Controversy among the XPS 700

[Ppk]

Hi all, I recently placed my Dell XPS 700 order for $2567.91, only to find it wont ship till 9/21. That is horrendous. I was curious as to why so I searched the internet only to find there is a major mass concern over XPS 700 systems. Although available for order 5/31 they still have yet to ship one XPS 700 system to any Dell customer. I found a lot of information (and you can view it) on the message boards. I encourage you all to take a look. http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=xps_desk_genhdw&message.id=14277

Now I am wondering why? I am considering cancelling my order and taking my business elsewhere because by the time I receive my order, the new Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo (or Conroe) will be released which is a faster processor compared to the Pentium D. I think I may just spend the extra $200-$300 on an Alienware. What do you all think? A question I have, however, is because I'm not too familiar with AMD, and the Alienwares use them, is how fast is the processor speed of the AMD Athlon 64 X 4000? Are they faster than say the Pentium D? I really wish I wasnt stuck in the middle of such a confusing controversy. Thanks.

[Andrew_]

by the time I receive my order, the new Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo (or Conroe) will be released which is a faster processor compared to the Pentium D.

And the G80 - DX10 cards (Only a rumour tho - but some sites say there pretty sure), i think you should cancel the damn order for sure. Anyways what's so special abouht the conroe?

[Ppk]

The Core 2 Duo is said to be 40 percent faster than the D and uses less power. By the way, I cancelled my Dell order, I'm probably getting an ALienware. My question is, how is the AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800 CPU (dual core) compared to the Pentium 940 3.2 GHZ?

[linton]

The x2 3800+ falls pretty much even with the 920 and a fair bit behind the 940 on most of the benchmarks that count. Step up to the x2 4400+ with the toledo core and higher cache and you'll get a better performace.

[Ppk]

Hmmm, I think I'm going to have to go with the Aurora 7500 then. Thats the higher end Aurora and it has much better specs. I'll let you all know what I decide to go with. Thanks.

[linton]

I usually find toms hardware puts together the best comparison lists.

Edit - Just found his CPU list for you:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html

[Ppk]

How is this for $2900 after shipping and handling and tax?
Aurora™ 7500

Processor: AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 4600+ Processor w/ HyperTransport and Dual Core Technology
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 with Service Pack 2
Chassis: Alienware® Full-Tower Case
Chassis Upgrades: Standard Cooling - No Upgrade Package Selected
Power Supply: 700 Watt Alienware® Approved Multi-GPU Power Supply
Motherboard: Alienware® Approved NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI Motherboard
Memory: 2GB DDR2 PC2-6400 SDRAM at 800MHz - 2 x 1024MB
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ NCQ & 8MB Cache
Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 16x DVD / 52x36x52x CD-RW Drive
Secondary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive w/LightScribe Technology
Graphics Processor: 256MB PCI-Express x16 NVIDIA® GeForce™ 7900 GT - DVI Dual Link Supported
Monitor: 17" 12ms LCD
Sound Card: Alienware® Edition Sound Blaster® X-Fi® High Definition 7.1 Audio with XRAM Technology
Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia™ 2.1 200-Watt THX® Speakers
Communications: Integrated Dual High Performance Gigabit Ethernet
Keyboard: Alienware® USB Full-Size Keyboard
Mouse: Alienware® Optical 3-Button Mouse with Scroll Wheel
Warranty: 2-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service
AlienRespawn: Alienware® Respawn Recovery Kit
Alienware Exclusive Offers: GameFly - Unlimited Game Rentals for 15 days - FREE TRIAL
Productivity Software: Microsoft® Works 8 Productivity Suite
Free Alienware Shirt: Alienware® T-Shirt - Black - XL Only
Alienware Extras: Exclusive AlienGUIse Theme Manager
Alienware Extras: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - $99.99 Value - FREE!
Alienware Extras: AlienWiring - Exclusive Internal Wire Management - $99.99 Value - FREE!

Let me know what you all think. Thanks.

[linton]

How is this for $2900 after shipping and handling and tax?
Taking into account that it is US$, highly overpriced? :p

Seems you pay a premium for the alienware badge. If I were you I'd take a little more time to find a better deal.

Breaking it down:
the cpu is a good choice, it'll keep up with anything for some time to come,

The video card is underpowered for today, for the price I would of expected a 7900gtx or 2 7900gt's in sli in the system

Without a TV tuner in the sytem the Media Centre OS is an unneeded, standard XP Home or XP Pro would be fine,

For a single drive, dual optical, single video card system, the 700W power supply is overkill,

The monitor with it's 12ms response is very dated, most are 8ms or lower, and personally I'd want a 19" widescreen with a low response for that total price,

the X-fi's are nice sound cards by all accounts I've read, but I can't comment on the alienware model (doubt it'd be very different), but with a digital 7.1 card, you'd at least want a 5.1 set of speakers to run, with logitech putting together some decent packages for resonable prices.

[Ppk]

You mean the computer cant handle all the components with the 700v power supply? PS-I cant modify my power supply to be higher or lower.

[linton]

If it can't be modified that's ok then, my point was the the 700W it supplies is a lot more than would be required for the componants, meaning it would be overkill (a lot more than required).
The system listed would run on any 550W supply, or a good quality 450W.

While it's a good system, it's definitely not value for money and unfortunately I wouldn't recommend it.
(you can either pay attention to the bold part, or all of the previous sentence, it's up to you. :p :D)

[Andrew_]

Your best best BEST soloution, is to build your own custom rig!, with that money , psst, you could get a hell of a rig. If you don't want to build it yourself, why not buy all the components and go to your local computer shop and ask them to build it?.

PS: How is AMD going to fight the conroe?, Should i buy a conroe over the AMD, i am a AMD fanboy :|

[linton]

Your best best BEST soloution, is to build your own custom rig!, with that money , psst, you could get a hell of a rig. If you don't want to build it yourself, why not buy all the components and go to your local computer shop and ask them to build it?.

PS: How is AMD going to fight the conroe?, Should i buy a conroe over the AMD, i am a AMD fanboy :|
No it isn't. It's still much cheaper to buy a full system than to buy individual components and build it yourself.
Pre-built systems by Dell and Alienware do not reflect this however.

AMD will release a new FX cpu as a counter, just as intel released the conroe to conter the newer FX's. It's a giant one upmanship, and one that will continue. I don't buy into it.

[Andrew_]

So the dual cores released now will do fine?, or is there any information about a new range of dual cores from AMD?

[Ppk]

While I'm still leaning towards an Alienware, that doesnt mean I will take suggestions of other great high end PCs that cost less or the same for much better parts. Any suggestions of other good manufacturers?

[linton]

Being in the U.S it makes it slightly harder to recommend anybody.
An australian forum isn't the best place to pose the question. :p

Dell and alienware are definitely two of the biggest sellers that would build a system that suits your requirements for a premium, but there are a LOT of smaller computer retailers that could suit your needs who would offer just as good (if not better and faster) after sales support, and give a lot better deal upfront.

Hopefully another member could recommend a U.S forum where you could get some helpful info on local retailers.

[Andrew_]

While I'm still leaning towards an Alienware, that doesnt mean I will take suggestions of other great high end PCs that cost less or the same for much better parts. Any suggestions of other good manufacturers?

Shhhhh, Linton

Falcon NorthWest and Voodoo PC

Those two are both big manufacturers as well.

[Ppk]

I came across those two companies. While they make extremely powerful machines, they cost around $4000 at least.