Help me build a PC...from Dell *gulp*

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SystemERRor

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 29, 2004
Messages
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I'm ordering a new system for college, and I've been pressured into getting a system from Dell for reasons that would be useless to elaborate on. However, as I've been out of the Hardware market for a while, I'm unsure about what choices to make. I'd appreciate any suggestions. Please keep in mind that I don't really plan to overclock anything, unless I get really, really bored.

I'm getting either an XPS 710 or an XPS 720. If anyone can find information regarding the differences between the two models that'd be cool. As far as I know, the only major difference is the mobo. The 710 has the nForce 590 SLI MCP, while the 720 has the nForce 680i SLI. I don't really know the differences between the two chipsets, and I'm further impeded because I've heard that dell has disabled some of the functions of each chipset for some reason.

Next, the processor. This is where I need the most help.
With the XPS 710, I have a long list of choices:
E6600, E6700, QX6700, X6800, Q6600, E6320, or E6420
From what I've read, I think I might want to go with the Q6600. While the E6600 or the E6700 might get me more for my money, I don't plan to upgrade for a while, and I'd really like to get in on any benefit I might get from a quad core in next-gen games (as well as from multitasking). They all seem to be pretty similar in some current gen game benchmarks, but the E6600 and the E6700 cost $400 and $180 less than the Q6600, respectively. Opinions?

With the XPS 720, I have less CPU choices, but all are pricier. (E?)X6800, Q6600, (E?)QX6700 (OC'ed to 2.93GHz) or (E?)QX6800 (OC'ed to 3.20Ghz). The Q6600 is the cheapest of the bunch, with both the X6800 and the QX6700 costing 400 more, and the QX6800 costing 500 more. The 6600 seems to be the best choice here, as the others are a *little* ridiculous in terms of price, but if I'm wrong tell me.

As far as memory goes, 2GB seems to be standard nowadays. The XPS 710's memory runs at 667MHz, while the XPS 720 runs at 800MHz. As I never knew much about memory performance, I have no idea what difference this might make. I can also choose to spend $250 more or so to upgrade to 4GB: is this worth it at this time? Finally, the XPS 720 gives me the option to upgrade to "Corsair Dominator DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz OC'd to 1066MHz". Is this just for show, or could it potentially make some sort of difference?

Finally comes the video card. I thought a 768MB GeForce 8800 GTX would be a safe choice. I've been told that getting an SLI config with 2 of these would be a waste, as would be a 8800 Ultra, so unless someone recommends otherwise, I think I'll go with this.

I'd really appreciate any information or help people have, especially when it comes to choosing between the two different models (and their two different motherboards) and to choosing a CPU.
 
The Q6600 will drop in price on July 22nd; From $5xx down to $266.

Whats your budget?

No, unless you can OC the CPU (keep it at 1:1 with the RAM), then no, you won't see any benefit with the Dominators.

[CPU clock speed] = [CPU multiplier] x [base FSB speed]
[RAM speed] = 2 x [base FSB speed] ... typically... though, you can increase/decrease the RAM multiplier/divider (2) to unlink the RAM speed and CPU speed
[effective FSB speed] = 4 x [base FSB speed]

So...
Q6600: 9 x 266 = 2.4Ghz, DDR2-533 << STOCK settings
Q6600: 9 x 333 = 3.0Ghz, DDR2-667 << Easy OC
Q6600: 9 x 400 = 3.6Ghz, DDR2-800 << High OC

The GTX is great for 24" LCDs and under. If you have cash and want the 24", then SLI wouldnt be a bad idea. What size monitor will you be getting? If you're getting the 30" LCD, SLI will NOT be a waste if you play games.

590i SLI is old. 680i SLI is its replacement. The 590i ran hot and was rather unable to OC Core2Duos. The 680i is much better for quadcores, and can OC rather well. However, I don't know what OC options you have through Dell, lol. Then again, you're not OC'ing, so it doesnt really matter. What would matter is your CPU choice.

How fast do you want the system to be? What is your budget? What will you be doing with this system aside from gaming. What games will you be playing, and on what size monitor?
 
This is starting so smell a little spammy. I just read another guy on Notebook Forums "forced to buy" a ridiculously high end Dell" How many of these people exist in this reality?

Is this some perverted new marketing scheme by Dell:confused: :eek: :eek:

Or do we have a delusional maniac loose of the forums?
 
