>I've priced the Dell Gen4 several times in the past month. >Each time, the price comes out less than $2000 and that's>decked out for extreme performance. I've also priced the same>components at zipzoomfly and found the price to be around>$1700. No way in hates anyone will save a grand building it>yourself with the same quality components. You end up saving>around $300. Same with Alienware. About a $300 savings>building yourself. Not worth it in my book. Buy the Dell>Gen4 and enjoy and computer that'll work out of the box>without any headaches.The thing is they don

I gotta agree with Par on this one boys. The components, cases, power supplies and often the motherboards are not what you can call quality parts. Buying a new mobo, memory and cpu to go with it are easy ways to almost totally upgrade a system. Couple that with a quality, roomy case with a beefy power supply and good cooling and you already have surpassed the Dell standards. I have found thier systems to be woefully lacking in the cooling department in the last year or so. ( I get one for the family every year and a half or so) I am on my third motherboard in this case Im currently using and it DOES make a difference. I can usually have what amounts to almost a totally new computer each year by buying the latest technology motherboard, a CPU once removed from top of the line(like a 3.2GHZ P4) and new memory to go with it. I then recycle stuff that can be recycled and upgrade the video and sound when I choose to WHAT I WANT.It cost me about 500$ US a year to do the system and whatever a video card cost each year. My boxes always run better than the Dell I buy for the family. While Dell makes decent systems, they dont appraoch what you can do yourself for the money. If you dont like the hassle(there really is little with windows these days) then buy one, but you can do better yourself and usually get the ability to tweak and overclock a lot of things due to better motherboards and bios not found on the proprietary systems. Just my two cents! :)Hornit

I had a Dell for years but got rid of it and bought a Velocity Micro computer and it works much better. The best part is for a total cost of 99 dollars, I can ship it back to them in Virginia and they will upgrade anything I want for the above mentioned 99 dollars and cost of parts. Try that with a Dell. Oh and with a Dell if you have a problem, you will get someone in another country with a thick accent that you cannot understand reading from a tech script. If your problem is not on their script....your screwed. Many many people have given Dell hell over their outsourcing of tech support.

I don't think this is the thread the original poster wanted, but still.Maybe this is national thing, perhaps in the US service, pricing and availability are better as in most other things.In the UK, I had a big disappointment when I tried to upgrade my old Dell, which I thought would be a cheap route than buying a complete new computer. Dell had a apparently used non-standard pieces which prevented upgrading at a sensible cost.I vowed not to buy another Dell, but as I'm not a techie and could all-but guarantee I'd end up frying some expensive part if I tried self-build, I looked for somebody to build to my spec.It's impossible. None call you back or return emails. Some want cash with order, no credit cards. I don't think so. The savings you might make if you could get somebody interested are mostly because you can avoid buying a new keyboard, screen etc, which is OK, but isn't the same as getting the bits you do want more cheaply.In the end, I ended up getting yet another Dell, more or less on impulse from their Stockroom. That way, I didn't need to buy a bundle with a screen, speakers etc anyway.As usual, delivered efficiently, worked from the box first time and, touch wood, no problems at all since.So, I tried, but ended up with yet another Dell.Maybe those of you pricing in $ are just lucky to benefit from efficient US markets!

I'll never buy another computer for gaming purposes.I own several Dell's in my shop and they work just fine. But I hate all the junk most builders load on the hard drive. I want the software I want, and not all the stuff they think I should have.I agree with Par about performance for gaming... the only way to get the best performance is to build your own. Only then can you spec it exactly as you want it and without garbage software.Greg

Don't forget that Dell is giving you a 100% legal copy of Windows XP as well- If you already own it, then yes you can save $300 by installing your copy- but to be legal, you can only have it on one computer. That's entirely up to you. I use an MSDN "Action Pack" version- which is legal for me- 10 copies actually. BTW, one of the things the Microsoft "Action Pack"- available to MCSEs gives you- is basically a single edition of MSDN containing every program and OS they make- for $300. Of course there are other ways to get them, but that really depends on your wallet and moral character. Naturally, Dell has to sell it to you. Can you buy a Dell workstation with no OS? Not sure- I know you can buy the servers with no OS.I can tell you first hand that building a system can be a complete f*ing nightmare. I've had bad memory, and bad CPUs show up. Most of the time, these fly-by-night resellers won't do squat about it either.But, if you know what you are doing, and use a reseller like Newegg.com, you can build an amazing machine for less than that Dell.The Dell is a good machine, and they offer tech support. It is nice to make somebody else troubleshoot it and fix it for you.I can't say to go either way- To me, it sounds like you don't want to have to do the grunt work, and research, so the Dell might be the way to go.I would certainly look at Alienware also however.

I have to agree with almost everyone here in that Dell is good but certainly not great. I've had my Dell PC for two years and I haven't had many problems.But after trying to play FS9 and attempting some suggested tweaks, it started to get frustrating knowing that the BIOS is locked and the PSU that was shipped is 250watts so I'd have to upgrade it inorder to get a new Video card. Also their tech support, although it is present, it is poor. Goes strictly by scripts and its hard to communicate with them (ie; Asking me to check whether my power cable is plugged into the PSU when I asked if there is anyway around the locked BIOS! Now that is ridiculous I'd say).But maybe the XPS comes with better parts and better (customized) support compared to their standard Dimension?

"Don't forget that Dell is giving you a 100% legal copy of Windows XP as well..."Is Dell shipping their systems with an XP disc now? If so, I commend them. If not, then their customers are paying for a copy of Windows but not receiving it (Recovery Discs don't count).It would be nice to see the computer assemblers actually ship their product with the discs of the software they install.Cheers,Greg