Gaming $500 Computer

[playallday]

Bumpy.

So... Anyone want to reply? I've still got like 7 weeks or something until I buy this thing.

 

[sconethief]

This one is pretty nice

 

[playallday]

This one is pretty nice

That's a US site. Anyways, I can get it cheaper at newegg

!

 

[playallday]

Here's my current build.

Dell Inspiron 518, E2200 (2.2GHZ)
PC Power & Cooling Silencer Dell Upgrade PPCS500D 500W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
ASUS Radeon HD 4830 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card
16X DVD+/-RW DRIVE
6GB DDR2 SDRAM AT 800MHZ (2GB comes with the computer)
320GB SERIAL ATA II,7200 RPM,DIM,M
Dell Keyboard
Dell Mouse
Vista (64-Bit) SP1 Home PREM,
Dell E198WFP 19" Widescreen LCD
G33 Chipset
Dell Warranty ends 10/7/2009

Total: $750CA

Anything else I should change?

Also, I'm getting a few of the upgrades from the US, getting someone to order them and ship them to me is cheaper then me buying them from the Canadian site.

 

[Scorpei]

Might I suggest going 32 bit, ditching 2 gigs of the ram and spending that on a 4850? Also, the E2200 isn't the latest greatest... Assuming prices are similar to here; 500E = 500USD: you should be able to get better hardware. Assuming general costs are roughly 180E / 150 E that leaves us 350E.

4850: 130E
4gig mem (total): 28E
CPU: E7400: 120E

Now I could be miscalculating here, but this leaves (out of the 500E) 222E. Surely that is enough to buy the other components?

=================
Reading through the topic again, I can say my suggestion might be a bit tough graphics wise. Regardless though I'd stay 32bit (and go down to 4 gigs total, more then enough) and upgrade the CPU. The E2200 is pretty crippled. Also, salvaging anything you still have left is a great way to bring down costs (for example getting the casing is a great thing to leach from somewhere, same goes for HD, though that can cut performance).
---------------------edit 2-----------------------
A steal, though not sure how the warrenty works out:
(link snippeded)
But a nice price non the less!

 

[playallday]

Might I suggest going 32 bit, ditching 2 gigs of the ram and spending that on a 4850? Also, the E2200 isn't the latest greatest... Assuming prices are similar to here; 500E = 500USD: you should be able to get better hardware. Assuming general costs are roughly 180E / 150 E that leaves us 350E.

4850: 130E
4gig mem (total): 28E
CPU: E7400: 120E

Now I could be miscalculating here, but this leaves (out of the 500E) 222E. Surely that is enough to buy the other components?

=================
Reading through the topic again, I can say my suggestion might be a bit tough graphics wise. Regardless though I'd stay 32bit (and go down to 4 gigs total, more then enough) and upgrade the CPU. The E2200 is pretty crippled. Also, salvaging anything you still have left is a great way to bring down costs (for example getting the casing is a great thing to leach from somewhere, same goes for HD, though that can cut performance).
---------------------edit 2-----------------------
A steal, though not sure how the warranty works out:
(link snippeded)
But a nice price non the less!
This is a pre-built computer (it's open box, I get about 30% off), so ditching 64-Bit won't be cheaper.

Here's what the computer looks like without me upgrading anything.

QUOTEDell Inspiron 518, E2200 (2.2GHZ)
16X DVD+/-RW DRIVE
2GB DDR2 SDRAM AT 800MHZ
320GB SERIAL ATA II,7200 RPM,DIM,M
Dell USB Keyboard and mouse
Vista SP1 HOME PREM 64-Bit
DELL E198WFP Widescreen LCD, 19"
WARRANTY ENDS 10/7/2009

Cost: $500

And then I'm just buying parts and adding them.

Meh, when getting the stuff you said, it adds like $100 more of my $750CA max

.

EDIT: Also, does 1.6GHz more really matter?

 

[Joe88]

not sure why you picked that asus card
you can get the exact same card and alot cheaper with better ratings

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814102803

 

[playallday]

New build:

Dell Vostro 200 Core 2 Duo, ST, E8300 (2.83GHZ)
16X DVD+/-RW DRIVE
6GB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHZ (2GB comes with the computer)
320GB SATA, 7200RPM, 16MB CACHE
SAPPHIRE 100265L Radeon HD 4830 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card
PC Power & Cooling Silencer Dell Upgrade PPCS500D 500W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
DELL 19-IN-1 MEDIA CARD READER,VOS,ST
DELL A225 2.0 SPEAKERS
DELL PREMIUM OPTICAL USB MOUSE VOS
DELL USB ENHANCED MULTIMEDIA KEYBOARD
GENUINE WINDOWS VISTA HOME BASIC SP1 VOS
MICROSOFT OFFICE 2007 BASIC EDITION
DELL 19 INCH WIDE E198WFP Widescreen LCD LCD MONITOR
DELL FACTORY WARRANTY ENDS 8/9/2009

Cost... $950CA

.

 

[zidane_genome]

Just saw a Dell at my Walmart today, $898

Specs :

AMD QuadCore 64bit processor (couldn't find the speed)
7gig of RAM
640gig HD
22" wide/flatscreen
Vista Home Premium :yuck:

can't find it online, but I swear it was in my local store

 

[Scorpei]

Too bad you don't want to build it yourself fully, as that would save you some money

. The CPU upgrade is worth it IMHO, but again so much mem is pointless. All in all I'd ditch 64 bit even if it comes pre-installed (just make an image and keep it for whenever 64bit becomes a must) saving you 25USD on the mem. Getting stuff like this is rather pointless btw:
DELL A225 2.0 SPEAKERS
MICROSOFT OFFICE 2007 BASIC EDITION
But I assume those things come with the package...?

