Entered CNET Catalog: 01/04/2007
SKU: DXCQZH1
Manufacturer: Dell, Inc.
Product summary
The good: It's as fast and as fully featured as systems that cost $500 to $1,500 more; new cooling hardware makes this system nearly silent; it's Dell's first system with an overclocked (and under warranty) CPU out of the box; black case looks bad (in the good way).
The bad: Limited memory bandwidth; no Blu-ray burner option.
The bottom line: Thanks to its market muscle, Dell's XPS 710 H2C delivers state-of-the-art gaming power for significantly less than its boutique competition--and with (basically) identical performance. That fact and the near-silent operation granted by its brand-new cooling hardware make this desktop a CNET Editors' Choice winner.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: Yes
- Reviewed on: 01/18/2007
Thanks to dual-graphics-card technologies and the expensive, high-wattage power supplies required to run them, the average price tag of a best-of-the-best PC has ballooned to well over the $7,000 mark. That's why, despite running a still-ridiculous $5,759, the Dell XPS 710 H2C looks like a downright bargain. Dell remains tied to a slightly older motherboard chipset than its competitors, which limits the system's memory bandwidth and gives you a small downtick in performance. Our testing didn't show that to be a dramatic loss, though, and considering Dell's price advantage and its new cooling technology, the XPS 710 H2C is our Editors' Choice winner for high-end gaming PCs.
The main reason we're giving the XPS 710 H2C an Editors' Choice award is because of what you get for the price. For $5,759, you get an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 quad-core processor overclocked to 3.2GHz out of the box--a first for Dell. You also get 4GB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM, two 768MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX graphics cards, and 1TB of hard drive storage between two 10,000rpm 150GB drives and a single 750GB 7,200rpm unit. Virtually every boutique vendor would charge you at least $500 more for a similar configuration.
Standardization vs. bleeding edge
We've called out Dell in the past for not moving quickly enough to the latest hardware, and that problem remains in the XPS 710 H2C, but the value Dell offers in this system makes up for it. Most current PCs with two graphics cards will have a motherboard based on Nvidia's Nforce 680i SLI for Intel chipset. Dell, however, uses its own version of Nvidia's last-gen circuitry, the Nforce 590 SLI. We say "its own version" because Dell has made some changes to it, perhaps most importantly, eliminating support for 800MHz and faster system memory (and this info is finally spelled out on Dell's Web site). Dell says it made this decision, among other reasons, to help standardize customer support calls. Whether or not you appreciate that benefit, our performance tests show that the Dell doesn't lose much because of its slower memory.
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On all of CNET Labs' tests, the Dell XPS 710 H2C performed right alongside others in its category that had similarly overclocked Intel quad-core chips. The WidowPC IX2 SLI has a slight edge on CPU clock speed-bound tests, such as CineBench, and the Velocity Micro Raptor Signature Edition ekes out a win on our multitasking test, thanks to a dedicated PCI Express RAID controller for its hard drives. Those systems both cost $1,500 more than this Dell. We'd rather have a decent second computer or a 30-inch LCD than a six-second boost to Photoshop performance.
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On our gaming tests, the task for which the XPS 710 H2C is presumably primarily intended, its Quake 4 performance lagged a bit more noticeably but not across the board; it still hit 114 frames per second at 2,048x1,536. The Dell was also a little slower on F.E.A.R. at 1,280x1,024, but its scores at the higher resolutions were on a par with those of the other gaming PCs. With all of these scores through the roof for current-generation titles, it's hard to say that the Dell's somewhat slower frame rates on Quake 4 have any real meaning today. And it's certainly possible that the other systems' faster frame rates might have an impact on future Doom 3 engine-based titles (the software Quake 4 was built with). But unless those games come with sweeping changes to the engine, we doubt they would slow down the Dell to the point it would give you a poor gaming experience.
A quiet kind of cool
There's more to the XPS 710 H2C than simply speed, though. The "H2C" in its name refers to a specially designed CPU cooling unit inside the PC that helps keep it superquiet. The H2C cooler uses a combination of liquid and Peltier cooling to chill the processor. The major benefit is that it doesn't involve any fans for CPU cooling, which in turn makes this system exceedingly quiet. Compared to the noisy Velocity Micro Raptor Signature Edition and the WidowPC IX2 SLI, with its annoying side-panel fans, Dell's system stands out for its low noise level.
The rest of the system gives you about what you'd expect from a high-end gaming PC. A Sound Blaster X-Fi Extreme Music sound card, a DVD burner, and a standard DVD/CD-RW combo drive lend multimedia punch. We're surprised that Dell doesn't even offer a Blu-ray burner as an option in this model, though, since it has already extended the next-gen movie hardware to its XPS laptops. You'll also find a media card reader and a floppy disk drive behind a front panel door. Dell also throws in a Razer Tarantula gaming keyboard (not pictured) and a Razer Copperhead mouse, although you can dial down those options to save a little more money.
