Help please! Alienware vs Scan 3xs systems both spec'd need to decide

[Spartans]

Hi all,

I have been a long time lurker but have finally joined as I am really stuck right now.

I have basically budgeted about £2200 for a pre-built system. I am going to be using a buy now pay later finance plan (to pay cash in 2008 with no interest), so I am slightly limited to a few manufacturers, and I am not really keen to build it myself, I am definitely going the pre-built way.

So far I have made the following specs:

The first is from Alienware, the price is £2,279.50

[1] Area-51™ 7500

Operating System: Genuine Windows® Vista Home Premium - English
Warranty: AlienCare 1-Year Free Phone 24/7 and Collect & Return
Chassis: Alienware® P2 Chassis - Saucer Silver
Chassis Upgrades: Alienware® AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling - Nova Yellow
Power Supply: 700 Watt Alienware® Approved Multi-GPU Power Supply
Motherboard: Alienware® Approved NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI Motherboard
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz 8MB Cache 1066MHz FSB
Memory: 4GB DDR2 Performance SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 x 1024MB
Video Card: 768MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800 GTX
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 250 GB Serial ATA 3 Gbit/s, 7,200 RPM with 8MB Cache
Storage Drive: 500 GB Serial ATA 3 Gbit/s, 7,200 RPM with 16MB Cache
Optical Drive One: 18x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
Network Card: Integrated High Performance Intel Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (DSL-ready)
Removable Storage: Alienware® 28-in-1 Digital Media Reader / Writer
Monitor: 22" Dell UltraSharp Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor
Mouse: Microsoft® Basic Optical Mouse Black
Security Software: Kaspersky Anti-Virus Personal Professional - 12 month subscription Included!
Alienware Extras: AlienWiring - Exclusive Internal Wire Management - £50 Value - FREE!
Alienware Extras: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - £50 Value - FREE!
Alienware Extras: Alienware® T-Shirt - FREE!
Alienware Extras: Custom Alienware® fUnc Mousepad - FREE!
Alienware Extras: Exclusive AlienGUIse Theme Manager - FREE!

A concern of mine is whether or not the Alienware system will be very loud, as I have read in reviews that noise can be excessive, so I also toyed with the following spec:

Price: £2,248.95

[1] Area-51™ 7500

Operating System: Genuine Windows® Vista Home Premium - English
Warranty: AlienCare 1-Year Free Phone 24/7 and Collect & Return
Chassis: Alienware® P2 Chassis - Saucer Silver
Chassis Upgrades: Alienware® AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling + High-Performance Liquid Cooling
Power Supply: 700 Watt Alienware® Approved Multi-GPU Power Supply
Motherboard: Alienware® Approved NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI Motherboard
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6700 2.66GHz 4MB Cache 1066MHz FSB
Memory: 4GB DDR2 Performance SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 x 1024MB
Video Card: 768MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800 GTX
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 250 GB Serial ATA 3 Gbit/s, 7,200 RPM with 8MB Cache
Storage Drive: 500 GB Serial ATA 3 Gbit/s, 7,200 RPM with 16MB Cache
Optical Drive One: 18x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive
Sound Card: High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio - Standard
Network Card: Integrated High Performance Intel Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (DSL-ready)
Removable Storage: Alienware® 28-in-1 Digital Media Reader / Writer
Monitor: 22" Dell UltraSharp Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor
Keyboard: Logitech® Deluxe Keyboard UK - Space Black
Mouse: Microsoft® Basic Optical Mouse Black
Security Software: Kaspersky Anti-Virus Personal Professional - 12 month subscription Included!
Alienware Extras: AlienWiring - Exclusive Internal Wire Management - £50 Value - FREE!
Alienware Extras: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - £50 Value - FREE!
Alienware Extras: Alienware® T-Shirt - FREE!
Alienware Extras: Custom Alienware® fUnc Mousepad - FREE!
Alienware Extras: Exclusive AlienGUIse Theme Manager - FREE!

That spec is water cooled and to keep the budget in the realms of what I want to pay I have dropped the Quad core to get water cooling.

