Should I buy this XPS Gen 4 system?

[MazerRackham]

So, check it out:

I can get this for $2200. The "MSRP" on this config is $3570.

Dell Dimension XPS Series - Gen 4 Pentium® 4 Processor 640 with HT Technology (3.20GHz, 800 FSB) M640H

Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional WPXP

Memory FREE UPGRADE! 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz (2x512M) 1GB5P [463-6199] 3

Keyboard Dell Quietkey® Keyboard QK

Monitors 20 inch Ultrasharp? 2001FP Digital Flat Panel 2001FP

Video Card 256MB PCI Express? x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon? X850 XT PE X850XT

Hard Drive FREE UPGRADE! 160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive(7200RPM)w/ Native Command Queuing 160SP

Network Interface Integrated Gigabit Ethernet IN [430-0742] 13

Modem No Modem Requested N [313-3607] 14

CD or DVD Drive Dual Drives: 48x CD-RW Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW w/ double layer write capable CDR6DVR [313-2998][420-5079] 16

Sound Cards Sound Blaster Audigy? 2 ZS (D) Card w/Dolby 5.1, IEEE 1394 capability SBA2X [313-3114] 17

Speakers No Speaker Option N [313-4514] 18

Productivity Software No Microsoft Office MSONO [412-1397] 22

Security Software No Security Subscription NS2 [412-0754] 25

Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options SAVE $60(After Rebate)4Yr Ltd Warr, 4Yr At-Home plus Nights Wknd w/PC trng ATG4RT

 

[Twsmit]

looks very nice. Heck you could buy it and resell it for close to its real value!

 

[ribbon13]

See how much you could sell the major pieces for... such ass video card, lcd, cpu, ram, and sound

 

[MazerRackham]

Oh, if I bought it I'd be keeping it. I'd then probably sell my old Powerbook G4/800 and recently purchased Dell Inspiron 700m

So is that a pretty good deal then? Uppding the x850 added like $270 or so over the 6800... but there is a substantial discount for EPP on the XPS Gen 4 right now, and I'm not sure how long this is going to last...

I almost don't want to buy it, but I can!! Help!!

 

[kini62]

I'm very, very happy with my Dell. Very quiet, fast, nice designed, looking case (IMO), 4 year warranty. I also have the 2005FPW. I like it all. Go for it, that's a good deal.

 

[ribbon13]

For $2200 I could deliver you a dual Opteron, but that is a damn good deal.

 

[veggz]

I agree it is an excellent deal for a Dell, but couldn't you save some money buy building an AMD based system with similar or better performance yourself?

 

[MazerRackham]

Originally posted by: veggz
I agree it is an excellent deal for a Dell, but couldn't you save some money buy building an AMD based system with similar or better performance yourself?

Yeah, that's what i was thinking as well. I think I'm going to pass on this deal today, and just wait a bit and probably build my own.

It's still tempting though...

 

[MazerRackham]

I've been looking around, and i'm re-tempted! How important a difference does the 600 series make on the P4??

 

[ribbon13]

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=28&threadid=1524662&enterthread=y

 

[Sqube]

That looks like a very nice box, especially for the price. X850 XT PE? Oh man, that right there alone makes me think it's worth it.

When you consider you're getting an almost 50% discount, and you're getting a monitor, I think this is worth it.

 

[Gamingphreek]

No i wouldn't get it. You can build a much better rig for the money. If you want proof i can definitely spec a very nice system out that will "pwn" it.

-Kevin

 

[kini62]

Originally posted by: MazerRackham

Originally posted by: veggz
I agree it is an excellent deal for a Dell, but couldn't you save some money buy building an AMD based system with similar or better performance yourself?

Yeah, that's what i was thinking as well. I think I'm going to pass on this deal today, and just wait a bit and probably build my own.

It's still tempting though...

