Recommendations for general use desktop computer? (1 Viewer)

[Alfonso_M]

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt


Mine shipped on the 17th: one month to the day from when I ordered it. Dell (just like the other big OEM manufacturers) has been having supply problems with high-end components. It's scheduled to be delivered on Thursday, so I'll post my thoughts once I have it up and running.


I bought online because I got a 25 percent off deal through a Dell Direct email, and because I wanted the Core i7-870 processor. If you're looking at the still-excellent Core i7-860 processor, Best Buy is selling a Studio XPS computer with very similar specs at a very competitive price. If you decide to order online, my guess is that the supply problems will be cleared up by January once the Christmas rush has abated.

Apple makes really great hardware with an elegant look and has top-notch customer support. Dell makes really great hardware that isn't quite as elegant, and has truly abysmal customer support. (I'm less sold on HP hardware, but I know many that swear by it)

The difference? As you say, hundreds and hundreds of dollars.

Adam, your post prompted me to double check my CPU choice, and an looking into the the XPS 9000- 17-920 core processor, I was sent a 30% off offer from Dell/Amex and I want to get the most bang for the dollar, I want this system upgrade to be future proof for at least 3 or more years...

I've decided to wait on a Blu drive, I don't have any use for that now.

The Best buy xps package is more expensive than what I can get directly from Dell, and BB doesn't include a Monitor.

I 've been doing lots of research on compatibility issues with Win7, and some of my software is not going to work..my Dell printer is also not supported, but apparently there is a work-around that works..

Have you read anything about the XPS cases not working with regular APC - UPS?

This is the latest issue I need to check into now...

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

My computer arrived yesterday, but I won't have it and running until late Friday.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alfonso_M

Adam, your post prompted me to double check my CPU choice, and an looking into the the XPS 9000- 17-920 core processor, I was sent a 30% off offer from Dell/Amex and I want to get the most bang for the dollar, I want this system upgrade to be future proof for at least 3 or more years...

The processor is definitely the biggest decision, both because it affects what motherboard you end up with and because almost everything else is more easily upgradable. I went with the newer i7-8xx line over the older but more powerful i7-9xx line mainly because of better energy efficiency, integrated PCI Express 2.0, and of course the lower price point achieved by dropping the third channel of memory.

I 've been doing lots of research on compatibility issues with Win7, and some of my software is not going to work..my Dell printer is also not supported, but apparently there is a work-around that works..

I'm holding my breath on compatibility issues, too. I'm almost positive that my HP printer won't work. Strangely, HP has released Win7 drivers for my much older scanner.

That being said, if I waited until everything was compatible, I'd probably never upgrade.

Have you read anything about the XPS cases not working with regular APC - UPS?

The battery on my current computer, a laptop, has been dead for two or three years now so I got used to the frustrations that come with sudden power outages. That being the case, I haven't really looked into battery backup for the new machine.

 

[Alfonso_M]

(I don't know why, but the 'quote' thingy doesn't work for me here today)

"The processor is definitely the biggest decision, both because it affects what motherboard you end up with and because almost everything else is more easily upgradable. I went with the newer i7-8xx line over the older but more powerful i7-9xx line mainly because of better energy efficiency, integrated PCI Express 2.0, and of course the lower price point achieved by dropping the third channel of memory."

Adam, do you mean the i7-8xx is newer than the i7-9xx line? I didn't know that, in the last few years I kind of fell behind in keeping up with all this particular Tech details, (too many hobbies) and I was going by Intel's numbering scheme, I believe they have done this in the past too... confusing..

I'm having a hard time deciding on a "relative" future proof system, too many choices and combination over at Dell combined with 30% off deal restrictions etc..

I kind of like the sxl 9000 case, I don't mind that it's large, I like all the options to expand it provides, but over at CNET they called it a 'power hog" with the large PS, and now you tell me the i7-9xxx is also power hungry CPU and an older version..so ...
I'm also not sure if I need or if this "third channel of memory" will provide a signicant difference for the money, I plan to do lots of Graphic work with the upcoming Photoshop C5, and other graphic software, I also do Audio restoration with CoolEdit (Audition now) that requires lots of CPU speed and memory to speed up the process..

I have 'till 12/31 to pull the trigger over at Dell, if you (or any one else) have (has) any suggestions I'd really appreciate it..

