Be Excellent To Each Other

I've had some pc troubles of late. Nothing major, but highly irritating none the less.

Basically I have tried to make one PC do everything. And I mean everything. Can't be naffed to explain it all now but my one keeps falling over..

So, I decided to get a cheap rig for gaming, as that was what was causing the problems.

One example of said problems. FO3 was jerking terribly when I got it. To fix it you needed to dereg all your video codecs and install some one or another it wanted. Did that, and ever since my DVD codecs and such do not work in Media center, no matter how many times I reinstall them.

Any way. So last Saturday I was annoyed at my PC as it was up to it's old tricks (even a dual boot couldn't rescue it) and I went on ebay to look and have a see what was out there.

I came accross a seller selling Alienware PC's for peanuts, and I mean, peanuts. I did my homework, went all through their feedback and was confident in them, so I bought what was described as (not even a single pic).

"Alienware GREEN CASE"

2.6ghz Core 2 Duo.
Nvidia 680 SLI motherboard
Nvidia 8600GTS 512mb graphics
1gb ram
Media reader
Sound blaster X-fi premium 7.1 sound card.

It seemed perfect. Before anyone tells me the graphics aint up to much any more, or that the ram isn't enough don't sweat it. In my house I have 3 PCs.

So, Im going to swap the ram for another PC (the one downstairs) and it'll then have 3gb. I'm going to swap the 8600GTS into here (this one is for media center and photoshop and Borland Delphi ETC) and stick my 9800 GTX in the new one, and get another one soon and SLI (ordered the bridge).

OK, the Alienware I just got was 270 pounds. Fuck all really even if they didn't make it sound exciting..

Now, some of you will remember that I already have a Alienware (it's a server model not avail here in the UK) and am a big fan of their stuff (for reasons I will explain later). I have always wanted the one that looks like the predators bellend, even though I love my MJ12..
As you know, I had problems with Paypal over the weekend and even though it said "payment sent" I wasn't sure, because the CC company got sussy and made me confirm it. So just to make sure everything was OK I phoned the company from ebay (they have a 0870 number) and made sure the cash transfer went OK.

They confirmed it had and I would get my PC on weds. Cool beans man.

However, I also asked her a few Q's because I was still worried. I mean, Alienwares are not cheap and 270 is less than a shit Advent @ pcworld with the same spec..
She informed me that the company was a HUGE recycling company that had contracts with Dell. And thus, Dell send them all of their unwanted machines and they sell them on.. So I asked about the condition of my unit and she said "Look, I'm not supposed to tell you this but it is new. It comes in the official packing from Alienware".

I wasn't sure whether to believe her, but she was nice and seemed genuine enough. I also asked if she had the SN for it and she gave me it (was very impressed there).

So, today, at long last after a fuck up with the couriers it came. And here is what came.

No that's not a fridge, it's a PC.



27 Kilos of excellence



Hang on, what the fuck is in there??!?!



I'll explain. It seems that as these are new units you also get a lot of goodies, too. The keyboard is a Dell XPS unit, and the mouse is too. But, I also got a Dell XPS mouse mat (aluminium pan with mouse mat in) a cleaning cloth for the PC (I'm going to need it see later pix) a ringbinder with my alienware's manual aswell as Roxio burning suite and 2 Alienware Respawn DVD's.

So I was already very happy. The KB and mouse I knew I was getting. The respawn DVD's are 40 quid from alienware and the cleaning cloth and other stuff I wasn't expecting at all. So far so frickin good !



Then I delved a bit deeper.. wooooow.



Side shot. It really is ridiculously hard to show just how fuckin big this thing is so I stood it in front of wor Dyson.



This is it with the door open. Apols for the blur, Ive fucked a setting somewhere in the camera.. And yes, I was shaking with excitement.



Back. This is one amazingly lovely build on this thing.



Now. This is where I got some nice surprises and things I wasn't expecting.

First note the size of the PSU. Bigger than most cases. It's a 1000w Hippo. Secondly the motherboard is a EVGA affair and they are horrifically expensive. Over 200 sheets. Third note the AlienIce cooler on the video card (another optional upgrade) and last but not least the FX light controller board. Basically I can change the color of the case lighting using a software app and make millions of different colors. Again, this is an optional upgrade. Best of all though the build quality is exceptional. Something I always knew about Alienware and something most people don't credit them for.

