Help - Does anyone know about Dell Studio XPS / 8000 Desktops & Intel i7 processors?

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Mike
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Currently doing a bit of research into replacements for my 7yr old Dell 8200, which has proved good value so I'm looking for another Dell.

I'm looking to buy something of high enough spec to last me for a long time, and found their Studio XPS and Studio XPS 8000 model lines.

The XPS is offered with a 2.66Ghz 920 i7 processor, X58 chipset, uses tri-channel DDR3 RAM and has 6 DIMM slots, with max. memory 12Gb. Specs

The XPS 8000 is offered with a 2.80Ghz 860 i7 processor, P55 chipset, uses dual-channel DDR3 RAM and has 4 DIMM slots, with max. memory 16Gb.Specs

Pricing is very similar, with both lines starting at about £600.

From reading a couple of tests here and here I get the impression that the hardware in the Studio is aimed more at "enthusiasts" and is older tech, while that in the 8000 is newer, aimed at more mainstream users and offers slightly better performance. It seems to be the classic "old pro" vs. "new consumer" argument.

For a slightly better spec the 8000 is a bit cheaper so looks to be the more attractive option; what am I missing? Am I likely to suffer reduced upgrade potential by going with the more consumer friendly 8000? Is there that much benefit to tri-channel memory? Although the XPS has 6 memory slots, the max capacity is stated at 12Gb - is this likely to be an error (was thinking 6x6Gb is 36Gb) or is this likely to be limited by other aspects of hardware or software?

Also, a max. HD capacity of 1.5Tb is stated for one machine and 1Tb for another; is this likely to be because of max avalable HD capacities at the time of writing or is this likely to be limited by some other factor as well?

Finally, were I to go for the 8000, it appears you can save about £300 on the same spec machine by customising the spec of a lower priced machine to that of the more expensive item.. is this likely to be a cock-up on their part or am I likely to get inferior components (motherboard etc) on the cheaper model? (can provide links if anyone's bargain hunting :p)

Cheers, I'll be amazed if anyone is actually able / bothered to reply to this post :D
 
Thought so :p

After a day of research I finally plumped for the 8000 with the free processor upgrade, which seems like a pretty good bargain at £700 considering the processor alone retails for £400.

I'm now pretty well educated if anyone is in a similar situation and wants a chat... ;)
 
It's the middle machine here with the free processor upgrade and 4Gb of extra RAM; came to £725 after using a discount code that can be found here. Was also hoping for an additional few quid off by going through Quidco, but think I cocked that up...


Specs:

Intel Core i7-870 (2.93GHz, 8MB, L3 Cache)
8192MB 1067 MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [4x2048]
Dell™ USB Entry Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)
Display Not Included
1GB NVIDIA® GeForce™ GT220 graphics card
640GB (7200RPM) SATA Hard Drive
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 (64 BIT) - English
Dell 2 Button USB Optical Mouse
16X DVD+/- RW Optical Drive (DVD & CD read and write)
Integrated HDA 7.1 Dolby Digital Audio
No Speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
English - Documentation with UK/Ire Power cord
1 Year Premium Warranty Support
1Yr Premium Warranty Support
Studio XPS 8000 Resource DVD
No Accidental Damage Support
DataSafe Online Backup 2GB 1 year
Datasafe Local 2.0 Basic
Microsoft® Works 9 - English
No Security/Anti-Virus Protection - English

100


It seems to be the most capable machine I can lay my hands on for the money; and the processor is only bettered by the higher end i7 9xx series, which alone cost more than the whole machine :p

Hoping it should last me for another 7yrs of 'shopping :)
 
I was going to say, when I ordered my brothers, I removed the 19" monitor, which took £200 off the price. Then bought a 22" from ebuyer for the same price.
 
neil_g said:
yeah thats a pretty decent spec for the money, it certainly should take anything you can throw at it.

are you getting a windows 7 upgrade with it?
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Aye, hoping to see a big performance difference compared to my old PC.

I think you have to apply for the Windows 7 upgrade once you have the machine, which I plan to do :)


aligibbs said:
I was going to say, when I ordered my brothers, I removed the 19" monitor, which took £200 off the price. Then bought a 22" from ebuyer for the same price.
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Yeah, Dell pricing can be very strange - it certainly pays to look at all the options the offer before reaching for the credit card. Plus you often pay through the nose for bundled stuff.

Fortunately I'll be keeping my existing monitor (2007WFP) so that's one less thing to worry about :)
 
I got a rough budget in mind, looked to see what they had to offer in that area and researched the machines and their processors etc..

Was only planning on a bit of learning for the time being so I could spot a bargain should one come up... and then one apparently did :p

Something to bear in mind with Dell is that the specs of their base systems don't always reflect their price, and you can sometimes save quite a bit by speccing different levels of the same model with different bits - as I posted above, a £300 saving was had just by upgrading the spec of the cheaper machine to that of the more expensive one, with no apparent difference in hardware.

The other thing to consider is that upgrading through Dell can be expensive - often it's cheaper to buy easy-to-fit items such as HDs, extra memory etc from another source and fit them yourself.

Finally, there are often voucher codes floating about too, and often posts on websites like hot deals etc..
 
tbm said:
I got a rough budget in mind, looked to see what they had to offer in that area and researched the machines and their processors etc..

