Dell - A cautionary tale

[Maz]

My desktop PC is a Dell. It was bought specifically to play WoW and only WoW. It's not a very powerful PC but it was cheap (damn cheap) and it's quiet (very quiet). I've been very happy with it.

Now that I'm multi-boxing, it no longer fits the bill. I want to run five WoWs on it rather than one WoW and four more on my (also Dell) laptop.

I took the side off and checked the motherboard. It's a Foxconn G33M02. I looked on Foxconn's website and found the G33M (close enough) supports processors up to 1333MHz FSB and specifically lists the Q6600.

So I ordered a Q6600 and 2x2GB of memory and it arrived today.

But...

Dell have removed five of the eleven power regulators from the board so that it can't supply the power the Q6600 requires There is a version of the motherboard that does support the processor (the G33M03) but even that only has nine of the regulators fitted.

So now I know how Dell makes its PCs so cheap. And it sucks

Fortunately, I discovered this before breaking the seal on any of the boxes and as my supplier has a nifty online returns system, I can send the stuff back and all I lose is the postage. Not much consolation though.

So now I'm faced with either:

• Bunging Dell some more money for a new PC,
• Bunging someone else even more money for a new PC, or
• Sticking with what I have.

/sigh

[Dagre]

That exactly why I build mine from the ground up. No suprises that way.

[Eteocles]

Take your own advice...the only reason Dell is cheaper is BECAUSE THEY GIMP THE FUCK OUT OF THEIR PARTS. :P Multiboxing won't allow such thievery of vital system parts, pay a little more to a reliable brand of parts and be assured yer shit's full-powered and gonna last through future upgrades.

If you can afford the upgrade, go for it, might run alot better and more performance, especially in towns for showing off, is good :P

[Maz]

I think I'm gonna keep the parts I've ordered but get the retail version of the mobo too and swap it in. Just gonna check to make sure that Dell haven't gimped anything else like weld the motherboard in or fit it with non-standard connectors or anti-personnel mines. I have a couple of spare power supplies so all that will be left of the Dell is its case and the drives so I'll proabbly be safe.

Lesson learned though.

[Silly Gooooose]

Never buy dell, ever.

It doesn't matter what you want to do, unless it happens to be buying a computer to give to some one you hate, then maybe buy Dell. Though I'd rather give that person an E-Machines rather than give Dell more money.

[Eteocles]

Dell does indeed have a track record of SUCKING HARD. lol even back when I first started poking around with computers in the 90s they had the bad rep, and that pot-smoking "DUDE UR GETTIN A DELL LOLOLOLOL" mascot didnt' help things either lol

[NevadaGuy]

Yes, Dell's do have some shortcomings however:

I have a C2D 1.8GHZ model with 1 Gb of ram, 7600GT video card and XP, not exactly top of the line components but I can still run 4 copies of WoW at a very acceptable framerate. If you look here most folks tout MUCH more powerful systems, WoW just isnt that huge a cpu/gpu hog.

My WoW instances all run at 800x600, main window with most of the video goodies on and the alts all the way down.

I dont go into big cities as the lag is pretty bad, but in instances my main runs between 20-30 fps and I don't ever really notice any lag.

It may be your net connection also.

You just need the right mix of components.

[Eteocles]

Aye my current system is

AMD x64 dual-core - 2gb ddr2 ram - 7900 GS vidcard - old-ass IDE 120gb drive, single monitor @ 1280x1024 desktop res, WoWs @ 1024x768 and I run 5 of them fine out in the wild...but god forbid I get near a Major City...I went to Exodar for my Fire Totem quest recently on my quint-set of shamen...there were barely any people there and the lag went apeshit on me, I LOST /follow on 3 of 5 alts at random intervals...I don't even want to think about SW IF or Shattrath...*shudder*; having a better system promotes more stability/stable numbers in fps and such, though non-horizontal span/double monitors/double vidcards makes things worse instead of better for some reason.

And again, Dell sucks ;p I dunno if I'd say e-machines is any better(cuz my emergency backup comp is one...and oh god I hate that thing so much) but you really are best off custom-building if you want shit to work and to work right/well lol

[Sarduci]

Never buy dell, ever.

It doesn't matter what you want to do, unless it happens to be buying a computer to give to some one you hate, then maybe buy Dell. Though I'd rather give that person an E-Machines rather than give Dell more money.

I support thousands of Dell servers and PC in the field. The only pre-built PC I'd ever buy would be from Dell. You want to see problems with service, go buy an HP or Compaq and watch them leave an entire payment processing system down for 2 weeks while they order some part from China that has to be custom made when one breaks that costs 10's of thousands of dollars in lost productivity and interest on deposits.

@OP -You bought some canned solution. You're complaining about your Geo Metro not being able to keep pace with my Ford Mustang at the race track. Your "damn cheap" solution is exactly what you paid for. Considering how I've bought $150.00 PC's from Dell, I can only imagine that it's some stripped down Optiplex which is 100% fixed hardware except for one PCI slot.

It's fixed configuration free after rebate computer FTL, not a Dell problem.

BTW - Worked at a big box retail store. Normal procedure was to throw away E-machines when they broke due to the 100% custom parts. E-machines wouldn't even take them back, was cheaper to destroy the old POS than to figure out what was wrong and fix it. We were also specifically told not to troubleshoot them other than plug them in and see if they turn on since there was no kickback to the store for labor. I can say just about the same story for IBM, Sony, Gateway, Toshiba and all of the rest for how cruddy their consumer units are for upgrades, spare parts and general service.

[Bovidae]

Build your own, end of story.