House of Dell | The Unofficial Dell Weblog, with News, Reviews, and Information.

(Source: bit-tech.net)

Product: Dell XPS 700
Type: Gaming PC

Typical Configuration:

* Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 965 Dual-Core Processor (3.73GHz)
* 2GB (667 MHz) DDR2 SDRAM [2 x 1GB]
* 2 x 150GB (10,000 RPM) HDDs in RAID-0 configuration
* 24″ Dell UltraSharp 2407FPW widescreen LCD monitor
* 2 x NVIDIA GeForce 7950 graphics cards (in SLI configuration)
* 16x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer DVD Burner and 16x DVD-ROM optical drives
* Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music Sound Card
* Dell AS12501 flat panel Speakers
* Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center Edition
* 1 Year of Limited Warrany, with XPS Premium Support

Reviews:

1. About.com’s tech. guide has just published another one of its traditional tech. specifications reviews, and this time, it’s on the newly released Dell XPS 700.

   As expected, the XPS 700’s strong performance was a plus point for the reviewer, but the lack of liquid cooling and limited case designs pulled down the overall score. Well, there really wasn’t a score per se, but you get my point.

   Anyway, About.com concluded that, “Dell’s XPS line gets a boost with the new XPS 700 that offers a wide range of performance options for those on a budget or with as much money as they can spend. Don’t expect a lot of case designs to choose from though.”

2. The oh-so-delayed Dell XPS 700 finally falls into the hands of a review site, which is none other than bit-tech.net.

   It’s a pity, however, that despite having the yet-to-be-released nVidia nForce 590 chipset, performance of Dell’s gaming monster failed to match bit-tech.net’s own custom rig - mostly due to Dell’s pathetically slow memory. The XPS 700’s design received mad props though.

   Overall, they conclude that, “Dell has done what many thought would be beyond it - created a decent gaming system that hardcore enthusiasts would be happy to have on their desk. The engineers have nailed the industrial design and the core internal design, but the guys haven’t quite managed to get the components and the pricing right. But for all our ragging on the component specifications, Dell has really got the core of this system spot on, and for that it earns our Recommended award. However, we hope Dell takes our comments on board and sorts future machines out with the kind of components that will really make the Core 2 Duo processor shine - and at the right price.”

News:

1. Remember the concept systems we saw at E3? Well, the details, at least for one of them, are here. The red figure-of-eight XPS we saw earlier is the Dell XPS 700 - a full-featured gaming desktop, or at least one with the potential to be one of “the best pre-built systems in the world” according to bit-tech.net.

   With the potential to slot in a dual-slot graphics card and two PCI slot cards (the PhysX card anyone?), the XPS 700 could very well become as beastly as its Renegade XPS 600 older brother. Of course, let’s not forget the possibility of four 500GB HDDs and 2GB of RAM.

   However, as usual, with great power comes sacrifice. Monetary sacrifice. At least US$2,050 of it. And that’s just for the basic black and grey model. The relatively cooler Formula Red model starts at $2,622. Of course, you’ll get a 1-kilowatt power supply capable of powering a set of Nvidia’s Quad SLI graphics cards with that.

2. Although not a single unit of the Dell XPS 700 gaming desktop has been shipped since its intended shipping date in May, Dell has announced through its new weblog that the long delay will end this week.

   While this piece of news will assuage the many customers hitting Dell’s Community Forums, this entire delay issue is surely not-so-good news for Dell’s already battered image.

   At least, we can take heart in the fact that Dell has begun replying to customer complaints publicly through its new blog.

3. Remember the delayed XPS 700 gaming powerhouse that Dell said it would start shipping very soon? Well, it seems there might be further delays, and Dell is trying to mitigate the negative impact from this by pledging a free Core 2 Duo processor upgrade for those who ordered on or before 18 July.

   Customers who accept Dell’s upgrade offer will also have to agree to an “extended wait time” - presumably for stock of Intel’s upcoming Core 2 Duo to come in.

   At least this time, we’re hearing direct from the horse’s mouth, i.e. Dell’s newly-launched one2one blog. So, we most probably won’t have to look at problems like the recent overclocking misunderstanding issue XPS 700 customers experienced.

4. CNET hates it when PC vendors like Dell mess with the validity of their reviews. We over here hate it when PC vendors delay shipping schedules even more than they should.

   Remember when people were speculating that the XPS 700 would start shipping after Dell started getting stock of Intel Core 2 Duo processors?

   Now, the community is speculating instead that the gaming powerhouse will start shipping as late as February 2007 due to the inclusion of Nvidia’s new Nforce 590 chipset.

   I pity the guys waiting for their XPS 700s. After all, by the time they get it, it might no longer be the top dog in town.

   [News via CNET]

5. Dell recently clarified that new customers for the heavily delayed Dell XPS 700 would get a mid-October shipping date, while customers who preordered will get a mid-September to mid-October shipping date. But… only if you’re keeping with the Intel Pentium D-processor and have no intention of taking up Dell’s free upgrade to a Core 2 Duo.

   This annoucement was accompanied with an explanation for the further delays customers are experiencing: Cooling assembly installation problems - which could affect system stability.

   And don’t forget that if you are one of those who opted for the free upgrade, your XPS 700 might arrive as late as February 2007, or so speculation goes.