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Dell XPS H2C

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HardOCP News

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[H] reader VulturE sent me a link to the new Dell XPS H2C and I have to say, this thing looks like a beast. Imagine being able to buy a box off the shelf at Dell that has an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700, dual GeForce 8800GTX cards, 2TB of storage space and cooling that sounds pretty impressive as well:


The H2C hybrid cooling system combines a liquid radiator, a thermoelectric cooling module and control circuitry to optimize CPU cooling with minimal power. Ideal for gaming enthusiasts, the system is designed to help the XPS 710 H2C Edition stay cool in overclocked mode*—up to 9 degrees cooler even when you clock it at bin+2 speeds.*
Click to expand...
 
I owned an XPS 700, sold it because Dell marketed it as being upgradable, when they still use a BTX motherboard. Unless Dell has fixed this, which as of this writing they have not. Just check this thread for all the upset customers -

http://www.dellcommunity.com/suppor...essage.id=37819&view=by_date_ascending&page=1

Fact is Dell builds these computers for turn key folks who have no clue on building a computer. They are overpriced and are noy upgradable because Dell still has all there parts made by FoxConn and refuses to put in such things at a standard ATX board and they severely cripple the bios so no "real" find tuning can be done unless it's through Ntune.

If you have the money just laying around, give it to charity and not Dell. Build your own as I have went back to doing.
 
Its as if millions of modded PC cried out all at once and were suddenly scilenced.
 
mikeblas said:
What does "bin+2" mean?
Click to expand...

I believe that is meant as "Default Multiplier + 2". So for the QX6700 that would be 10 + 2 or 12x, yeilding a final speed of 3192MHz. That's probably what they mean when they say this system is factory overclocked to 3.2GHz. Too bad they do it that way though, especially for a quad core, because a system running at 10x320 will out perform a system running at 12x266 even though the resulting MHz ratings are the same.

Though I do think this marks a first for Dell, selling an overclocked system. I wonder how Intel feels about that?
 
bin+2=trash bin+2. I wouldn't run this system if I won it. I hate Dell, based on 3 years as a computer consultant for commercial and government clients. All those places order them, and I don't know why.

PS - I now work at an AFB, and am typing this...on a Dell Optiplex GX520, damnit.
 
Flyingcrazy said:
I owned an XPS 700, sold it because Dell marketed it as being upgradable, when they still use a BTX motherboard. Unless Dell has fixed this, which as of this writing they have not. Just check this thread for all the upset customers -

http://www.dellcommunity.com/suppor...essage.id=37819&view=by_date_ascending&page=1

Fact is Dell builds these computers for turn key folks who have no clue on building a computer. They are overpriced and are noy upgradable because Dell still has all there parts made by FoxConn and refuses to put in such things at a standard ATX board and they severely cripple the bios so no "real" find tuning can be done unless it's through Ntune.

If you have the money just laying around, give it to charity and not Dell. Build your own as I have went back to doing.
Click to expand...

So you sold it because it uses BTX motherboards? Why? It just a layout of the board. If it contains a PCI-Express slot then you can upgrade the video card. Find out what kind of memory it takes and you can upgrade the ram. Even the CPU can be upgradable, which im taking it was a Intel CPU. Just get a CPU that uses the LGA 775 socket and you can upgrade the CPU.

They cripple the BIOS so some "noobie" to computer doesnt go "Wow I can make my processor faster if I just increase this setting" and then they end up frying it. It is frustrating for us who know how to play with those setting properly but then again we build a computer.

I used Dells before and they prooved to be a good computer. I didnt use them for gaming or anything just standard web browser, word processor, etc. They are overpriced agreed, but for some people they are one of the best ways to go.
 
Thanks for the helpful explanation, JethroXP.

I don't think this is their first oc'ed system, though -- weren't some of the earlier XPS models overclocked from the factory?
 
mikeblas said:
Thanks for the helpful explanation, JethroXP.

I don't think this is their first oc'ed system, though -- weren't some of the earlier XPS models overclocked from the factory?
Click to expand...

sabregen said:
All those places order them, and I don't know why.
Click to expand...
Support and volume pricing, mostly. I've used Dlels since they were PC's Limited, and while I would've had a faster system or more fun if I'd built my own, I've never been disappointed.
 
