Dell XPS 7100 or Assembled

[Chirag]

1. What is the purpose of the computer?
A: Animation and moderate gaming.
2. Are you open to alternate ideas/products giving similar better performance but offering more VFM/ sellers? If not- why?
A:Yes
3. What is your MAX budget?
A:70k
4. Planning to overclock?
A:No
5. Which OS are you planning to use?
A:Windows XP or Windows 7
6. How much hard drive space is needed?
A:1 TB
7. What resolution will the screen run at & whats the size of the screen you want?
A: 23-24 inch
8. How would you rate your hardware knowledge from the count of 1-10? (1 being the lowest, 5 being you are somewhat in sync with the current performers and 10 being the highest)
A: uh, 2. Not in touch now.
9. Have you ever built a desktop before or will this be done by an assembler?
A: No, but I plan to build it this time if assembled.
10. When are you planning to buy the system?
A: Within a week or two.
11. Are you one of the types looking out for "future proof" configurations?
A: YES,
12. Are there going to be any components that you don't want to include in this new rig? If yes, do mention.
A: Speakers, DVD Burner
13. Which city do you live in and are you open to buying from shops from other city/states?
A: Vadodara. I plan to buy all the stuff through Ebay. Safe?
14. Mention any other points if deemed necessary
A: Should I wait for Radeon 6 series and buy GPU later?





So, my 4 year old PC died and I am in search of a new rig. Now the problem is that I am confused with Dell XPS 7100 or go for assembled. Below is the Dell XPS 7100 config. The only reason I want to go with Dell is because of their customer/after sale service. I have had problem with my current assembled PC. The person I bought bailed out so it becomes a problem if some component dies and I have to send for replacement. So yea, the dell config:



Build My Dell

Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit (English)
AMD Phenom™ II X6 1055T Processor (2.8GHz,9MB,6C)
McAfee® Security Center 11 (Multi Language) - 15 months
Alienware OptX™ AW2210 21.5” Full HD Widescreen Monitor
6GB (2x2GB/2x1GB) DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz Memory
1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive with Native Command Queuing
Single Drive:16X DVD+/-RW with Dual Layer Write
1GB ATI Radeon™ HD5770 Graphics
Integrated high definition 7.1 channel audio with THX® TruStudio PC™

I plan to use applications like Maya, After effects, Photoshop, etc. and games like Crysis, Far cry, POP at around 1280*1024 resolution.

Now the Dell config is costing me 65k. Now if I plan to assemble it the cost would be (ebay):

1055T - 13k
Alienware OptX AW2210 - 20k
6 GB Corsair Ram - 10k
1 TB WD HDD - 3800
ATI HD 5770 - 11k
Motherboard - 6k?
Coolmaster Elite 310 - 3k

This all would cost me around 65-66k and then a good PSU and cooling system so around 80k in all.

So which sounds better? I mean I can stretch my budget and go till 80k and buy assembled system. But I don't want to. It's crazy costly. and for 80k I can manage a 1090T and ATI 5870 in Dell. Anyone had any experience with Dell Desktop? I looked for reviews and some websites said that Dell uses 460W PSU. Would that be fine if I go with the above config?

I don't plan to add another GPU. Is 5770 a good GPU for rendering or should I go with Nvidia? Should I wait till november for ATI to roll out 6 series and then go with 5870?

[Jaskanwar Singh]

best buy assembled, it will be much better at the same price. get the parts from smc international or the itwares. mobo is available at lynx.

this will kick away the dell one priced at 80k -

Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8GHz @ 9.6k
MSI NF980-G65 @7.6k
Gskill Ripjaws 1600 Mhz 4 GB DDR3 Kit @ 6k
Zotac GTX460 1GB GDDR5 * 2 for SLI @ 28k
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB @ 4.5k
Corsair TX650W @ 6.3k
Cooler Master Elite 430 @ 2.6k
Dell UltraSharp U2311H @ 15k

Total - 79.8k

GTX 460 SLI competes with HD5970 at a VFM price. moreover it will be better one for your work. it will be better getting i7 950 at the same price next month than 1090t.

