Truckload of dell XPS's going tomorrow

NordicDiver

Cool thanks, I hope i did the right thing.

Sqaull20

jonny72 wrote: »

That is one sick PC.. the mad thing is, you can always overclock it too at a later date

You can overclock xps's?


My god I could have 3.0ghz Quad Core

digiman

I just bought this laptop for €1372.99

Base: XPS M1710 Core 2 Duo Processor T7600G (2.33 GHz
CD/ RW: Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive
Hard Disk Drive: 200GB (7200RPM) SATA Hard Drive
MISC: Inspiron Resource DVD - Vista Diagnostics & Driver
MISC: English McAfee Security Centre 8.0 - 30 Day Trial
MISC: 3-Wire Power Cord UK
Memory: 2048MB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024)
Misc: 9 cell Li-Ion 80WHr primary battery
Modem: Internal V.92 Modem Adapter IRL,SPN
NoteBook Screen: 17.0 WUXGA (1920x1200) Glossy Black
Software: English - Microsoft Works 8
Video: 512MB DDR3 nVidia GeForce Go 7950 GTX
Operating System: English - Vista Home Premium

Did I get a good deal or what?

Seems pretty good to me anyway.

Ardent

I just bought one of these XPS 710s. I tempted to wipe it when I get it and install XP...

For all you gamers out there, is DirectX 10 worth switching to Vista for?

Ardent

kaizersoze wrote: »

A few of these systems have come up in the last week or so and the starting price was the same but they all ended around the 1600-1800 euro mark.
Maybe this time supply will outstrip demand.

This seems to be the case. I just saw an auction for a 710 system end without any bids and the last couple have been purchased for asking price.

Telgere

Nice find OP. Thanks very much bought one for asking bid and friend did the same.

Redisle

I actually put a bid on one today at lunch and I was bizzarley outbid even though there were plenty of other systems for the other guy to choose..
Ah well, there are loads more gone up now ending tomorrow so at least I can have another think about it

Flaccus

Mathew Reilly wrote: »

Yep..there are two versions of the XPS720..one with watercooling and one without.
You can buy one without and purchase the cooling later one which is easy to fit. They run nice and cool as well.
All in all the 720's are a great price especially considering they're dual raptor hard drivers and dual 8800GTXs.

The watercooling which is based on something like the Freezone is really thermoelectric and not pure watercooling, is about 500euro from a Dell spare parts provider in the UK. I wouldn't bother. It makes minimal difference to temps and as it's a hybrid solution the front fan still comes on making it as noisy as the air cooled standard version. Temps are only down slightly, plus there is the added noise of the pump. I've had 2 of these. The watercooling fits in the 710 or 720. It's a sealed unit, made up of a heatsink/fan and all the other gubbins. You just remove the old cpu cooler, apply some thermal paste on the cpu (after cleaning it), and plonk this down. 2 screws on the front, and 4 along the side. There is a cpu fan cable to plug in, and a cable for monitoring when the thermoelectic kicks in, both connectors on the 710 and 720 board. There is also an atx psu bypass cable, which plugs into the psu. Takes 5 minutes to fit and no user serviceable parts.

Be warnted, if you use this with 2x8800gtx's with the H2C watercooling then you "may" need to invest in the Dell 1kw psu. Unfortunatley the Dell 710 board has a proprietry EPS 12v connector, so you need to buy the Dell 1kw psu from spare parts too. About 350 euro. The quality is dubious. Noisy, crackles, and buzzes a lot under load thanks to rubbish capacitors etc.. Last thing, those that want to go Sli on a 710 or 720 will need to get hold of an SLI bridge. The Dell ones have the connectors very close together and the ones you get today with most mobos are too long. They don't provide this connector unless you buy with 2 video cards.

Finally the mobo on the 710 is a crippled nvidia chipset with limited overclocking. With an extreme cpu you can turn it on in the bios and select 2.66/2.93/3.2. This ramps the fsb and voltage, but the voltage is a bit too high at 1.35v plus which can lead to high temps. You have no control over memory timings unless your memory is "SLI" memory, in which case you have to use Ntune to change the timings and memory voltage. You can also use ntune to change when the cpufan ramps with and play with the mobos fsb some but there are no cpu voltage adjustment options. So you can either overclock your cpu (1) strickly via the bios which ups the multiplier and voltage (too high), or just (2) use ntune and up the fsb of the board but with no voltage adjustment possible or (3) use a combination of 1 or 2 and hopefully not fry it. 3.2ghz is very optimistic on these quads. The 720 improves via a proper 680i chipset and allows you to overclock slightly higher again with a sligthly more friends bios.

Cmar-Ireland

Is the 720 a bit of overkill for the regular user. After doing a bit of reading, it seems the physx card is only good for a paperweight, and the watercooling adds nothing significant. The high speed drives and the dual gfx cards are definately better, but are they worth the extra 500-600e which would buy a nice dell 24" lcd...

Flaccus

If possible I'd save some cash and get a 710 or 720 with a single 8800GTX and the standard 750w psu which comes as standard when you order a single GTX. Avoid the physx card. Uttter toss. Also avoid the H2C. More toss.

Note - you can buy the sli connector on ebay if you want to add another GTX and there are adpators out there which can convert a single pci-e cable into 2 pci-e cables (as the 750w psu comes with only 2 pci-e cables and not 4 which is needed for sli) or just use spare molex's if you have them and get a dual or single molex to pci-e adaptor cable. Personally I think sli is overrated given the lack of decently programmed pc games/console conversions and the trend for newer DX10 games to support it poorly.

If overclocking the cpu, dump the memory which is pants, and get some crucial ddr2 6400 800mhz. It's sli compatible and will run nicely at 4,4,4,12 2.2v, unlike the Dell generic which runs at a miserable 5,5,5,15 or 18.