Now these are the two systems I have set up with Scan:

The first is priced at £2,106.59

Case: Akasa Mirage-62 V2 Midi Tower Case - Hi-End - Overclockers & Gamers Best Choice
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600 775 2.40 GHz 1066MHz FSB 8MB Cache Retail
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS9700-LED Super Aero Flower Cooler (775 AM2 754 939 940)
Overclocking: 3XS System Core-Logic Overclocking *0 - 10%*
Memory: 4GB (4x1GB) Corsair XMS2 Dominator DDR2 PC2-6400 (800) Non-ECC Unbuffered CAS 5-5-5-15 DHX
nVidia VGA-The Way It's Meant To Be Played™: 768Mb XFX 8800GTX Extreme PCI-E (x16) Mem 1900 MHz GPU 600 MHz 128 Stream 2x DVI HDTV
System Drives: 500 Gb Samsung HD501LJ Spinpoint T SATA300 7200 rpm 16MB Cache 8.9 ms NCQ
Storage Hard drives: 500 Gb Samsung HD501LJ Spinpoint T SATA300 7200 rpm 16MB Cache 8.9 ms NCQ
Floppy Drive Flash - Card Readers & Writers: Mitsumi FA404M 1.44 Black FDD+Int USB2 7 in 1 Card Reader (SM MMC SD CF MD MS) Fits in 3.5" FDD Bay
DVD Writer : Lite-ON LH-20A1S-11C LiteOn 20x DVD±R 8x DVD±DL DVD+RW x8 -RW x 6 DVD-RAM x12 SATA Retail
Sound Card: Creative X-FI Xtreme Gamer PCI 7.1Ch Sound Card OEM
TV Tuner card: Hauppauge Win TV Nova-T 500 MCE Dual Digital DVBT Tuner+Remote LowProfile PCI
Operating system: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32Bit
Software - DVD Decoding: NVIDIA DVD - Bronze edition - Dolby 2.1
TFT Monitor: 22" Iiyama PLE2200WS-B Widescreen VGA DVI 1680x1050 5 ms 1000:1 300 cd m2 Speakers Black
Keyboards Keyboard & Mouse Pack: Logitech Cordless Desktop LX 710 Keyboard with Laser Mouse
Acoustic Sound Proofing: AcoustiPack Standard Acoustic Material Kit
Extended Warranty: Standard 3XS System Warranty

This is the second system from Scan that was is £2,309.37

System Overview

Case: Akasa Mirage-62 V2 Midi Tower Case - Hi-End - Overclockers & Gamers Best Choice
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600 775 2.40 GHz 1066MHz FSB 8MB Cache Retail
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS9700-NT nVidia Tritium Super Aero Flower Cooler
Memory: 4GB (4x1GB) Corsair XMS2 Dominator DDR2 PC2-6400 (800) Non-ECC Unbuffered CAS 5-5-5-15 DHX
nVidia VGA-The Way It's Meant To Be Played™: 768Mb XFX 8800GTX Extreme XXX PCI-E (x16) Mem 2000 MHz GPU 630 MHz Dual DVI HDTV
System Drives: 500 Gb Samsung HD501LJ Spinpoint T SATA300 7200 rpm 16MB Cache 8.9 ms NCQ
Storage Hard drives: 500 Gb Samsung HD501LJ Spinpoint T SATA300 7200 rpm 16MB Cache 8.9 ms NCQ
Floppy Drive Flash - Card Readers & Writers: Mitsumi FA404M 1.44 Black FDD+Int USB2 7 in 1 Card Reader (SM MMC SD CF MD MS) Fits in 3.5" FDD Bay
DVD Writer : Lite-ON LH-20A1S-11C LiteOn 20x DVD±R 8x DVD±DL DVD+RW x8 -RW x 6 DVD-RAM x12 SATA Retail
Sound Card: Creative X-FI Xtreme Gamer PCI 7.1Ch Sound Card OEM
TV Tuner Card: Hauppauge Win TV Nova-T 500 MCE Dual Digital DVBT Tuner+Remote
Operating system: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32Bit
Software - DVD Decoding: NVIDIA DVD - Bronze edition - Dolby 2.1
Software Application: MS OFFICE 2007 60 Day TRIAL Home&Student
TFT Monitor: 22" Iiyama PLE2200WS-B Widescreen VGA DVI 1680x1050 5 ms 1000:1 300 cd m2 Speakers Black
Keyboards Keyboard & Mouse Pack: Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 3000 Laser Keyboard Mouse
Case Fans : 120mm Akasa Amber Case Fan 3 Pin 2 Ball Bearing Ultra Quiet
Acoustic Sound Proofing: AcoustiPack Deluxe (v2) Acoustic Material Kit
Extended Warranty: Standard 3XS System Warranty