On the Win7 software compatibility front..

I'm sure that you know already, but just in case, MS has a program that scans your PC and reports what will work after the Win7 upgrade you can find it here
www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/Default.aspx
I didn't use it and elected to check my software from the list provided by MS instead..

Most of my software will be obsolete and will have to pick up the new versions as I can ....

AFAIK I'll have to replace all these---- Quicken 2008, RoxioEMC9, MS Office XP (some features like 'outlook' wont work), Cooledit (old version), old PhotoShop -7, Adobe Illustrator 10, Photoshop Elements 6, and probably all the 'shareware' stuff will be gone, and for my Dell printer to work I need to upgrade to Win7 Professional, to take advantage of 'virtual machine' and "compatibility mode" ... ...

Luckily, some of these programs I wont need right away and/or are not that expensive to replace, others like Photoshop C4 or C5 (if available) I can get a rebate from Adobe, (Elements 6/Wacon related) so is not that bad..

Hey, this is "progress" ...

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

(NOTE: I had an entire, essay-long reply typed up before a Flash video crashed Firefox. Christmas day can't come soon enough, because this Inspiron 9100 really is on its last legs.)

Originally Posted by Alfonso_M

Adam, do you mean the i7-8xx is newer than the i7-9xx line? I didn't know that, in the last few years I kind of fell behind in keeping up with all this particular Tech details, (too many hobbies) and I was going by Intel's numbering scheme, I believe they have done this in the past too... confusing..

Yes. When Intel launched the Core i7 brand with the 9xx series in November of 2008, it blew away the competition. Nothing came close. But it was designed for extreme gamers, and as such relied on high-end components. The two priciest elements were the motherboards (which had to be specially designed for the 9xx series's special LGA 1366 socket size) and the triple-channel memory, which means 6 DIMM slots instead of 4 and the use of a QuickPath Interconnect interface instead of a standard front side bus.

The 8xx series was launched three months ago, in September, with the goal of bringing Core i7 performance closer to a mainstream price point. It does this by scaling back overkill features that 99.9 percent of users would never take advantage of and increased efficiency that comes with an extra year of playing with the 45 nm Nehalem microarchitecture. The biggest difference is that it uses a smaller LGA 1156 socket. It is identical in size to the LGA 775 socket used by most desktop processors on the market today, but it eliminates the need for a northbridge by moving PCI-Express 2.0 x16 communication and Direct Media Interface directly onto the processor itself. This means that the Core i7-8xx processors communicate directly with the graphic card. The use of DMI instead of QuickPath limits bandwidth from 25.6 GB/sec to around 2 GB/sec, but since 99.9 percent of applications don't use more than 2 GB/sec of bandwidth, the vast majority of users won't notice the difference. The same philosophy applies to memory, which is dual-channel instead of triple-channel: for the vast majority of users, the extra channel of memory wouldn't be used anyway so it's not worth the extra cost.

The end result is that the highest in the 8xx series, the i7-870 that I got my computer shipped with, will replace the lowest in the 9xx series, the i7-920 processor. In benchmark tests, it narrowly beats the 920 in most tests.

I kind of like the sxl 9000 case, I don't mind that it's large, I like all the options to expand it provides, but over at CNET they called it a 'power hog" with the large PS, and now you tell me the i7-9xxx is also power hungry CPU and an older version..so ...
I'm also not sure if I need or if this "third channel of memory" will provide a signicant difference for the money, I plan to do lots of Graphic work with the upcoming Photoshop C5, and other graphic software, I also do Audio restoration with CoolEdit (Audition now) that requires lots of CPU speed and memory to speed up the process.

The biggest advantage of the XPS 9000 over the XPS 8000 is the larger case, with greater room for expansion. If you go with the integrated 7.1 sound option, the XPS 8000 provides two extra PCIe slots and one regular PCI slot. If you decide to put in a higher end sound card, that will eat up one of the PCI slots. The lack of expandability was the only downside with the 8000 for me.

I would guess that the third chanel of memory would probably be overkill even for Photoshop. Audio restoration might be another story, but I honestly don't know.

I'm sure that you know already, but just in case, MS has a program that scans your PC and reports what will work after the Win7 upgrade you can find it here
www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/Default.aspx
I didn't use it and elected to check my software from the list provided by MS instead..

