What do you think of this system?

applehunter

Bear in mind it comes to 1547 euro from Dell?

Good deal or bad.

I have another 250 euro to spare for any suggestions on upgrading it!

SYSTEM COMPONENTS
Dimension 9150 (D02916x)

Intel® Pentium® 4 650 (3.4GHz, 800FSB, 2MB Cache), Genuine Windows® XP
Media Center Edition 2005


Base Intel® Pentium® 4 650 (3.4GHz, 800FSB, 2MB Cache)

Microsoft Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005

Memory 1024MB Dual Channel DDR2 533MHz (2x512) Memory

Keyboard Dell Wireless Keyboard and Optical Mouse - UK/Ire (QWERTY)

Monitor Dell E196FP 19" Midnight Grey (TCO99) Flat Panel Monitor

Video Card 256MB ATI Radeon® X600 HyperMemory graphics card

Hard Drive 320GB Serial ATA RAID 0 Stripe [2x160GB 7200rpm drives with DataBurst™ cache]

Modem V.92 Data Fax Modem
CD/DVD Drives 16x DVD+/-RW & 16x DVD Drives
Sound Cards Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music card,PCI w/Dolby Digital,7.1 speaker surround and THX certification
Speakers Dell A525 Speakers with Subwoofer

TerrorFirmer

Graphics card stands out as poor point of the system. Needs major beefing up.

Is it being used for gaming?

John2002

I bought almost the exact same machine before Christmas and I find it great. Only problem was one of the RAID0 drives died after a month which was a pain in the arse . I found Dell Tech Support to be very good though when I eventually got through to them.

Alkers

Seems a tad expensive considering what you could build for €1750.

8T8

Yeah you could do better look at what you get from OcUK for €1,294 a much better system still with a bit of cash to spare to beef up other areas where the Dell is better (better sound card, extra HD, slightly bigger display though the OcUK unit has a lower responce time which is better for games)

See "Titan Vantage Complete" AMD Athlon 64 3200+ System (FS-016-OK)

- AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice CPU
- AMD approved cooler
- Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra PCI-Express Motherboard
- GeIL 1GB Value (2x512MB) DDR PC3200 CAS2.5 Dual Channel Kit
- 160GB Western Digital Serial ATA-2 8mb Cache Hard Drive
- NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS 256MB DDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card
- Pioneer DVR-110 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter
- Onboard 6 Channel Audio
- Floppy Drive
- Antec SLK-3800B-UK Silent Midi Tower Case
- Antec 400W Silent ATX Power Supply
- Hyundai L72D+ 17" 8ms LCD Multimedia Monitor with built in speakers
- Logitech Media Keyboard (Black)
- Logitech S96 Optical Mouse (Black)
- Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Pre-Install & Supplied with CD/License

Lump

Plus it's a dell....

John

Obelisk29

I'd go for the next one up - D02917x.

Pentium Dual Core 3Ghz, GeForce 6800 graphics card and the X-Fi Xtreme sound card.

I'd upgrade to the 19" Ultrasharp monitor and downgrade the 320GB hard drive to a 250GB.

Web price with upgrade to DVD-RW+/- and DVD-ROM and Dell wireless keyboard and mouse as well is €1,646.

Don't buy it over the web - give them a ring (WexCan can pm you the name of an agent who'll be happy to help you out) and you'll be able to get a 5% discount (max agents can give). You can't downgrade the hd on the web but the agent will be able to do it for you.

Friend of mine bought a similar spec recently and I have to say I was impressed - and it's extremely quiet.

Alkers

Obelisk29 wrote:

and it's extremely quiet.

About their best feature imho, it's the one thing they do really well. My second rig is absolutely silent.

WexCan

Obelisk29 wrote:

I'd go for the next one up - D02917x.

Pentium Dual Core 3Ghz, GeForce 6800 graphics card and the X-Fi Xtreme sound card.

I'd upgrade to the 19" Ultrasharp monitor and downgrade the 320GB hard drive to a 250GB.

Web price with upgrade to DVD-RW+/- and DVD-ROM and Dell wireless keyboard and mouse as well is €1,646.

Don't buy it over the web - give them a ring (WexCan can pm you the name of an agent who'll be happy to help you out) and you'll be able to get a 5% discount (max agents can give). You can't downgrade the hd on the web but the agent will be able to do it for you.

Friend of mine bought a similar spec recently and I have to say I was impressed - and it's extremely quiet.

Woo I'm famous *pulls rolodex from drawer and drools at all his contacts*

Def go for ultrasharp - so much better from a gaming point of view.

As for the downgrade, don't know if that's possible. Sales agents are generally restricted to the same options as the web interface but with extra discounting powers and the like. Always best to buy from a rep in any case.

TerrorFirmer

Simona1986 wrote:

About their best feature imho, it's the one thing they do really well. My second rig is absolutely silent.

My dell is a good performer but there are times when you can hear the computer clearly when your walking up the hallway 10 meters away.

alarming, you would think - but its been like that for months, checked it out, all seems fine.

WexCan

HavoK wrote:

My dell is a good performer but there are times when you can hear the computer clearly when your walking up the hallway 10 meters away.

alarming, you would think - but its been like that for months, checked it out, all seems fine.

Depends on model really, like if you have a Precision or Dimension XPS it's obviously going to be louder. What model is it?

TerrorFirmer

WexCan wrote:

Depends on model really, like if you have a Precision or Dimension XPS it's obviously going to be louder. What model is it?

Dimension 8400, upgraded the gfx/ram/hd myself but none of those things are the cause of the noise. Seems to be the cpu actually (or the fan rather), 3.4 p4....

WexCan

You can get a new fan under warranty if you reeeaaaallllyyy want to. Otherwise if it doesn't bother you then nothing to worry about I'd say.

TerrorFirmer

WexCan wrote:

You can get a new fan under warranty if you reeeaaaallllyyy want to. Otherwise if it doesn't bother you then nothing to worry about I'd say.

It doesn't bother me at all to be honest, I've been telling myself for months that'll I'll be building a new beast soon though but it's just not happening at the moment...:D

WexCan

Know the feeling Need (no want) new mobo, gfx, etc. Will do it someday, anyone want to donate to the "WexCan-wants-to-soup-up-his-system" fund?