Falcon Northwest vs. Alienware vs. NewEgg

Started by Gusington, November 19, 2020, 02:49:30 PM

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Queeg

Quote from: Gusington on November 20, 2020, 06:12:32 PM
Gotta say JH, that CLX site you posted above it really good. I put together a rig with 32GB of memory, i9, 750w power supply, 1TB SSD, Creative sound card, liquid cooled + fans, and an NVidia 3080 card for ~3300 to be built in about two weeks. I may go with that. Not sure how I couldn't...it would be almost criminal not to. Little nervous though because I have never used them before.

My brother has a CLX rig and is happy with it.  One unique thing about CLX is they offer a variety of case options.  Most places, the case is the case. 

The variety of options CLX offers is pretty impressive but you might want to do a bit of research on each of the choices in whatever size you are looking at.  Many of these case designs with tempered glass panels look great but have poor airflow and cooling and often, as a result, are pretty loud under load.  If you use headphones all the time, then noise may not be a big deal.  But some of these case designs can look great but sound like an airplane at takeoff under load.  More recent versions of some of these cases have more mesh openings on the front panel or elsewhere for that reason.

Also, do you want a rig that sits under your desk on top of it?  Until recently, I always had giant towers on the floor under or around my desk, but my current rig is a smaller form factor that I really like.  You really can get a powerful computer with a good thermal and noise profile in a smaller form factor these days.  CLX offers several good smaller to mid-size form factor case options.

Good news is CLX offers several popular case designs, most of which have a bunch of in-depth reviews floating around on the internet.  Probably worth investing some time watching some review videos to get an idea of the practical pros and cons of each of the options they offer.     

Queeg

Not sure if any of you follow Linus Tech Tips (kind of a squirrely guy but he really knows his stuff).  Perhaps apropos of this discussion, they currently are doing a "secret shopper" review of several big-name PC makers, including some of the niche gaming rig makers.  They've posted videos on the front-end purchasing experience and tech support.  Pretty interesting stuff -- a lot of variation among the companies.

Here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz7WMF4wWko

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ViO0ETvfEc&t=143s



 

Gusington

Great posts man. Thanks Millipede and Queeg.


слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

Gusington

Right now my ASUS sits on top of my desk, which I never wanted...but I have bought all new furniture to go with the new machine so it will not be an issue...on top of or below will be fine because I will have a lot more space.


слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

JasonPratt

To answer Gus' question, yes I've had three Falcons (and nothing else) since 2000 or a little earlier. My laptop is even on their photo collage, as a sort of joke, because the paint job was so totally black that the light simply bounced off as photo lights or didn't return to the lens at all -- so they ended up settling for taking a photo of TRYING to take a photo of the laptop!

My current system was bought in December 2012, and has had one upgrade of a gfx card since then. My running cost average for this rig stands at just over $650 a year so far, and will doubtless drop farther.

If messing with hardware and system software didn't leave me a nervous wreck, I'd shop for components myself, with the understanding that I'd have to be my own tech support, and build a new computer every couple of years (reinstalling my software if I couldn't migrate the system and data over). Instead, I save up cash during many years of owning a FNW and then buy a new one eventually. I'm willing to pay for peace of mind and lack of hassle, including not having to wonder if the guys who put my computer together are optimization experts (much less even really know what they're doing).

The first question to ask yourself, aside from budget constraints, is: how comfortable do you feel working on your rig yourself? I can do it, barely, but I'm not comfortable AT ALL doing it.

Next therefore, if someone else will be putting your rig together: do you care if the people putting your rig together are just functionaries plugging things into each other, leaving performance on the floor or creating conflicts? In other words, how much do you care about how much of their reputation (and thus their job) is at stake in giving you the best possible performance and the least amount of trouble over the longest possible system life, and how much do you care about how much they care about that?

I care about both of those enough to pay for someone else to do the work, and I care enough to be picky about the competence and pride and longterm support of whomever I'm paying to do the work.

