Dell XPS Desktop 8300, i7-2600 3.40GHz, 12GB ram, 1.5TB HDD, W7

Tradnuts

banchang wrote: »

What one would that be ? Source ? Price ?

Meaning, I already own a graphics card from before that I'm happy with, which i will put into the new machine.

Quaderno

tobingj wrote: »

Anyone got found a similar offer or new link to a decent spec machine.

Current one is 6gb ram
And 1TB hd.

Cheers,

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=ie&l=en&cs=iedhs1&kc=&oc=D00X8322 --> € 866.15 using the codes

Specs like the original one plus:
Blu-Ray ROM combo (Blu-ray read only, DVD, CD read & write)
8192MB Dual Channel DDR3 1333MHz [4x2048] Memory edit
2TB Dual Hard Drive RAID 0 "Stripe" (2x1TB - 7,200 rpm) edit
NVIDIA® GeForce GT 545 1GB DDR5 Graphics Card edit
MONITOR 21.5" (55 cm) ST2220L UK/Irish Full HD WLED Widescreen Monitor

And even better:
http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=ie&l=en&cs=iedhs1&kc=&oc=D00X8334 --> € 908.65

Blu-Ray ROM combo (Blu-ray read only, DVD, CD read & write)
12288MB Dual Channel DDR3 1333MHz [2x4096 + 2x2048] Memory
2TB Dual Hard Drive RAID 0 "Stripe" (2x1TB - 7,200 rpm)
NVIDIA® GeForce GT 545 1GB DDR5 Graphics Card
MONITOR 23in ST2320L UK/Irish Full HD WLED Widescreen Monitor (VGA, DVI-D and HDMI)

thegift06

Quaderno wrote: »

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=ie&l=en&cs=iedhs1&kc=&oc=D00X8332 --> € 866.15 using the codes

Specs like the original one plus:
Blu-Ray ROM combo (Blu-ray read only, DVD, CD read & write)
8192MB Dual Channel DDR3 1333MHz [4x2048] Memory edit
2TB Dual Hard Drive RAID 0 "Stripe" (2x1TB - 7,200 rpm) edit
NVIDIA® GeForce GT 545 1GB DDR5 Graphics Card edit
MONITOR 21.5" (55 cm) ST2220L UK/Irish Full HD WLED Widescreen Monitor

You will pay about €200 more, but still not a bad offer...

wrong link

Quaderno

Thanks, link changed now. I think the last one is good value. You pay €250 more than for the now expired offer (12GB/1,5TB) and that gets you a bluray-drive, another 500GB of HDD,a slightly better graphics card and most importantly a 23" screen. Should be worth it.

2smiggy

Quaderno wrote: »

Thanks, link changed now. I think the last one is good value. You pay €250 more than for the now expired offer (12GB/1,5TB) and that gets you a bluray-drive, another 500GB of HDD,a slightly better graphics card and most importantly a 23" screen. Should be worth it.

how will this be for playing games ? battlefield etc. i don't need to have the very best resolution etc running, but for the money i would want something that will last for a few years and be upgradable.


i have not played PC games for 8 years, currently just use my PS3 , but seeing how long a PS4 is away, and how far its falling behind PC's i was thinking of taking the plunge again.

i would probably use this nearly solely for games, as between all the other money i have wasted on gadgets i would need it for anything else.

Any thoughts much appreciated as i see this is the last day of the offer

Monotype

2smiggy wrote: »

how will this be for playing games ? battlefield etc. i don't need to have the very best resolution etc running, but for the money i would want something that will last for a few years and be upgradable.

Not so good. The graphics card is only mediocre. Dell is the wrong way to go with regard to upgradability - the motherboards are often non standard and are poorer that others and the power supply unit is usually not capable of supporting big upgrades (including large steps in graphics cards).

For the best value, you should pick out your own components. You could either build it yourself (not as hard as it sounds), get someone to build it for you or some online component stores will build them for a fee.

For help with components, visit the building and upgrading forum, but try to answer some questions (vvv linked in my signature below vvv) when creating a new thread so that people will know what you want.