Lazy_Moron said:
So you sold it because it uses BTX motherboards? Why? It just a layout of the board. If it contains a PCI-Express slot then you can upgrade the video card. Find out what kind of memory it takes and you can upgrade the ram. Even the CPU can be upgradable, which im taking it was a Intel CPU. Just get a CPU that uses the LGA 775 socket and you can upgrade the CPU.

They cripple the BIOS so some "noobie" to computer doesnt go "Wow I can make my processor faster if I just increase this setting" and then they end up frying it. It is frustrating for us who know how to play with those setting properly but then again we build a computer.

I used Dells before and they prooved to be a good computer. I didnt use them for gaming or anything just standard web browser, word processor, etc. They are overpriced agreed, but for some people they are one of the best ways to go.
Click to expand...


You should really read the thread I posted at the top to the Dell site, it explains all the problems with the XPS 700 line. The 700 is crap. Just because you an upgrade the video card, which by the way is the only thing you can do besides hard drives. You can't put different memory in and take an advantage of the spd, as Dell only allows overclocking of a few things and only through ntune. The ram they include is cheap PC667, when I installed PC800 I could no longer change any of the settings in Ntune. Dell does this for obvious reasons, to cut down on tech support calls from the noobie, problem is they advertise it to the enthusiast and it clearly is not.

Dell is a great computer company, I'm the network admin for a large law firm and we are 100% Dell, they got the business model right, but they have a lot to do for the enthusiast, again that system is made for someone who just wants to turn it on an go, nothing else.
 
Also if anyone knows about BTX, it's crap, it's totally proprietary. Fact is Dell marketed the original 700 as upgradable including the motherboard, which it's not. That 710 is also using the 590 chip-set....Crap as well....
 
Flyingcrazy said:
Also if anyone knows about BTX, it's crap, it's totally proprietary. Fact is Dell marketed the original 700 as upgradable including the motherboard, which it's not. That 710 is also using the 590 chip-set....Crap as well....
Click to expand...

I wouldnt go as far as saying its proprietary. Intel develop it with some other companies and truely wanted it to take over ATX. Problem was alot of people still liked the ATX standard so it never got as widespread as Intel would of liked. Dell back then only catering to Intel processors adopted it quickly. It really isnt a big deal to Dell as not even 1% of there customers are going to want to upgrade the motherboard.
 
Actually, these systems are built for the same people that would buy a turn key hot rod / PC.

Most of us would rather build our own so this system has little value to us. To the guy that wants a hot rod but doesn't want to / afraid to turn his own wrenches, this is the system for him...and comes with a warranty.
 
Lazy_Moron said:
I wouldnt go as far as saying its proprietary. Intel develop it with some other companies and truely wanted it to take over ATX. Problem was alot of people still liked the ATX standard so it never got as widespread as Intel would of liked. Dell back then only catering to Intel processors adopted it quickly. It really isnt a big deal to Dell as not even 1% of there customers are going to want to upgrade the motherboard.
Click to expand...

True, but it's misleading to tell people you can when you can't. Fact is BTX is crap. Who uses it for building there own computer? No one. I get the feeling the you are a Dell man.. I work with Dell systems all day long and from a business stand point you can't beat them, but for the end user wanting a cool system they can upgrade, just as you can when you build your own, then they should get it, and not after you buy it find out it's parts are worthless because you can't do anything with them, like upgrade..

You should really read the 35+ page thread from those who bought the 700 only to find out what they has was essentially in 6 months worthless as they where not able to upgrade with no options from a 3rd party to even do so. Nothing...Nada...
 
I've been drooling and spec'ing out my dream HTPC lately, and I ended up with this:

680i-based mobo
Intell E6600 CPU
2GB DDR2-800
2x160GB WD Raptors (RAID 0 for C:\)
2x750GB Seagate 7200 SATA II (DVD rip storage for My Movies plugin)
2xGeForce 8800GTX
Zalman HD160XT HTPC Case
Zalman CPU HSF
Hauppauge PVR-500 TV tuner
Zalman 600w Power Supply

It came out at about $3400 from Newegg. Granted the keyboard, mouse, and sound card would be migrated from my old setup, but that's about $250 worth of parts - still much less expensive than this setup, and about the same performance, especially if the 680i chipset and the 6600 overclock like I've read they do.

Perfect example why it's best to build your own. Unless you're swimming in cash of course....
 
