Created: 05/06/2008
Video description: Dell's updated flagship gaming desktop incorporates the latest hardware from Intel, Nvidia, and AMD into a system that delivers some very impressive gaming scores. We'd give it a higher recommendation if it wasn't so expensive compared with systems from the competition.
Dell XPS 730 H2C Video Transcript
>> Hi I'm Rich Brown, senior editor for CNET dot com. Today we're gonna talk about the Dell XPS 730 H2C. And as you might have guessed, this monster PC is a high end gaming system and although it's plenty fast it's more expensive than the competition's so we can't really give it our highest recommendation. Not much has changed since the last XPS 700 series from Dell. It's basically the same big case, looks like an exhaust out take for a fighter jet. Looks pretty good, you know, it's imposing, it definitely gives that lifestyle feel. The front panel; you've got your optical drive ports here, a media card reader behind the door as well as a small array of ports right here in the front. The side panel of this new model is the first from Dell to have laser etching on the side with plexiglas so you can see through. It's kind of a cool feature, we guess, if you're into that sort of thing. There's actually some firsts on the inside of the system as well. This is the first PC that Dell has shipped with a over clock CPU. The Quad core Intel chip is kept cool by some new water cooling hardware, here and here. This is also the first system Dell will ship with all 4 hard drive base populated. There's only 3 in this model. We're still fans of Dell hard drive design. The drives slide in and out very easily. It's not quite as simple as the HP Blackbird because you still have to mess with the cables here; it's still pretty straight forward. This is also a very expensive config designed to do well on our benchmarks and for that reason Dell sent 2 ATI radiant HD 3870 X2 cards. That means there's 4 graphic chips in this system between the 2 cards, 1,000 watt power supply to support it, and in general it was pretty fast. Like other XPS 700 systems, Dell has lights in the case that light up the ports and the various access bays to make things a little bit easier to work with in the dark. Compared to some other high end systems that were a little bit less than this one, this wasn't quite as fast on our application tests. That means we can't get all that excited about it, especially for the price. So while it does have some cool features, we still find the system pretty expensive compared to it's competition. That said, Dell's gonna be expanding the options online and over time the price may come down a bunch, so it could be actually competitive. I'm Rich Brown; this is the Dell XPS 730 H2C. [ music ]
Dell XPS 730 H2C Review
Avg user rating
Fair
6.8
out of 10
The good: First Dell that ships with overclocked CPU and RAM; supports both CrossFire and SLI multi-graphics card configurations; well-designed hard-drive bays; useful software utilities with no clutterware.
The bad: Poor bang-for-the-buck, even for a high-end gaming PC; limited memory upgrade until 64-bit Vista becomes an option.
The bottom line: Dell's updated flagship gaming desktop incorporates the latest hardware from Intel, Nvidia, and AMD into a system that delivers some very impressive gaming scores. We'd give it a higher recommendation if it wasn't so expensive compared with systems from the competition.
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Dell XPS 730 H2C User Opinions
4 out of 10
Poor
for that price I could get a nice workstation a Mac Pro with a better resale value...
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10 out of 10
Perfect
I don't get this at all! I understand that a reviewer cannot look at future pricing...
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Dell XPS 730 H2C Specs
Manufacturer: Dell, Inc.
Part number: DXCZOE1
Product Specifications
- Product Description
- Dell XPS Core 2 Extreme QX9770 3.8 GHz
- Processor
- Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 / 3.8 GHz
- RAM
- 2 GB (installed) / 4 GB (max)
- Hard Drive
- 2 x 160 GB - Standard
- Graphics Controller
- - 1024 MB
- OS Provided
- Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Product Basic Spec
- Hard drive
- 160 GB Standard
- Video RAM installed
- 1024 MB
- OS provided
- Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
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Dell XPS 730 H2C Prices
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