Thoughts on this deal / is it upgradable?

ionapaul

Hi all,

I hate cross-posting but this deal is only valid for another day so wanted your opinions on it; a Dell XPS 8300 for €611 (details of all the discounts in this bargain alerts thread: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056502389)

Specs:

English Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
Intel® Core™ i7-2600 Processor (3.40GHz, 8MB)
6144MB Dual Channel DDR3 1333MHz [2x2048 + 2x1024] Memory
1TB Serial ATA (7,200 rpm)
NVIDIA® GeForce GT 530 1GB DDR3 Graphics Card

Firstly, is this an alright deal, given all the discounts?

Secondly, I have a newish HD 6850 1GB card in my current desktop, given that on the Dell site you are given the option of upgrading to a HD 6870, do you think there would be any problem in swapping out the GT 530 with the HD 6850 if I purchased the XPS 8300? The reason I ask is that I've seen people mention that Dells can be a bitch to upgrade and that they often use non-standard mobos.

Finally, do you think I'd get €200+ for my leftover PC, with the following specs:

Q6700 2.66 Ghz
4GB Ram
Windows Vista
GT 530
500GB SATA

Thanks

Monotype

I thought that XPSs were supposed to be for gaming - what are they doing with a 530?

Anyway, something like this would be more upgradeable:
Item|Price
Total build cost: €610.83 + €30 shipping
MSI Z68A-G43 (G3), Intel Z68, ATX, DDR3|€90.63
LiteOn iHAS122-18 schwarz SATA|€16.72
BitFenix Merc Beta|€32.63
Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.D 1TB SATA 6GB's|€99.90
8GB-Kit G.Skill RipJaws-X PC3-12800U CL9|€35.39
MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SB-Version Englisch|€85.37
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€54.31
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155|€195.88


Better motherboard and processor since it's standard and you can overclock (4GHz is very easy to do). Most likely a better PSU too. Also an extra 2GB of RAM. With your 6850, it would make quite a nice system.

You could get a better system again with an SSD if you salvaged your old SATA drive and got a SSD instead. If you're a student or have kids going to school, you may be able to avail of discounted windows.

zilog_jones

Dell XPS systems are not necessarily for gaming, it is just their high-performance line (but less high-performance than the Precisions ). For comparison, you don't get the option of a Core i7 in any Inspiron desktop, and the i7-2600 is the highest you can get in OptiPlex 790/990 desktops.

sillo

I noticed this the other day - XPS are no longer branded for gaming, it looks like once they bought Alienware Dell couldn't really figure out what to do with XPS. In the end they seem to have decided that XPS should be some kind of weird high-end-but-not-for-games niche.

Quite ridiculous imo, but I guess there must be a market out there.

Monotype

Or maybe it's to catch people out into thinking that they're getting a gaming system. Meaningless brand names strike again!

beno619

The official Line is performance / multimedia / gaming .
They probably have caught a few people out tho who thought they were getting gaming beasts !