Dell XPS 720 H2C - Worth it?

[Dell Boi]

Hey guys. I'm new here John, from England.

I'm considering purchacing a Dell XPS 720 H2C for christmas this year, and was wondering if I could hear your opinions on the system, good/bad and what your thoughts are overall on a self contained watercooled system like this.

My main concern is - is it worth the money? I'm looking at a system around the £2,500 mark, and that seems an awful lot of money to waste getting it wrong....

The specification of the machine is as follows;

Dell XPS 720 H2C - 2 Stage WaterCooled Edition

Intel Quad Core Processor @ 3.73GHz (Overclocked)
3GB Dominator DDR2 800MHz RAM (2x 1024, 2x 512)
Dual Nvidia GeForce 8800GTX 768MB Ultra's in SLi
2x 150GB Raptor HDD's in Raid 0 (10,000RPM)
1x 750GB Seagate HDD (7,200RPM)
SoundBlaster X-Fi XtremeMusic
PhysiX PCi Card 128MB
1KW Dell Power Unit

Worth it?

Side note: I realise its possible to go cheaper by custom, but i'd rather have a OEM warranty on a product like this.

[Nukem]

You could build for less than that and have a better system than that. raptors are over rated, and not worth it in this instance, the Physix card is dead, and pretty much useless with a newer card like the 8800GT and 1K PSU is WAY to much power (you could get away with 600-750 (at most) Ram: Why 3GB??? Hmmm sounds iffy to me... 2GB or 4GB (no need to mix them like that. (better for performance) ... Trust me... build and you will have money left over.

edit:

INTEL Q6600 - 156.15 IV (INC VAT)
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ZALMAN 9500 CPU cooler - 26.34 IV
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Gigabyte GA-p35C-DS3 mobo - 69.31 IV
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Corsair twinx 2x1GB DDR2 800 - 57.15 IV
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FPS 700W PSU - 101.63 IV
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then adding a nice case, dvd burner, OS, monitor, etc... you would have a NICE setup and still have money left...

This is just an idea to give you food for thought.

[Dell Boi]

Thanks alot for the speedy reply Nukem, and thank you for providing links, much appreciated.

I have no idea why it is configured with 3GB RAM, is that a cause for concern? I didn't think it made a difference as long as the RAM modules were installed in pairs, (2x 1GB, 2x 512MB).

The Physix card will provide no benefit whatsoever running with 8800GTX's in SLi?

Thanks again. Oh yeah, and Dell say the 1KW is to make the machine futureproof etc...

[veedubfreak]

No no no no no no. If you can afford 2500 (5000 US) for a computer, DO NOT BUY A DELL. For example, the computer in my sig, cost me roughly 1500-2000 to build, and will do everything that the dell you are looking at will do. SLI ultra's is a WASTE. They are 1 year old video cards and only have maybe 3-4 more months left before they are replaced with the newer models. My 2 GT cards can run 99% of games that are out or will be coming out in the next year.

If you were to price out all of the components on that machine and build it yourself, you'd find that dell is charging you way more than retail.