That's what I thought before I bought my Dell. And some on this sight try to give me the same argument, and not to disagree or start something but my previous AMD system with similar specs that I'll list:

3500+ 90nm
1GB Corsair XMS 3200XL
eVGA 6800GT
ASUS A8N SLI
Lian Li V1000
Enermax EP465
Samsung DL Burner
2 x 300GB Maxtor Diamond Max SATA
Floppy
Pirced from Newegg almost $2100 with shipping. (I know similar things can be gotten cheaper, but the above is what I had and wanted for my system)

I got my Dell for $2306 with shipping and 1GB of ram and no monitor. And to be honest the Dell is faster at everything I use it for, including gaming, than the 3500+ at stock CPU speed. Even with the 3500 at almost 2.5Ghz the Dell is still way faster in DVDShrink and Premiere and the multi-tasking when encoding video was terrible with the 3500. I just wasn't happy with the performance and didn't want to wait for the dual core, which I sometimes think I should've, but hey it's all in the past now.

Good luck with your build. Intel, AMD, custom, retail it's all good if YOU are happy with it.

 

[ribbon13]

Hmmm.
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=320831


Maybe not...
For $2200 something better could be done.

 

[Ike0069]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
No i wouldn't get it. You can build a much better rig for the money. If you want proof i can definitely spec a very nice system out that will "pwn" it.

-Kevin

I'd like to see that. I don't think you can find an equivalent for that price. Remember you have to add Windows XP pro and a 2001FP. And what about the 4-yr warranty?

 

[ribbon13]

$75 Seasonic Tornado 400w PSU
$40 EverCase E4252B-53
$12 Antec 120mm

$60x2 Corsair VS512MB400
$452 3500 + A8N-Sli

$650 Sapphire Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition
$87 Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS

$149 Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3250823AS
$60 NEC ND-3520a

~$1650 leaving enough for a nice display. pwned.

 

[Cheesetogo]

I think that the price offered to you is pretty good, but you would have to be an idiot to pay 3570 for it! But 2200 is a good price. THe way I look at it though, 2200 is not half price, it's just at the point where it's around the same for what you could do yourself, so basicaly dell is giving you a fair deal instead of a rip-off.

By the way, would it be possible for you to buy an 8400 instead? The XPS adds alot of money for no reason, but if you got a 8400 configured with most of the same stuff, you could get it for less than 1k, and that would be a really good deal.

 

[newbiepcuser]

Originally posted by: ribbon13
$75 Seasonic Tornado 400w PSU
$40 EverCase E4252B-53
$12 Antec 120mm

$60x2 Corsair VS512MB400
$435 3500 + Neo2

$650 Sapphire Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition
$87 Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS

$149 Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3250823AS
$60 NEC ND-3520a

~$1650 leaving enough for a nice display. pwned.

Doesn't it come out to to same price with "nice" display, 20 inch LCD etc.

Lets add 520 for Dell HOT deal 20" LCD and then maybe 50.00 dollars for LEGIT copy of Windows XP pro sp2.

Yeah, you get a "cool" system with a bigger drive etc, but I wouldn't say 'PWNED".

The OP is in Cali so he will get reemed on taxes from zipzoom and newegg.com. So add Calif taxes to that total.

Building is a cool hobby but Dell pretty much has the Intel desktop market 'PWNED". I can't build an Intel system at what Dells sells it for esp with decent LCD and legit software license.

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: ribbon13
For $2200 I could deliver you a dual Opteron, but that is a damn good deal.

Can you do that including a 2005fp?

$2200 is a good deal for all of that hardware.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: Ike0069

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
No i wouldn't get it. You can build a much better rig for the money. If you want proof i can definitely spec a very nice system out that will "pwn" it.

-Kevin

I'd like to see that. I don't think you can find an equivalent for that price. Remember you have to add Windows XP pro and a 2001FP. And what about the 4-yr warranty?

Ok i will post back when configure it.

