Then came Intel DDR...will Dell use it, when?

[Ramius]

I am seconds away form buying a DELL Dimension 8200 with, of course, RDRAM.
The one things that holds me back is release of Intel's chipset with DDR. Since Dell is all about Intel, I'm assuming that they will release desktops with the P4 DDR setup.
Should I bother to wait? Any guesses as to when Dell will use the Intel P4 DDR in their desktops?
I know of the +/- between RDRAM and DDR, I just prefer DDR.

 

[GTaudiophile]

I'm waiting until January for several reasons:

Northwood should be available
Prices should drop after Xmas (ie, RAM)

Early benches show that i845-B performs on-par with SiS635 with DDR333 and i850 with PC800 RDRAM. If you want "Intel stability," are willing to pay a small premium over SiS635, but don't want to pay the premium for i850+RDRAM, then i845-B is the best choice. DELL will most likely phase out their i845 SDRAM systems and replace them with i845-B/DDR systems, but I wouldn't expect it over night.

 

[Ramius]

"Intel Stability" is my biggest priority, which is why I'm willing to spend the cash for Dell to put together my pc.
I talked to a guy at Dell and I asked him about the Desktops with DDR, he said that since they have no inventory, the transition will be quick to the new Intel versions. The deal I have ends on the 12th, so I'll try and gather as much info as possible before I make my decision then.

 

[GTaudiophile]

I was expecting to see reviews of i845-B boards this week or next. They should be out very soon. Northwood is a different case, however. We'll probably see those the first or second week of January, but I've read of rumors that say Intel is having low yields with them/the new .13mu process.

 

[JellyBaby]

<< We'll probably see those the first or second week of January, but I've read of rumors that say Intel is having low yields with them/the new .13mu process. >>

I'm sure that will change shortly after the holiday buying period.

I'm sure Dell will move to DDR. Cheaper is always better though I wonder if any savings would be passed on to the customer? They've been on pretty tiny margins for a long time now.

 

[Ramius]

It seems I always get to this point right before I click "Checkout"

I've asked many people around the office and there is a consensus that there won't be a big difference in performance once Dell uses the Intel DDR chipsets so I might as well buy the desktop now.
Is the main difference the price with DDR memory?

 

[freebee]

I too am about to buy a Dell 8200 system. The free shipping, free cdrw, and $50 coupon are all nice to have. However, Dell just told me the 128 RDRAM come in 2 sticks of 64, which severely limits upgrade options (out of 4 possible slots). You might want to keep that in mind when ordering the RDRAM configurations. They charge a ridiculous price on an additional 128mb.

Actually, the 4300 SDRAM based system are not much better, in terms of pricing (they charge 80 bucks for 128mb of sdram), but is much easier (and cheaper) to upgrade on your own.

 

[Alex]

in brazil dells so cheap they use sdram and price it like it was rdram... :|:frown:

 

[Ramius]

lol.
I think I'm just going to wait for the Intel DDR sets, I can wait another couple of months to see how they turn out.
I hope the prices at Dell don't go up once they use the DDR memory instead of RDRAM. I can get the Dimension 8200 for a steal right now but hopefully in a couple months it will be even cheaper!

If I can wait, what's the point of getting a machine with RDRAM when most people are interested in DDR.

 

[oldfart]

When something new like that hits (new CPU, Ram, etc), Dell is the first to get it. You will be able to buy a Dell with DDR the day Intel releases it. Thats the way it normally goes anyway.

 

[dullard]

Dell is a typical mass manufacturer of computers. Dell will advertize a system for extremely low prices. This gets peoples attention to their website. Then when you customize your machine, you find out that the options are well overpriced (this is where Dell makes most of its profits). For example, not too long ago I saw one Dell selling a $600 upgrade to a GeForce 3 (no not the Ti500 part, the actual GeForce 3) while the same video card was selling elsewhere for about $300. The same thing applies to RAM. Dell's advertized machine usually comes with 128 MB of RAM. If you want to upgrade to say 258 MB, be prepared to pay a fortune - regardless of the RAM type. Always order a Dell machine with the minimum options and then buy a new video card and new memory elsewhere.

DDR and RDRAM currently are about equal in performance on a P4. The main reason to want DDR is to save money. However, since Dell overprices the memory you may find that Dell will pocket the savings instead of passing it on to you. Without the money incentive, the only reason to get DDR instead of RDRAM is if you dislike Rambus.

I also won't think that Dell will sell DDR until well after the holiday season. They don't want to confuse their customers any more than they have to.

 

[Midnight Rambler]

<< You will be able to buy a Dell with DDR the day Intel releases it. Thats the way it normally goes anyway. >>

Yep, that's normally the case, but this time I think it will be different with the 845 DDR chipset release. Reason being, the major mobo manufacturers are already pumping out mobos based on the "new" DDR chipset, to such a great extent that many of them are either discontinuing production of 845 (normal) SDRAM chipset mobos, or, beginning with this month of December, their production of DDR vs. SDRAM mobos will be very heavily weighted towards the new DDR-based boards. Word is that mobos are already available in Taiwan for instance. So my bet is that once Intel "officially" releases it, there is going to be a huge flood of mobos with P4 & DDR support. Add in the usual buildahead to cover for the yearly downtime in observance of the Chinese New Year, and by the first part of January, you'll be seeing P4 DDR mobos en masse.

Not only is this helping to cause the DDR price spike (I would not be waiting for prices on DDR to fall again), but most analysts are viewing the pending release of DDR mobos for P4 as bad news for AMD. On the one hand I agree, as this is a significant pull-ahead for Intel, but overall I don't think it is going to change the 80/20 market penetration one single bit. The companies that will really be hit by this are those who may only produce SDRAM, or who have big stockpiles of regular old SDRAM in inventory. Normal SDRAM is going the way of the Dodo bird ...



<< The main reason to want DDR is to save money. >>

This is a tired arguement at best, when RDRAM costs at most $25-40 more for a 256MB system. Compared to the overall system cost, that $25-40 extra is totally insignificant, and for some it is worth the small extra cost. My only hesitation if I were contemplating going with RDRAM at this point is whether or not

 

[ElFenix]

dell has had free shipping and free cdrw deals almost continuously this past year, so you needn't concern yourself with getting in on that. i haven't seen any p4/ddr benches myself (that i can remember, anyways), so you'll have to figure out if any cost differential offsets any performance differential. and as always, don't buy your ram from dell. find somewhere else to get it. factor in that to your equation as well.

 

[AMDPwred]

I just wanted to say you made a good choice in going with Dell. I use a P4, RDRAM system at work and that baby rolls! If I wasn't so poor I'd build a P4 system for myself.