They're basically boutique computers. Meant to show off.
They improve performance but not worth the price. If I had the money to spend, then I would get the HP Voodoo Blackbird because it is one of the most powerful computers out there, but there way too much money.
Funny you mention the Voodoo Blackbird, Smasandian because on my friends got it just two weeks ago. I was over their house and just basicly drooled over it.
1.1 killowat power plant, everything runs so smoothly, he could basicly run like five games of the 'Crysis' level at the same time and won't get slowdown in performance. It really is impressive.
Not only that, the design is very shmexy. Added to that, it is made out of aluminum and everything is built in in a way that if you bang it against the wall nothing would happen. My friend even told me HP ran some kind of tests with the computer, like putting it inside a paint shaker and smashing the shit out of it, and anything that broke they re-engineered it so it wouldn't.
Really, if you buy a computer like that it would serve you for atleast seven years, with it's durability and it's performance , so I don't know if it's such a huge waste of money.
The computer I just recently built is a gaming PC, and it only cost about $900. After I built it, I was curious how much the same computer would cost from a boutique site like Alienware. So I went and configured it and an Alienware PC, with exactly the same components, ended up costing a total of $2,000. The performance with both is going to be the same, you're basically paying for the name and for their special case and tech support.
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Last edited by BackFire on Mar 7th, 2008 at 09:51 PM
Yeah, I wouldn't buy one, personally. I'd just build myself a computer. Save a hell of a lot of money that way. I plan on replacing mine soon, and I'm going to build it, and while it's not going to be a super top of the line gaming PC (which I don't need it to be, I'm not big on PC gaming), it's still going to be pretty damn good and will cost me about $500. Really can't beat that at all.
And it's surprisingly easy to build your own PC. This was the first one I had built, I had no experience before, just watched some videos to familiarize myself with the process, and it went off almost without a hitch (those damn front panel connectors were a pain in the ass, though).
But I did something a tad bit different. I went to a store that specialized in building computers and I basically bought the components from them and then let them build it for me for about $50. (I got that taken off considering I picked out all the components)
Looking at the prices from their stores and compared them to some sites, I paid a bit more but I also have the luxury of if its breaks, I just send it back to them and they fix it for free and if the component is not at the store, they replace it with something better.
But considering I'm going to school next year for computer tech, I'm just going to build it next time.
I suppose it's nice to have somewhere to return it if it should go to shit.
Building your own is fun, though. Yeah, I'd suggest you try it for yourself next time. It's a very satisfying feeling pushing the power button for the first time and having it boot up.
The store though did a great job. They installed everything, updated all the drivers, and did a great job of neatly putting all the wires together and out of the way. It's basically like Alienware, but without the fancy paint job and the tweaking.
One think I mildly dont understand, and this is coming from a chef's prospective, why companies allow you to change everything in the system. My understanding is that they know exactly what components do well together and what components are shit, so why would they allow you to change everything and could possibly produce a shittier system. Ah well.
When it comes to console specs, its very different than computers. Everything is custom and even though it could say that the specs are low, sometimes they way to console is built its better than it is.
But in the end, in terms of raw power, the 8800 GT GPU is superior when I think about it more.
Yeah, I have an 8800gt, and yes, it's definitely more powerful than what the consoles have. The 360 has the equivalent of roughly a 7800gtx card, and the PS3, not sure about that one, maybe slightly better, but still not quite up to par with the newer pc graphics cards.
Most consoles CPU's, GPU's and other stuff is all custom made by either ATI, or Nvidia.
I know for a fact that both PS3, and 360 are multithreaded and Sony is in-house made Cell processor. That's why some developers, mostly 3rd party companies have a hard time making games for the PS3 because its not the same as an Intel, or AMD processor.
The 360 has a custom IBM made 3 core processor clocked at 3ghz. the PS3's is the equivalent of a 7 core processor, but as Smas said, many devs have trouble with it, it's incredibly complicated and difficult to use properly.
And as far as Graphics, I believe the 360 uses a custom made ATI card. Nvidia made PS3's.
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Mar 7th, 2008 02:18 PM
