Dell Dimension 8400 (Pentium 4 540 3.2GHz, 512MB RAM, 80GB HDD, XP Home)

Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8.0, along with Sonic MyDVD for recording to DVD+RW discs. Corel's WordPerfect Office 12.0 productivity suite rounds out the software, all of which work within the framework of the Windows XP Home Edition.Application performance
The Dell Dimension 8400 is the first PC we've tested with Intel's new 925X Express chipset. Despite support for faster processors and memory, this next-generation technology does not demonstrate any performance advantage over older hardware with today's applications. As we can see from the charts, until we see more-robust applications especially designed for Intel's newer CPU architecture, performance won't be that much different from the technology that is already on the market.

The Dimension 8400's benchmark scores placed it among our highest-performing PCs. Bested only by the blazing Alienware Area-51 Extreme and its 3.4GHz Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition processor, and the nonstandard, FAT-32-formatted hard drives of the AMD Athlon 64 FX-53-powered Polywell Poly 939VF-FX53, the Dimension 8400 achieved a SysMark 2004 score of 214, about 13 percent faster than the last Dimension 8300 we reviewed. We can see that neither the DDR2 memory nor the faster 3.6GHz Pentium 4 560 processor give the Dimension 8400 a major performance boost. While the Dimension 8400 is a powerful system, it will need supporting software before the hardware reaches its full potential.


To measure application performance, CNET Labs uses BAPCo's SysMark 2004, an industry-standard benchmark. Using off-the-shelf applications, SysMark measures a desktop's performance using office-productivity applications (such as Microsoft Office and McAfee VirusScan) and Internet-content-creation applications (such as Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Dreamweaver).

3D graphics and gaming performance
The Dell also marks the first time we've seen a PCI Express version of the new 256MB ATI Radeon X800XT graphics card. This card marks a brand-new processor for ATI--and a huge performance boost. Looking at the charts, you can see the tremendous difference between the previous-generation cards from both Nvidia and ATI. The most significant result is the 1,600x1,200 Unreal Tournament 2003 test. With a score of 115.1fps, the Dell beats the next-best system, the Alienware Area-51 Extreme, by a staggering 82 percent.

This performance increase is likely due to the graphics chip technology more than the new PCIe interface. There are no games on the market yet that can truly take advantage of PCIe's increased bandwidth, so while the 82 percent increase over the Alienware system is impressive, we expect that performance gains will be even greater as we see more-demanding software.


To measure 3D gaming performance, CNET Labs uses Epic Games' Unreal Tournament 2003, widely used as an industry-standard benchmark. We use Unreal to measure a desktop's performance with the DirectX 8.0 (DX8) interface at a 32-bit color depth and at a resolution of 1,024x768 and 1,600x1,200. Antialiasing and anisotropic filtering are disabled during our 1,024x768 tests and are set to 4X and 8X, respectively, during our 1,600x1,200 tests. At this color depth and these resolution, Unreal becomes an excellent means of comparing the performance of low-end to high-end graphics subsystems. We report the results of Unreal's Flyby-Antalus test in frames per second (fps).

Performance analysis written by CNET Labs technician David Gussman.

Find out more about how we test desktop systems.

System configurations:

Alienware Area-51 Extreme
Windows XP Professional; 3.4GHz Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition; Intel 875P chipset; 1,024MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz; 256MB Nvidia GeForce FX 5950 Ultra; two WDC WD740GD-00FLX0 74GB 10,000rpm Serial ATA; integrated Intel 82801ER SATA RAID controller

Cyberpower Gamer Infinity 8000
Windows XP Home; 3.6EGHz Intel Pentium 4; Intel 915G chipset; 512MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz; 128MB Nvidia PCX GeForce 5750; WDC WD1600JB-00EVA0 160GB 7,200rpm

Dell Dimension 8300
Windows XP Home; 3.2EGHz Intel Pentium 4; Intel 875P chipset; 1,024MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz; 128MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro; Maxtor 6Y250M0 250GB 7,200rpm Serial ATA

Dell Dimension 8400
Windows XP Home; 3.6EGHz Intel Pentium 4 560; Intel 925X chipset; 1,024MB DDR2 SDRAM 533MHz; 256MB ATI Radeon X800 XT; two Seagate ST3160023AS 160GB 7,200rpm Serial ATA; integrated Intel 82801FR SATA RAID controller

Polywell Poly 939VF-FX53
Windows XP Professional; 2.4GHz AMD Athlon 64 FX-53; Via K8T800 Pro chipset; 1,024MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz; 256MB Nvidia GeForce FX 5900XT; two WDC WD740GD-00FLX0 74GB 10,000rpm Serial ATA; integrated WinXP Promise FastTrak 579 controllerDell's huge setup guide makes assembling your Dimension 8300 even less strenuous than a walk in the park. The well-written, well-illustrated user guide is not specific to this system, but in addition to basic info for the chassis, Dell has filled the book with hints, tips, and troubleshooting points for attaching printers, scanners, and other peripherals. There's also the Dell Solution Center software that links you to online for additional support resources and 24/7, toll-free tech support by phone.

If you break something that technical support clears as a problem you can't solve, onsite service will handle it during the first year. You can add up to three additional years of onsite service for more money. And, for the "better safe than sorry" crowd, you can purchase coverage to protect your system against spills, drops, electrical surges, and natural incidents, such as lightning strikes. Hide Review