[nojoegohome]

I have been looking for a new computer system but i have lost touch with computer hardware. I have been looking at Dell simply because i have used them before and my experience with them was excellent.

What do you think of this system?

It is a Dell XPS 8300 and would cost £1,600.

Included in your system:
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7-2600 Processor (3.40GHz, 8MB)
OPERATING SYSTEM English Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
MONITOR 24in ST2420L UK/Irish Full HD WLED Widescreen Monitor (VGA, DVI-D and HDMI)
MONITOR 24in ST2420L UK/Irish Full HD WLED Widescreen Monitor (VGA, DVI-D and HDMI)
OPTICAL DRIVE Blu-Ray ROM combo (Blu-ray read only, DVD, CD read & write) & 16X DVD+/-RW (Win 7 Only)
MEMORY 16384MB Dual Channel DDR3 1333MHz [4x4096] Memory
HARD DRIVE 2TB Dual Hard Drive RAID 0 "Stripe" (2x1TB - 7,200 rpm)
GRAPHICS CARD AMD Radeon™ HD 6950 2GB DDR5 Graphics Card
KEYBOARD Dell™ USB Entry Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)
MOUSE Dell Optical Scroll USB (2 buttons scroll) DUAL TONE Mouse
TV TUNER AND REMOTE CONTROL Hybrid TV tuner PCIex1 card
WIRELESS SOLUTION Dell Wireless 1501 Mini Card (802.11g/n) - ROW

[Gofre]

What will you be using it for?

[jamie511]

If you felt like learning a new skill, you could probably build that yourself for about 2/3 the price. You might be able to squeeze in an i7 2600K and if you go on Software 4 Students and already have a copy of Windows XP/Vista, you could get 7 Ultimate for it too. 16GB RAM's not bad, although I'd prefer a higher clock speed. 1866, mayhaps?

I started building my own rigs because I hate paying for the brand!

[nojoegohome]

(Original post by jamie511)
If you felt like learning a new skill, you could probably build that yourself for about 2/3 the price. You might be able to squeeze in an i7 2600K and if you go on Software 4 Students and already have a copy of Windows XP/Vista, you could get 7 Ultimate for it too. 16GB RAM's not bad, although I'd prefer a higher clock speed. 1866, mayhaps?

I started building my own rigs because I hate paying for the brand!

I have already built computers before i just hate doing it....

(Original post by Gofre)
What will you be using it for?

Computer games and just general usage.

[Dumachi]

could save 300£ building it ureself

[jamie511]

(Original post by nojoegohome)
I have already built computers before i just hate doing it....

Really? It can be a pain in the arse but I would never buy off the shelf again. You can find some good deals, but generally I find it much cheaper to build, plus then I know exactly what kind of rig I'm running.

(Original post by nojoegohome)
Computer games and just general usage.

Dude, that's way too expensive for just gaming and 'general usage', IMO. You don't need to fork out for the i7 really and 16GB RAM's overkill! Unless you're going to be doing any video encoding or whatever, I'd look for a cheaper model.

Alternatively, you could just build your own!

[nojoegohome]

(Original post by jamie511)
Dude, that's way too expensive for just gaming and 'general usage', IMO. You don't need to fork out for the i7 really and 16GB RAM's overkill! Unless you're going to be doing any video encoding or whatever, I'd look for a cheaper model.

Alternatively, you could just build your own!

So it is a good computer?

No idea what i will do with 16GB of ram...

Any advice on what to get when using multiple monitors?

[Dumachi]

(Original post by nojoegohome)
So it is a good computer?

No idea what i will do with 16GB of ram...

Any advice on what to get when using multiple monitors?

if you really wont build, then customise your own here

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/

[jamie511]

(Original post by nojoegohome)
So it is a good computer?

No idea what i will do with 16GB of ram...

Any advice on what to get when using multiple monitors?

It's not a bad computer, but way too expensive. The multicore processor and high RAM will make light work of any multitasking you do, but like I said, I would personally prefer less, faster RAM, because I don't often find myself running multiple programs or whatever.

Running two GPUs in SLI or Crossfire could create some interesting multi-display opportunities, so to speak. If you're willing to spend £1600, this might not be a bad idea...

[nojoegohome]

(Original post by jamie511)
It's not a bad computer, but way too expensive. The multicore processor and high RAM will make light work of any multitasking you do, but like I said, I would personally prefer less, faster RAM, because I don't often find myself running multiple programs or whatever.

Running two GPUs in SLI or Crossfire could create some interesting multi-display opportunities, so to speak. If you're willing to spend £1600, this might not be a bad idea...

Is this better or worse?

Included in your system:
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 930 (2.80GHz, 8MB cache, 4.8GT/sec)
GRAPHICS CARD Dual 1GB ATI® Radeon™ HD 5770 graphics card
MEMORY 6144MB (3x2GB) 1866MHz DDR3 Tri Channel
HARD DRIVE 1.5TB Dual Hard Drive Raid 0 "Stripe" (2x750GB - 7200rpm)
OPTICAL DRIVE 24X DVD+/- RW Optical Drive (DVD & CD read and write)

obviously it lacks blu ray etc...

[rishisen]

worse
do you need a bluray
graphic is way worse , processor is and x58 the older generation, id go with sandybridge i7 2600k at that price.
to be hoenst id build myself you would get a far superior computer
even on the dell you get get so much more
oh and for gaming dell are a bit crap my pc was a dell and i couldnt overclock i couldnt even play with fan speeds it actually was silly as on paper the system was very awesome just it wasnt customisable, and dell cut corners everywhere it had a cheapo board with crap bios , stock cpu cooling was balls, cheap psu and case was unmodifiable and poorely designed on the inside

[jamie511]

That's considerably less powerful. What price is it? That's a first generation i7 processor as well, whereas the other one was a second gen and they're much better; for multitasking, multi-displays etc. I don't like running RAM in tri-channel, either, but that's just me.

Dual HD5770s would be pretty sweet, but you're simply gaining graphics processing power and losing central processing and memory. Custom builds FTW.

If you're buying off the shelf, you've got to decide what's most important to you...

[abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz]

1600 you could have an amazing self built pc

for 1600 there you have absolutely nothing

[Fat-Love]

Dude for gaming don't bother with going above an i5 2500k. You should really be looking at a £1000-£1200 system by the sound of it. Maybe put in a second 6950 for crossfire.

[alexmason14]

OP build your own, I saved hundreds building mine versus a similar spec branded build.

[Fat-Love]

I recommend going on overclockers or aria for an i5 2500k system with an amd 6950 - over there the build will usually come to around £1000 and will play your games just as fine as this current build you mention. Or if you really want to fine tune your speccs then pcspecialist as suggested earlier but to be honest by the sounds of you're better off going with a pre-built system that will do all you want from overclockers or aria and they'll even overclock your processor to around 4.4 ghz usually on overclockers..

[nojoegohome]

(Original post by Fat-Love)
I recommend going on overclockers or aria for an i5 2500k system with an amd 6950 - over there the build will usually come to around £1000 and will play your games just as fine as this current build you mention. Or if you really want to fine tune your speccs then pcspecialist as suggested earlier but to be honest by the sounds of you're better off going with a pre-built system that will do all you want from overclockers or aria and they'll even overclock your processor to around 4.4 ghz usually on overclockers..

AHH i have looked at overclockers before they seem quite good.

[gumball]

There is no need for the i7's hyperthreading if you're just playing games etc.