-Kevin

 

[Cheesetogo]

Originally posted by: newbiepcuser

Originally posted by: ribbon13
$75 Seasonic Tornado 400w PSU
$40 EverCase E4252B-53
$12 Antec 120mm

$60x2 Corsair VS512MB400
$435 3500 + Neo2

$650 Sapphire Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition
$87 Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS

$149 Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3250823AS
$60 NEC ND-3520a

~$1650 leaving enough for a nice display. pwned.

Doesn't it come out to to same price with "nice" display, 20 inch LCD etc.

Lets add 520 for Dell HOT deal 20" LCD and then maybe 50.00 dollars for LEGIT copy of Windows XP pro sp2.

Yeah, you get a "cool" system with a bigger drive etc, but I wouldn't say 'PWNED".

The OP is in Cali so he will get reemed on taxes from zipzoom and newegg.com. So add Calif taxes to that total.

Building is a cool hobby but Dell pretty much has the Intel desktop market 'PWNED". I can't build an Intel system at what Dells sells it for esp with decent LCD and legit software license.

SO your saying that you could't build that intel sytem for dell's price of 3570?!?!!? I hope you relise that 2200 is an extreme deal, 1370 off, not the normal price. THat thing is the biggest rip-off ever full price.

 

[Ike0069]

Originally posted by: ribbon13
$75 Seasonic Tornado 400w PSU
$40 EverCase E4252B-53
$12 Antec 120mm

$60x2 Corsair VS512MB400
$435 3500 + Neo2

$650 Sapphire Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition
$87 Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS

$149 Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3250823AS
$60 NEC ND-3520a

~$1650 leaving enough for a nice display. pwned.

Ok, well I don't see Windows XP pro.
That RAM doesn't match up with his DDR2 533.
And how much is a 2001FP? I'mnot sure, but I know they aren't cheap.
And damn man, that VC won't even work with that MB.

 

[mwmorph]

yeah, i used to be a big dell fan, but now... quality seems to be falling, tech support is getting worse and prices are incredibly jacked up.

 

[Ike0069]

Originally posted by: Cheesetogo
SO your saying that you could't build that intel sytem for dell's price of 3570?!?!!? I hope you relise that 2200 is an extreme deal, 1370 off, not the normal price. THat thing is the biggest rip-off ever full price.

No, were saying that $2200 is a great deal, not the $3570.

 

[newbiepcuser]

Originally posted by: Cheesetogo

Originally posted by: newbiepcuser

Originally posted by: ribbon13
$75 Seasonic Tornado 400w PSU
$40 EverCase E4252B-53
$12 Antec 120mm

$60x2 Corsair VS512MB400
$435 3500 + Neo2

$650 Sapphire Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition
$87 Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS

$149 Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3250823AS
$60 NEC ND-3520a

~$1650 leaving enough for a nice display. pwned.

Doesn't it come out to to same price with "nice" display, 20 inch LCD etc.

Lets add 520 for Dell HOT deal 20" LCD and then maybe 50.00 dollars for LEGIT copy of Windows XP pro sp2.

Yeah, you get a "cool" system with a bigger drive etc, but I wouldn't say 'PWNED".

The OP is in Cali so he will get reemed on taxes from zipzoom and newegg.com. So add Calif taxes to that total.

Building is a cool hobby but Dell pretty much has the Intel desktop market 'PWNED". I can't build an Intel system at what Dells sells it for esp with decent LCD and legit software license.

SO your saying that you could't build that intel sytem for dell's price of 3570?!?!!? I hope your joking when it comes to the xps. THat thing is the biggest rip-off ever.

The OP's original post price for his XPS or Dell's hot deals on their desktops.

Do a search on Dell in Hot Deal forums or chubbywallet. Those are the systems that I can't even come close too. $499 Pent IV 2.8 system with 17 inch LCD.

No, I don't game or care about FPS scores etc. Maybe I was younger that might of made my e-penis feel big, but now as long as the system does what it needs to do and its great deal, then I all for it.

If I ever thought about spending $3750 on PC system, I think I need to examine my priorities in life.

Like I said, building PCs is great hobby, but its not for everybody.