New Computer System

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by ericrollo, Aug 15, 2011.

  1. ericrollo

    ericrollo Megabyte Poster

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    I have been looking for a new computer system but i have lost touch with computer hardware. I have been looking at Dell simply because i have used them before and my experience with them was excellent.

    What do you think of this system?

    It is a Dell XPS 8300 and would cost £1,600.

    Included in your system:
    PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7-2600 Processor (3.40GHz, 8MB)
    OPERATING SYSTEM English Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
    MONITOR 24in ST2420L UK/Irish Full HD WLED Widescreen Monitor (VGA, DVI-D and HDMI)
    MONITOR 24in ST2420L UK/Irish Full HD WLED Widescreen Monitor (VGA, DVI-D and HDMI)
    OPTICAL DRIVE Blu-Ray ROM combo (Blu-ray read only, DVD, CD read & write) & 16X DVD+/-RW (Win 7 Only)
    MEMORY 16384MB Dual Channel DDR3 1333MHz [4x4096] Memory
    HARD DRIVE 2TB Dual Hard Drive RAID 0 "Stripe" (2x1TB - 7,200 rpm)
    GRAPHICS CARD AMD Radeon™ HD 6950 2GB DDR5 Graphics Card
    KEYBOARD Dell™ USB Entry Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)
    MOUSE Dell Optical Scroll USB (2 buttons scroll) DUAL TONE Mouse
    TV TUNER AND REMOTE CONTROL Hybrid TV tuner PCIex1 card
    WIRELESS SOLUTION Dell Wireless 1501 Mini Card (802.11g/n) - ROW
     
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  2. onoski

    onoski Terabyte Poster

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    On paper the specs look good. The decision can only be made by you i.e. your budget, what's the laptop going to be used for etc. Personally, my experience with Dell laptops have been good.
     
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  3. Shinigami

    Shinigami Megabyte Poster

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    The hardware doesn't look too bad. That's a lot of RAM if you wanna make virtual machines, the CPU's fast as is the gfx card if you wanna do some gaming. Is that two screens that you are looking to go with?

    If the price feels right for you, why not. I build my own machines, so I can make them a little cheaper by purchasing the spare parts. The ATI/AMD gfx cards may be a bit louder than Nvidia's, but if noise is not a big issue, it won't really matter.

    Will you be needing a TV tuner card, maybe not too important if you already have a TV. And I personally would use a physical network cable for a desktop PC versus wireless (a little more reliable, faster, and cheaper).

    Don't forget that if you lose one disk in that setup, you'll lose your entire installation since that's a RAID0 configuration. Mirror might be a little better if you want more peace of mind, or at the very least, get an external disk or something to backup your stuff now and then.
     
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  4. ericrollo

    ericrollo Megabyte Poster

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    Is this better or worse?

    Included in your system:
    PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 930 (2.80GHz, 8MB cache, 4.8GT/sec)
    GRAPHICS CARD Dual 1GB ATI® Radeon™ HD 5770 graphics card
    MEMORY 6144MB (3x2GB) 1866MHz DDR3 Tri Channel
    HARD DRIVE 1.5TB Dual Hard Drive Raid 0 "Stripe" (2x750GB - 7200rpm)
    OPTICAL DRIVE 24X DVD+/- RW Optical Drive (DVD & CD read and write)

    obviously it lacks blu ray etc...
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2011
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  5. nugget
    Honorary Member

    nugget Junior toady

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    As mentioned above, it looks good, but what do you want to do with it? Gaming, home entertainment, general use or certification study? As you mention blu ray specifically it leads me to think more along the home entertainment side of things.
     
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  6. ericrollo

    ericrollo Megabyte Poster

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    Exactly, i want to use it for everything.

    Gaming
    Watching films
    Work
    Web browsing
    Software Development
    General usage
     
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  7. SimonD
    Honorary Member

    SimonD Terabyte Poster

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    Self build instead of a pre-built system, cheaper and allows you to pick and choose your hardware.
     
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    RichyV likes this.
  8. frankcastle

    frankcastle Bit Poster

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    I think this new machine of yours completely meets all the technical specifications and would be a very good asset to own it. I think you should go ahead and purchase this computer system.
     
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  9. RichyV

    RichyV Megabyte Poster

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    +1

    This is a £1600 system; built around a £220 GFX card! - The epitome of 'unbalanced system'.
    You will need more 'oomph' than that to run 2x 24" monitors.
    And please never, ever, use 'RAID 0' unless a complete loss of data will not affect you:- Twice the hardware = Twice the failure rate and all for 20-30% speed-increase in hd I/O. These days a good SSD for the OS plus a large 1-2TB conventional disk for data is the only way to go and I'm at a loss to understand why it's not offered as an option in these 'top-spec' machines...

    Dell, sadly, are not the company they used to be (they do still make OK-ish business machines, dependant on your budget though...)
     
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  10. dmarsh
    Honorary Member 500 Likes Award

    dmarsh Petabyte Poster

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    This thread is 5 months old, frank necroposted. Although I do agree with you Rich, SSD if spending that much not RAID 0.

    If not playing lot games then I'd expect £200 graphics card should handle two monitors fine, as long as has decent amount of memory which it does.

    I'd never buy Dell for home use, and agreed they aren't what they once were.
     
  11. RichyV

    RichyV Megabyte Poster

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    :oops: Oops - Schoolboy error!
     
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