Say a prayer for me please...

[Rainbow Man]

I'm about to shut down my current system and replace it with this monster.

I've only peeked inside it for now. The case is almost unbelievably heavy! No wonder it weighs so much when just the side panel is 3mm thick (2mm alu skin + steel plate backing inside). There's also four fans (!) in it so I'm a little worried about noise...

It's obvious though just from looking at it that the system is very solid. The graphics cards are secured in no less than four places for example. Even a minor detail lie the SLI bridge is strapped down tight. Gaming is going to be so awesome!

Slight problem on thehorizon:
My UPS is too weak (500VA only). So no protection until I can get a stronger unit. Recommendations?

Also: I'll have to crawl around on all fours cleaning out the rat's nest that is the pile of cables behind my current system... That's giving me a headache just thinking about it...!

Not to mention reinstalling all my softyware. Bleh! I just go tsupreme commander patched up fully and now I have to do it all over again!
Peace.

 

[Rainbow Man]

Up and runnong now on a basic level. Nothing is configured the way I want heh.. No prohgrams installed other thn the usual retail-bought PC junkware.

Noise isn't THAT bad during general use. Not sure what happens when the CPU gets loaded.. I guess I have to put up some sound insulation inside if it gets bad.

Exciting exciting!

Peace.

 

[Albuquerque]

Being watercooled, I don't understand why it's not almost entirely dead-silent. Unless they're doing a pretty crappy job...

 

[Skrying]

Being watercooled, I don't understand why it's not almost entirely dead-silent. Unless they're doing a pretty crappy job...

Probably are. The rig reviewed by HardOCP did not look good at all considering the price. They probably use very thin tubing and I imagine a single fan. It certainly wasn't done in the typical fashion, and instead optimized for quick assembly and not performance. You can see images of the "handy work" here.

Can't say I support your purchase decision. At the price you payed you could have purchased a much better built system from a company that would have appreciated your purchase so much more. Truly its a travesty that people buy high end rigs from a company like Dell, you're just another drop in the bucket to them, larger but still incredibly small and pointless.

 

[nintenho]

If it's pre-assembled you should probably format the hard drive and do a clean install because there might be bloatware.

 

[Rainbow Man]

Unless they're doing a pretty crappy job...

There are (much) better water coolers out there. But I got the rig for the chassis and the performance. Not because it was watercooled per se. The cooler's no louder than an aircooler and it's more efficient.

Can't say I support your purchase decision. At the price you payed you could have purchased a much better built system from a company that would have appreciated your purchase so much more.

Oh and what company would have showered me with flowers and kisses for buying a PC from them? The thing is that this IS a really REALLY powerful system. 3.4GHz quadcore and SLI GTXes...you don't get all that much better stuff right now so of course it's going to be expensive no matter where it's bought from.

Actually I don't know anyhwere else but alienware where I CAN get a rig of somehting on this level and guess waht! Dell owns them too. And I like the design of this system better than Alienware's.

Of course I could have bought everything separately..tinkering and puttering and assembled it myself..I'd have to get fifteen different warranties from as many retailers and any OCing I do would be completely unsupported. Andf the case would have been much less impressive.

Truly its a travesty that people buy high end rigs from a company like Dell, you're just another drop in the bucket to them, larger but still incredibly small and pointless.

Oooh a travesty! I like how dramatic you make it sound! Hehe.

Nobody's an altruist in this business. You wouldn't have to pay upwards of $600 per graphics card otherwise.

The thing is my previous two dells have both worked really well. Much more stable and reliable than any of the self-built systems I had in the past. This IS a good PC. But because it say sDell on the front of it some people have a hard time accepting that.

So it's not cheap. I know that and to use a corny expression it was a price I was willing to pay to get a badass rig without having to faff around too much with ordering and assembling.

But I did get a T-shirt for free that says XPS on it with embossed letters heh. You can't beat that!

As for performance..well it runs HL2 beautifully. I wated to test WoW too but after installing the game and the expansion it refuses to patch itself up for some reason.

