XPS 420 newbie question

 hi,

many thanks for your help its appreciated and the dell looks like a really good gaming rig also with the spec shown below and would that be right?

i have a budget and cannot afford the higher xps models sorry. 

XPS 420 Viiv E8400 Core 2 Duo Processor 3.00GHz, 6MB, 1333MHz ,2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024] ,2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024] with no monitor BASE ONLY.

Here are some answers, try and use the search option of the forum as well and hit this: CLICK ME and this CLICK ME

GPU can be upgraded (keep in mind that the PSU limits this!), however, my guts tell me that you need to turn to Dell for it. (Should measure card seize etc.)

Memory, this can be maxed by the MOBO Dell put into the rig, I think 800/1066 is MAX.

Wireless option is available, I've got it, it's not expencive. A big plus is the 1 Gbit lan!

CPU upgrades, I think this is possible, to Q9***, newer ones are unlikely, other architecture comming up. Overclocking the CPU isn't possible, BIOS won't allow it. Besides that, this machine isn't designed for overclocking, go XPS 630 or 720.  

Calling Dell and asking if they supply 64 BIT O/S gives the only awnser to that question. (Here in the Netherlands they DON'T offer it) 

Upgrading the Motherboard won't be possible as well, it's BTX, if you want to do this, go with the XPS 630 which has ATX standard.

A nice feature of the XPS 420 is the seize, it fits into my IKEA junk. XPS 630 and 720 are way bigger.

Good luck. Subscribe to weekly discounts as well ;) 

You do NOT need to return the system to Dell to upgrade the GPU-there's no reason for that.  You're also NOT really limited in what GPUs you can use.

You didn't list what video card your sytem came with, nor what you want to do with your system.

That's a good configuration, except I would have gone with the higher-end 2.4GHz quad core over that 3GHz dual core (usually about the same price.  2GB of RAM is fine for today, and it's easy and cheap to upgrade.

You can put all sorts of video cards in there.  In the $150 range you'd be looking at the Geforce 9600GT or better still the 8800GT.  The 9800GTX would be around $300, with the 512MB version of the 8800GTS slotting somewhere in between those price points.

But without knowing what you want to do with the system and what GPU it currently has, there's no way to make a recommendation for an upgrade. 

Tigerwolf,

I disagree on the processor, various (gaming) benchmarks show better results with Dual Core (E8400) and Quad core is ONLY relevant for heavy multi tasking (CAD etc). For daily use and gaming, dual core is preferable, especially the higher clocking of the E8400.

GPU upgradings, your probably right, though the PSU limits upgrading... (I guess, since this is based on the budget, isn't going to be the case)

VisNL 

hi,

this is the full spec -

XPS 420 Viiv E8400 Core 2 Duo Processor 3.00GHz, 6MB, 1333MHz ,2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024] ,500GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA/100 Hard Drive with 16MB DataBurst™ cache ,SINGLE 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT BASE ONLY.

hi,

sorry the xps 420 c/w a single 512mb 8800GT and with all the other listed specs.

the standard spec is here -

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsdt_420?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs 

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@c2d wrote:

hi,

 

sorry the xps 420 c/w a single 512mb 8800GT and with all the other listed specs.

 

the standard spec is here -

 

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsdt_420?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs 

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@VisNL wrote:

Tigerwolf,

 

I disagree on the processor, various (gaming) benchmarks show better results with Dual Core (E8400) and Quad core is ONLY relevant for heavy multi tasking (CAD etc). For daily use and gaming, dual core is preferable, especially the higher clocking of the E8400.

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The faster dual core is technically faster for some of today's games, but the 2.4GHz quad is more than fast enough for anything on the market, and for some current and increasingly more upcoming games quad will be superior (and is already great if you're doing more than one thing at a time, as most of us are).  I really don't see a reason to settle for 2 CPUs when you can get 4 for almost the same price.  Haven't since they launched that part last year (the same thing happened when the first dual core systems shipped-same argument, that played out in the same way-dual core clearly was the better choice).

There are already at least two big name games launching this year that support EIGHT cores-Farcry 2 being one of them.

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GPU upgradings, your probably right, though the PSU limits upgrading...

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hi,

overall do xps users rate this as a great spec system? 

I'd get 3 GB of RAM.  Performance increase is significant.

Don't go below the 8800GT, it should last quite some time.

VisNL

The XPS 420 is an EXCELLENT gaming computer.  In fact there's nothing wrong with the Inspiron 530 for gaming.  I completely disagree with that.