Go with choice 3. I have always loved OCZ brand

Thanks. I have used both gskill and ocz in the past and they are both fine. What I was getting at though is whether the Gskill with the lower latencies (option 1) is potentially higher quality memory and reach 800mhz speeds as you need high quality ram to get the XPS 700 overclocked since the bios does not support DDR2 667. And my 2nd questionw was regarding what the default voltage the bios sets the memory too. Maybe it's too low for the Gskill to boot (2.0-2.2v.

Thanks

The highest speed I have seen anyone in this forum get from nTune is 778MHz from 667.I have seen no CAS timings lower than 4, and that was only 1 member that I have seen. Everyone else seems to be stuck at 5. I do know that one member was unable to boot with RAM that would not run at 1.8v because nTune gives you very few options. I do not believe that you will be able to manually set the voltage using nTune, at least I haven't found a way yet.
As far as freezing the PC during the nTune session, don't worry about it, as the overclock settings are not written into the BIOS. When your PC restarts (after the lock up) it will restart at factory settings until nTune starts again.

Bottom line: I (as well as all other XPS 700 owners) have found that this is not a PC that overclocks very well. You will get very minimal increases.

Message Edited by CHSIsupplier on 10-08-2006 12:13 PM

Message Edited by flanno on 10-08-2006 04:28 PM

Agreed,

I have found that Ntune won't run properly on the xps700 board. In automatic mode it reports spurious FSB and CPU speeds. The application won't even start in manual overclock mode.

I have been toying with the idea of increasing my ram from 1Gb 533 DDR2 to 2Gb 667 DDR2. However, having read this thread and others like it, I am leaning towards swapping out the mainboard for a Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 and ditching the crippled Dell mainboard and the system warranty. Then I can upgrade to 2Gb 800 DDR2 and have all the overclocking potential that I could want straight from BIOS.

I could sell the Dell mainboard on a popular auction site top recover some of my outlay.

:)

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@johnnyboy21 wrote:
Agreed,

I have found that Ntune won't run properly on the xps700 board. In automatic mode it reports spurious FSB and CPU speeds. The application won't even start in manual overclock mode.

I have been toying with the idea of increasing my ram from 1Gb 533 DDR2 to 2Gb 667 DDR2. However, having read this thread and others like it, I am leaning towards swapping out the mainboard for a Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 and ditching the crippled Dell mainboard and the system warranty. Then I can upgrade to 2Gb 800 DDR2 and have all the overclocking potential that I could want straight from BIOS.

I could sell the Dell mainboard on a popular auction site top recover some of my outlay.

:)

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johnnyboy21...this Gigabyte board is an ATX. It will not work in the 700. You will have to find a BTX board. Oh and by the way, NOBODY makes a BTX enthusiast mobo. Welcome to the XPS 700 club.

XPS 700..the most money I have ever wasted. Hopefully they improve dumpsters over the next year so that they can handle the extra weight of this dead end, 60+ pound, steaming pile of crud known as the XPS 700.

Message Edited by CHSIsupplier on 10-08-2006 05:41 PM

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@flanno wrote:

CHSISupplier - I have read all the threads on the XPS now and indeed a lot of people are dissapointed.  Would you say it's mainly the lack of overclockability and missing 590 features.  The reason I ask it over my mate been totally struck with the looks of the case.  And overclocking does not matter to him at all.  Given that he is thinking of going for it, even though I have advised him you can build a system much cheaper and overclock it at least Core 2 Duo extreme levels while paying a lot less.  Plus I don't even know if the XPS 700 will support Quad Core in a few months time.  I am glad I am keeping my Precision.  Even though I cannot overclock it either, at least I can run 8 cores from next month :)

 

 

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The missing features are just a source of irritation for me. To me and many others, it means we've been lied to. The lack of overclockability is just annoying. With components this fast, who really needs to overclock? My major beef is the lack of upgradeability. You can not replace the mobo, because no one makes a BTX mobo. Even if they did, Dell uses custom cables and connectors, so these parts wouldn't just plug in to a new mobo anyway.

The case is nice. It's what got me hooked on buying this thing, along with all the Dell lies. But tell your friend that the case loses it's shine quickly, and leaves you with a feeling of regret. Just my opinion.

The other thing to remember about this case is that it is essentially disposable. You will not be able to put new parts in it as technology grows. Therefore, you will have to throw it away in a couple of years when it's time to upgrade.

Thanks for pointing out that the mainboard is BTX - I never spotted that and it would have been another costly mistake that I made;)

No sweat. We have all been looking for a replacement mobo for this thing. Unfortunately, they just don't make one.