AppleMacBoy

Can someone build me a desktop with Dell XPS Desktop 8300, i7-2600 3.40GHz, 12GB ram, 1.5TB HDD, W7

2smiggy

Monotype wrote: »

Not so good. The graphics card is only mediocre. Dell is the wrong way to go with regard to upgradability - the motherboards are often non standard and are poorer that others and the power supply unit is usually not capable of supporting big upgrades (including large steps in graphics cards).

For the best value, you should pick out your own components. You could either build it yourself (not as hard as it sounds), get someone to build it for you or some online component stores will build them for a fee.

For help with components, visit the building and upgrading forum, but try to answer some questions (vvv linked in my signature below vvv) when creating a new thread so that people will know what you want.

so as i am in no real panic, i would be better waiting and go down the route and getting one build for me ? especially as i want it for games, and the ability to play games at a decent frame rate and resolution for some time to come ?

thanks for the reply

thegift06

AppleMacBoy wrote: »

Can someone build me a desktop with Dell XPS Desktop 8300, i7-2600 3.40GHz, 12GB ram, 1.5TB HDD, W7

Yeh some lad called Dell can do that for you no problem

partyatmygaff

AppleMacBoy wrote: »

Can someone build me a desktop with Dell XPS Desktop 8300, i7-2600 3.40GHz, 12GB ram, 1.5TB HDD, W7

People on the Building & Upgrading forum could build you a system. Some will do it for free and some might charge a small fee.

Or you could just get it from Dell, you really can't get it significantly cheaper than this.

Monotype

2smiggy wrote: »

so as i am in no real panic, i would be better waiting and go down the route and getting one build for me ? especially as i want it for games, and the ability to play games at a decent frame rate and resolution for some time to come ?

thanks for the reply

Yes. The Dell is a reasonable deal in some circumstances - the 2600 is a good processor in areas like encoding but there's better choices for games. The hard drives are also good as they're expensive at the moment due to a shortage, although in your own build you can add a Solid State Drive to get very fast boot ups and near instant launches of your regular programs (not for games though as they'd be too expensive for the size of them).
The RAM is not something to be very wowed by as (i) RAM is cheap at the moment and (ii) most people are unlikely to use more than 4GB.

The graphics card is the biggest issue and with new graphics cards launched this month and next, and hopefully hard drive prices returning to normal soon, it should be an excellent time to build a gaming PC in the upcoming months.

Quaderno

Maybe it's worth pointing out that this offer is also still available if anybody is just looking for a cheap machine that can easily handle most daily tasks apart from playing newer games. Of course it's not as powerful as the i7, but then it is just half the price and comes complete with a screen...

Kenny Logins

Quaderno wrote: »

Maybe it's worth pointing out that this offer is also still available if anybody is just looking for a cheap machine that can easily handle most daily tasks apart from playing newer games. Of course it's not as powerful as the i7, but then it is just half the price and comes complete with a screen...

...and still £399 plus £170 for the monitor on Dell UK (€689 in total), which I can't understand...

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=d006204&c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&model_id=inspiron-620

Mine arrived on Monday, great budget desktop IMHO. I've no interest in gaming, and this will handle everything I need it for very well.

tobingj

Quaderno wrote: »

Thanks, link changed now. I think the last one is good value. You pay €250 more than for the now expired offer (12GB/1,5TB) and that gets you a bluray-drive, another 500GB of HDD,a slightly better graphics card and most importantly a 23" screen. Should be worth it.

Seems too good to be true. I tried build this up from scratch with a staff discount for company i work and came in at €1700.

Why does this offer have -€639 to start with pre coupons?? thats 30% off. Is there something messed up with pc? MOBO ancient?

thegift06

tobingj wrote: »

Seems too good to be true. I tried build this up from scratch with a staff discount for company i work and came in at €1700.

Why does this offer have -€639 to start with pre coupons?? thats 30% off. Is there something messed up with pc? MOBO ancient?

The first offer in post one is now expired but codes can still be used for other builds

tobingj

Monotype wrote: »

Not so good. The graphics card is only mediocre. Dell is the wrong way to go with regard to upgradability - the motherboards are often non standard and are poorer that others and the power supply unit is usually not capable of supporting big upgrades (including large steps in graphics cards).

For the best value, you should pick out your own components. You could either build it yourself (not as hard as it sounds), get someone to build it for you or some online component stores will build them for a fee.

For help with components, visit the building and upgrading forum, but try to answer some questions (vvv linked in my signature below vvv) when creating a new thread so that people will know what you want.

