8. Synthetics

3D Mark 2005 gets boosted by Dell's overclocked processor and its higher-speed graphics. Unfortunately, Windows Vista again siphons half of the XPS 720 H2C Edition's performance lead away from Dell.

If you like to use Maya, you're going to love the XPS 720 H2C Edition and hate Windows Vista. Other programs show hit-or-miss results.

PC Mark loved Dell's CPU speed, but didn't run under Windows Vista. Increases in memory performance were better than expected, considering the XPS 720 H2C Edition gets its overclock by increasing CPU multiplier rather than clock speed. Two 10,000 RPM drives in RAID 0 provide a noticeable speed boost compared to two 7,200 RPM drives in the same mode.