Oh and I think I hate windows vista. They moved everything around and I can't find stuff anymore.

Peace.

 

[Albuquerque]

While I can't really agree with Skyring regarding your money expenditure being "better" at another vendor, I do agree that you could have purchased considerably more equipment for the pricetag by doing your own job.

However, to your point, you'd have 15 different warranties through 10 different places and you still wouldn't have the "full package" like you do now - especially the T-Shirt

I'm a supporter of Dell; they've never done me wrong. If I had the cash and didn't want to spend the time, I'd purchase one of their XPS line without thinking twice. They are essentially the ONLY "top-of-the-enthusiast-line" OEM builder that I know of, especially now since they've purchased Alienware.

Anyway, I'm sure it's a beast of a box, and it will perform admirably in probably any game you throw at it for the next few years. Enjoy

Oh, and I know it's a true travesty, but if you have problems in Vista finding stuff -- use the (gasp!) help function. I know, I know, what the hell am I saying right? But really, the help function in Vista is f'ing awesome, you type in "change resolution" (as an example) and not only does it give you explicit step by step instructions, but it will also give you a cool hyperlink to jump exactly where you need to be.

That's completely contrary to all of our dont-read-the-instructions, dont-ask-for-help, never-look-at-the-map manly upbringing, so I know you won't use it -- just like I never do.

 

[Rainbow Man]

I do agree that you could have purchased considerably more equipment for the pricetag by doing your own job.

Perhaps.. Not that I exactly FEAR doing things myself (I've built several PCs in the past) but this is SO much more convenient. I order i tand it arrives a week later by courier.

Whereas selfbuilt I order this ffrom here and that from there and these things comes from over there and those things wweren't in stock and might come in next week.. You know the drill.

In the end I'll end up sitting with everything except I got the wrong mobo a dent in the casing and the power supply was supposed to have been delivered three days ago. Whereas with the dell I'm just humming along spending my time installing new stuff and enjoying myself.

They are essentially the ONLY "top-of-the-enthusiast-line" OEM builder that I know of, especially now since they've purchased Alienware.

There is falcon northwest too I think. Or did alienware buy them before they sold out to dell? Anyway I don't know anything about their systems and I don't know if they would even ship to where I live.

if you have problems in Vista finding stuff -- use the (gasp!) help function.

it EMBARRASSES me to admit this but I AM!!! *weeps*

I couldn't find the blasted add/remove programs control panel appelt and had to resort to the help function last night.

And the roblem isn't that the help function can't help me find what I'm looking for - because it CAN. It's found several things for me alreasdy. But the problem is I have to USE IT in the first place!

Why do they have to change things that there's absolutely no reason to change? I just don't get it.

Also I can't seem it to configure my folders the way I want them either. It won't actually SHOW file sizes even though it lets me sort the contents according to size. It's driving me bonkers. I also can't get rid of the "favorite links" crap on the left side.

WHOSE favorite links? I don't want them. Shoo, scoot! Go away with you stupid links. But they won't.. They just sit there taunting me and occupying screen estate.

Peace.

 

[Albuquerque]

My folders are all about "details view", which carried over pretty much the same way from XP. As for the favorite links pane? You gave me quite the chuckle there! I never really thought about it that way; I hated that pane in XP but in Vista they don't seem quite so unrelated.

And since the favorite links really only show up in "key" system windows, like the control panel and stuff like that, they generally don't bug me. I still have problems trying to figure out where my bluetooth PAN connection link/icon/thingie is from time to time; there really are some oddly placed items in Vista.

Still, generally speaking, Vista has been good for me. I've upgraded both my laptop and "game rig" to Vista from XP, and they've both performed better in Vista.

 

[Malo]

Very nice, but with that kind of money I would have gone for a do-it-yourself setup and installed something like a Black Pearl configuration

 

[nutball]

Very nice, but with that kind of money I would have gone for a do-it-yourself setup and installed something like a Black Pearl configuration

Me, I'd have bought myself one of these and gone out into the outside world to enjoy it. But hey, we all make our own personal choices about how we waste our own money on non-essentials.

