Been out of the build-it-yourself for a couple of years now (happy with current kit), but time to come back and investigate.

So looking at the Dimension 9300 from
Find a Notebook, Desktop, Server, Printer, Software, Service or Monitor at Dell.

....is that a great deal and you'll never build the equivalent cheaper...

...or is it not actually that good VFM and you could BIY something better.

If so, what's the best eBuyer etc mix'n'match components to get these days...

TIA
Martin

 

Dell Special Offers, Cheapest Deals, E-Value Codes and Discount Coupons | dmXdimension

lists those e-codes for dell deals

 

The dell is a good deal but i love a good build.

I built this a couple of weeks ago.

Intel Q6600 2.4GHz (quad core)
4gb Corsair xms2 RAM
2 x 500gb Hard drives (raid 1)
Abit IP-35 Motherboard
Geforce 8800GTS 640mb
Corsair 520w HX Whisper
Antec P182 case
Vista Ultimate
DVD writer
2x 22" samsung monitors

for around £1500
That was for 3D development, gaming etc..
Its silent running and very subtle with that particular case.

Now..to meet dells spec

with one montor (-£240)
one hard drive (-65)
vista premium (-40)
Basic Graphics card (-£180) middle of the road graphics (-100)
2gb of RAM (-£50)

You should be able to build a great pc for around £900 - £950 with other little savings like the overclocking motherboard etc..

That would meet the higher spec dell(£850 one from that page).

You also get 3 - 5 years warranty on most parts and lifetime on others.

 

Good spec there Mike Thanks for the reply.

Might be a bit too high end, but I'll certainly investigate some of the components.

Any more views?
Martin

 

I'd build personally. The dell machines are good and robust, but some of them can be a nightmare to upgrade in the future due to the custom cases, shaped power supplies etc that they often use.

 

What about a nice little Shuttle barebones system you can build yourself - with plenty of hi-tech in it (quad core board, etc)

Shuttle Europe - Home

 

I went for a decent rebuild, bought the following parts a couple of weeks back
Intel Q6600 quad core cpu (170 quid)
Asus P5KC mobo (intel P35 chipset ddr2/3 compatable) (88ish quid)
Tagan 600w PSU (85 quid but probably the best psu money can buy )
Coolermaster Wavemaster case (comes with 3 80mm fans fitted) 90 quid.
Came to about 430ish quid all in.
Now some corsair 6400 800mhz memory (2gb) is 88 quid.
HDD, well 50 quid tops nowerdays.
Graphics card... depends on what you want but top of the range can be had for about 350 quid.
Sound card for about 60 quid for a decent one
120 quid for a 19 inch flat screen monitor.
23 quid for a LG read writer DVD (always nice to have a couple in there )
7 in 1 Multi card reader and floppy drive (20ish quid)
Total cost would be around 1200, but realistically, as Mike says, 8-900 quid is enough for a decent system

Tony

 

The only thing that puts me off Dell is the junk they supply installed on it: the PC runs sooo slow and can be unstable (well lets call it Vista bugs ). And you can't do a thing about it as all you have is a restore disc.

If Dell could supply a system with no OS, or just the bare basic OEM os installation, I'd go for it. Otherwise, to have a decent system speedwise, one has to buy a standalone OEM copy of Windows thus adding another £70odd to the cost.

(well, Dell "can" supply clean PCs without the junk, but only to big companies )

 

Last home build was a Shuttle (SN95G) and it's still going very well...

What's the current best high'ish end Shuttle to get?

Must admit that the Vista part of the Dell is a bit of a turn off

 

If you phone Dell once you have specced your machine you can knock a few quid off and have it supplied with XP

 

buy it under the small business range and you get xp pro as an option from dell. ive bought 2 laptops now form dell with xp. i dont want that vista crap

 

Interesting...thanks....