DELL XPS 600 or Self build?

Dr Bolouswki

My Choice.

I've ordered an XPS 600 dual 7800GTX with a 3.2ghx P4 (640) 2GB of 533mhz RAM and a 10000rpm drive (DVDRW, XiFi soundcard)

I'm thinking of selling it the minute i get it (would I get €1700?), but keeping one of the 7800GTX's and building my own system with the proceeds. Reason for this is twofold

1. Dell were doing a free dual grpahics card upgrade

2. Dell do 0% finance :-)

My question is this... should I just hang on to the system? I don't like the idea of using a Dell as I have built my own systems for the past 5 years, I dont have any faith in Dell Support either... however, I'm wondering if I would just be sacrificing a dual card setup for some snobbery and some overclocking features? The 0% was too good to refuse - I couldnt have afforded an upgrade now otherwise...

What do ya think?

commited

If you want to overclock - definately self build.

I always self build - unless i see a retail bargain!

gline

self build mate

DemonOfTheFall

Sell it if you can get a good price for it. Dell are absolute ****. My mate is on his 10th issue with his high end dell system. EVERYTHING in it has broken, one after the other.

Dr Bolouswki

Good God... and I work for them :eek:

Hmmm.... Anyone want to buy an XPS 600?

Sparky

self build, much better and you can choose way better components, a bit like a hifi system, all in one's are crap, mix and match is better.
plus when you put the time into building something, its more fun to see the finished product working.

Capt'n Midnight

One thing to take into consideration is the cost of the Windows license - Dell include it in the price and get a bigger discount than other resellers.

But if you already have a transferrable license to spare or aren't using it then not an issue.

Instead of doing a entry level self build for friends or relatives Dell's mainly because you don't have to provide free technical support forever then.

IMHO The extra addons and higher end pc's are overpriced compared to getting them through third parties. And Dell don't make RAM HDD's or Video cards. NB. many sound cards/videocards that dell use are OEM ones specially tweaked for them (ie. may be missing chips / options / functionality found in the retail version)

Then again the golden rule applies - the person with the gold makes the rules, if it's the only way you could buy then not much choice.

Rattlehead_ie

If you know how to I say self build mate, u can over clock, uve got warrenty directly with maker of equipment(if not the shop) u dont have to deal across the phone etc. U can take pride in what u built. Self Build FTW

Dr Bolouswki

Aye - i've self built about my last 5 pc's.... I'm gonna have to see how much I can get for this when I get it - I'll strip one of the 7800GTX out of it... which will elave a pretty tasty system nonetheless... Then hopefully I can get almost what I apid for it AND I'll still have about €400 worth of video card to start my new system...

Now - who will start the bidding at €1700??

airetam_storm

Capt'n Midnigh wrote:

many sound cards/videocards that dell use are OEM ones specially tweaked for them (ie. may be missing chips / options / functionality found in the retail version)

Dr Bolouswki wrote:

Aye - i've self built about my last 5 pc's.... I'm gonna have to see how much I can get for this when I get it - I'll strip one of the 7800GTX out of it... which will elave a pretty tasty system nonetheless... Then hopefully I can get almost what I apid for it AND I'll still have about €400 worth of video card to start my new system...

Now - who will start the bidding at €1700??

Did you make sure the 7800's aren't cut down first?

KamiKazi

DemonOfTheFall wrote:

Sell it if you can get a good price for it. Dell are absolute ****. My mate is on his 10th issue with his high end dell system. EVERYTHING in it has broken, one after the other.

i disagree i have the xps gen 2 laptop everthing is working perfectly, nothing broken and it puts most desktops to shame


Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 2.13Ghz
2*1024 Ram
NVIDIA GeForce Go 6800 Ultra 256Mb
17" widescreen WUXGA lcd(1920*1200)
Sony 4X DVD +/- RW
80Gb 7200 RPM Hdd

seriously cool rig:D

Dr Bolouswki

Did you make sure the 7800's aren't cut down first?

They are 7800GTX's - there can't be a cut down version so to speak, just maybe limeted speed on the GPU or RAM - but the pipes /vertex shaders are spot on...

Interesting post script though - I sold the system and kept the 2nd video card - still worked out as a great deal for both me and the person who bought the system also...

However - 3dMark on the DUAL card setup ws only 7900 or so - on single card setup it was 6600... now, my mate is runing an XFX7800GTX at 475mhz and gets a 3dMArk of 8200.... admittedly he's running a AMD4400, but I woudl have expected far more than 7900 on a dual card set-up?

astrofool

not on Intel

TempestSabre

DemonOfTheFall wrote:

Sell it if you can get a good price for it. Dell are absolute ****. My mate is on his 10th issue with his high end dell system. EVERYTHING in it has broken, one after the other.

I helped install 3000 of them last year, we had a very low failure rate. Hes just got a lemon as can happen with any product. I agree with Capt'n Midnight though. If building a low end office machine, go with dell its cheaper and less hassle. If you want a top end rig build your own.

I would have thought you would have lost your shirt on selling a new machine immediately. But if you didn't happy xmas!