Alienwere: Area-51 7500 PC

[Thomas_The_Tank100]

I'm thing about getting an Alienwere: Area-51 7500 PC (starting at USD $1399.99).
I here many good things about Alienwere, how it is fast and junk-free and all.
I'm not a technical person so I don't understand computer talk and have several questions which are:

• How would Trainz fare on it?
• What cards and chips should I get?
• What sould I expect to spend?
• And if anyone has one, any pros or cons about it?

The specs can be found here.
Thank You for your time.
~TTT100~

 

[Gangsta_Boi]

Well, with Trainz still running on one core & single GPU's, an AlienWare PC is useless.

Unless you plan on gaming with many other, higher spec PCs, it is a waste of money.

Gangsta.

 

[fran1]

your going to get differing replies to this one.
I'm using P4 3.4 ghz. radeon X1950 pro 512 mb,2 gb ram, onboard sound. the graphics could be improved but apart from that this copes well with trainz.
save your money and upgrade your present machine if it's struggling.
thats my advice.

 

[johnwhelan]

I'm thing about getting an Alienwere: Area-51 7500 PC (starting at USD $1399.99).
I here many good things about Alienwere, how it is fast and junk-free and all.
I'm not a technical person so I don't understand computer talk and have several questions which are:

• How would Trainz fare on it?
• What cards and chips should I get?
• What sould I expect to spend?
• And if anyone has one, any pros or cons about it?

The specs can be found here.
Thank You for your time.
~TTT100~

Just going through and selecting semi reasonable components, not top of the line I hit more $3,000 very quickly.

A Dell XPS 720 with an E6850 processor 3 Gigs of memory, and nVidia GT8800 512 Mb is in the order of just over $2,000 and that should run Trainz quite nicely and probably out perform the $3,000 machine above.

Neither would be my personal choice but the Dell isn't bad and it comes with a warranty although you may have to spend a couple of hours getting rid of the free trial software it comes with.

Cheerio John

 

[steamdrivre]

Just food for thought... Hewlett Packard bought them out and is running the whole operation, now.
Personally, I like HP, btw. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or bad, though...

If you know a good PC shop, you can have a monster custom built for less then two grand without Vista, ya know?

 

[saintjimmy]

Just food for thought... Hewlett Packard bought them out and is running the whole operation, now.
Personally, I like HP, btw. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or bad, though...

Actually, Dell bought Alienware out a few years ago, but I like HP, too.

I have to say, if you want a good quality, good priced system, then I would go for the following systems:
A) Dell XPS series (XPS 420, 630, & 720) Link here to Dell XPS: http://www.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/xpsdt_gaming?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
B) Gateway FX Series, and link to them: http://www.gateway.com/systems/series/529598059.php
C) HP high performance systems (not as powerful as above systems, but well worth the money) http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...ktops&a1=Category&v1=Entertainment powerhouse

Those would be my choices for a good new computer, that is, if I didn't build my own first!

 

[dreddman]

Get the parts or get the (Respectable) PC shop to build you one minus Vista......is a lot cheaper and you get exactly what you want sorta like cooking ...To cook a good healthy wholesome meal or get Frozen junk out the fridge and be a "LAZATERIAN" me I'll just have another BEER!!! Thanks

 

[big_b]

I agree with dreddman here I was looking at those & decided I was better off to build my own.I kept my drives,case etc just replaced mobo cpu & video at less than half the cost of building a new system from scratch.

Dave

 

[JCitron]

If you want to go the build-it yourself route, check out NewEgg at www.newegg.com . They have reasonable prices and a nice selection of components along with user reviews so you which ones are junk and which ones are good buys.

I built my high-end machine last year, which I use for other things besides Trainz, for around $1500.

Intel Duo-2 2.4 ghz
4Gb RAM
1x 250GB hd
Soundblaster Sound.
EVGA 8800GTS 640MB

John

 

[steamdrivre]

My system is almost identical to John's. I had my built for 1900 and change but added a 24" monitor to bring it up to 2400 and change.
Oh, it has NO Vista either. LOL Mines about 4 months old.

 

[sethmcs]

And one positive comment.......

I think that is a nice system that would run trainz extremely well. I would opt for 8800 Ultra option if it is within budget.

 

[johnwhelan]

I think that is a nice system that would run trainz extremely well. I would opt for 8800 Ultra option if it is within budget.

Now when I read through it it seemed to be a collection of options, the base system without options didn't seem that good for Trainz to me or did I miss something?

Cheerio John

 

[Xcom]

Take a look at this. http://www.jncs.com/php/sys/index.php?id=sys-as-p5e3-deluxe-wifi
Many options and quality parts.

They only ship to US.

 

[Thomas_The_Tank100]

Ok, Thanks again for all your help.
Now I'm thinking about getting a Dell XPS 720 with 3GB of Memory and a 720GB hard drive. What OS should I get XP or Vista?
~TTT100~

 

[saintjimmy]

I would say go with XP for compatibility, or Vista if you want to do future gaming. I have both XP & Vista, and I couldn't be happier!

 

[johnwhelan]

Ok, Thanks again for all your help.
Now I'm thinking about getting a Dell XPS 720 with 3GB of Memory and a 720GB hard drive. What OS should I get XP or Vista?
~TTT100~

XP has better games performance unless you think in terms of 4 or + gigs of memory and 64 bit Vista. A number of people are running this combination with TC and I'd be hard put to it to choose between the two. Vista 64 bit hasn't got quite such good drivers but on the other hand it's probably the future.

Cheerio John

 

[Thomas_The_Tank100]

Ok, I think I'm going to get XP as an OS. I already have it on my ancient Dell Dimension 8500 (from about 4 1/2 years ago!) and found it very enjoyable and easy to use.
Again, thanks or all the help.
~TTT100~

 

[Thomas_The_Tank100]

Video cards

It has been 17 days since my last post and I need some help.
The question is "What video card should I get?"
Here are the specs for the computer I am (hopefully) getting;

• PROCESSOR: Intel® Core™2 Q6600 Quad-Core (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB)
  
• OPERATING SYSTEM: Genuine Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition with re-installation CD
  
• MEMORY: 3GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 DIMMs
  
• HARD DRIVE: 640GB Performance RAID 0 (2 x 320GB Seagate SATA 3Gb/s 7200 RPM HDDs)
  
• OPTICAL DRIVE: Dual Drives: 48x Combo + 16x DVD+/-RW w/ dbl layer write capable
  
• MONITOR: No Monitor (as I have an old 15")
  
• VIDEO CARD: nVidia GeForce 8800*
  
• SOUND CARD: Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ XtremeMusic (D) Sound Card
  
• SPEAKERS: Dell A525 30 Watt 2.1 Stereo Speakers with Subwoofer
  
• KEYBOARD: Dell USB Keyboard
  
• MOUSE: Dell Optical USB Mouse

The problem with the video card is which is better?
A nVidia GeForce 8800 Ultra 768MB ($800),
A nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB ($400),
Or a nVidia GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB (Included in the price)?
I really do not want to spend $800 for a Video Card, but I do not want a poor video card.

Thank you for your time.
~TTT100~

 

[GP_38-2]

the 8800 GTX is more than enough. The 8800 Ultra is basically a factory overclocked 8800 GTX
not sure what the difference between the stock and aftermarket 8800GTX's are though?

 

[steamdrivre]

I believe any 8800 will be a screamer. Mine's an 8800 GTS and I'm happy.