My Bitchin PC Has Arrived!

[gekko]

:banana:

OMG, I got it today. Sweet ass 2.53 ghz P4, 533mhz FSB, USB 2.0 :eek:

I'll give you some impressions later, but what's surprised me so far is that it actually runs. I dunno, Windows and running doesn't go in the same sentence too often without the word not in there.

Anyway, XP's new start menu sucks. Just thought you guys might care :)

[gekko]

Next thing worth mentioning so far, give Alienware credit for not having any proprietary hardware. They included every single manual and disc for everything. The motherboard, the DVD drive, the CD-RW drive, all the cables they didn't use, etc. I mean, motherboard instruction manual? Never expected them to give me that.

It all runs perfectly fine. Haven't done many tests with games yet, because I need to install them. But as of now, if you were looking to get a new computer, PC hating Mac fanboy says Alienware.

[Joeiss]

Sounds sweet. I wish I had a new computer.


Test out some games!!! What graphics card do you have, BTW?

[gekko]

GeForce 4 Ti 4400, cause the 4600 is $95 more, and I'm planning to upgrade to the ATI R300 or GeForce5.

[gekko]

Case: Dragon Full-Tower Case (340-Watt PS) (Saucer Silver)
Processor: Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 2.53GHz 533MHz FSB w/
512KB Cache
Memory: 512MB RDRAM PC-1066
Keyboard: 107-Enhanced Windows Keyboard (Saucer Silver)
First Hard Drive: 80GB Seagate Barracuda ATA IV 7200RPM 2MB Cache
Monitor: NEC 19" FE950+ MultiSync Flat CRT (Saucer Silver)
Video Card: NVIDIA® GeForce4 Ti 4400 w/128MB Dual Monitor
Video Cooling: KoolMaxx Video Cooling System (Standard Chrome)
Sound Card: SoundBlaster Audigy 5.1 Gamer
DVD-ROM: 16X /48X IDE DVD-ROM Drive w/Software MPEG-2 Decoder
CD-RW: PlexWriter 40X/12X/40X CD-RW - IDE - White
Ethernet NIC: Intel® PRO/100 S Desktop Adapter
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional

That's from the invoice. Also got Logitech Z-560 speakers.

[Jason1]

Wow, sounds impressive! but wait til I get a new computer in maybe 8 or 10 months! It will blow that away!

[manasecret]

I'm buying a PC soon (sorry Apple!) and I haven't found a clear answer from Tom's Hardware whether I should buy RDRAM or DDRAM. Any opinions? And which motherboard do you have? Because I didn't know P4 compatible mobos supported the 1066 RDRAM.

THanks.

db

[gekko]

Intel just released new motherboards. They have a 533mhz FSB, USB 2.0 support, and support for PC-1033 RAM. They were announced a few weeks ago, I just got mine today with 3-day shipping, so basically, you probably haven't seen any yet.

Anandtech has some articles on it.

[Cyrax9]

My PC is going back to Alienware tommorrow morning for repairs, I'll be without it for a month starting tomorrow, then I'll ahve to reload my software.

As for getting all of those "freebies" such as your MoBo manual, I have mine as well, I have the info on how to install and remove my CD Burner and DVD-ROM drive and a bunch of cables, they all came in a white box with a post-it note on it and I like that meathod, I have all of my extra cables together, I've used some of them when one was defective, and I truly love their kick-@$$ cases.

I am surprised to hear the words "Windows" and "Works" in the same sentance without the words "Does Not" in the sentance as well, also Alienware usually Overclocks your stuff a little so you dont have too.

If You're like me, you'll enjoy their custom Desktops, something that hasn't been included on an M$ system since my 486 was bought 10 years ago, once Winblows 95 came out, everything wsa on a "Blue Screen", that is until Alienware gave me some cool desktops.

Keep in mind my PC was bought in August of 2001, but it's similar to Gekko's PC with the exception that Gekko's has some obvious upgrades and the disgusting Windows XP, I don't have USB 2.0 Alienware Just started using it, I have "older' RDRAM, and my FSB unit is 450MHz, but it works fine for me.

Also I have a "Free" Dragon case upgrade, from before they started stamping the word "ALIENWARE" on the side, they started that about a month after I reciveed mine. I might evenutally buy a Nova Yellow Monitor, but right now I need my Tower repaired, they have a Nice note on the side of the tower itself that says "Re-install Windows ME, DO NOT Under ANY Circumstances install Windows XP!!!" this was done because I have non-XP compatible games that I still play, and that play on Windows ME just fine.

I know Windows ME ain't the Best OS, but hey, it ain't windows 95 either eh?

