Crossfire questions.

[ALXAndy]

Gotta say, having spent the best part of 5.5k on an my current Alienware rig i

Was I asked how much I paid for mine? That's the thing, people just assume.

I bought a rig last November and had saved up for it for ages. (2010)

Foxconn Bloodrage GTI, I7 950 etc.

Turned out the motherboard had bent pins and it never worked properly. Up until that point I had used Alienware for years. However, I've never bought one from Alienware.

In February I bought a brand new shrink wrapped chasis, 875w psu (80+ silver) and a X58 SLI/CF micro for £300 delivered.

At that time the Rampage Gene was selling for £230 or so IIRC, so it was a deal.

The one I wrapped in white vinyl was bought for £140 and a Xbox 360 elite (the old one). All I had to add was memory (AVF, £30 for a 6gb kit) and my two GTX 295s which pretty much owe me nothing, and I have it sold for £750.

See, that's the part that people miss. Resell value.

You can build a PC and be more proud of it than anything else you've ever done. However, come to sell it? chances are that some one else will not find your unique taste suitable and thus you will have to break it down and sell it in parts which you certainly won't make money out of.

It's the same with Apple products. People **** them off left right and centre, but fact is they actually hold onto some of their value. Self built PCs? you may as well set your money on fire.

I don't hate the company, but I know what I got for my money in terms of product and service, as such I do think most of the criticisms are well justified. As you say, they're still around so they must be doing something right, you just can't argue when people say they got similar or better spec for much less cost.

They don't get it right all of the time. No one does.

Thing is, people who build PCs automatically assume that every other human being that walks the face of the earth -

Can.

Wants to pick peanuts out of the poo to save money.

Sometimes I just can't be bothered with the aggro tbh. I mean when I worked managing a computer repair store in the late 90s (when they were all over the place) I used to have to build 13-15 cheap crappy PCs a day. It got old, fast. Thus, I used Apples. Imacs... I had a carbon DV for watching films etc and a regular one for doing all of my graphical stuff I do as a hobby. Quite simply it was because I had quite had enough faffing around all day at work fighting with Windows Multiple Errors (ME) and all of the conflicts and other nonsense PCs suffer with. Yet, I was, to those who build PCs "An idiot who over paid for a slow computer".

Trust me when I say I have seen it all. People plugging a 12v 2 pin power wire from a PSU (for a fan) into the back of a CDRW when attempting to fit it themselves "Hey this wire must go somewhere !". It set the IDE cable on fire.

I've seen people put mounting posts in the wrong places, shorting out the board. I even saw a guy hold his motherboard directly onto the tray with bin ties (those plastic metal things). Needless to say he blew a £900 pile of parts sky high.

Then you have the "But if one part doesn't work" problem. Let's say (and I've seen this also) you have a CPU with bad cache on it. However, it could be the memory ! it could be the PSU ! it could be anything.

Without a complete set of spare parts how do you know?

So yes, that's the argument "Against" building your own PC.

 

[xsistor]

I agree with you. I've had times in the past when I've bought branded machines simply because I did not have the time or patience to dick around a computer. You can get better value for money in terms of components building it yourself. But sometimes your time is worth a lot more than that.

When I used to work with physical electronics, actually designing and fabricating boards and circuits, chips, etc and testing them etc, I hated the sight of any outside work (even if it was something trivial like fitting together computer parts) and couldn't be bothered with keeping up-to-date on new computer hardware and such. I also wanted to be able to call someone and scream at em to fix something if it failed. The extra cost was justified in the time saved and convenience in not having to be your own support.

Now I rarely work with actual circuits. I tend to do it as a hobby, if at all, as my actual work involves far more abstract/theoretical stuff. The only thing I stare at all day are equations. So I don't mind messing around with computers a bit.

 

[wedgie]

Was I asked how much I paid for mine? That's the thing, people just assume.

I bought a rig last November and had saved up for it for ages. (2010)

Foxconn Bloodrage GTI, I7 950 etc.

