Studio XPS 8100

Hello!

1.  If they dont upgrade the PSU on their own or provide an option to upgrade the PSU then you should be fine... the GFX card that they install may not require high amounts of power, or they balance things out differently.

2.  It would be an OEM card from ATI.. generally there is not a whole lot of difference tween an oem and off the shelf, however they could have had the card configured for their computer builds

3.  Yes it would fit inside the case no problems as far as I can think of... just watch the PSU requirements and you should be fine.

4.  It is probably 2x2 leaving you with 2 extra slots IF your computer is equipt with 4 slots

5.  The i7 would be your best choice as it allows for triple channel memory management, better CPU advancements and more speed.. I belive the i7 you specified is also a quad core.

I picked the i7 mainly because it is quad core compared to the dual core i5. I'm just thinking if I picked a fast processor, running multiple programs would be slow because of low ram.. 

Um... I just keep thinking wouldn't i5-650 be enough processing power and with more RAM it would be better performance than a fast processor and low RAM..

It really depends on what your going to be doing.. the quad core is going to give you better performace then a dual core, plus i believe the i7 has the turbo boost properties (i5 might too) which can overclock your speed as needed.. as for the ram issue, again it depends on what you are doing with the computer.. yea its nice to have 8gigs but if most of it is used by the OS and its cacheing features and whatnot, its really a waste.. buuuut its only my opinion.. based on what I would be doing with it.. i would go with the i7 as 4 gigs is plenty for me ;p

I agree.

Only those who work with (i.e.) CAD applications etc get any real/noticeable benefit from anything over 4GB.

4GB RAM is ample for most - even us gamers, so I (too) reckon you'd be better advised going for the faster CPU option :emotion-5:

I'm thinking of buying the Dell Studio XPS 8100 but I have a few questions first. 1) If I upgrade this computer's video card to ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5, will it upgrade my power supply too because the recommended power supply is to be at least 450 Watt or greater.

According the topic I have linked below, Dell underclocks OEM video cards (compared to a retail version) to probably meet the PSU's output.

Seems that the Dell moderator who responded in the thread admitted that was probably the case.

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/19315114/19629417.aspx#19629417

I'm using this computer for entertainment video so I would like a better graphic card.

my Radeo 4870 can play Crysis and COD4WM2 at full detail and 1080x1920 resolution (1080p) so you don't have any reason to get more than the gts240. Paying a 5770 or 5870 for entertainment video or even for a gamer (unless you play on a 1080p screen) is a total waste of money.

You should get a i5 750. It's quad core and barely as powerfull as i7 860 (i checked the bentchmark)

I don't know about you...  bu i wouldn't pay 150$ to get 5 - 10% more performence. Especialy if the ram module is slow..... and as you can imagine, they wont give you high performence corsair RAM with your xps

 If you really need it, you should buy a 60$ air cooling solution and oveclock your i5 to 3.6 ghz and you will get more performance than any i7 stock speed.

you have two choices when buying triple channel Ram, basically, 3GB or 6GB. If you got the 3GB kit and needed more RAM later (Windows 7 64bit) you would need to pull the 3GB kit out. That is not cost effective. If you don't have 3 identical ram module, you don't get the triple-channel feature.

With the dual channel, DELL give you 4x1gb so when you want to upgrade, you will on have to replace 2 of them and the other 2 can stay there (4gb -> 10gb if you buy a set of 2x4gb)

For the performence...  the difference betwen 2 and 3 channel so small that i would recommand you dual channel

I recommend you 6gb triple or 4gb dual channel,  you don't need more than that even if you're a gamer. My computer is using only 42% of my 4gb when i run Call of duty 4 Modern warfare 2 at full detail and 1080p 

Good luck with your computer :emotion-2:

The i5-750 is an older processor with 4 cores but 4 threads and without hyper-threading technology thats why I picked the lowest model of the i7 and thats a new 2010 model.

Dell sells i5-650 only right now so thats the only i5 processor I'm picking.

I wouldn't buy 3GB and would want atleast 4GB.

I wouldn't overclock any processors because it might become unstable and I would rather want them in their origininal stock performance.

I'm going to be buying the Dell UltraSharp 2709W or Dell UltraSharp U2410 and thats with a 1920x1200 resolution.

I also wouldn't pick Dell's upgrades of the graphic cards because I think they underclock them for it to be stable in the computer's 350W PS.

I've wondered, does the computer come with Windows installation/recovery DVDs?

The i5-750 is an older processor with 4 cores but 4 threads and without hyper-threading technology thats why I picked the lowest model of the i7 and thats a new 2010 model. Dell sells i5-650 only right now so thats the only i5 processor I'm picking.

DELL is selling the i5 750 on their XPS8100 (look more carefully :emotion-5: )  and the i5 is not older than a i7 860, They came on the market the exact same day, september 8 2009 for both of them.

No matter what technologie is not on the i5 compared to the i7 (like hyper-threading), when you look at the benchmark, the final performence is very similar betwen the i5 750 and i7 860 or i7 920. But since the i7 got no competitor, it's way more expensive.

http://www.hardware.fr/articles/767-10/intel-core-i7-core-i5-lga1156.html

The i7 860 is not on the graphic, but you can place it somewhere betwen i7 920 and i7 860. As you can see, their's +/-10% difference betwen i7 and i5 but you have to pay 150$ more.

 Overclocking an i5 by 30% will give you 25% more peformence, witch make it better than any i7 on the market (even the i7 975). overclocking WON'T put your system unstable. In fact,  most people can reach 4 ghz with an ordinary cheap cooling system very easily and they are as stable as the original clockspeed. Mine is at 3.6ghz (more than 30% overclock)  on the stock fan with temperature as low as 51 degre while playing crysis. An i5 or i7 won't be unstable unless you try to reach something higher than 4,3ghz.

About that dvd...  i suggest you do the same thing as all my friend who got a DELL, you get a craked copy windows (you paid for it anyway) and you find the driver on windows update center.

-_- What I meant by Dell is selling i5-650 only is because I already said I won't consider the i5-750.

What I meant by not being unstable when overclocking, is that it adds heat and uses more electricity. Thats why I won't overclock it.

I now am thinking of getting i5-750 instead.

Most people don't know this, but overclocking on an i5 or i7 basically disables the Turbo Boost feature. Turbo Boost is there so when you attempt to run a program that was built with only single core support (which is basically any application/game before 2007) the processor can shut down the other cores and focus all power onto one, so basically the processor overclocks itself when in the presence of a Single Core program. This is a very handy function that can speed up your PC alot.

To tell you the truth, I recommend you go for the i7 860 if you haven't made your choice yet. I mean, the i5 650 is basically a Core 2 Duo rebranded and with hyperthreading/turbo boost thrown in. With the i7 860, you'll be getting a Quad Core processor plus the hyperthreading. Under Windows it is seen as "8 processors" which is insane. That will really set you for the future. If you are going to be using this for photo or video editing, this will provide a big boost. Plus newer games will benefit also, such as GTA4. (highly threaded for the PC)

I agree.  I7-860 is the way to go.

I see Dell recommends the i5 650 over the 750. Both at the same price in UK. What difference is there for the average user?

Are there others with the view that the i5 is no better than the quad core?