Dell XPS 5 help

[hyg71886]

I am looking in to purchasing a computer for webdesigning and latter on game designing. Just for now it will be webdesigning and alot of gaming. The support techi suggested this even though i just said for webdesigning and game designing. Is this a good buy or should I just build my own workstation? this is the configuration:

Dimension XPS Gen 5
Date & Time: August 08,2005 12:48 PM CST

SYSTEM COMPONENTS
Dimension XPS Gen 5 Qty 1
Pentium® D Processor 830 with Dual Core Technology (3GHz, 800FSB), Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition Unit Price $4,423.00
Dell Home Customers: Save 34% off the Dell Dimension XPS Gen 5!
Limited Time Offer!
- $1,503.82

Catalog Number: 29
Module Description Show Details
DIMENSION XPS GEN 5 Pentium® D Processor 830 with Dual Core Technology (3GHz, 800FSB)
Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Memory 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 4 DIMMs
Keyboard Dell USB Keyboard
Monitor 17 inch Ultrasharp™ 1704FPT Digital Flat Panel
Video Cards 256MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon™ X850 XT PE
Hard Drive 500GB Serial ATA II Hard Drive (7200RPM)
Floppy Drive and Media Reader 3.5 in Floppy Drive
Mouse Dell® 2-button USB mouse
Modem 56K PCI Telephony Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0
CD or DVD Drive Dual Drives: 16x DVD + FREE UPGRADE! 16x DVD+/-RW w/dbl layer write
Sound Cards Sound Blaster Audigy™ 2 ZS (D) Card w/Dolby 5.1, IEEE 1394 capability
Speakers Logitech Z5500 500 Watt 5.1 Digital Surround Speakers w/control pod
Office Productivity Software No Microsoft Office
Security Software No Security Subscription
Digitial Music Musicmatch Jukebox Plus - Rip and burn your CDs faster and print CD labels
Digital Photography Photo Album™ SE Basic
Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options 2Yr Ltd Warranty, 2Yr At-Home Service, and 2Yr Technical Support
XPS Specialized Support Dimension XPS, Specialized Support
Internet Access Service 6 Months of America Online Membership Included
Optional Second Monitor 17 inch Ultrasharp™ 1704FPT Digital Flat Panel
Miscellaneous Award Winning Service and Support
Optional Ports IEEE 1394 Adapter
Dual Monitor Support VI-VGA Adapter to connect 2 CRT Monitors to dual capable Video Card

Dell 720 Color Printer Qty 1
Free Dell Color Printer 720 Unit Price $0.00
Catalog Number: 29
Module Description Show Details
Dell Color Printer 720 Free Dell Color Printer 720
Hardware Support Services 1Yr Ltd. Warranty- Advance Exchange

TOTAL:$2,919.18

[kram 2.0]

Overkill. Save at least 500 USD building it yourself, and another 400 USD by not using a Radeon X850 XT PE - no need for a web designing build and far too expensive.

kram

[hyg71886]

I thought about making to seperate builds but im not, but I am building a computer, so do you think a workstation would be ok for gaming(alot),school work(alot), web designing(alot), music(alot), video(alot)? And which would be better, opteron or Xeon?

[kram 2.0]

Originally Posted by Prometheus I thought about making to seperate builds but im not, but I am building a computer

I don't think I understand you correctly here.

Originally Posted by Prometheus ...so do you think a workstation would be ok for gaming(alot),school work(alot), web designing(alot), music(alot), video(alot)? And which would be better, opteron or Xeon?

Workstations can use Pentium D processors fine. It's the servers that are more often seen using the Opteron and Xeon processors. For your uses, I'd stick to the mainstream processors.

kram

[hyg71886]

I was going to make a computer for gaming and one for work. And does the dual offer a major performance differnce? I was going to get an fx55

[Silent Loki]

I totaly agree with the lads.. build it your self..

Im building one at the mo and the lads here helped me pick this..
http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?p=961066

its just under 2000USD
and its more powerful too..

[hyg71886]

Nice build, I guess I really only need 1 processor for now, any recommendations?

[glc]

Rough calculation - you can build that Dell with $2700 (plus shipping) worth of equivalent parts. No system warranty or value added software, of course.

[hyg71886]

My original build was about 5,000+, so I think going dual for the same amount just about is better, heres what I have so far, please tell me if the parts are compatiable:

dvd/rw- PLEXTOR Black SATA DVD Burner Model PX-712SA/SW-BL - Retail

floppy- SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5"

hdd2- Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150

hdd-HITACHI Deskstar 7K500 0A31619 500GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA II

lcd- ViewSonic VP201B Black 20.1" 16ms LCD Monitor - Retail

mobo- ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI

printer- Canon PIXMA IP4000

vid- eVGA 256-P2-N528-AX Geforce 7800GTX

soundcard- CREATIVE Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum

psu- SILVERSTONE ZEUS SST-ST65ZF ATX12V 650W

watercooler-KOOLANCE EXOS-2

keyboard- Logitech Cordless Desktop MX3100

headphones- LTB-USB-M USB Connector USB 5.1 headphones

CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) TWINX1024-3200XLPRO

CPU-AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Manchester 1GHz