 

[Malo]

Me, I'd have bought myself one of these and gone out into the outside world to enjoy it. But hey, we all make our own personal choices about how we waste our own money on non-essentials.

Well there are several things I'd rather spend that kind of money on, but we were talking about water cooled computers, not boys toys in general

 

[Rainbow Man]

Camera lenses are cool I agree! But computers are a liiiittle more versatile IMO heh.

If it's raining and generally $£!# weather like it's here right now there'd be noi point in owning that lens. Perfect for sitting couped up indorrs fiddling with a computer howerver!

Btw anyone have a foolproof way of setting up a home network that WORKS reliably? I always have problems getting feckin windws to see other computers and if it even works at all I have to search on the computer's name to find it.

I'd like to be able to access my other 2 PCs in a way that won't make me throw curses in the general direction of bill gates heh. They'd all be sitting on the same router I might add. One via wifi and the other wired connection most likely depending on how I set it up.

Peace.

 

[SugarCoat]

Being watercooled, I don't understand why it's not almost entirely dead-silent. Unless they're doing a pretty crappy job...

mostly the PSU fan but a watercooled PC requires at least a couple chassis fans to work at its best, and obviously a fan for the radiator. After all a watercool pc only runs as warm/cool as the liquid which is heavily influenced by the atmosphere around it unless you go to TEC.

 

[Skrying]

There are several boutique vendors you could purchase systems from. Voodoo is high quality and their system would have been much better built for instance and would have used parts you could easily find (looking inside it appears ever upgrading say the graphics card in that system would be a major pain in the ass) and adjust your self. There are also companies like Maingear and Pugent who are smaller and have very personal tech support.

I must admit, my background at a similar business (but smaller) does tend to make me a bit angry at large OEMs. It gets tiring when people buy these systems then bring them to us to repair, when we told them not two months ago to buy a better system for less from us. Working inside OEM systems are simply a pain, they are designed strictly with quick assembly in mind, done in a progression and therefore when you take one apart it can cause serious waste of time. A normal computer case however that you buy at say Newegg is designed to be built into and worked on, vastly different and much more friendly to the person who might have to repair it later on. But alas, I guess as long as you're happy with it, that's what counts.

In Vista to change various details about the file view and layout you want to click on Organize in the top left portion of the window. As stated the Help function in Vista is vastly improved and makes life a lot easier to someone getting use to it. Just keep in mind that about the weirdest area I've found is the Control Panel. A lot of the organization there doesn't make sense to me and you might want to switch to the classic view if you have trouble finding something.

 

[Albuquerque]

mostly the PSU fan but a watercooled PC requires at least a couple chassis fans to work at its best, and obviously a fan for the radiator. After all a watercool pc only runs as warm/cool as the liquid which is heavily influenced by the atmosphere around it unless you go to TEC.

Personally owning a watercooled computer, I can say that case fans are essentially unneeded unless you're doing a hybrid water/air cooling setup. CPU block + GPU block + 280mm rad + 2 x 120mm fans at 7v = done. The only other fans I have in my case are my little 40mm northbridge fan and the 140mm fan in my PSU. The NB fan is inaudible mostly due to location (waaayy in side the case) and the PSU fan is so huge that it never gets fast enough to hear even under uber-load. (600W active PFC modular unit, powering an s478 3.0Ghz Prescott at 4.2ghz under 1.6v)

The only noise my PC really makes is the slight 60hz hum from the water pump, a bit of 7200RPM drive whine, and the occasional (but very quiet) air sound of a spinning CD or DVD.

 

[Rainbow Man]

There are several boutique vendors you could purchase systems from.

*Shrug* Alright. Well I wanted THIS system.

looking inside it appears ever upgrading say the graphics card in that system would be a major pain in the ass

Nah, I pulled out both of 'em almost first thing I did. Never saw a 8800 up close and personal before. it's not hard to get access to em. The case is so huge it's not anywhere cramped even with the rather giant cooler thing in the midsection.

