Dell XPS 700 vs. DIY PC

TalkBack 1 of 17:

Next »

• Thread View
• Flat View

You're wrong. You're not reading all the XPS 700 tech specs.

In defense of the somewhat high price of the XPS 700, you're not reading all the info on Dell's website (specifically, the section labeled "tech specs" on Dell's website). First of all, the XPS 700 has the nForce 590 MCP which is Conroe ready. The motherboard you chose has the older nForce 4 MCP and it is NOT CONROE READY. Last time I checked, mother boards with the nForce 590 MCP aren't even released yet on retail websites selling computer parts. Second, the sample XPS 700 system you put together has Quad SLI in it which means that it has 4 graphics processing units, or 2 dual Nvidia 7 series GPU graphics cards with 1 GB of GDDR3 SDRAM on each card. On Newegg.com, a single 512 MB dual Nvidia 7800 GT graphics card sells for almost $820. The two cards Dell places in a Quad SLI system each have 1 GB of memory, and should be close to a $2000 value since there are 2 dual 1 GB cards in your sample XPS 700 setup. The custom system you made on Newegg.com has only one 512 MB Nvidia 7900 GTX, which has only one GPU. Third, the Dell system you picked has 4 GB of system RAM and the one that you built on Newegg.com only has 1 GB of system RAM. Lastly, you also failed to scroll down to the bottom of the summary of your Dell spec to see that the Special Edition Formula Red XPS 700 you picked has a 1 kilowatt power supply. On Newegg.com, a 1 kilowatt PSU with Quad SLI support costs almost $500.

In general, the sample custom system you built on Newegg.com has outdated parts compared to the XPS 700 you set up. Naturally, the DIY custom system with the parts chosen on Newegg.com would be almost the same price as the sample XPS 700 setup you chose, if it had the same type of parts which Dell offers (the ones I already mentioned).

One more thing you missed entirely is the fact that Dell offers two XPS 700 bare bones kit options that include the case, Pentium D 930 processor (default option), power supply (750 watt or 1 kilowatt), nForce 590 motherboard, 512 MB of memory, and operating system software. The cheaper bare bones kit goes for $1120. Not a bad deal in my opinion, since the mother board isn't released yet for retail.

Next time you should research all the facts before offering your opinion. For now, Dell is offering technology that is hard to come by, but I'm sure that will change by the end of 2006.

When Quad SLI ready and Conroe ready motherboards are out on Newegg.com, Tigerdirect.com or any other website selling computer parts... then you can say that your DIY custom computer is cheaper and just as good as an XPS 700. At the moment, the sample XPS 700 setup you picked is the clear winner compared to the DIY computer with outdated parts from Newegg (specifically, the motherboard you picked).

Posted by: jg1981   Posted on: 06/03/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

Alert moderator to an offensive message

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

• Virtualization: Architectural Considerations And Other Evaluation Criteria VMware Of the many approaches to x86 systems virtualization available in the ... Download Now
• Busting the myths about QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions and IBM Smart Business IBM So you already know there aren't actually any alligators in the New York ... Download Now
• Building the Virtualized Enterprise with VMware Iinfrastructure VMware VMware virtualization software has been adopted by over 120,000 enterprise ... Download Now