Best of all was the Arctic Freezer pro extreme. The best HSF for Intel on the market today. I almost shed a tear when I saw that because

A. I just ordered a ACFX for my graphics card.
B. Was telling Nemmie today that I was going to buy one next week. Don't need to now



I was surprised to find, also, that the ram was top drawer. Patriot 1333mhz



And this is another amazing touch. The fan here has an EXT for a neon if you want one, but you'll notice some funny prongs in the pics above on a little connector. The side fan is 'wireless' and makes contact when you shut the case.



So I'm absolutely delighted TBH. 270 quid just can not buy you a PC like this anywhere. And even those who hate Alien ware but like PC gaming can appreciate the quality of the parts and workmanship.

If any one wants a PC like this they have a few. This one, however, made me weep. What a cheap bargain !!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ALIENWARE-PREDATO ... 240%3A1318

Forgot to mention, I got a 250gb baracuda 7200 RPM.. That one ^^ Im sure has a raptor.

Wow, that is a real bargain. I'm slightly jealous.

Chuffed for you man. Worth the wait then?

Definitely. Seriously man I'm so happy right now I could cry.

Last year I priced up this exact system @ Alienware. It was July.. They wanted 900 or so sheets. I was *just* about to give them the credit card and they said "shipping is 65 quid and then there's the VAT"

I was so fucking incensed I put the phone down, this shit is even sweeter as I truly feel it's karma.

OMG indeed!

I really want one, bwah! But I can't until the holiday is done and dusted and I know what's going on with moving flats. I hope that sometime in April they've still got the bargains rolling.

That's an excellent bargain - nice one!

I'm actually tempted, even though there's nothing whatsoever wrong with the PC I've already got. They're lovely looking machines, those Alienware's - it's only the price that really puts me off.

Look @ the link I posted. 330 quid.

C2D 3ghz, Geforce 8800 ULTRA 768mb (one of these went on ebay for 147 2 nights ago as my mate was watching this pc and the card) A raptor and everything else.

The NIC on my one is dual Intel. It'll run 1gigabit given the chance.. Same as the one above.

330 notes. My mate bought one already, but before he would trust me (oh its water cooled too, 240 notes extra on alienware) we priced up the same system with a GF 260 (compares to the 8800 ultra in every aspect).

£1,787 + 65 shipping.

I really cannot emphasise enough how cheap these units are. And, there's a bloody lot of them too.. It also seems the company selling them have no idea what's in them as they want 350 for one with a pentium D with 4gb ram. They're obs pricing them on ram. Silly billies.

Nice one John, excellent bargain especially as you were actively intending to buy it at more than 3 times the price

I can't help but wonder if the price is low because there's a bit of a glut of them for some reason. How big is the market for high end gaming PCs nowadays, given the value for money you get with the 360 and PS3?

1kW PSU? FFS! You must let us know how many watts that rig pulls when it's actually running a game.

That does sound like a bargain.

But 27 kilos? Jeez! I don't think my washing machine weighs that much.

SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP

That's water cooling for you - makes the PC weigh an absolute ton.

Oh, and I'll vouch for the seller. They're a proper business and are VERY helpful and professional.

The serial number thing re-assured me endlessly, as it showed they had taken a good look at the units and tested them, and even noted the serials down.

The woman on the phone was awesome, told me exactly when I would get it, how and who it was coming with (35 quid for next day, 27 kilos) and so on. Really cannot emphasise enough how pleased I am througout.

Also a 7 day no quibbles MBG. I've already tested mine and it worked sterlingly. Fucking quiet too (some of them even have the sound proofing lol).

I hear you on the price of Alienwares. but when you consider that the motherboard back then was 380 notes and the PSU over 100 it explains some of why they're so expensive.

I've dreamt of owning a Cyborg green predator for about 6 years.. I've been like a little kid wanting one. So this is just heaven for me. Even the media reader is another 35 quid on Awares site.

BTW. Mine isnt even water cooled

Just to show I'm not shitting..



