XPS 730x General Hardware Discussion thread

Mike - sorry that you have not received an acceptable answer on the cause of your delay. Not sure what is going on. Have you tried calling and asking them to escalate your call to a higher tier? I hope it gets resolved soon.

I havent posted an update on mine so I guess I will - it did arrive on Monday this week. I did have a scare though - when Fedex delivered the box (which BTW was huge!) it had a substantial tear/hole about a foot across in the side where something large had obviously ripped through it! I made the delivery guys stay until I was able to look into it. Luckily - dell uses a box that is easily a foot bigger all around so whatever penetrated the box did not make contact with the computer.

The rig was ordered 11-20 and is an I7-920, 6GB DDR3, 2xGTX280, 500 GB drive, Ultimate 64-bit. Setup and function has been nearly flawless. All of my programs / games worked well. The only issue (which I expected) was the well-known sound issue with the X-fi and Vista. I will likely remove the creative X-fi as I did with my 710.

I uninstalled many of the Dell apps as well. Reboot on this machine is a bit slow so I decided just for the heck of it to do a reinstall on one of my Velociraptor drives. I disconnected the 500 GB original, installed the Velociraptor and used the DELL OS disk and had the system up and running on the Velociraptor in about 25 minutes. Again - nearly flawless install and performance. Only weird issue was when updating the Nvidia driver to the 180.48 version the screen blanked out (I know nvidia updates blink the screen - but normally only for a few moments - this time I had to force a hard boot). Upon reboot - the driver was installed fine and everything went smooth.

Machine is up and running everything I throw at it. No overclocking has my Vantage score in the 18000+ range compared to 7000 for my 710.

Can anyone confirm for me what sound card comes with the XPS 730x?

Is it the X-Fi Titanium or the X-Fi Xtreme Gamer?  

On the Dell site, when configuation the system, the only option available is the X-Fi Titanium, but after placing the order (like I have this morning), it switched to the X-Fi Xtreme Gamer on the Order Confirmation e-mail.

Does the X-Fi Xtreme Gamer have an 'optical out' port like the X-Fi Titanium?

Also, can anyone confirm whether the i7-965 is factory overclocked when shipped?

On my order confirmation page, it doesn't mention the CPU factory overclocked to 3.46GHz.  Only the i7-365 at the stock speed of 3.2 GHz.

Dell needs to do better than this.   I am going to wait and see what I get, but already I am nervous about what I'm 'actually' going to get.

How can Dell say that the sound card will be a X-Fi Titanium when configuating the system, then switch it to the X-Fi XtremeGamer after ordering the system on the order confirmation details?

How can Dell say that the CPU would be O'C to 3.46GHz when configurating the system, then fail to mention that fact (O'C to 3.46GHz) on the order confirmation details?

By the way, ordered the system this morning...estimated shipping date will be 18DEC....arrival date 22DEC - 25DEC.  I hope that this sticks and I'll get my system up and running before Christmas Day.

The card is the X-FI Xtreme Gamer and it does have optical out.

Mike - sorry that you have not received an acceptable answer on the cause of your delay. Not sure what is going on. Have you tried calling and asking them to escalate your call to a higher tier? I hope it gets resolved soon.

I've tried calling.  I asked to be escalated and my request was refused saying that their manager would tell me the same thing they were.

I tried emailing again .. specfically saying that I didn't want them to tell me the information that's already available to me in my account on the dell site... also reminding them that people who ordered upwards of a week after me were already receiving their orders and mine hasn't even shipped yet.  This is what they responded:

"Based on the latest information in the system, the estimated delivery dates for your order is on or before 1/19/2009.We understand the importance of orders placed during the holiday season, and Dell is prioritising oldest orders first.

When your order ships we will send you an email, which will contain the Estimated Delivery Date for your order along with delivery and tracking information."

So even though before I was assured that the orders are filled in the order they're received... now they're prioritizing oldest orders first.  Which also is not the truth, or mine would have shipped already.  Plus they just keep telling me the same info that I already have available in my account.

I responded asking them to escalate the correspondence to someone who is able to check with production and find out why newer orders are shipping before mine.

Glad to hear yours is there and up and running.  I hadn't heard about X-Fi/Vista problems.  What are the known issues?

Shawn C, did you confirm the CPU speed with CPU-Z?  

That would confirm the speed of your CPU.

The issue has been coined the "SOD" or Screech Of Death. Basically sounds like a high pitched feedback / static issue. I have now had the problem on both of my 64-bit machines.

