XPS 410

[lord o kelly]

Hey, Im looking to get a new PC, and I stumbled across the XPS 410, Im just wondering how it stands up to games and such, with my current Cpu I cant really play games with high specs so, I need to upgrade,
Im not really that knowledgeable with computers but here is the pg for it.
http://www.dell.com/content/products...=19&l=en&s=dhs

OK thanks in advance for any help

[spartan_phalanx]

That thing comes default with an 8300 graphics card I believe which is not all that great for today's game nor future games. You can upgrade to the 8800 GTX for $600 but that's really overpriced. I must say you will have sooooo many more options if you BIY (build-it-yourself).

You could get into a nice rig for $1000 including an 8800 GTS which should be pretty good for awhile if you BIY.

[Dick]

First off, most people are going to tell you to build it yourself if you can, but if you can't there are other options.

Firstly, any chance of upgrading your current pc? If you give us specs it may be possible. Secondly, a budget would be useful, what are you willing to spend?

On that particular pc, the graphics card lets it down, and it'll cost you alot to upgrade to anything decent (as stated above).

[lord o kelly]

Well Im looking at up to $1000, which I have made working the summer, but thats all I really have to spend. I know its not alot, but its what I have to work with. but if I pressure my parents i might be able to di pinto my christmas/Bday fund.

Im kinda weary of BIY, cause I dont know that much about computers, I just know I would end up putting something where it shouldn't belong and just screwing the whole thing up.
But if it works that much better I might be able to get some of my more CPU literate friends to help me.

[spartan_phalanx]

To be honest I think if you pooled together with your friends, collective minds, you could get it up and built without a hiccup. The toughest part comes down to troubleshooting if something doesn't work right. If one of your buddies has a laptop or you can build it where you have access to the internet you have the best knowledge base out there, just google up any problems or ask here. I frequent the boards daily and often times multiple times a day.

I just hate to see you spend your hard earned money on something your potentially not going to be satisfied with. If you really don't want to BIY then check out one of the other know online builders.

Start here, add the 8800 GTS and whatever else you want that fits your budget

[lord o kelly]

alright thanks Spartan:
Im just wondering how these components would do, or if i should change them out for something else.
Case-Eagletech Sidewinder Gaming Tower Case w/420W Power Supply

power supply- 600 Watt -- Power Supply SLI Ready

Processor- Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600 (4x 2.4GHz/8MB L2 Cache/1066FSB)

cooling-[=== Silent ===] Thermaltake MaxOrb CPU Cooling Fan System Kit Silent & Overclocking Proof = Maximum cooling efficiency for quietness and performance

Motherboard -[New !!!] Asus Striker Extreme nForce® 680i SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394 Dual PCI-E MB [+ $239]

Memory- 1024MB [512MB X2] DDR2-800 PC6400 Memory Module Mushkin More Options

Video Card- 2x NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS 640MB w/DVI + TV Out Video +798

Video card Brand- === High Performance === eVGA Brand Video Card Powered by NVIDIA

Hard Drive- 500 GB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache]

2nd Hard Drive-None

Cd/DVD drive- Sony Q170A Dual Format/Double Layer 18X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive Black More Options

CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive- ** Special !!! ***] 18X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive Black More Options

Sound card-3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard

[spartan_phalanx]

Looks good except you only have 1GB of memory there, might want to consider 2GB or more with those graphics cards and that processor. Looks like they make their money on the memory though. Also I take it your budget went up a wee bit?

[Dick]

Bare in mind you haven't yet selected an operating system. Whether you go for XP or Vista is another debate, but you should definately go for 2GB of RAM minimum.

Apart from that if you needed to drop the budget, right now you don't exactly need a quad core processor, you could drop that to the best core 2 dual core and wouldn't see a performance drop.

Also, unless your going to be overclocking you don't strictly need the 800mhz RAM, but I think the quad core performs best with it?

And any idea what make the power supply is?

[Freddie]

Weird...It looks like Dell is adopting the new(ish) Intel BTX case standard. The advantages with BTX are that it gives better cooling for the CPU and video card.

I don't mind Dell, if you’re buying Computers for the work place Dell can't be beaten on value, but for the home user Dell always lets itself down by including a rubbish video card. If you want a computer for gaming I suggest you build it yourself.

[ProneStar!]

I don't mind Dell, if you’re buying Computers for the work place Dell can't be beaten on value,

i had to do a double take........ then i saw it said for work..... dell is horribly overpriced for home use.


if you dont want to build one yourself the only decent place to buy one is

http://www.cyberpower.com

the price is usually barely above the cost of building one, and its actually built and tested, plus i think they have a pretty good warranty(3 years i think) thats your best bet.

[Dick]

if you dont want to build one yourself the only decent place to buy one is

http://www.cyberpower.com

Link broken?

Do you mean cyberpowerpc?

[ProneStar!]

yeah thats it

[Leo4444]

cyberpowerpc.com and ibuypower.com are both good sites to buy a gaming computer at good price.

[ProneStar!]

ibuypower is more expensive usually, but they give you a lot of options.