I didn't know that. Thanks for sharing. I'll definitely check that out. I

Most of my software will be obsolete and will have to pick up the new versions as I can ....

AFAIK I'll have to replace all these---- Quicken 2008, RoxioEMC9, MS Office XP (some features like 'outlook' wont work), Cooledit (old version), old PhotoShop -7, Adobe Illustrator 10, Photoshop Elements 6, and probably all the 'shareware' stuff will be gone, and for my Dell printer to work I need to upgrade to Win7 Professional, to take advantage of 'virtual machine' and "compatibility mode" ... ...

Ouch. The biggest programs I'm worried about are Office 2003, which I've heard conflicting reports about, and Nero 7 -- which will definitely have to be replaced.

 

[Alfonso_M]

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt



I went back to Dell and reconfigured XPS 8000 system upgrading to the i7-870 CPU, and to my surprise, after applying my discount coupon, this System will cost me 180.00 more than the XPS 9000 system with the i7-920… so both systems been more or less equal (cpu power,6 gig memory, HDD, 1080 Monitor, win7, 3 year service, etc) I'd seem to me the X 9000 is a much better deal, and it is only 86.00 more than the comparable XPS 8000 base model with the standard i7-860 cpu.

what do you think?


edit: Adam, I just discovered something else to worry about..

Do you know it a standard 5.25 DVD burner will fit this case given the side push button/ flap design?

I'm planing on using the same one I own, if it fits...

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Grrr... Another response typed out, and this time the forum fritzed. If I could still use vB code, I'd go back to typing my posts in Notepad first, but that doesn't really work with the WYSIWYG quote function.

Cliffnotes version:

If the heat and power efficiency issue isn't paramount for you, go with the XPS 9000 with the 920 processor. It's roughly equivilant in performance (the 920 wins some benchmark tests, the 870 wins others, both are very close for the most part) and the XPS 9000 case offers more opportunities to expand later plus $180 back in your pocket, which is nothing to sneeze at.

I can't give you a definitive answer on the DVD burner; since I'm going from a laptop to a desktop, the drive wouldn't carry over and so I didn't bother looking into the compatibility issue. But if it's anything like the Inspiron 518 my father bought my mother last year, the flap and side button are simply cosmetic embellishments. The button on the case pushes the button on the drive, and the tray of the drive pushes open the flap. The drive underneath looked pretty standard to me. The biggest worry I would think would come from the front plate around the tray, which was probably designed with a lip to catch on the outside of the existing case. The disc drives on my work computer were yanked out of an older computer, and I had to sort of wedge them in at a slight angle because the openings on the new computer's case were too small. Obviously, that wouldn't be doable with the front flaps. I think both the XPS 8000 and XPS 9000 require you to buy with at least one drive anyway, so the default 16X DVD+/-RW Drive would probably suit your needs if worst came to worst.

 

[Sam Posten]

The other option for you is to install Flashblock, it's not a crime and you are already halfway there with Firefox...

 

[Alfonso_M]

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt /forum/thread/295706/recommendations-for-general-use-desktop-computer#post_3642025

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Well, I'm up and running on my XPS 8000 and loving it. I had a couple tense hours this morning because I can't get a connection through the DVI port on my new monitor. I borrowed my mother's monitor, which is hooked up using VGA but has a DVI-D port, and that didn't recognize the computer either, so I don't think it's the monitor. I was able to get a signal from using the DVI-D to HDMI converter that came with the computer and the HDMI cable from my DVD player, so I don't think it's the graphics card either. I'm going to buy a new DVI cable tomorrow retail, since my leading theory is that I got one of the few defective cables from Monoprice. In the meantime, I've got the monitor connected DVI-I to VGA at 1920x1080 and it looks absolutely gorgeous.

Originally Posted by Alfonso_M

I'm under the impression that the drive included with the 8000 and 9000 is not a burner... Am I wrong?

The wording is ambiguous. I just assumed since they called it a 16X DVD+/-RW Drive, that it would burn all of the DVD formats as well as read them. Usually read only drives are markets as DVD-ROM drives. Sounds like you found confirmation to that point.

I just flipped open one of the flaps on my new one, and it looks like a regular drive, but its buried about a centimeter into the case, so it's hard to tell.