Flyingcrazy said:
True, but it's misleading to tell people you can when you can't. Fact is BTX is crap. Who uses it for building there own computer? No one. I get the feeling the you are a Dell man.. I work with Dell systems all day long and from a business stand point you can't beat them, but for the end user wanting a cool system they can upgrade, just as you can when you build your own, then they should get it, and not after you buy it find out it's parts are worthless because you can't do anything with them, like upgrade..

You should really read the 35+ page thread from those who bought the 700 only to find out what they has was essentially in 6 months worthless as they where not able to upgrade with no options from a 3rd party to even do so. Nothing...Nada...
Click to expand...

I've seen you mention a few times now that BTX motherboards are crap, yet you fail to explain why. It is simply because they haven't enjoyed widespread usage yet? I actually really like Dell's BTX systems at work, they are so quiet I litterally have to look at the lights to see if they are on (headless systems). I was hoping that I'd be able to build a BTX based system for my next PC, but unfortunately there simply were not enough options, otherwise I would have done it in a heartbeat.
 
Personaly I would not buy this system since I (and most of use here ) could build something similar for less but there are people who can't and this would be a great product for them. Factory OC and a warranty! Hell I wish i could get that kinda of warranty witht he parts i buy.

Flyingcrazy said:
Also if anyone knows about BTX, it's crap, it's totally proprietary. Fact is Dell marketed the original 700 as upgradable including the motherboard, which it's not. That 710 is also using the 590 chip-set....Crap as well....
Click to expand...

^.-
If i could get BTX enthusiast parts for my next build I would. Its there to help not hurt.
Now given the system is over clocked already, why does a person buying this system need a different chipset? This there a greater than 2% performance difference?
 
Taranis17 said:
I've been drooling and spec'ing out my dream HTPC lately, and I ended up with this:

680i-based mobo
Intell E6600 CPU
2GB DDR2-800
2x160GB WD Raptors (RAID 0 for C:\)
2x750GB Seagate 7200 SATA II (DVD rip storage for My Movies plugin)
2xGeForce 8800GTX
Zalman HD160XT HTPC Case
Zalman CPU HSF
Hauppauge PVR-500 TV tuner
Zalman 600w Power Supply

It came out at about $3400 from Newegg. Granted the keyboard, mouse, and sound card would be migrated from my old setup, but that's about $250 worth of parts - still much less expensive than this setup, and about the same performance, especially if the 680i chipset and the 6600 overclock like I've read they do.

Perfect example why it's best to build your own. Unless you're swimming in cash of course....
Click to expand...

or if you have a life and dont want to deal with it when it breaks. If you can find a place that builds a good PC with the right parts (wich hardocp has shown are many) it is many times worth the premium (which is often smaller than you think) to those that are "over" the BYO experience and just want a nice headache free gaming machine.

The last computer i built myself was great, and it lasted me a while, but in the end it not only caused me much stress when i ran into a problem i couldnt fix and needed my computer running but i spent those "savings" away on trying to get it fixed. The solution to every answer, even if it's a knowledgable enthusiast, is not "BYO".
 
odd couldnt edit my post.

but also, no love for dell from me anyway, i was really charmed by their XPS 700 actually and with my discount i am really tempted to get one, but they constantly spit in my face it seems, especially with my recent call with some rather "enthusiast" type question that anybody claiming to sell these type of PC's should be able to answer, but clearly Dell still doesnt know it's target market.

that and seeing how they dell with clusterbombs like their gimped 590 chipset (which despite a 710 revision and oppurtunity to finally get off their buts and use a 680i and a geforce 8 go wasted).

for people who's sales reps insist you buy their 5000+ water cooled system if you want to get the Geforce 8 you've been waiting months for and not sure why they didnt yet add, or claim their motherboards are "dell chipsets" they have a long way to go before they dont deserve to be tarred and feathered for poor customer relations with their so called target market.

.....oh yeah, and the way they talk to the people in their own forums angry over the "2007wfp lottery".
 
Flyingcrazy said:
True, but it's misleading to tell people you can when you can't. Fact is BTX is crap. Who uses it for building there own computer? No one. I get the feeling the you are a Dell man.. I work with Dell systems all day long and from a business stand point you can't beat them, but for the end user wanting a cool system they can upgrade, just as you can when you build your own, then they should get it, and not after you buy it find out it's parts are worthless because you can't do anything with them, like upgrade..