 

[playallday]

Too bad you don't want to build it yourself fully, as that would save you some money

. The CPU upgrade is worth it IMHO, but again so much mem is pointless. All in all I'd ditch 64 bit even if it comes pre-installed (just make an image and keep it for whenever 64bit becomes a must) saving you 25USD on the mem. Getting stuff like this is rather pointless btw:
DELL A225 2.0 SPEAKERS
MICROSOFT OFFICE 2007 BASIC EDITION
But I assume those things come with the package...?

Well, I don't mind building it myself, but it looks cheaper to get most of it pre-built.

Also, I'm not a downloader so I would have to buy Windows ($150

).

Yeah, that stuff comes with it.

@zidane_genome: $950CA is about the same as $760USD to $800USD (that rate changes a lot

). But still, that one is better for the price. What video card did it have?

 

[dr_ydm]

Raki,

I saw your post on February 16, 2009 where you inquired about the possibility of stuffing 8gb of RAM in a brand new Inspiron 518. I bought one that came with 4gb of RAM and immediately bought and put in 8gb of RAM (OCZ SLI Ready Nvidia DDR2 PC2400 800mhz).

Unfortunately, the system gave me consistent Blue Screen on Windows (both Vista and Windows XP 64 bit versions) and UBUNTU 8.10 decided to freeze on me various times.

IN addition, I scaled down to 6gb and randomized the order of the RAM ( first 4gb pair with a 2gb pair..........then 3gb pairs) and this did not work either. With 6gb it seems to boot up and work well in UBUNTU but in the Windows 64 bits......it boots up the OS but BSOD is observed when I played games like Chess Titans.

I made these observations in both mixed and FULL power settings.

Therefore, let it be known that even though the 8gb of RAM do physically fit in to the board and is recognized by BIOS.........the chipset/Operating Systems will not permit 8gb of RAM to work as desired on a ready made DELL Inspiron 518.

If you like this PC learn to live with just 4gb................or do not buy it at all.

Jesse

P.S.

I find it funny how on their ordering page they customize it to hold 6gb and/or 8gb............can someone explain how they can do this?

Must be another chipset/MOtherboard

 

[Scorpei]

Or a BIOS upgrade. You can try lowering the timings or speeds on the RAM and see if that works, upgrading the BIOS, could be a module incompatibility. Especially being able to select more RAM on the ordering page shows me that it should be possible. Creating more systems with the same name but changing the mobo is much too expensive as opposed to making 2 orderable systems I'd say.

 

[dr_ydm]

Scarpei,

I went to the DELL support web site..........I messed up ordering this Inspiron 518. Should have read this manual first. It seems they do have variants of the motherboard 518 (a)/(b)/Â/(d)


The one I bought is limited...........the one that permit the 8gb are those that come with many accessories.

They seem to be separated in the 2 motherboard types that can handle more than 4gb and those that do not.


I just wanted to come back and close the chapter on this fruitless idea of putting 8gb on ANY DELL Inspiron 518.


Peace,

Jesse

 

[Pyrofyr]

4GB is more tha enough for Vista 64-bit. 6/8GB is just overkill, unless you're OCing really.

 

[Joe88]

Forget about OCing, especially with Intel PCs.

why?

 

[Scorpei]

4GB is more tha enough for Vista 64-bit. 6/8GB is just overkill, unless you're OCing really.

4 gig is enough yes however the second part isn't true

. If you are OCing you want the least amount of RAM, that is to say the least amount of fysical memory banks/strips/whatever. That is because the more you have the higher the chance that one of them will be pulling down your overclock (the higher the chances that one of the banks is incapable of the increased speed due to the overclock and thus resulting in you having to lower your settings).

An example, I have 6 gigs installed consisting of 2x1 and 2x2. At first I only had the 2x1 installed which allowed me to go up to 900MHz (4-4-4-12) on RAM (800 stock) at least on stock voltages. When I installed the 2x2 in there the system failed to boot, resulting in me setting the ram to 750MHz (the other option on my motherboard when keeping the CPU overclock the same) @ 4-4-3-10 (if my memory serves me, haven't been at my system for a while

) @ 1.8V (which is nice).

 

[Pyrofyr]

Hmm, I haven't heard of anyone I know having that problem with overclocking at all..

I know about less physical banks being used being better, but not 'more', for instance having 2GBx4 would be worse than having 4GBx2.

 

[Joe88]

yes
because the more ram sticks you have the more voltage it requires and limits the overclocking of the CPU

 

[Scorpei]

Hmm, I haven't heard of anyone I know having that problem with overclocking at all..

I know about less physical banks being used being better, but not 'more', for instance having 2GBx4 would be worse than having 4GBx2.

The slowest module is the speed deciding one. Like in my example one of my 2 gigabyte sticks simply is unable to run at 900MHz, 4-4-4-12 @ 2.2V which means that ALL of my other modules have to be set slower too eventhough they are capable of running faster.

Having 2GBx4 is not worse then having 4GBx2, however in the first case 3 sticks are being held back by one where as in the second case 1 is being held back by one. Naturally there is always the chance that the 4GBx2 option runs slower then the 2GBx4 option if the 2GB banks are simply better then the worst 4GBx2. Overclocking your memory, as any other overclock, also has a luck factor in there, as you are going outside of the specs of the hardware used.

My main point however on your post was that you stated that when OC-ing more memory becomes usefull, I however beg to differ due to both the need for more memory modules used and the fact that overclocking your CPU doesn't make it require more memory to run something.