At the same time, I one thousand percent understand all the appeal, including cost, of building a rig. It's just something that would give me migraines, and I've had enough of those in my life already (including working on systems for other people: setting up my family's factory's accounting system back one summer during high school gave me literal migraines. Though that turned out to be worth it, because we used it up through this year when we sold the company, long, lonnnnnng after the publisher was so done with it that they offered to sell us the source code! ;) )
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Yskonyn

#35
The guys at FNW really sit on roses! I must contact them about their road to success where robbing people blind while they actually like the process is just amazing! It's just completely nuts for me to read about many 'defending'  this company just for the sake of support and reputation.  :uglystupid2:

Also, the story about how they are able to configure and match the hardware like nobody else can is crap, you know that right?
They don't manufacture their hardware, they are assemblers of off the shelf stuff, just like any of us building our own rig.

That said, it does illustrate that building a rig is not that simple as many sites make it out to believe. You do need to have knowledge or are willing to dive into the deeper dark arts of hardware configuration.
But still, and I've said it before, the prices that roll around here for rigs from these 'dependable companies' are just insane to me!

Listen to Jarhead, the man talks sense and will save you at least 1000 dollah without you having to do any hard work.  :peace:
"Pilots do not get paid for what they do daily, but they get paid for what they are capable of doing.
However, if pilots would need to do daily what they are capable of doing, nobody would dare to fly anymore."

MengJiao

Quote from: jamus34 on November 19, 2020, 03:09:25 PM
Hey Gus,

Couple of thoughts for ya

1) Strictly Falcon vs Alienware, if costs are anywhere close, I would go for the Falcon every time.

2) There are a number of boutique system builders out there, that I've heard good things about (Maingear, Cyberpower, Origin, Ibuypower). I would at least peruse some other sites if you really are interested in buying just for comparisons sake.

3) Costco has a deal with Cyberpower for building PC's - 90 day return policy and 2 year warranty.

Again, none of these may suit you and back to your original question if the price was anywhere comparable I would go Falcon NW 10 out of 10 times; just heard way too many good things and no negatives out of them.

I've had only good (okay one was slightly weird bu not bad) experiences with Cyberpower's desktops

Jarhead0331

Quote from: Yskonyn on November 22, 2020, 04:01:05 AM

Listen to Jarhead, the man talks sense and will save you at least 1000 dollah without you having to do any hard work.  :peace:

If there is one thing I've learned in 20 years of counseling and advising people it's that you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Gusington

The CLX site is pretty slick and I can get what I want there, comparable if not identical, to a Falcon NW rig, for about 1000 less if not even more than that.

Meng - I have had a Cyberpower rig as well and also never had any complaints or issues.

So...I am leaning toward CLX. Purchase day is now just five days away!


слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

WYBaugh

I have been building my own pc's since the 486 days.  It's not a big deal, especially with modern pc's, to build your own. Making it look clean is a labor of love and one I'm not patient enough for.

Seriously guys, do not spend the money on pre-built.  Use the money to pick out the best parts you can and assemble yourself. 

Gusington

I have in the past, don't have the time or inclination to do it this year. Willing to pay for it this time.


слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

Jarhead0331

Quote from: Gusington on November 22, 2020, 01:07:34 PM
The CLX site is pretty slick and I can get what I want there, comparable if not identical, to a Falcon NW rig, for about 1000 less if not even more than that.

Meng - I have had a Cyberpower rig as well and also never had any complaints or issues.

So...I am leaning toward CLX. Purchase day is now just five days away!

I'm probably going to buy a rig from CLX sometime in the next few days too. I'm still waiting to hear from Fred Chang.
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Gusington

Don't grab mine by accident! 😎

And thanks for posting that CLX link.

I'm also getting a 35" Acer Predator monitor to go along with it from Amazon.


слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

Millipede

JH and Gus... I should probably explore vendors other than FNW so I would appreciate it if you could share your experience purchasing and living with your CLX systems. Thanks in advance.

airboy

Quote from: Gusington on November 22, 2020, 04:09:11 PM
Don't grab mine by accident! 😎

And thanks for posting that CLX link.

I'm also getting a 35" Acer Predator monitor to go along with it from Amazon.

Can you get a 27" monitor that has two ports?  I'm spoiled with my one in the mountains compared to the one in Alabama.