You should really read the 35+ page thread from those who bought the 700 only to find out what they has was essentially in 6 months worthless as they where not able to upgrade with no options from a 3rd party to even do so. Nothing...Nada...
Click to expand...

Fact is BTX provides better cooling and superior board layout, no matter what your OPINION is. BTX isn't going anywhere anytime soon as all the OEMs now employ it on most of their systems, including the AMD based systems from Dell and Gateway. Newegg doesn't stock BTX in any quantity yet, but they will eventually.
 
xbob04 said:
Fact is BTX provides better cooling and superior board layout, no matter what your OPINION is. BTX isn't going anywhere anytime soon as all the OEMs now employ it on most of their systems, including the AMD based systems from Dell and Gateway. Newegg doesn't stock BTX in any quantity yet, but they will eventually.
Click to expand...

Newegg doesn't stock BTX because "NO" major manufacturer makes there boards BTX, please show me a 680i board made by Asus or Abit that's BTX, there aren't any. Why would you buy a high end OEM computer only to have it worthless when you wanted to upgrade the motherboard. All the cooling and board layout aside, why would you buy a system with a BTX board when you are at the mercy of the company who made it to supply you with an upgrade?, which Dell has yet to provide. The part everyone is missing here, is that a true enthusiast, not just a guy off the street wanting a cool looking case would be throwing there money away by purchasing that XPS system when you have limited overclocking and can't swap out components such as memory to gain an advantage, you actually loose out on a system like that for the "pure" enthusiast". If you want a turn key system then that's the way to go, but if you enjoy tweaking, enjoy getting the most for your money then Dell is not the way to go.
 
mikeblas said:
Why do you need such a powerful rig for a HTPC?
Click to expand...

Because I get my game on with it too. I'm lucky enough to have a 50" widescreen HDTV and Bose SS hooked up to it, and now I'm spoiled rotten. Prey, HMM5 and Oblivion are what's being played on it right now. I want something that'll last for the next 5-10 years at least both with gaming and running multimedia, but as time goes on (and the girls move out), my office will get the super-fast toy while this new system will stay put.
 
spincut said:
or if you have a life and dont want to deal with it when it breaks. If you can find a place that builds a good PC with the right parts (wich hardocp has shown are many) it is many times worth the premium (which is often smaller than you think) to those that are "over" the BYO experience and just want a nice headache free gaming machine.

The last computer i built myself was great, and it lasted me a while, but in the end it not only caused me much stress when i ran into a problem i couldnt fix and needed my computer running but i spent those "savings" away on trying to get it fixed. The solution to every answer, even if it's a knowledgable enthusiast, is not "BYO".
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that. I've built my own machines since '99, and I've never had any problem with my builds - other than my own tinkering with the OS and crashing the whole thing. My setup right now has been running problem-free for the last 3 years+ - so stable that it's my media center setup. Lemme tell ya, when the girls can't watch their reality shows (ugh), I'd hear about it.

It may seem like an oddity to you, but it IS possible to have a life and BYO. I misquoted myself before. My build would be a shade over $3,700, whereas the Dell as I would configure it (all components being equal or similar) would be $5700. A $2000.00 premium might be worth it? For what? 24x7x365 support? Peace of mind? For a PC directly aimed at the enthusiast crowd, who as we all know upgrades like you change underwear (maybe), this is way too pricey, IMO. These parts will be outdated and depreciated in 18mos or less.

But hey, to each his own. I'll keep my money in my own pocket, thanks, and I wouldn't recommend this sytem to anyone either.
 
the premium is only as high as YOU want it to be, just as a BYO will cut corners i wouldnt cut to show how fabulous the savings are, i can put together a gaming build from a well reviewed company that costs little more, and is far more worth it when it comes to the lack of headaches (computers do break, not everyone is as "lucky" as you to have their computers last as long with no problems and they are in situations where they cant always afford to have to fix it on their own if they even can, clearly you and your "girls" that you mentioned can though, but that isnt the same for everyone that starts to change their life situation).

i keep my money in my own pockets as well, it isnt that cut and dry, computers cost money period, while i would have the option to build something very cheap i dont build hunks of junk to save lots of money just like i wouldn't order an alienware ALX that is worth much less than it costs.
 
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