Turned out the motherboard had bent pins and it never worked properly. Up until that point I had used Alienware for years. However, I've never bought one from Alienware.

In February I bought a brand new shrink wrapped chasis, 875w psu (80+ silver) and a X58 SLI/CF micro for £300 delivered.

At that time the Rampage Gene was selling for £230 or so IIRC, so it was a deal.

The one I wrapped in white vinyl was bought for £140 and a Xbox 360 elite (the old one). All I had to add was memory (AVF, £30 for a 6gb kit) and my two GTX 295s which pretty much owe me nothing, and I have it sold for £750.

See, that's the part that people miss. Resell value.

You can build a PC and be more proud of it than anything else you've ever done. However, come to sell it? chances are that some one else will not find your unique taste suitable and thus you will have to break it down and sell it in parts which you certainly won't make money out of.

It's the same with Apple products. People **** them off left right and centre, but fact is they actually hold onto some of their value. Self built PCs? you may as well set your money on fire.

No you weren't asked, but the cost is always going to quickly enter any discusion about the pros and cons of Alienware. As for resale value, it's not something I'm interested in, but I doubt I'd get even half of what I paid for my rig. Resale factor isn't a factor for every single person, but even if it were I wouldn't say Alienware clearly holds the advantage here.

They don't get it right all of the time. No one does.

Thing is, people who build PCs automatically assume that every other human being that walks the face of the earth -

Can.

Wants to pick peanuts out of the poo to save money.

Sometimes I just can't be bothered with the aggro tbh. I mean when I worked managing a computer repair store in the late 90s (when they were all over the place) I used to have to build 13-15 cheap crappy PCs a day. It got old, fast. Thus, I used Apples. Imacs... I had a carbon DV for watching films etc and a regular one for doing all of my graphical stuff I do as a hobby. Quite simply it was because I had quite had enough faffing around all day at work fighting with Windows Multiple Errors (ME) and all of the conflicts and other nonsense PCs suffer with. Yet, I was, to those who build PCs "An idiot who over paid for a slow computer".

Trust me when I say I have seen it all. People plugging a 12v 2 pin power wire from a PSU (for a fan) into the back of a CDRW when attempting to fit it themselves "Hey this wire must go somewhere !". It set the IDE cable on fire.

I've seen people put mounting posts in the wrong places, shorting out the board. I even saw a guy hold his motherboard directly onto the tray with bin ties (those plastic metal things). Needless to say he blew a £900 pile of parts sky high.

Then you have the "But if one part doesn't work" problem. Let's say (and I've seen this also) you have a CPU with bad cache on it. However, it could be the memory ! it could be the PSU ! it could be anything.

Without a complete set of spare parts how do you know?

So yes, that's the argument "Against" building your own PC.

Pretty much sums up why I went the Alienware route, had been a few years since I'd bothered with pc gaming so I thought rather than messing about I'd just pay for the best and be done with it. The problem is I don't believe I got value for the premium I paid. It has worked in my favour as well though, as I said, they replaced every major component (980x, pair of 5970's etc), not because they were definately at fault, but because there was a chance replacing these parts could fix my system. When all failed they then replaced the entire system. I find it hard to see how a smaller company would be so able to go to these lengths, in this regard I do feel I got some benefit from choosing Alienware.

I'm sure most people with Alienware systems are happy with them overall, I'm certainly not unhappy with mine, I also don't think it was my wisest decision either though. Another thing worth noting, the choices aren't buy Alienware or build your own, OcUK along with many other sites allow customers to configure their own systems with more flexibility than Alienware and at a lower cost.

 

[ALXAndy]

I agree with you. I've had times in the past when I've bought branded machines simply because I did not have the time or patience to dick around a computer. You can get better value for money in terms of components building it yourself. But sometimes your time is worth a lot more than that.

1000% that ^

You're dead right. Time is money. Not only that but if I'm completely honest working in a computer shop utterly ruined my love of them. I also worked in the sound industry building and designing speakers for Swisstone Electronics (AKA Rogers). They made speakers for the BBC costing thousands of pounds. Audio is another passion of mine.

