-time yet; however, it does deserve consideration (it also supports the entire 4 GB of RAM, while Vista Ultimate x86 does not).

You pay for what you get. The "features" of a Z-5500 won't differ much from the Z-5300E, yet the performance is quite significantly different. If you are really looking for performance, you can always look away from the limitations of availability in the PC speaker market.

As Vista x64 rolls around, there will be a more widespread adoption of x64 technology. 64 bit version of Windows server 2003 (R2) and XP Pro x64 has been around for quite a long time and the limitations of drivers is not very significant. I've been running Windows Server 2003 R2 64 bit edition for quite a while and there are no issues, and I don't see that coming for the desktop platform especially for a next generation operating system.

  PGHammer said:

I specified a *wireless* mouse for a reason similar to why I went all-SATA for the drives: cord-clutter reduction. I have had *one* Microsoft mouse fail in almost twenty years (my current rodent is the Olde Reliable PS/2 IntelliMouse 1.3a; black, of course). Unlike some, I use my personal machines for far more than straight gaming boxes; for that reason, I need a mouse that's just as comfortable in Outlook and Excel as it is in NFS Carbon or Supreme Commander. Lastly, as I pointed out, it *does* match the case *and* the ZBoard.

Ok, that's your preference :p

  PGHammer said:

While it's a definite *dream box*, I refuse to forget why I got into BYOPC in the first place: I would rather not sacrifice versatility or fall into the trap of buying features I will *never* use.

Also, I have two last items: Online Service and retailer. The *dream box* is not only actually buildable, all the parts are available from a single retailer: MicroCenter (http://www.microcenter.com) that also has brick-and-mortar convenience (they offer in-store pickup for most items purchased online). My online service choice is actually one of the easier choices: Verizon FIOS 15/2. It not only exists, but it's actually available in my area, and for basically what I pay for CHSI now (while being over twice as fast).

Don't stop dreaming; however, your dreams should be attainable and actually make *sense*. Otherwise, you're simply *chasing the dragon*.

That's very dependent on where you live. And, please, stop typing like *this*, it's *extremely* annoying. :p

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

The guy we sold the Intel Quad Core QX6700 machine to came back today complaining that the FX-62 system we built him about 5 months ago is so much quicker.

Apparently the system barely touches the third core, and normally only uses ONE core. It doesnt go near the fourth.

I guess its just too early to make a difference?

[Vice]

  jamesyfx said:

The guy we sold the Intel Quad Core QX6700 machine to came back today complaining that the FX-62 system we built him about 5 months ago is so much quicker.

Apparently the system barely touches the third core, and normally only uses ONE core. It doesnt go near the fourth.

I guess its just too early to make a difference?

That guy is insane, a QX6700 even with 2 cores deactivated still beats an FX-62.

[mikeboy]

I want this:

Gateway 2000

Processor: Intel 80486 @ 25 Mhz

RAM: 8 MB

GPU: Onboard 1 MB (ATI I think)

200MB IDE Hardrive

14k Modem

3.5 inch floppy drive and another big 5.25 inch floppy drive

Windows 3.1 and MS-DOS

aint that a beauty?

[+Warwagon MVC]

  mikeboy said:

I want this:

Gateway 2000

Processor: Intel 80486 @ 25 Mhz

RAM: 8 MB

GPU: Onboard 1 MB (ATI I think)

200MB IDE Hardrive

14k Modem

3.5 inch floppy drive and another big 5.25 inch floppy drive

Windows 3.1 and MS-DOS

aint that a beauty?

I think I just juiced myself