[Hooch Tan]

http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archive...desktop_pc.html

"The XPS 435 can be found on Dell's website, a quick glance at the specs shows that it is indeed a top of the line PC: Core i7 Extreme, powerful graphics, optional Blu-Ray drive, up to 24GB of RAM and up to 4.5TB of hard drive space makes it a powerhouse."

I can accept the choice of the Core i7 Extreme; it's just about the fastest thing out there short of using liquid nitrogen.  I can see someone using 4.5TB of hard drive space as my own storage farm is close to the same.  A slick Radeon HD4870 GPU is also a good choice and it'll even handle Crysis, mostly.  But I'm trying to wrap my head around why someone, short of server uses or editing really, really high resolution photos, would need 24GB of RAM.  But this is supposed to be Dell's premium, top of the line, showcase PC, so why not?  It looks slick, and has some thoughtful features like a set of three USB ports, media card reader and inset tray on top of the case for easy access.  The only thing they haven't shown is the princely sum you'll need to pay for a computer that can probably run more than 6 copies of World of Warcraft at the same time.

[Hooch Tan]

http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archive...desktop_pc.html

"The XPS 435 can be found on Dell's website, a quick glance at the specs shows that it is indeed a top of the line PC: Core i7 Extreme, powerful graphics, optional Blu-Ray drive, up to 24GB of RAM and up to 4.5TB of hard drive space makes it a powerhouse."

I can accept the choice of the Core i7 Extreme; it's just about the fastest thing out there short of using liquid nitrogen.  I can see someone using 4.5TB of hard drive space as my own storage farm is close to the same.  A slick Radeon HD4870 GPU is also a good choice and it'll even handle Crysis, mostly.  But I'm trying to wrap my head around why someone, short of server uses or editing really, really high resolution photos, would need 24GB of RAM.  But this is supposed to be Dell's premium, top of the line, showcase PC, so why not?  It looks slick, and has some thoughtful features like a set of three USB ports, media card reader and inset tray on top of the case for easy access.  The only thing they haven't shown is the princely sum you'll need to pay for a computer that can probably run more than 6 copies of World of Warcraft at the same time.

[Stinger]

No-one needs 24GB of RAM but I guess that it was an easy option for Dell to offer.

A few websites are reporting that the base graphics card is a 3650 and the best card Dell are offering as an upgrade is a 4870. The 4870 is a good graphics card (I own one ) but it's not top of the range. I assume that the PSU or case design stop Dell from including real high end cards like the 4870 x2.

[Hooch Tan]

An update from Engadget posts the base model at $1099. source

That's actually quite reasonable from what I can tell as even the base model isn't made up of low end parts, though it is a far cry from the fully loaded model. Personally, I'm waiting for the next 1 or 2 CPU price drops, which should put me in September before I consider replacing my old bessy. I haven't found much personal use for the extra horsepower.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Hooch Tan

...I'm trying to wrap my head around why someone, short of server uses or editing really, really high resolution photos, would need 24GB of RAM.

Yeah, 24 GB of RAM on a machine that isn't being used as server, or isn't running several virtual machines simultaneously, is a waste. If Windows Vista or Windows 7 could do something amazing (like put the system swamp file in RAM) with gobs of excess RAM, I'd be rocking 8 GB of RAM in every machine that could handle it. But it can't, so pretty much everything above 3 GB is a waste (again, if you're not rocking the VM's).

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Stinger

I assume that the PSU or case design stop Dell from including real high end cards like the 4870 x2.

That's pretty surprising, because you're right, that's a good high-end gaming card right now.