However, all that did was ruin my love for it. You become so stuffed with all of the goodness, so bloated, that it takes the fun out of it

Alienware do have plus sides. They're not hideously expensive.

IE - if you go to any one any where and buy a fully built PC they're not that wide of the mark. Compared to companies like Falcon Northwest, the now defunct Voodoo (well, HP pwn them) and the new Origin (set up by all the ex Alienware staff) Alienwares are positively cheap.

And contrary to belief not every one wants the aggro or stress of building a PC. One wrong part and you're screwed and returning it is a nightmare.

If you've been out of the loop for a while building a new PC is really very daunting. You have to work out what motherboard you need, what CPU, what memory, dual channel triple channel (you'd be amazed just how many people went X58 and used dual channel !) and so on.

 

[coupe69]

ALXAndy, I'm honestly not trolling I'm merely stuggling to understand how you expect people to believe that this is the best case since sliced bread? I mean seriously just take a peek at that cheap plastic finish, it looks downright hideous! And I'd hate to hear that 5900RPM Delta fan going hell for leather, it must make a right racket!

There's considerably better cases out there from chassis manafacturers such as Lian Li and Silverstone with finishes that are a million times better than that plastic monstrosity. Not to mention cooling that's going to be a hell of a lot quieter!

 

[ALXAndy]

ALXAndy, I'm honestly not trolling I'm merely stuggling to understand how you expect people to believe that this is the best case since sliced bread? I mean seriously just take a peek at that cheap plastic finish, it looks downright hideous! And I'd hate to hear that 5900RPM Delta fan going hell for leather, it must make a right racket!

It's as loud or as quiet as you want it to be. If the Deltas went all out all of the time then yeah, it would be a problem.

As for that "plastic monstrosity".

The case, when empty, weighs 25 kilos. The sides are triple walled. This is what I meant when I said earlier that I have had cases by all other manus and none come close. And I stand firm with that comment. I have owned a Silverstone Temjin and the circular vent holes in the hard drive bay were not rounded. I CUT MYSELF ON A £150 case. That is absolutely and utterly unacceptable.

I had a Bitfenix Survivor that I got from this website. It was so cheap and flimsy the case would warp and I could not get my PCIE cards to line up. I had to bend all of my back plates.

So as I say, Alienwares are built like absolute nuclear bunkers. The finish on them is powder coat, and they're not cheap finishes either. The "black" one is actually satin powdercoat in three layers. Layer one is black, layer two is this stuff

And then it's coated in satin. None of that comes cheap.

So, what is there to criticise? the wiring. It's a mess. They really ought to have done a better job on that. But. That doesn't matter. Form wise the wiring is all perfectly held in place and routed out of the way of the cooling, and the case does not have side windows so it's all a bit pointless making it tidy.

I've also owned Lian Lis. Yeah, they look nice. However, every time I worked on mine I would end up knocking it over on account of it weighing about the same as a jam sandwich. Not for me.

And how many of those have a crushingly simple to use thermal system? none? I really don't fancy spending five minutes turning knobs to set all my fans, then when I am done gaming do it all again.

So with the quality questions answered it simply comes down to whether or not you like the aesthetics. If you don't ? fair play to you. Personally I absolutely and utterly hate those enormous big square boxes full of mesh, but that's me.

There's the board. Look at the writing I've underlined in red. Typical MSI serial number, and one of the driver set up apps comes up MSI when you install it.

 

[MeMeMeMe]

Which board is that? Looks pretty nice for a small case.

 

[ALXAndy]

It's an Alienware badged MSI X58 affair.

Spec wise it's identical to the Rampage Gene.

 

[V F]

I use to really admire Alienware back in the 2000's. What happened to them? (I'm not talking about the Dell merge) because those pictures above are not the Alienware I remember. A company that was so passionate for internal management and the marketing for it.

No black internal chassis, why? for the prices Alienware cost they should have all the modern styles cases have today. By the looks of it, it is steel? got to love that smell on your hands. :/ I still detest it from handling the Xaser III.