Thanks for the lengthy reply, enginurd.

My budget is somewhere between 2500 and 3500 (taking into account some discounts I'm gettting from dell).

I'd be using it for playing current-gen games: HL2, NWN2, Supreme Commander, etc...But I'd also like to play future games like HL2: Episode 2 (I heard valve might be implementing multi-core support), Crysis, and all that good stuff. Aside from games, I won't be doing too much heavy stuff (apart from maybe a *little* 3d modeling, but that's really not a big worry).

I'm currently using a 21" Widescreen (I think it's a Gateway 2185W) with a native res of 1680X1050, which I'll be taking over to my new system.


As for your response, Syngensmyth, I'm "compelled" to buy a Dell because my parents are paying for part of my system as a graduation gift, so they have a lot of say in the matter (and they want me to have tech support, just in case something breaks (which happened several times in the life of my last dell. 2 replacement PSUs, 2 replacement Graphics cards, a fried monitor...). It's not that bad, as I get a business discount of like 12% on all dell stuff, on top of their other discounts.

Some new questions:

What would be the bottleneck in this system (with no OC):
590 chipset
Q6600
2GB 667MHz Ram
768MB 8800 GTX

Also: would a 1000W PSU make a lot of difference in the future in comparison with a 750W PSU? I'm trying to decide which one to get, as the 1000W PSU only comes in the case I don't like as much. The 750W PSU would prevent me from SLI'ing 2 8800's, should I ever decide to do that in the future (although it would be dumb).

Finally, would XP Professional be more useful than XP Media center? Or should I swallow my fear and go for Vista?
 
SystemERRor said:
I'd be using it for playing current-gen games: HL2, NWN2, Supreme Commander, etc...But I'd also like to play future games like HL2: Episode 2 (I heard valve might be implementing multi-core support), Crysis, and all that good stuff. Aside from games, I won't be doing too much heavy stuff (apart from maybe a *little* 3d modeling, but that's really not a big worry).

I'm currently using a 21" Widescreen (I think it's a Gateway 2185W) with a native res of 1680X1050, which I'll be taking over to my new system.
...
What would be the bottleneck in this system (with no OC):
590 chipset
Q6600
2GB 667MHz Ram
768MB 8800 GTX

Also: would a 1000W PSU make a lot of difference in the future in comparison with a 750W PSU? I'm trying to decide which one to get, as the 1000W PSU only comes in the case I don't like as much. The 750W PSU would prevent me from SLI'ing 2 8800's, should I ever decide to do that in the future (although it would be dumb).

Finally, would XP Professional be more useful than XP Media center? Or should I swallow my fear and go for Vista?
Click to expand...

SupCom and other newer games will make use of the quad-core. Valve's source engine is already supporting multi-core.

A 21" LCD won't need SLI. A single GTX will be enough.

The bottleneck in that system would be the HDD.

All you'll need is the 750W.

Go with Linux for now. When you get to college, they should have XP or Vista either for free or really cheap. Actually, you should be able to get that student discount now, so go check.

If you want a very stable OS that doesnt eat up a lot of resources while Idle, go with XP. If you want the eyecandy and the ability to play some DX10 games (all 2 of them, currently), then go with Vista. Media center XP is nice if you want to use your system as a media center, but then you'll need some capture/tuner cards.
 
The bottleneck would be the HDD? What would be my best option for dealing with that?

I also just realized you're right about discounts for windows---unfortunately, I can't get my system without it, so it's not an option
 
SystemERRor said:
The bottleneck would be the HDD? What would be my best option for dealing with that?

I also just realized you're right about discounts for windows---unfortunately, I can't get my system without it, so it's not an option
Click to expand...

Heh, that was a way of saying that system is fine as configured.

So how good is your student discount?
 
Hang on people, if you are buying a Dell then you have little choice on chooseing RAM and PSU's let alone Overclocking.
 
You'll have a great system. You've built a great system with the Q6600 and the 8800GTX.

I've been threw the whole you should get a Dell thing when I went to College 2 years ago. So I know the feeling.
 
well, it's all ordered and done. Thanks for the help everyone (especially enginurd, obviously)
 
No prob. You've got a nice system. Hope you got he the GOLD Support, hehe. We have that at work, and its awesome.
 
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