http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/0 [...] king_dell/

Over the next 3 days we overclock Dell's factory-overclocked XPS 720 H2C, our high-end System Builder Marathon PC and a new lower cost build.

Good Article, I look forward to the custom build results. I am not surprised one bit by your findings. I hope these results will be factored into future reviews of factory "OC" builds such as this Dell. It can be misleading to the uninitiated who think they are buying something with huge potential.

I noticed that memory bandwidth was fairly low on this Dell. My OC'ed rig is getting close to around 7,840 which is pretty darn close to 8,000 thats with Corsair 6400C4D at 4-4-4-12, 2.1v 900Mhz. I would have thought those 8400 would do better.

im going to reserve judgement until the others come through
although i did like the conclusion that you reached.

While I agree that a true enthusiast would opt for something with more headroom (and probably build it themselves), I find it encouraging that Dell is running something so tight to the ceiling of potential. This is of course nothing new for systems from FalconNW or the like, but for conservative Dell that is something.

Good article too, even if nothing really happened yet.

HA!, I just read where Dell is no longer offering the 3.7Ghz XPS because of the unavailability of Bin+3 processors and will only be offering 3.2Ghz factory overclocks. Had they invested in a high quality multiphase mobo with CPU voltage steppings they could have reached 3.6Ghz default OC and capable of 4.0Ghz as they lead everyone to believe. Instead they walked away with their profits.

they cannot "walk away with profits" unless ppl buy their comps. They cannot get sales if they make crap. You say this system is crap and yet they have profit. hmm...

sure, they have the low-end dumpster-systems, but we are talking 6000+ bucks. They are hardly using low-end parts. They just did not enable many settings b/c of their conservative nature. The sheer number of sales they have means a massive support net that would be slammed if they unlocked the voltage for n00bs to tweak with and destroy their system. The peeps that buy dell xps systems are gamers (and others) that just want a good out of box experience on their comp. They do not want to tweak like we do. That is Dell's demographic and they are catering to it.

I am by no means a Dell lover, and find much of what they do to be lacking. I am only saying that this system they built is nice for what it is.

Dell didnt cheap out at all some prossessors can only overclock so far.

I think you'll find almost every part in that system of theirs is the top spec one or next to top.


I think that kind of performance can be reached by using overclocked lower parts though, just about.

They cheaped out on the mobo, its junk. Thats like putting motorcycle wheels on a Ferrari..., lots of power but don't push it to far or you'll loose it. Its marketed for the "enthusiast", just not built for a real one.

what model of mobo did they use? what chipset? what specs?


...do you even know?


If you do not know what they have in there beyond an "it just sucks" statement like what you are giving then calm down and have a seat.

Just b/c options are not available in bios does not make it junk, just not configurable. B/c Dell makes their own mobos (using Nvidia and other chipsets) they have the ability to write their own bios for whatever they want enabled regardless of components. They are not the only company to do it either.

Naw, it sucks, I have one sitting under my desk at work and the problem is that Dell makes their own mobos. The case is huge and the front panels are cheap flimsy plastic and cheap flimsy optical drives. Even the power supply cable is proprietary. So, yea, I know.

well then, I apologize for insinuating that you did not have one...

...however, I still only hear "it sucks" w/o anything backing that up. I am ok if you have experience on how badly the mobo horks up on you, I would just like to know what that experience is. "cheap flimsy plastic" cases do not (always) equal a crashing mobo or anything.

I guess I am asking what is wrong with the mobo beyond the obvious locking down of tweak options or proprietary connections?

Dude, I don't know what it is you want to know?? Think of it this way, what kind of enthusiast computer do you know that has the following options for overclocking..., 1. Do you want to overclock, (yes/no)...warning 2. Set CPU speed....thats it.

No FSB settings for CPU or FSB for Memory or memory timings, or voltage settings for CPU or memory or FSB or anything!! Zilch, zip, nada.

For a computer thats marketed for enthusiast that is in the range of $6,000 to $9,000, man just get a Falcon or whatever else. Thats my point, this is not an enthusiast class computer without a solid motherboard full of real options. Dell needs to either build a real enthusiast class computer or quit pretending they do. The flimsy parts are just turds on the icing of an already flat cake.

If you leave the computer alone and dont touch a thing it runs fine but any Dell, HP or Compaq computer already does that. For that a stripped down mobo is fine but not for the audience it was intended for.

slightly incorrect, a REAL enthusiust would have got our some wire, some solder a bunch fo 50K ohm resistors and a pencil and done VMODS. lol, aside from that, yeah, that kinda sucks that the voltages were locked, i think if you gave the memory more juice it would probably run 5-3-3-5 or less at that speed.

Dude, you got a Dell!