I saw this large alien head making it's way past my living room window and nearly passed out. The driver? poor cunt. Had to carry it up the hill in front of my house and sounded like he was going to have a heart attack

It's the case. It's triple walled (2 plastic one solid metal). The front door that swings open has the power button and all the wiring IN IT and you can turn the pc off with the door open. The AlienFX lighting is currently set to green (factory I would imagine) and you can alter the pitch of the colors using Alienshow.

I guess you just need to see one of these things in the flesh to understand the beauty. Take a Dell XPS gaming rig (stunning machines) and multiply the build by about 5 and you're close.

On the upside, unbelievably bargainous.

On the downside, the single ugliest artifact that humankind has ever produced.

Swings and roundabouts, y'know?

I love it. But then you've seen my old car

Oh absolutely, eye of the beholder etc. But if that thing lived in my bedroom, I'd get the piss taken out of me to the point I'd need some sort of IV drip to avoid keeling over from dehydration.

I can't agree with you on this one - Alienware predators look lovely.

It looks hideous. IMHO. But the beauty is the price. Well done that man!

Lazy buggers could have got green optical drives / card readers.

Where is the other graphics card?

That's your attitude to Lithuanian whores too.

it looks absolutely great. Reminds me of some 50s car. Too bad they don't ship to portugal

Heh. Did the lady on the phone drive it round personally?

will these run "everything" e.g. the one you linked, JC?

Tempted...my pc is about 4 years old and shit

It looks like a gay robot when the door is opened.


I won't slag it off any more, pwomise. It is still a fantastic bargain.

If you put the head of Burt Reynolds on it, it'd make it less gay.

If I wasn't actively saving for my wedding then I would buy one today, as it sounds fun.

I don't suppose the same place is selling any laptops at insanely cheap prices, are they? I could probably justify buying one in March when I get my bonus (unless they cut it to be a very small bonus, which the bastards probably will, despite us being very profitable).

I'm ordering another 9800 at the end of March. All spent out now. I mean, I'm skint, hence why it's such a thrill to actually have something this wonderful in my house.

The Artic freezer for the VGA should be here tomorrow, it was shipped from Wimborne and thats about 80 miles from me, so shouldnt be long. Then I can get 9800 1 in there. The 8600GTS is picced, that's going in here << and this will be formatted, reinstalled and become the proper working media center/photoshop/borland rig.

This machine has plenty in the other depts, namely a 2.4ghz x4 phenom and 4gb ram.

The AW though has massive headroom for overclocking. I will probably easily get that bastard stable on that cooler at 3.2ghz.

The main reason the EVGA board in the new one is worth so much is the way it can isolate the overclock of the cpu from the ram. In shitter DDR2 mobos (like this one here, a foxconn) and my $90 MSI downstairs you cannot do that, the ram goes up with the FSB and makes the machine fail post.

The EVGA even displays the multipliers of locked chips, allowing you to totally adjust the multiplier too.

Look at the love the 9800 is getting hehe Forty fucking quid

That is actually rather tempting. I've only got the laptop at the moment.

The one I linked is utter utter filth man.

It makes mine look shit.

Here, take a look at what a 8800 ULTRA still costs new. This should decide for you -

http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalo ... ps-sellers

Thatll run doom 3 at 245fps ROFL.

Oh, and if it has a raptor in it as I suspect here, get this -

http://shop.mcidiventi.co.uk/product.ph ... ctid=94638

Honestly, 330 quid is a fucking JOKE for that rig.

As I said before, the water cooling set up in there costs an extra 240 quid from AW if you add it, and, the lighting that mine has (if yours has it) is 78 quid (just checked).

had bad experiences with raptors in the past..hmm.

looks like an awful lot of pc for the money thought I must admit
is there any warranty or support on these?

are they all new? some say used or scratched case

hey man. Apparently they're all new but must be marked 'used'. Some have minor scratches, others heavy. Who would pay thousands when they know theyre getting a new one for fuck all? I got a MJ12 chassis (also AW) in the USA for $60. It was marked on the auction as damaged, no pics.. Came brand new sealed.

Some are shit inside, some are ok.. Its luck on the day. Last week they had some core 2 EE (extreme edition) on there. The cpus were worth over 800 quid.

I would avoid any scratches, and, avoid the pentium D. In 99% of them the video cards are shit and would need replacing, apart from the 8800 Ultra one though. That was the worlds flagship card until last sept when the 260 and 280 came along.