Fast raptors are nice - you might notice the difference when the pc is booting or games or loading, whether they are raid0 or not. But that's it. Get some high capacity drives, almost as fast.

Or wait for the XPS 730!

AlmightyCushion

digiman wrote: »

I just bought this laptop for €1272.99

Base: XPS M1710 Core 2 Duo Processor T7600G (2.33 GHz
CD/ RW: Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive
Hard Disk Drive: 200GB (7200RPM) SATA Hard Drive
MISC: Inspiron Resource DVD - Vista Diagnostics & Driver
MISC: English McAfee Security Centre 8.0 - 30 Day Trial
MISC: 3-Wire Power Cord UK
Memory: 2048MB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024)
Misc: 9 cell Li-Ion 80WHr primary battery
Modem: Internal V.92 Modem Adapter IRL,SPN
NoteBook Screen: 17.0 WUXGA (1920x1200) Glossy Black
Software: English - Microsoft Works 8
Video: 512MB DDR3 nVidia GeForce Go 7950 GTX
Operating System: English - Vista Home Premium

Did I get a good deal or what?

Seems pretty good to me anyway.

Yep very good deal.

BostonB

ab_cork wrote: »

I actually put a bid on one today at lunch and I was bizzarley outbid even though there were plenty of other systems for the other guy to choose..
Ah well, there are loads more gone up now ending tomorrow so at least I can have another think about it

Some people must be using auto bidders. As it doesn't go up unless you bid, then it immediately bid more than you.

Darwin

Flaccus, you sure the 590i chipset in the 710 supports 800Mhz RAM? I was sure I read somewhere it only works with 667 (PC5300/5400) RAM. Is memory bandwidth an issue with an 8800GTX particularly if gaming at 1900x1200?
Back on topic I see there were several 710's that didn't get any bids today!

Sqaull20

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Yep very good deal.

Agree you got a bargain there....A vostro with a decent 8600gt and 2.0ghz core 2 duo will cost you €800 min,and they dont hold a torch to yours...And getting an xps with a 7950 GTX will cost you at least €2000 on the offical site...

The 7950gtx is the fastest card on the card on the block at the moment for laptops until the 8800 series is released.....

digiman

Sqaull20 wrote: »

Agree you got a bargain there....A vostro with a decent 8600gt and 2.0ghz core 2 duo will cost you €800 min,and they dont hold a torch to yours...And getting an xps with a 7950 GTX will cost you at least €2000 on the offical site...

The 7950gtx is the fastest card on the card on the block at the moment for laptops until the 8800 series is released.....

Yeah seems like a good deal, I configured one to the same spec as mine on the website and it was costing around €2650 for the same one, so I got it for nearly half price. Very happy indeed.

AlmightyCushion

digiman wrote: »

Yeah seems like a good deal, I configured one to the same spec as mine on the website and it was costing around €2650 for the same one, so I got it for nearly half price. Very happy indeed.

Well I recommended something similar to someone over on the laptops forum and it was costing €1400 without vat and that was a good deal. I hope that guy doesn't see this thread.

Sqaull20

Anyone pay for there's yet?

How do you go about it?

Do you have to ring them with the item number or can you pay online?

Ive requested the total,but havent got an email back yet..

TonyM.

Why is some EDIOT bidding against me for one of them when there are pcs with no bid?

mad m

TonyM. wrote: »

Why is some EDIOT bidding against me for one of them when there are pcs with no bid?

Could be someone from dell.. The plot thickens.

Sqaull20

mad m wrote: »

Could be someone from dell.. The plot thickens.

The 720 seems to be getting alot of bids,are you bidding for that one Tony?

They have been going for over €1200

mad m

Why bid so early as well....Try and wait till last few mins....Most of them seem only few mins a part till auction ends

Sqaull20

mad m wrote: »

Why bid so early as well....Try and wait till last few mins....Most of them seem only few mins a part till auction ends

Agree I bidded with 8 seconds to go...

Bang Bang

Is the way to go....

Bid your limit,mine was 950 and I got it for 914....

I would be kicking myself for the sake of €40

TonyM.

Sqaull20 wrote: »

The 720 seems to be getting alot of bids,are you bidding for that one Tony?

They have been going for over €1200

Yes I planned to rob the 8800 gtxs raptors and cooling before selling it off with my two 7900gtxs on board.

TonyM.

Sqaull20 wrote: »

Agree I bidded with 8 seconds to go...

Bang Bang

Is the way to go....

Bid your limit,mine was 950 and I got it for 914....

I would be kicking myself for the sake of €40

The auctions always seem to end at lunch time .

Sqaull20

8800GT is that the reason these pc's are going so cheap?

Will be kind of pissed if a €270 card can match the 8800gtx,going from this review in there's enough info to get the jest of it,even if its fake....

http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=197629

Redisle

Maybe that added to the fact this machine has been discontined by dell and that proc QX6700 has been discontinued by intel?

Sqaull20

ab_cork wrote: »

Maybe that added to the fact this machine has been discontined by dell and that proc QX6700 has been discontinued by intel?

The QX6700 is a monster though they are going for over $900 on the famous newegg...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=qx6700&x=0&y=0

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=8800+gtx&x=0&y=0

Cmar-Ireland

Just noticed that the 720's have 660gb capacity listed in the auction title, but the description shows two 160gb 10k drives and a 500gb storage drive. Total of 820gb???

sionnach

the two 160gbs are probably mirrored for backup.

Cmar-Ireland

sionnach wrote: »

the two 160gbs are probably mirrored for backup.

Its says non-raid, dosen't this mean they are not backup?