Dell XPS? Any good?

[Xezzerdius]

Hello, I was wondering. Would a Dell XPS work with high graphics games? (Like Aion, I don't care to much about things like Crysis) I do not want to build my own comuters, I would just rather buy something pre built or have someone build it for me. A well known company, like dell, is good. Anyway. I would like to buy from someone that you can pay monthly. Dell is about the only company I know of. So which brings me to this question... which XPS would be best? I would like it to be somewhat cheap I don't want a computer that costs more then a new car.

Dell XPS 420:
Dell XPS 420 Desktop

I was thinking of going with the 3rd one? Maybe 4th one? (How much does 500GB or 1TB harddrive really matter? If it doesn't matter to much I would rather get the 500GB)

Both of them have a 512MB2 Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT video card.

Both Vista

First one is 3GB of Ram
Second one is 4GB of ram

Both have a Intel® Core™2 Q6600 Quad-Core (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB) processor.

Or maybe a different XPS? I would like to get the computer, monitor, speakers, and other things all for less then 2,500 (Max is 3,000 I just can't see myself paying more then that right now when I can upgrade later)

Thanks.

[plasma06]

don't get 3gig of ram get 2 or 4. thos prices seem a bit high but then again its dell you will get that

[Xezzerdius]

Why just 2 or 4? The only choices they w ill build is...

4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 4 DIMMs [add $66 or $2/month1]
3GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 DIMMs [Included in Price]
4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 DIMMs [add $114 or $4/month1]

[eternalchaos]

Just for your infomation.. Dell only ships Vista x32. You will be rquired to contact microsoft and have a x64 disk shipped to you if you want to operate in 64bit mode.

I know this for a fact because 3 of my friends bought Dell XPS pc's.. all were given 32bit and it is a well known fact that OEMS are forbidden to distribute Vista-64bit w/o prior consent by Microsoft.

If you plan to go 64 bit get 4GB if not.. stick with 3GB. You're better off with 3GB then 2. I still would love to hear why 2GB is better than 3GB :P and it better not be a "you can't run it in dual channel" answer.. Dell ships 3GB ram as 2x1GB and 2x512GB :P aka.. DUAL CHANNEL

[Xezzerdius]

Just for your infomation.. Dell only ships Vista x32. You will be rquired to contact microsoft and have a x64 disk shipped to you if you want to operate in 64bit mode.

I know this for a fact because 3 of my friends bought Dell XPS pc's.. all were given 32bit and it is a well known fact that OEMS are forbidden to distribute Vista-64bit w/o prior consent by Microsoft.

English please lol. What is the difference between 32 and 64? Will I have to get 64bit? Thanks.

[eternalchaos]

64bit is optional right now.. you would be fine on 32bit. Only negative you will see is your CPU only will operate in 32bit mode... (which honestly up until VISTA you always ran 32bit mode :P )

64bit is actually really nice, but requires you get the perfect match of drivers and keep on top of updates

Example of 32bit vs 64bit
32bit Operating System can only address 3.1GB of physical address space (RAM)

64bit can address 60.4GB of physical space (RAM) this is because the extended address allows for higher data to be transmitted. Like how a 6bit LCD screen vs a 8Bit LCD screen has like a 700,000 color difference (8bit can produce much better colors)

[Xezzerdius]

Ahh, ok cool thanks. Now I know what I need to get.

[eternalchaos]

no prob.. I built my own so I actually bought a system builder 64bit copy of Vista.. However I just did it to future proof when 64bit becomes manditory lol ... besides with gaems today most want 2GB, and you are better off with 3. Soon you might want 4GB and that is when a 64bit OS helps; but 4GB of ram as a requirement is a long ways off. 2GB is basically a good figure for32bit Vista, 3GB is playing it extra safe. 4GB is like future proof

[EclipceR]

If you're going Vista, PLEASE get yourself 4 gigs of RAM. Vista likes to use 1/4 of the RAM you have for preloading programs and basic utilities so it runs faster. 4 gigs of ram is "the sweet spot" for vista as a lot of reviewers say and I agree after going from 2 gigs to 4.

Get yourself a 32bit version of Vista. 64bit is very buggy and not well supported. I don't know what others are smoking but to think 64bit is the way to go, you're dead wrong. That technology has been around for a looooong time now and it's still unsupported. I used the 64bit version of Vista and I was having troubleshooting problems up my arse all the time. There are much fewer problems on the 32bit version of Vista especially if you want to try and avoid all the gaming related issues. 64bit will not be the mainstream so until they actually block people from buying 32bit, i suggest you just stick with what works.

[eternalchaos]

Eclipcer you contradicted yourself :P

you can't use 4GB of ram with the 32bit version of vista.. or did you just ignore my posts above

if he wants 4GB of ram he will need the 64bit version.. without the 64bit version he will only be able to use 3.1GB of addressable space in other words.. you'd be payign for 1GB of dead space.