Now I know ALienware has a rep for being expensive and that you pay a premium for the brandname, but the specs I have set up does not seem excessively expensive compared to the Scan system. The downside is that the Alienware specs do not include a TV Tuner.

Overall, I quite like the look of the Alienware, and whilst I would not spend £3000 for one, at this price they are attractive.

Some questions, do I need a Quad core, I have selected them as to be able to hold out for a long time before upgrading, secondly is just how loud will all of the above systems be? Are Alienware PC really loud, even if water cooled?

I know this is my first post, and I am asking a lot, but I am at the end of my tether, I really need to decide today as to which system I am going to buy.

Any help and feeback will be greatly appreciated. As a final reminder, building my own system is not really an option for me, and I am aware that it would save money, but there you go.

Thanks guys!

[Clunk]

Alienware is hideously overpriced rubbish.

You could probably pick up all the parts yourself and get someone to build it for you for less than half of what alienware charge....and the cases are seriously fugly

[Spartans]

I'm not seeking people just to say "over priced rubish".

As I said I have no interest in buying the seperate parts myself, and prefer the but now pay later option. I fully accept that this will mean that it will be a more expensive option.

The Alienware is comparably priced here to the Scan system, and I want some real feedback from people as to which system they would opt for. I really want to complete the transaction today, so any help is greatly appreciated.

[ikonia]

he's giving you his opinion, the alien ware machien is over priced therefore he's recommending scan.

[Spartans]

he's giving you his opinion, the alien ware machien is over priced therefore he's recommending scan.

I'm not attacking him mate, I just want more reasoning. The Scan system is priced more or less the same, so it would be great if someone could say "the Alienware is over priced because you get far less than the Scan system because..."

Really and truly I did not set out to buy an Alienware system, as I know that they have a markup price based on their reputation/appeal. However, when I did the two specifications, they actually did not seem too bad. That got me thinking that I was missing something, I know Scan have a terrific reputation, but I am aware that they are generally better value than Alienware. So I am sitting here confused as to why the prices are so similar, as I assume the Scan spec to be far superior due to the prices similarity but can't see where.

[Phillip @ Scan]

I will try and answer some of your questions.

With regards the quad core CPU, this all depends on what you are using the system for. If you are doing any editing/ 3D work this will help but for general use and gaming there is very little performance. Please note that Intel are launching more Quad CPU's later this year so this could be an option as the core 2 systems run very fast already. With regard to how quiet systems are, we can put quiet fans in the system, add sound proofing to the case and in some systems add water-cooling. the water-cooling is really only an option i would use for enthusiasts who over clock their systems as this need to be maintained and can be very costly. We can always add a decent CPU fan to help with the noise. Obviously i cannot comment on Alienware's noise maybe they can post back but you should find our service and systems are second to none.

[Phillip @ Scan]

Spartans,

you are quick i just get 1 reply out and you have posted another.

One of the reasons for price is that we custom build each system as we do not mass produce systems this sometimes makes the price of systems look a little more expensive.

then add the fact that we only use quality components, this could be one of the reasons. I will try and help where i can with any other questions and do not want to be bias to say buy one of our systems, but they guys here do such a great job of builing the system i am getting them to build my new one shortly.

Hope the above helps a little and hope you become a system customer.

[Spartans]

I will try and answer some of your questions.

With regards the quad core CPU, this all depends on what you are using the system for. If you are doing any editing/ 3D work this will help but for general use and gaming there is very little performance. Please note that Intel are launching more Quad CPU's later this year so this could be an option as the core 2 systems run very fast already. With regard to how quiet systems are, we can put quiet fans in the system, add sound proofing to the case and in some systems add water-cooling. the water-cooling is really only an option i would use for enthusiasts who over clock their systems as this need to be maintained and can be very costly. We can always add a decent CPU fan to help with the noise. Obviously i cannot comment on Alienware's noise maybe they can post back but you should find our service and systems are second to none.