Was only planning on a bit of learning for the time being so I could spot a bargain should one come up... and then one apparently did :p

Something to bear in mind with Dell is that the specs of their base systems don't always reflect their price, and you can sometimes save quite a bit by speccing different levels of the same model with different bits - as I posted above, a £300 saving was had just by upgrading the spec of the cheaper machine to that of the more expensive one, with no apparent difference in hardware.

The other thing to consider is that upgrading through Dell can be expensive - often it's cheaper to buy easy-to-fit items such as HDs, extra memory etc from another source and fit them yourself.

Finally, there are often voucher codes floating about too, and often posts on websites like hot deals etc..
Click to expand...

Yeah, its things like voucher codes that I'd like to be able to find, and how do you know when Dell have special offers on the sort of thing you're looking for? Is it just a matter of logging on every week?

Sounds like you got a good deal. You must have a golden glow!
 
For voucher codes I usually just google "Dell voucher codes" or similar.. if you're really keen you could make a list of all the sites offering such codes and check them regularly.

As far as Dell offers go there's always some special offer on, but they vary in savings etc. Only way I can see is to keep checking the website. My reasoning for looking at them in the first place was only to establish a "baseline" price and spec, so I'd know when a bargain turned up.

Yup, it does sound like I've got a good deal, however how true this is I don't know. Compared to everything else on the market for a similar price (and a fair bit more) this machine seems hard to beat though :)

One thing to consider is that while the processor upgrade (870, 2.93Ghz) is clearly better than the one offered as standard (860, 2.80Ghz), because it's currently top of the tree it's far worse value in terms of price/performance ratio. Obviously it's a no-brainer if you're getting the upgrade for nowt extra, but it's certainly not worth paying several hundred quid extra for.

I'm not sure if Intel plan to release any faster processors in this model range, if they do I'd expect the cost of the 870 and associated systems to drop considerably anyway... but then like any other electrical goods you can wait forever for prices to come down as better hardware appears...
 
Just to keep people updated (in case it's relavant to anyone else) I re-checked the website yesterday and the cost of the processor upgrade had risen from £0.00 to £220.00; so I think it must have been a pricing error.

Fingers crossed they'll let it through, although having had a look around it appears that Dell have quite a rep for doing this, and cancelling the orders as a result. :razz:

Waiting for a cancellation email now; needless to say I'll still try and blag the original deal out of them, and failing that they'll get told into which orifice to forcibly insert said machine...
 
tbm said:
Just to keep people updated (in case it's relavant to anyone else) I re-checked the website yesterday and the cost of the processor upgrade had risen from £0.00 to £220.00; so I think it must have been a pricing error.

Fingers crossed they'll let it through, although having had a look around it appears that Dell have quite a rep for doing this, and cancelling the orders as a result. :razz:

Waiting for a cancellation email now; needless to say I'll still try and blag the original deal out of them, and failing that they'll get told into which orifice to forcibly insert said machine...
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Hope you get the machine.....
 
having bought a dell i would think twice before buying another ran great for the first year then sod's law 6 days out of warrenty one hard drive gave up the ghost phoned dell they did not want to know 6weeks later the graphics card went too hope you have more luck lol
 
Thanks for posting this TBM. I wouldn't know a good PC from a bad one but I intend to upgrade mine in November/December. So I'll be keeping an eye on your thread to see what I should do when the time comes.

Thanks again.
 
greylensman said:
having bought a dell i would think twice before buying another ran great for the first year then sod's law 6 days out of warrenty one hard drive gave up the ghost phoned dell they did not want to know 6weeks later the graphics card went too hope you have more luck lol
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There are posts here on here about whether goods are "fit for purpose" or not, and suggestions that a 12 month guarantee is not all that it seems. Look on "talk photography" or "talk equipment"

Have you finally given up on Dell? If not, it may be worth chasing them up again, armed with a bit more knowledge of consumer law. Or ask the CAB, or trading standards.

And it's perhaps worth mentioning that Dell wouldn't have made the components. You might just have been unlucky enough to have two fail on you.
 
greylensman said:
having bought a dell i would think twice before buying another ran great for the first year then sod's law 6 days out of warrenty one hard drive gave up the ghost phoned dell they did not want to know 6weeks later the graphics card went too hope you have more luck lol
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Sorry to hear about your misfortune.. Conversely I've had my current Dell machine for over 7yrs and the only hardware failure I've had was the old CRT monitor; which are only "lifed" at 3yrs anyway. From what I can tell it's all quality components inside too; Western Digital HD, Samsung RAM...

Suppose it depends on what you buy and chance to some extent. As Jerry says, get back on their case and lay it on thick - hardware failure after 12 months is pretty poor.

ryanyboy said:
Thanks for posting this TBM. I wouldn't know a good PC from a bad one but I intend to upgrade mine in November/December. So I'll be keeping an eye on your thread to see what I should do when the time comes.

Thanks again.
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No problem - glad to be of some help. That said I've learned everything through the friendlyness of Google :p

After further investigation it appears that the i7 9xx Bloomfield series processors have more upgrade potential than their i7 8xx Lynnfield counterparts as they use different sockets and the new hex-core processors will use the same one as the 9xx series.

I'm happy with my choice of the 870 processor though, since its performance is better than the 920, and on a par with the far more expensive 9xx processors. And I should get it for very little money :D

Fingers crossed, delivery is scheduled for Friday...
 
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