That is why I suggest 3GB. Also vista uses a pre-set amount..25-27%

25% of 4GB = 1GB of ram leaving 3GB free
25% of 3GB = 750MB of ram leaving 2.25GB free

in both cases you have over 2GB of free space to use; which is actually more than necessary for gaming; remember when a game lists RAM requirements; that is "system" ram.. not "available" ram. so 2GB = 2GB of physical ram. not 2GB free

btw: all my friends and myself use 64BIt.. "zero' issues from all of us. You just need to keep ontop of drivers at first and you will be fine.

[EclipceR]

you can use 4 gigs of ram on the 32bit version of vista just as you could in xp. I didn't contradict myself in the least. you and your friends are lucky if you've had "zero" issues considering when I was troubleshooting on forums all the issues that seemed to be occuring with people were 64bit ones. as I said before 4 gigs is the sweet spot for vista. it runs fantastic with 4 gigs of ram, everyone whose upgraded agrees. not to mention having 3 gigs of ram after system usage is super nice.

[eternalchaos]

actually you know what.. forgive me for above... Thre is a way to use 4GB of ram.. but it requires a registry tweak I think. I actually got a major sinus infection rightn ow so you might notice I am switching between grumpy and nice lol.. depends on how dizzy I am getting hehe.

But yeah; I heard there is a way to tweak the registry to add like 1-2 bits onto the OS causing it to recognize 4.3GB of ram.. not sure how "stable" it is however. personally I didn't like the idea; it seemed like a good backfire plan Micro-CRAP might fix and fubar your PC for modding the OS.


BTW any problems Vista 64 gave us were actually related to other companies... like Creative releasing bad x64 drivers.. nvidia and ati drivers that really weren't to goo dfor Vista; mostly that. However I am super stable now on latest drivers; most people's issues come from isolated bugs...There are pages upon pages of hotfixes for vista right now. It litterally remindsm e of XP when it first launched. There were so many individual isolated problems that SP1 contained hundreds of fixes . Vista will be the same way; My friend is beta testing SP1 and said performance is up dramatically with SP1, and compatibility is much better; networking also is far smoother than before.

[EclipceR]

Ya it's possible to do some jumps through loops of fire for 4 gigs but I also forgot that for the average joe using 32bit systems and wanting 4 gigs of ram also need to take into consideration vram since that falls under the same category. my fault, I'm hopped up on medicine myself right now getting over some damn bug. but ya, you'd have to go 64bit to truely enjoy having 4 gigs of ram as well as having a sweet 768+ video card setup.

ya I switched back to xp after the initial vista driver issues. Loved Vista, but I sure hated the craptastic support from nvidia and creative. But if what you're telling me is true and that nvidia is finally getting things straight and maybe just maybe creative has brought some worthwhile drivers out too. I think i may be reinstalling very soon.

[eternalchaos]

Well i can confirm a registry tweak lets you use the full ram.. also on "vista" 4GB is utilized but only 3GB is usable.. aka.. it can "cycle" through the ram so you don't have like 900MB Of just dead space.. it just is unallocated.

nvidia actually has been giving amazing support; actually better than ATi believe it or not.

Nvidia has had a fully functional Vista driver since i began to use Vista in April 07. However it wasn't until around 169.21 that they got a driver out that was 100% solid in Vista. Basically say Crysis coms out.. 167.xx won't work well on vista for it; you would need 168.xx UT3 comes out 168.2x is needed for that + crysis. I happen to think Nvidia and ATi both did fantastic jobs supporting their cards

Creative on the other hand I still feel they dropped the ball bad. Driver wise they are fine now; but still support is iffy and while many of the problems are resoloved, they are card selective.. some people with cheaper cards like xtremeaudios still have major issues; while an xtremegamer is resolved. If you think about it however; Creative is not all to blame.. MICROSOFT was the one who scrapped EAX and forced OpenAL basically invalidating all previous "hardware" audio in non Vista-ready games.

In the end , Vista 32bit is not bad I mean.. you can't goof up 32bit these days; 64bit had driver issues at first but essentially the problems are almost all resolved on the company end. Vista just needs an overhaul like Xp got. SP1 fixed tons of compatibility issues and litterally.. pre SP1 you would get BSOD's on XP alot. After SP1 it was almost unheard of to BSOD; SP2 it was inconceivable!!! Vista is going to get the same treatment and after SP1 is launched you probably wont' see to many issues of Vista rejecting drivers like it did in Q1-Q3 2007

[Diablo]

Running Vista Ultimate X32 with 3 gigs.

Runs like a charm.

And the Memory Hog preload cache hasn't affected me in the slightest.