I built mine a few years ago.. I used decent components and it was pretty hard. It was upgradable but not enough..... games out paced it. It is still going but now im looking for a ready made to replace it.... if you are a gadget man you will get bored with the PC or something will be not right within two years. Some sort of tech will be missing and you will upgrade....The ram from three years ago is not even made anymore... (exaggeration but you get the picture).
Think of it like a car..... i tend to buy a car 3 or 4 years old... and drive it until it starts feeling uncomfortable but doesnt give too much trouble. I reckon the lifetime of a PC is max 3 years old. This machine should play games that long with only a few tweaks. I wont buy an Alienware as it will be defunct in 3 years too..... and initial investment is too large. You wont need the difference between this and an AW machine to buy upgrades and survive three years. AW machine = €1900 - €900 for this = 1000 euro to spend on upgrades.

tobingj

I am talking about this one.. i think its still valid.

Quaderno wrote: »

And even better:
http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=ie&l=en&cs=iedhs1&kc=&oc=D00X8334 --> € 908.65

Blu-Ray ROM combo (Blu-ray read only, DVD, CD read & write)
12288MB Dual Channel DDR3 1333MHz [2x4096 + 2x2048] Memory
2TB Dual Hard Drive RAID 0 "Stripe" (2x1TB - 7,200 rpm)
NVIDIA® GeForce GT 545 1GB DDR5 Graphics Card
MONITOR 23in ST2320L UK/Irish Full HD WLED Widescreen Monitor (VGA, DVI-D and HDMI)

Quaderno

tobingj wrote: »

Seems too good to be true. I tried build this up from scratch with a staff discount for company i work and came in at €1700.

Why does this offer have -€639 to start with pre coupons?? thats 30% off. Is there something messed up with pc? MOBO ancient?

I think the "problem" rather has something to do with the full price. If you use all the codes and order via fatcheese than you get the complete system for exactly half the money dell would charge you for the components. But they still have to turn a profit somehow, which tells me that the lower price is probably somewhere near the cost base while their "normal" pricing includes an outrageous markup. So the mobo will probably be fine...

tobingj

Quaderno wrote: »

And even better:
http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=ie&l=en&cs=iedhs1&kc=&oc=D00X8334 --> € 908.65

Blu-Ray ROM combo (Blu-ray read only, DVD, CD read & write)
12288MB Dual Channel DDR3 1333MHz [2x4096 + 2x2048] Memory
2TB Dual Hard Drive RAID 0 "Stripe" (2x1TB - 7,200 rpm)
NVIDIA® GeForce GT 545 1GB DDR5 Graphics Card
MONITOR 23in ST2320L UK/Irish Full HD WLED Widescreen Monitor (VGA, DVI-D and HDMI)

Any other little extras you would add??
Wifi - Blue tooth etc?
Possible to add a SSHD later?

Zab

If time and effort are meaningless to you then you would almost certainly build a better value machine from scratch. It's likely that your machine would be overclockable too, which also gets you extra value. And of course, it would be more customised to your needs. However, that isn't going to suit everybody, in fact I would say that it isn't going to suit the vast majority of people.

If you're interested in building your own machine then you should certainly go down that route. You'll have some things to learn but it isn't like you have to do advanced maths or anything, just some research then screw/slot things together. I'd argue that pretty much anybody could build a computer if they were willing to make the attempt and weren't completely technologically challenged.

That said the original Dell deal with a new graphics card is an extremely fast machine that will have no trouble with new games for a few years, was good value and entails minimal hassle.

BostonB

And a licensed OS...

Monotype

tobingj wrote: »

Seems too good to be true. I tried build this up from scratch with a staff discount for company i work and came in at €1700.

Why does this offer have -€639 to start with pre coupons?? thats 30% off. Is there something messed up with pc? MOBO ancient?