With the sound card, three hard drives, and four memory sticks, expansion in our review unit was limited. You get only one standard PCI slot, a single hard drive bay, and no available memory slots. Still, it's not exactly surprising to find a system in this price range crammed nearly full with hardware. We'll also add that we continue to admire the XPS 700-series case and the 710 H2C's black model in particular. The combination of the black plastic, the front-panel lighting and the inward slope of the front of the system creates a dramatic depth-perception effect that we expect you'll find as cool as we did.
Visions of Vista
We should mention Windows Vista briefly, as the current ship date for this system is two weeks away, which puts it out after Windows Vista becomes available. You can order it today with Windows XP Home, which will net you a free (excluding shipping and handling) coupon for the 32-bit version of Windows Vista Home Premium. We understand why Dell isn't waiting for Vista, as Nvidia hasn't finished its Vista graphics drivers for the GeForce 8800 cards yet. Furthermore, while we believe that the 4GB of memory that comes standard with the XPS 710 H2C will serve you well should you move to Windows Vista, Windows XP will recognize only 2.75GB of RAM.
Dell's service and support for the XPS 710 H2C remains on a par with that of most high-end desktop vendors, which is to say that it's thorough, if stingy: one year parts and labor, which covers the overclocked CPU, by the way; 24/7 toll-free phone support; and a year of onsite service. That's the deal. Every time we mention to Dell (and most other vendors, for that matter) that we find the duration of this coverage to be insufficient, the response is usually, "So wait, do you want the price with three years of coverage?" No. What we want is this price--this very, very high price--to include three years of support. The way it used to be. It appears we'll have to keep waiting for Dell and most of the rest of the industry to come back around. In the meantime, we will give Dell an extra point for its Dell Connect service, the remote-control tech support feature that gives a Dell tech direct control over your PC. Along with HP and Gateway, who have similar features, Dell Connect continues to distinguish the large vendors from their smaller competition in terms of support. Dell's Web site has plenty of self-help resources as well.
Find out more about how we test desktop systems.
System configurations:
Alienware Area-51 7500
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 SP2; 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 (overclocked to 3.2GHz); 2,048MB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz; 768MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX; (2) 150GB Western Digital 10,000rpm Serial ATA hard drives (RAID 0); 250GB Samsung 7,200rpm Serial ATA hard drive
Apple Mac Pro
OS X 10.4.7; 2x 2.66GHz Xeon 5150; 1,024MB 667MHz DDR2 FB-SDRAM; 256MB Nvidia GeForce 7300GT; 250GB Western Digital 7,200rpm Serial ATA hard drive
Dell XPS 710 H2C
Windows XP Professional SP2; 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 (overclocked to 3.2GHz); 4,096MB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM; (2) 768MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX; (2) 150GB Western Digital 10,000rpm serial ATA/150 hard drives (RAID 0); 750GB Seagate 7,200rpm hard drive
Polywell Poly i680SLI
Windows XP Professional SP2; 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700; 2,048MB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz; 768MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX; (2) 150GB Western Digital 10,000rpm Serial ATA/150 hard drives (RAID 0)
Velocity Micro Raptor Signature Edition (Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700)
Windows XP Professional SP2; 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 (overclocked to 3.2GHz); 2,048MB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM; (2) 768MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX; (4) 150GB Western Digital 10,000rpm Serial ATA/150 hard drives (RAID 0)
WidowPC IX2 SLI
Windows XP Professional SP2; 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 (overclocked to 3.34GHz); 2,048MB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM; (2) 768MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX; (2) 150GB Western Digital 10,000rpm Serial ATA/150 hard drives (RAID 0); 750GB Seagate 7,200rpm hard drive
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26out of 26 user reviews
CPU or mother board failed in 3rd year
Pros: Nice appearance, quiet, very powerful, easy to access components.
Cons: The system set in an air conditioned office and was well treated. Trouble shooting determined that either the mother board or the CPU was bad. Dell repair cost was uneconomical. I expect more than 3 years performance out of Dell's XPS system.
out of 26 user reviews
Darth Vadors computer.
Pros: -Good Price (not so much the H2C)
-Best case ever made for a computer, both in quality, funcionality, and especialy design.
-Very, very powerful
Cons: -BTX form factor means lack of upgradability (i changed mine to ATX)
out of 26 user reviews
Blows the Dell 720 out of the water
Pros: stable, consistant, quiet and runs like a top
Cons: didn't know Dell would send new 710 to replace a 4 yr old (broken) XPS, so purchased a new 720
out of 26 user reviews
All I see here is a lot of PC envy!
