[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]

Dell XPS Desktop with Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q8300 Review

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"This computer is impressive and I like it very much. If you are fimiluar with Windows Computer rating service 1.0 - 5.9 it comes out of the box with 5.2. When it came home I had problems and hope you dont. It comes with a Radeon HD 3650 graphics card pre-installed with a non working driver from the factory Wide-screen monitors. I called Geek Squad 1-800 and talked to him for 1:45:00 min and he couldn't figure it out and the best option he had was to pay $30 for some one to remote access a NEW Computer so they could fix it. I couldn't see that I would have returned it before paying that dumb fee. So I called Dell AND PAY ATTN: Dell will NOT talk to you if you don't buy the product directly, they just gave the the geek squad's # and told me to discuss further with them. Long shot they still couldn't help, called ATI they couldn't help. Took it back to the store to return/exchange 2 days later and a lot of fighting that I didnt do anything to cause the problem, PC came home working.



Now the computer really only has 2 flaws in my eyes: 1. If you use the HDMI cable to hook up your PC only on board monitor speakers will work. I had some so not to annoying and Vista has made a patch for it BUT their patch is IDT audio and once downloaded you can only have one or the other (all your perifreal speakers or monitor speakers for sound) this mattered to me because as part of my surround the monitor speakers were my center speakers. ( It does have VGA port and if that is used there is no problem, Except it's not HD).



2. I kind of expected a little more from the processor than I'm getting, (I thought quad core 8300 with 6GB ram should take some intensive programs to slow this down, I will say ( as the bench mark is: Crysis plays with only very minor hiccups) but.. if your not the gamer witch I'm not to much here some online basic combo's and watch it's done for me

i.e on hulu.com playing one 480p(highest hulu goes) full screen is perfect everytime.

play the same movie and a full tilt poker game.... some buffer time gaps in movie.

play same movie, still have poker open and downloading music... minorly reduced download speed and more buffer time on vid.

using photo shop and watch hi-def movie, minor to medium freeze frame that does eventually does recover. But i feel probably shouldn't happen.



One last side not I'll make that was upsetting when I noticed it was,

Inside it has 2-2Gb and 2-1Gb memory chips witch is fine but there made by different company's!(shame on dell or maybe best buy not sure) different brands DOES affect performance and they know it. It's upgradeable(at home) to 8Gb ram and I'm going to up grade to fix this issue and help with performance .



Overall: Great PC,Geared toward future with 64 BIT Vista and DDR3 cheaper than you can get from Dell with same options, BUT BUYER Beware Best Buy Service after sale not reliable. I caught it fast enough but they have a 14 day return policy (return/exchange free) 15th day to 30th day you can still return but they WILL charge a 15% RESTOCKING FREE



2 last notes: IT IS A VERY QUITE SYSTEM doesn't make a sound unless under serious load ( good feature)



The case is awesome Quick handle release and side falls off (no screws) and upgrade friendly inside with plastic brackets (no screws for swapping Hard drive, optical drive and more"