[Chirag]

^^
How is GTX 460 when compared to 5770? I mean currently I will only be able to buy 1 GPU, have to keep budget little in control. Can get another one after a year or so. Also RAM, I am planning to go for 6GB. Also the components prices are going down anytime soon? I guess I can wait for a month. If GPU prices are going down I am fine with on-board graphics for a couple of months.

[acewin]

and sure it will come out better if you assemble it so your max budget is of 80K hmm

I followed this thread for suggesting the rig

.Phenom X6 1055T - Rs10,100/-
2.MSI 890 GXM G65 - Rs.7000/-
3.G.Skill 1600Mhz "Ripjaws" 2x2gb Kit - Rs.5300/-
4.MSI GTX 470 - Rs.19,000/- ------ everyone will suggest GTX 460
5.Corsair 550Vx PSU - Rs.4800/-
6.WD Black 500Gb - Rs.3200/- ----- change to 1 TB HDD
7.NZXT Gamma - Rs.2100/-
8.Hp 22x DVD-Rw - Rs.1100/-
9.Benq G2420HD - Rs.11,300/- ----- spend your remaining bucks in buying a better monitor I suggest Dell Ultrasharp 24 inch model U2410, some may not agree with the suggestion being its price is high, but the overall design/ergonomics(tilt-swivel, rotate, it will really matter if you are really into animation designing and all) and it having better panel than normal TN panel in lower priced models.(U2410 price is some 30-31K makes me cry when the prices will come down for these kind of monitors)
Otherwise Dell G2410, I suggest it because it is a LED monitor and is good monitor.
also there is another ultrasharp model U2311, price and availability I do not know
10.Microsoft Multimedia Keyboard - Rs.500/-

---------- Post added at 09:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:26 PM ----------

I guess, someone already posted it

[rajan1311]

Originally Posted by Chirag

^^
How is GTX 460 when compared to 5770? I mean currently I will only be able to buy 1 GPU, have to keep budget little in control. Can get another one after a year or so.

In short, the GTX 460 pwns the HD 5770 in almost all benchmarks with a pretty significant margin.

[Cybertonic]

Here's my suggestion -

Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8GHz @ 10k
MSI NF980-G65 @7.6k
4*2GB Kingston/ G.Skill 1333MHz DDR3 @ 10k
MSI GTX460 1GB GDDR5 Cyclone@ 13.5k
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB @ 4.5k
Corsair TX650W @ 6.3k
Cooler Master Elite 430 @ 2.6k + 3 Fans @ 1k
BenQ G2420HD Monitor @ 12k
Logitech MX518 @ 1.5k
Logitech Multimedia @ 0.5k

Total - 69.5k

Just add another GTX 460 when your budget permits

[Sam]

acewin's config looks good. but better go with 8Gb ram. will help.

[acewin]

I copy pasted it the config made few changes . But still I will say go with 4 GB RAM, later you can buy 4 GB RAM chips to make it 4 + 8 = 12 hehe, you have 4 DIMM so why put that much RAM.
as per the RAM utilization and proccy holding your animation and computing stuff 4GB will be good I guess because some rendering will be handled by GPU and the 6 core proccy
until and unless you are getting 8 GB RAM in 2 chips of 4GB RAM, I do not think it is much of a good idea.(only place I found good price for it http://techshop.in/store/product_inf...oducts_id=5588 and http://lynx-india.com/index.php?productID=13515

[Chirag]

Thank you for all the replies. Any idea how much the same configuration will cost in December? Are prices gonna go down drastically? With the introduction of ATI 6 series, better to wait till december and then go for a 5870? Would Intel and AMD be rolling out new processors soon?

[Cybertonic]

to get two sticks for 4 GB RAM at 14k he can change the monitor to BenQ G2220HD, that is if he's willing to settle for a 22" monitor as he as specified otherwise

[acewin]

naah I will say Dell Ultrasharp is ultrabig factor and an IPS panel in 15K is a huge plus, and I do not understand need of 8GB RAM, buying a single chip of 4GB will suffice, if it would have been vista then maybe but windows 7 or XP will go good

@chirag for sure I will say yes, GPU is not intel controlled territory, so launch of 6xxx will certainly means 5xxx prices get a little lower. Even if 6xxx is not the factor they will go down. Man I love the way gpu prices come down.