I hate XP with a passion and refuse to touch it, I was in CompUSA Today and wanted to puke at the XP systems.

Also you might want to see what "chocke" software Alienware threw in, my PC came standar with WinZip, no otherr PC manufaturer does that. It was a Trail version of course, so I di buy it eventually because I used it too much to be without it, I have an Old WinZip Self-Extractor on this PC, but I don't Zip too many files on here. Also my Alienware Machine came with the "fUnc" Mousepad which is becoming harder to get from them, as well as the standard "Custom instruction manual", which I love.

Gekko, Alienware is the last PC company I will ever trust, which is why I'll be getting a Mac next Time, or building a Linux Box, and eventually I'll add more upgrades to my AlienWare Machine.

As for XP's start menu, what did you expect, a Mac GUI? I don't even Like the Win 9x Start Menu, I prefer Icons that actually opened into "Windows" and not a cheap-@$$ attempt at a Mac OS that is deciving in the way it looks such as Windows 95 et al.

[manasecret]

I got the motherboard box full of all the drivers, software, and cables and such with my PC, too. Yeah, it's definitely nice, but I don't think it's anything special as long as you don't buy from Dell or whoever.

gekko, is there a name for the motherboard? Is it 845E something?

db

[gekko]

850E I believe. Let me do some searching, I'll get back to you. Just gotta find the article again.

Edit: Well looking at the manual, it's for the D850EMD2 and D850EMV2. So 850E seems like a good choice.

I believe the 845E is for the < 2.53ghz chips.

[gekko]

Ok, here's some articles if you care to read them:

850E: http://www.anandtech.com/cpu/showdoc.html?i=1615&p=1

845E and 845G: http://www.anandtech.com/chipsets/showdoc.html?i=1624&p=1

[The_Dunadan]

i used to hate xp's start menu too. i had it put on the classic start menu(if you didn't know you can do this, you can; its somewhere in themes or something and start menu/taskbar stuff). but then i realized that they aren't going to change it and i might as well get used to is so i have and now i love it. i have my most used progs on the top, then some well used ones at the bottom, my computer and my documents on the side, and any programs if you just click; i can access all those without minimizing the screen. thats why i like it.

[Revival]

Ya, the Start Bar combined with the Quick Launch toolbar, and my Desktop toolbar, I have everything I need, and I never need to minimize anything.

[manasecret]

Originally posted by gekko
Ok, here's some articles if you care to read them:

850E: http://www.anandtech.com/cpu/showdoc.html?i=1615&p=1

845E and 845G: http://www.anandtech.com/chipsets/showdoc.html?i=1624&p=1

I appreciate the help. :cool:

I think I know what I want now. It looks like the Intel i850E motherboard doesn't "officially" support PC1066 RDRAM (only PC800), but it essentially has no problem running the RDRAM at that speed. Funny, it also says the older i850 boards only supports 400 FSB, yet most i850 boards will work just fine at 533 FSB just it's also not "officially" supported. In fact, the i850E board is hardly changed at all from the i850, the 533FSB is just official now with a few minor changes to make sure the 533FSB works.

I think that's what Tom's Hardware was trying to tell me, but they didn't make it nearly as clear.

Anyway, so I think what I'm going to get are these:
Intel i850E motherboard
PC800 RDRAM
And then simply overclock the PC800 RDRAM to PC1066. AnandTech said the new Samsung PC800 RDRAM units works just fine for that, so I'll trust them.

Now I need to know how to overclock memory. Is it in the BIOS? I'll look...

Thanks again. :)

db

[Cyrax9]

I'm running a 1.7GHz P4 on my "now sent for repairs" AlienWare PC, and it's running the DGB850 board, it's another Intel board, but it makes you wonder why they'd call the "new" boards D850E instead of changing the number from 850 to 851 or 950,I guess it's just eaiser and more confusing to change the letter.

[manasecret]

Originally posted by Cyrax9
I'm running a 1.7GHz P4 on my "now sent for repairs" AlienWare PC, and it's running the DGB850 board, it's another Intel board, but it makes you wonder why they'd call the "new" boards D850E instead of changing the number from 850 to 851 or 950,I guess it's just eaiser and more confusing to change the letter.

Yeah, really... sounds "Intelish" like Tom's Hardware said. ;)

About overclocking the memory, I looked in my BIOS and I didn't see anything obvious that allowed me to change it. I also searched "overclocking" and "overclock" and "overclocking memory" at Download.com, and I couldn't find any programs.

Anyone know how to overclock memory? Maybe the newer motherboards allow you to do it from their BIOS? Any help? :help: :distress:

db