Thanks Phillip, much appreciated.

With regards to the Dual core v Quad core, I just want to be as future proof as possible so that I do not need to upgrade CPU/motherboard etc.. for as long as possible. I realise that the Quad may not give me any real gains in the short term but as software is developed to take advantage I would see better value in the long run (my view may be naive on this).

With regards to the noise, I chose the Zalman CNPS9700-NT nVidia Tritium Super Aero Flower Cooler, is this a quiet fan? Also does your sound proofing make a big difference?

Many thanks for your answers, it is much appreciated.

[mcmiller]

the majority of reviews for 3x3 systems from scan that i have seen have all ways received good reviews and there customer service is 2nd to none, alienware for a while received a bad rep for overpriced poor spec'd machines looks like they have improved.
You havent really stated what you want to do with the machine as well which would give ppl more of an idea

[Spartans]

the majority of reviews for 3x3 systems from scan that i have seen have all ways received good reviews and there customer service is 2nd to none, alienware for a while received a bad rep for overpriced poor spec'd machines looks like they have improved.
You havent really stated what you want to do with the machine as well which would give ppl more of an idea

You are right.

Basically I want a system to play some games on, do some video editing with some photo editing too. Don't get me wrong, I wont be doing serious editing, so the main reason for a high end spec is to enjoy gaming. I will also add, I want a decent system that will handle Vista and last me some time without having to lay a finger on it to upgrade for quite some time.

[Phillip @ Scan]

We try and make machines as future proof as possible. Like mcmiller posted we are getting very good reviews and we try and go the extra mile to help customers.

The Zalman is a very good cooler and sound proofing helps a little, whilst it does not reduce the noise by 100% everything helps.

The specs you have posted will allow you to get a decent system with great options to advance in the future.

Personally i would still go with the 6600 Core 2 CPU as we can get a lot out of this for overclocking and the price you save will allow you to get a mich faster Quad later.

[Merlin4458]

I personally would go for the scan system, for a few reasons. Firstly ive been a member here for 2/3 years now going by the amount of posts, and all ive got and read from scan is that they do pride themselves in their work, and generally let there customer service speak for themselves. When you do buy ur system from scan, they have their own forum section setup and are always answering questions on a daily basis.
Secondly, i dont like the way alienware spec their systems. Scan actually state what ram ur getting(which is actually v quick ram) whereas alienware call it "performance ram" which we all know will be mediocre.
The case is a great choice, and the illyama are known to be great monitors. You getting a slightly more clocked 8800GTX with the scan setup.

Now out of the 2 scan system u specced, i go for the first one as i cant see where that extra 200£ has gone??? apart from the xxx edition 8800GTX

[shaithis]

Scan will surely be better support, should anything go wrong.

Hence, they get my vote.

But to be perfectly honest.....BOTH of them are hideously overpriced IMHO.

[Fabula]

Go quad core if buying a system for that sort of price at the moment.
It is not much more as a percentage of system price, and while you won't feel the benefits much at the moment, you will in the future.

[Blitzen]

Alienware is hideously overpriced rubbish.

You could probably pick up all the parts yourself and get someone to build it for you for less than half of what alienware charge....and the cases are seriously fugly

Absolutely agree.
Also, looking at their specs, its all 'Alien-Ware Approved' with nothing actually specced by the manufacturer which would IMMEDIATELY set my alarm bells ringing. Just because AlienWare say its 'Approved' by them it certainly doesnt mean its any good. In fact, it would probably as low end as they could get away with for that price.
Steer clear and either get a friend to build it for you or go to Scan.

[mcmiller]

Secondly, i dont like the way alienware spec their systems. Scan actually state what ram ur getting(which is actually v quick ram) whereas alienware call it "performance ram" which we all know will be mediocre.

ugh i didnt notice that they dont actually specify what parts they use just that its "alienware approved" which could be cheap generic rubbish and probadly is, scan have specified every component in the machine, this for me personally gives me alot more confidence as you can read individual reviews performance spec's etc .. for the components