DELL XPS 730 desktop Gaming PC
 

Hello all. Today just arrived a friend of mine home from the UK and he has for sale a DELL XPS 730 rig. The asking price is around 900 Euros (in the stores is much higher the price)...

Here are some details:

Dell Dimension XPS 730
CPU: Intel Quad Core Extreme QX9650 3.0 Ghz
Chipset : NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI
Memory: 2 GB 1067 Mhz Dual Channel DDR3 EPP
Hard Disk: 2x 500 GB HDD SATA - RAID
Optical: BlueRay
GPU: 2x nVidia Geforce 9800GT 512MB SLI
PSU: 1000W EPA compilant 80+
Cooling: H2C Liquid cooling

Does it worth it... ???

http://a.imageshack.us/img409/4218/dellxps730.jpg

Plain simple truth: No. 900 Euros is about $1200. For just the computer itself, you can build a system with more RAM, more HDD space, newer up to date tech, with better quality parts than Dell's OEM partners for the same price.

Technology is dated just a bit, though not much. If I were more familiar with how the euro was doing, I would suggest an answer, but i'm just not sure.

The extreme edition processors were very highly priced, but only because they had an unlocked multiplier, and were great overclockers. Beyond this, after the first batch if i7s came out, the processor lost its allure at said price, because even lower end i7 processors could outdo it.

9800GTs can still max out everything today pretty nicely, so that is a good thing.

With what I see here, it comes down to 2 things:

1. Because of the cooling technology used, and the processor/mobo combo, overclocking is a big deal here. Do you overclock at all? and if you are, would you push it's limits? If you answered yes, then that is a major plus here.

2. What kind of operating system is installed, if any? For instance, if this came with a win7 PRO 64-bit, with COA, that would greatly influence my decision.

In the long run, you can get a great amount of expandability with the high-wattage power supply, so this would last you a while.

I would pay $1300 for this machine, myself. I am not a huge overclocker, though. I get to 4GHz, and say "meh..."

Can you even overclock on it? Dells are usually extremely limited with BIOS and overall component upgrades.

Their XPS gaming line is a little more user friendly in the BIOS I think. I would not pay that for this system, but that is me. I am a firm believer in Build over buy any day of the week. The system is really only work about $650 euros at best and you pay the extra for the Dell name.

^ agreed my buddies dell rig has a Q6600 + x38 mobo but dell completely stripped the other PCIe x16 slots and limited the bios to just boot configurations not sure on there higher end models but i know the xps 400 series cant do shit with any kind of customization

overall the rig performance wise is worth roughly $800 usd in terms of what it would take for new hardware that beats that tower hands down and is again new. so id say if the water cooling is decent and it overclocks $700usd to $750 for the tower 1000w psu is a nice touch but no idea on brand or actual capability cant resuse the case or the mobo in another tower among other things its pretty much a buy it for what it is and i personally wouldn't drop $700 on it

I had a feeling it was limited. The XPS is basically Dell's Mac. Overpriced and just a name. You can get better for less.

so yea $550 euros is what the towers worth maybe $600 but not much more then that

cpu might be a QX but the QX series didnt oc any better then there non extreme versions

2gigs ram dosent cut it

hdds are dirt cheap these are used mileage may vary on them

blu ray nice touch but im guessing its a reader and readers are coming down in price if its a burner price + $45 euro

9800gt 512s are good but there still 4 year old tech with a clock speed bump and 512mb versions no less worth maybe $50 euros seen GTS 250s go for $70 around here and thats USD

1000w oem no name unit of unknown quality on a system that dosent even need 550w overpowered probably overpriced and under par

no idea on dells H2C liquid cooling but ill look at some reviews i suppose and find out

nope not worth it at all man

if it was half the price, then yeah

but not 900, sorry but thats just way too much imo

you can build a nice Phenom II x6 rig for the same price

^ yea indeed i think my estimate is fairly close on actualy value maybe u can shed a bit more light Don im thinking $550 euro or there about depending on region of europe lol

also note it dosent help the XPS 730 is a 2 year old PC at this point

I guessed myself that isn't worth it... but if that was with an core i7... another story.. :P

if it was an i7, with a 460/465/470, then hell yeah

but you wont see that with OEM machines

Thanks guys/girls for clearing this up...

PS - I buyed my "ex" Dell Precision 690 last year for 300 Euros (Intel xeon, 4Gb DDR2, 2x320Gb raid, Quadro FX4600 768mb)... and i sold it for 250 with an HD4670 1Gb GPU in it... The FX4600 was sold with 200 Euros :))