Pros: Top of the line PC...period!
Cons: It took nearly 1.5 months to receive it!
So the next best is stating that they won't buy the PC because of its poor quality and support as opposed to the real reason, not enough bills in the bank! It's not Dell's fault that your job and earning potential suck so please, keep your unfounded opinions to yourselves!
I bought the system after spending an entire weekend at my buddies testing it out. It was indeed an amazing experience, one which I wanted for myself…now! His rig consists of a quad core, over clocked CPU which maxes out at 3.46 4 GHz , 4 GB of Corsair RAM, Dual NVIDIA 8800 ultra SLI, Dual 10,000 rpm 160 GB HD, 1 Ageia graphics accelerator card, dual 24 inch Dell ultra sharp screens and Vista Ultimate. I’ve never seen graphics like that and I am an avid gamer.
The only downfall so far is that I’m still waiting on my own “tower of power” and the promised delivery date, which is tomorrow, has been pushed back to 1 week from now since they were waiting on the screen! I told them to ship the tower and send the screen later but that seems to be an issue. I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas, I just can’t wait. Some people spend money on fine wine, some on travel, neither of which last more than 1 evening. The system might be expensive but the value is there and then some and you will be enjoying it for years to come.
I own a small business and all we buy are Dell PC's. The only problem we ever had was with a cheap inkjet printer. After about 1/2 hour of trouble shooting, they promptly took it back and credited our account.
When dealing with Dell, we always get the preferred XPS service which, at the time anyway, was in the US only. However, I have heard bad things from their support in India, hopefully the support center will improve over time. Not a reason to disregard their products since pretty much ANY large company's service is usually below par. Nothing new there!
out of 26 user reviews
good desktop
Pros: good desktopw
Cons: good desktops
out of 26 user reviews
Marketing one way Delivered another
Pros: Pretty fast, nice video
Cons: 64 bit OS not supported by Dell, poor support
out of 26 user reviews
Proceed with caution
Pros: I'm sure it's a screaming machine, but
Cons: the price as demo'ed is at least a third of what Dell really charges.
out of 26 user reviews
Pretty Good stuff
Pros: Powerfull, fast, decent price
Cons: There's a new computer every day!
out of 26 user reviews
It should of been Dell's Shining Beacon & has become a dull flame
Pros: Design & simplistic size is enough to make you wet your pants & hand over your wallet
Cons: Hugely expensive, temperamental to crashing constantly, built like a Dell (i.e. badly)
The H2C looks incredible, night or day. Its larger then most cars, has a specification that at least on paper causes its competitors to simply curl up in a corner and weep uncontrollably; and consumes more electricity than most major South American cities. Dell have definitely pushed out all the stops with this creation, allowing frame rates, rendering times & multiprocessing to break new records. The XPS range can finally enter into the Direct X 10, Quad-Core, MacPro world all us gamers demand.
BUT (and its a big one) H2C still fails to meet expectations let alone surpass them with a system of this price! Firstly, its built like a Dell..i.e. badly; with poor quality wiring, disk drives made from the cheapest of Chinese plastics and general fittings not up to par. Secondly, is the systems instability. I have had it for over 3 months now and I have lost count of the number of restarts, shutdowns, CTRL+ALT+DELETES I have done. Games shutdown unexpectally & BLUE SCREENS with graphics driver errors are a common sight.
But probably the biggest upset has been its performance. Yes with the Half Life's, Battlefield's and even Oblivion's of the gaming world, it has no problems. FSX is a different story with jittery frame rates at max resolution, slow responses. Playing Test Drive Unlimited is near impossible with STOP START part of the experience.
I am going on a bit but unlike other 'review' sites, I am tell the perspective of a real world user. Dont get me wrong, the H2C is a hysterically fast computer be it for video editing, current gen gaming & multiple program use. However I always thought it would be faster, free of problems......my mistake.
With Vista arriving asap and the impending launch of Direct X10 games, I hope this £6000 machine will start to impress...justify its price......even though simular power is available for 1/2 if u DIY!
Conclusion: A beautiful, fast, some may say dangerous machine only reserved for a select few. Yet with its dependance on the awful XP OS & slightly nubb real world gaming performance.....thinking twice about becoming an XPSer has become a real possibility.
out of 26 user reviews
KICK BUTT POWER
Pros: Jaw dropping speed, great graphics, quiet & expandable
Cons: SIZE...SIZE...SIZE
out of 26 user reviews
Prices should be considered
Pros: Powerful specs, I have seen Rational Products work like a breeze on this one.
Cons: Price ; Price ; Price ; Price
Thanks
Rick
out of 26 user reviews
Power without the sweat & tears
Pros: Power, image, overall system setup, support.