I thought I read that CPU-Z had trouble with the new X58 chipset and getting proper readings?

Mike I feel your pain, I ordered my XPS 730H2C back in 11/14/08 and have not received it. I get the same script from dell that the XPS is in high demand and it is taking longer than expected. The thing that I try explaning to them is that they are not even offering the XPS 730H2C anymore so don't understand the delay. My order has now been delayed three time and estimated shipping date is now 12/22/08. It is frustrating especially all the money that we are paying for this machines. All I can hope for is when it does arrive that I don't run into any issues and have to get a replacement.

Just checked my order status, and to my bewildered surprise, my i7-965 was shipped TODAY.....one day after I placed my order (I placed my order in yesterday morning)!!!:emotion-2:

Instead of the 22nd - 25th arrival date I mentioned yesterday, it is scheduled to arrive next Tuesday - next Thursday, the 16th - 18th of December!!!:emotion-2:

If this time frame doesn't change, I'll have my system here in just ONE week!!!:emotion-2:

To those who are still waiting weeks for your system, I really feel for you guys!   Unless it's a video card delay, there is no excuse for a system to take weeks to build!

My Config XPS 730x:   i7-965 O'C to 3.46GHz, 6GB DDR3-8500 RAM, ATI Radeon 4850, 500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive, Vista Home Premium, and 16x CD/DVD Burner w/ dbl write capability

     So I just spent 15 months in Iraq, I'm heading home in two weeks.  I order my XPS730x after saving up money here.  I order it and have it set to ship to my base in Germany.  Dell charges my card, and it gets to the point where the order status is set to ship so you can imagine my excitment at not only coming home and getting a new gaming computer.

     Today I wake up to an email saying they can't ship this computer because its over the weight limit for US APO addresses.  What a let down dell.  Would it have been that hard to ship the extras in an extra box if the computer was close to the 75lb limit which i find hard to believe?  Not i can come home to nothing and use my HP laptop for all those new games that came out while I was home.  I am really disapointed.  They ask if i had another address and I dont since I've stationed out of Germany. 

     I told them to cancel the order and refund me since I have no other option.  I'm just waiting to hear that there is a restocking fee even though the webpage let me order it knowing it was going to an APO.  That will be the final knife in my back and the end of my dealings with them.  Maybe I was the first one to order this new computer to a military base overseas and they never bothered to weigh it before taking peoples money.

     I guess I'll build one since the individual parts will be lighter.  No more Dell for me despite easily spending over $15000 personally with them in the past.  not to mention recommending new purchases of dell to friends, family, business partners and my boss when I worked with time warner in the past.  Thanks if you listened to my rant.  I just needed to let my frustrations out.

-Tim

Just checked my order status, and to my bewildered surprise, my i7-965 was shipped TODAY.....one day after I placed my order (I placed my order in yesterday morning)!!!:emotion-2: Instead of the 22nd - 25th arrival date I mentioned yesterday, it is scheduled to arrive next Tuesday - next Thursday, the 16th - 18th of December!!!:emotion-2: If this time frame doesn't change, I'll have my system here in just ONE week!!!:emotion-2:   To those who are still waiting weeks for your system, I really feel for you guys!   Unless it's a video card delay, there is no excuse for a system to take weeks to build!     My Config XPS 730x:   i7-965 O'C to 3.46GHz, 6GB DDR3-8500 RAM, ATI Radeon 4850, 500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive, Vista Home Premium, and 16x CD/DVD Burner w/ dbl write capability

Just to update, my XPS 730x is scheduled to arrive next Tuesday, December 16th via FedEx Ground...got the tracking number and everything is ready to go.    

6 days from order to shipped.....not bad Dell.   Now just don't dissapooint me and give me a DOA system.

Unless you ordered 2 XPS 730x's, you would not even be close to a 75 lb limit. My package only weighed 48.0 lbs via FedEx Ground, and I got the i7-965 version.   Extra hard drives/video card is going to add minimal weight to that.    Even a fully-decked H2C 730 max configuartion weighs 68.0 lbs max.

Mine finally just shipped and it's via FedEx and it says it's 77lbs.  I don't see how this is possible... I guess I'll find out on Tuesday.

Unless you ordered 2 XPS 730x's, you would not even be close to a 75 lb limit.

My package only weighed 48.0 lbs via FedEx Ground, and I got the i7-965 version.   Extra hard drives/video card is going to add minimal weight to that.    Even a fully-decked H2C 730 max configuartion weighs 68.0 lbs max.