It's not ancient, that socket came out the beginning of last year so it can't be any older than that. Of course, that's not to say it isn't a bottom end motherboard.

tobingj wrote: »

I built mine a few years ago.. I used decent components and it was pretty hard. It was upgradable but not enough..... games out paced it. It is still going but now im looking for a ready made to replace it.... if you are a gadget man you will get bored with the PC or something will be not right within two years. Some sort of tech will be missing and you will upgrade....The ram from three years ago is not even made anymore... (exaggeration but you get the picture).
Think of it like a car..... i tend to buy a car 3 or 4 years old... and drive it until it starts feeling uncomfortable but doesnt give too much trouble. I reckon the lifetime of a PC is max 3 years old. This machine should play games that long with only a few tweaks. I wont buy an Alienware as it will be defunct in 3 years too..... and initial investment is too large. You wont need the difference between this and an AW machine to buy upgrades and survive three years. AW machine = €1900 - €900 for this = 1000 euro to spend on upgrades.

I'm not quite sure the point you're making here... Computers get old? Of course they do!
Or perhaps you're saying that PCs that cost €1.9K aren't worthwhile. Alienware ones are notoriously expensive for what you get, so yes it would be bad value. But it's usually bad value to pay out that kind of money anyway. You'll always pay over the odds for the last piece of performance. You should look at what you're getting and see how the marginal cost weighs up with the quality increase. At the other end of the scale, paying next to nothing can also be bad - an extra €20 somewhere could end up doubling performance.
You just need to choose your components carefully and search for the optimal amount to spend.

Games are outpacing systems far less than before as most developers have to keep their eye on the consoles to make sure that they run on those too.

Finally, the Dell is a fine system for what it is but you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear and all that. It's not designed for big upgrades so it would be silly to be throwing too much money in adding components later as one part often relies upon the other and you'll end up spending a lot more.

tobingj

Summary- this machine will do you 2 years or more for gaming.
Too much hassle to build one.

Quaderno

Yes, but as always with computers: the attractive offers will keep coming, so although the current codes might expire soon there should be no need to get into any hurry. The next big thing in the cpu-market will be Ivy Bridge, the new generation of core-i processors. Those should start shipping in spring and will be only slightly more powerful but significantly more efficient then the current Sandy Bridge chips. And then we might see even better offers for the current hardware. Or may be after that...

Monotype

tobingj wrote: »

Summary- this machine will do you 2 years or more for gaming.
Too much hassle to build one.

That's fine if you think it's too much effort to build one but don't mislead people into thinking it's a gaming machine.
The Geforce 530 in the original machine was far from enough. The 545 is a vast improvement (likely to be able to run games for the next two years) and would be okay if you turned down resolution as well as detail but it's still a fairly low-mid card at best.

HovaBaby

Monotype wrote: »

That's fine if you think it's too much effort to build one but don't mislead people into thinking it's a gaming machine.
The Geforce 530 in the original machine was far from enough. The 545 is a vast improvement (likely to be able to run games for the next two years) and would be okay if you turned down resolution as well as detail but it's still a fairly low-mid card at best.

How good is the GTX 580?

Am I Evil?

The GTX 580 is the best card you can buy currently. You should be sorted for a few years to come with that :pac:

This desktops a great deal but I would definitely use the money saved to upgrade the card if at all possible

Jaegermeister

Well I ordered mine on the 10th. The estimated delivery date is the 18th so looking forward to that.

Thanks to the OP for letting us know about the deal and to everyone that answered my queries. I hope everyone is happy with their machines when they get them.

Now we have to start looking out for the best deal on graphics cards

At the moment I'm gonna see how the 530 handles WoW which is what I play most but I think ultimately I will upgrade. At the moment I'm leaning towards a HD 6870 which seems like the best card in that price range.

Monotype

HovaBaby wrote: »

How good is the GTX 580?

As am I Evil says, it's a top end card. A bit expensive though and not great value for money as you always pay extra for the best.

Jaegermeister wrote: »

At the moment I'm leaning towards a HD 6870 which seems like the best card in that price range.

The 6870 is a good card. Power consumption is fairly low on it and other people have squeezed them into similar systems but you should check that your PSU is enough.

tobingj

Grats Jaeger,

I would think it wise to stay in the price range. Or just a little up.
You might find that the power supplly will not deal with a big upgrade. I got a dell before and 1. the slot was only big enough to slot in a thin single card (most upgrades were double slot width.) 2. The power supply couldnt handle the upgrade.

I missed the offer... by the time i got in last night it was after 11pm and i entered in the codes.... they had expired.

Drop a line here if a similar deal and codes reemerge.. preferably without the monitor but im easy.

BTW how do you thank people on this?