So ignore most of the VGA and RAM setups, you will need to invest a small bit into them. The 8600 GTS I have would easily be sufficient however as its on par with the new 9600 GT

With Alienware the machines are built to order. If they fail test OR the customer cancels (theres about a 2 month wait) then theyre stuck with them. Tailor made, basically. Whose going to pay grands for someone elses dream rig?

Dust in a PC is something you just can't hide. Esp once its been on for a couple of hours. Here, look at this pic man.

Just avoid any that say they have any damage and I reakon you're laughing.

Sorry, but unless EVERY LAST screw was taken out of this, the PSU stripped down and everything steralised there is no way it could look like this if it had ever been ran for more than an hour.

PC's as we know are hoovers.

Oh and some may find this helpful. This is the mobo.

Specced out the ass.

FFS, plug it in man!

That case looks bigger than the room I'd like to put it in...

Still sounds a great deal though. Like most people, I'm under the "too good to be true" section but it looks amazing!

I'm sorely tempted!!

Dooooooon't.

Seriously I'm choking here

I tested it. It's absolutely A1. Booted in no time and had all of the smart shit on it too.. So its pretty much ready......

But I want my 9800 in there and I have to wait for that freezer to arrive before that can go in.

Plus I've built a 2" high stand with a green neon under it to stand both that and my older Aware server on and the glue is drying.

I'm one of no patience, at...all.. but I must have some here. I'm also waiting for the adderview KVM I got off ebay brand new for 13 shipped with all the cables, as I can't be in a situ where I can't use this rig I'm on now.

It's kinda like, this one I'm on is my wife and the new one is the sexy bird you never thought you had a chance with that you can nip round to and shag stupid whenever the mood takes you.

Ooooo I feel dirty

Ok.. own up.. who bought the one mentioned in the first post?

Not me

Snooze you looze I guess

# Intel® Celeron® Dual-Core
# (2Ghz, 800MHz FSB, 800KB Cache)
# Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic
# 1GB DDR2 memory
# 160GB SATA hard drive (7200rpm)
# NVIDIA® GeForce 7050 graphics
# Dual Layer DVD Rewriter
# 6 x USB

Is that good for 230 quid? Would my radeon 9800pro fit in it?

no thats AGP everything is pcie in alienwares

a great card would be the radeon 4670

but yeah, its pretty cheap

infact no its not, celerons need to be avoided

Good spec machine, why does it have to be so big and ugly?

that depends on what you intend to do with it I guess

How?

I am going on holiday.

I really want one of these.

I hear some of you are very rich and gulible lovely.

Could one of you please buy me one, or I may dwindle from envy.

I may buy one if they restock some nice C2Duo models

Because Celerons are shit at crunching numbers and pretty much anything that involves any CPU muscle. For example encoding Video, Audio, compression and so on.

Gaming is out of the window, as is anything else that's fun on a pc.

If you want to type letters, send emails and have a poke around the web sure, it'd be fine. But other than that it's not going to do much that's exciting.

Any way, the reason I said what I did about the celly is that there is no excuse not to get a lower speed C2D for the same price, it'll still rip a cellys head off and plop down it's neck.

Lace. They go through these AWs like shite through a goose. My friend got one identical to the one sold today (with the 8800U and water cooling) so just keep your eyes peeled mate and be ready to press the button

I don't quite know why mine was so cheap, all I can assume is that it's because it's green. I mean, they want 350 for a heavily scratched black one with a fookin Radeon 1650 in it. Thing is, I always wanted a green one.. Well, that's not strictly true. My fave was plasma purple closely followed by Martian red (I have a red keyboard by AW) but they no longer do those colors

Edit. Just wanted to add. Big and ugly (or sexy depending on your taste) has nothing to do with what's inside the case. That is what counts and some of these AWs are incredibly well specced for the money, regardless of them actually being alienwares. That's pretty much the point I'm making.

So all these cheap prices, and NO hidden catch? Really?


Time for a great big pondering "hhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" moment.

Thanks JC, I don't intend to play games on it so that's all good. Cheers for the advice man.

Who wants to buy my AMD 2000+, 756 meg ram, Radeon 9800pro. 200 quid.