Besides all the cables are already routed for me so there's really no work that remains to be done to prepare for a gfx car dswapout.. You just loosen the bracket that holds the 2 cards and SLI bridge in place and unpop the 4 plastic tabs at the rear bracket (very quick and easy unlike what you'd see even with thumbscrews). Then pushthe plastic tab securing the card at the front aside and pull it card right out.

Working inside OEM systems are simply a pain, they are designed strictly with quick assembly in mind, done in a progression and therefore when you take one apart it can cause serious waste of time.

Well I can only speak for myself but I never felt that with my prevuious two Dells. Working in the second in particular was vastly more comfortable than any other PC case I'd ever seen prior. Only time you ever even needed a screwdriver was to secure the optical drives and that's not something I do every day to put it mildly.

A normal computer case however that you buy at say Newegg is designed to be built into and worked on, vastly different and much more friendly to the person who might have to repair it later on.

Blech! A normal computer case is in general cheap and tacky looking with badly fitting plastic details (often chromed making it look cheaper still) with poorly designed LED light jobbies to make it look "cool" and "modded" and rough metal edges inside and little to no regard to proper cable routing etc. Not very tool-less design either with primitive drive cages where drives have to be screwed down etc.

I'm sure there are some great cases out there (lian lis for example do look awesome but costs accordingly of course). I'm talking your average joe type of PC case here. They almost universally SUCK.

Mine on the other hand..To put it bluntly I've never ever seen a case as solid-looking and feeling as this one. It really is a beauty both inside and out.

Of course it's Dell proprietary mobo and cooler and PSU so nobody's gonna start replacing stuff left and right. Power connectors may be standard but the form factor isn't. It's taller and deeper. Probably for the best. More room for components to breathe that way it is a 1kilowatt unit after all. Don't think I even NEED to upgrade it...

But alas, I guess as long as you're happy with it, that's what counts.

Oh yes. Runs WoW at 250FPS with everything turned up to max and 1980*1200 res.

Just keep in mind that about the weirdest area I've found is the Control Panel. A lot of the organization there doesn't make sense to me and you might want to switch to the classic view

Oh god it makes me so happy hearing you say that because the CP confused the heck out of me fisrt time I looked at it. Switching back to classic took only about 5 seconds. What a MESS they did with that one!


Peace.

 

[Skrying]

I really don't think you're looking at the right cases. You're cooling at cheap trash, or pre-mods that a lot of stupid people own, yes I consider you stupid for owning a trashy pre-mod case. *Some sarcasm needed*

Anyway, look at Lian-Li, Silverstone, some Antec's, for cases that are very classy and well made.

Also, Dell is actually one of the best at designing cases to work in when it comes to OEM. HP and Compaq are by far the worst in my experience.

 

[SugarCoat]

Of course it's Dell proprietary mobo and cooler and PSU so nobody's gonna start replacing stuff left and right. Power connectors may be standard but the form factor isn't. It's taller and deeper. Probably for the best. More room for components to breathe that way it is a 1kilowatt unit after all. Don't think I even NEED to upgrade it...

They stopped using proprietary components years ago, even longer on the XPS models. There should be no issue with putting a ATX form factor motherboard or psu into that case.

 

[Albuquerque]

I can definitely speak to the PSU's in Dell equipment being "standard" ATX components, so long as you're not using one of their mini-atx formfactor cases. Those are obviously more proprietary to fit the slim size...

I've also never had any complaints about Dell cases in any of their business-class line. My company has used them for about the last four years now for desktop PCs, mainly for their small form factor stuff. We've gone through GX260, GX270, GX280, GX620 and now we're on the 745. Cases are cake to open, everything inside is modular and tool-less, and everything comes apart with appalling speed -- but isn't "flimsy" in the least. Even the DVDRW drives "snap in"...

As for "cheap cases", I guess you get what you pay for. I've got a ThermalTake Armor case (full tower) and it's pure badassery. I spent a bill and some change, but it's the best damned case I've ever owned.