Cons: As it stands, limited upgrade possibility, some rough edges.
In this instance the H2C was basically manna from heaven for me. It's a pre-built, reasonably hardcore gaming rig which comes fully supported (and I buy the full 3-year pack with any computer I buy). Since it's a Dell I could also use my corporate buying leverage for best prices,
There was very little I had to do to the H2C's after I received them as they arrived fully loaded partswise with nothing else I really could add - all I did was to exchange the shipped X-Fi's with the Elite Pro version and also attached the RME Fireface audio interface to each machine. As thus configured, the Elite Pros handle the gaming audio while the Firefaces handle music.
Both the H2C's have been rock-solid in use, and have proved capable performers - I'm running both with XP and have zero complaints. I can honestly say that these machines are more reliable than some for-business hardware. I have had reson to call Dell for support on the XPS 700, but not with the H2C yet as they have been totally dependable.
The power of the H2C is undoubted but I'm still disappointed at how little that power is used in many present titles and software in general, so it doesn't always feel as fast as it should be - although the 8800GTX's contribute most noticeably to the perception of speed. Hopefully this will become less of a problem as multicore becomes the de facto way to go.
The case is a great piece of work, if distinctly hernia-inducing. If you have to put this anywhere but the ground floor, I hope you have friends or a lift. It has some rough edges especially on the front panel which given the price and the level that this system is pitched at makes it feel unnecessarily cheap, but in terms of the overall look it's like a piece of military hardware and makes virtually every other PC - even those with similar-sized cases - seem positively wimpy. Despite this the look isn't overblown and thankfully you can change the external LED lights to a tasteful shade, or turn it off altogether.
The other problem of high-performance gaming PC's is noise, and many of the boutique manufacturers seem to just hang as many (low-noise these days, but still 'dumb' in most cases) fans as they think is necessary and leave it at that. Dell's H2C system and fans do an audibly more intelligent job of cooling than other power machines I've used.
I must say that I had some reservations regarding the upgradability of the machines but I wasn't too worried about it as I will most likely pass the PC down after 2-3 years. However with Dell's recently announced upgrade path, I feel better about it and will probably take advantage of the offer, and use that opportunity to upgrade the systems to Vista.
If the front panel was better accomplished, I'd be happy to give the H2C a 9 as it is by far the best all-round home machine I've had to date. As it is I'm dropping a mark for that, because quality everywhere counts at this relatively rarified level.
out of 26 user reviews
Actual Owner Review
Pros: Excellent Performance, Great Price
Cons: None So Far
I have owned a wide variety of hardware over the years from just about every vendor out there, and when I chose to upgrade, actually started with the Alienware 7500. That unit was buggier than any unit I ever had and it was promptly returned. After some more investigating I decided to give the 710 H2C a try.
CNET as well as other hardware sites definitely hit the nail on the head on their reviews. This is one fast, and most important, rock stable PC.
Combined with a 24" Dell widescreen, it makes for some impressive graphic performance. HL2 Lost Coast Test yielded 159 FPS with all settings maxed. FEAR maxed out showed Min 70fps, avg 142fps, and max 446fps! That's right folks....446fps!
Due to all the problems I had with the Alienware, I put this unit thru a LOT of testing since receiving it, and am very impressed with the results. Thru all the tests, no reboots, no bluescreens, just performance. It even beat the Alienware on the 3dmark06 score by over 2000 points, although I have to wonder just how defective the Alienware was.
Sure, it's expensive. No upper end system is going to be cheap unless you build it. But for those of us with the bank to afford it, and the desire not to want to build another system, this PC is an outstanding choice. It has the performance to impress, and a very unique look with the lighting Dell set up to give the front a nice fake depth similar in effect to some lighted mirrors I have seen.
Take it from someone that owns one. This unit will not disappoint in the reliability or performance departments. And that's what it's all about.
out of 26 user reviews
Great High End Gaming Machine
Pros: Quiet, Fast, Cool, and Strong
Cons: Older Motherboard, Slower Memory
This machine is a great machine for gaming; 1 because its extremely quiet and comes over clocked already at over 3ghz and can be pushed even farther to 3.66ghz (thats 1ghz faster then the standard), also its extremely well designed cooling system reigns this system as one of my favorites.
The only downside I see with the system is its use of an older motherboard and slower memory (running at 665mhz) instead of a better motherboard that could increase system performance, however dell claims the older motherboard leads to better stability (which they could be right).
Don't be fooled by claims of; "ITS DELL AND SUCKS" "OVERPRICED" and others. Del has done an excellent job of making this system one of the most affordable (ironic I know) high-end gaming machines ever.
out of 26 user reviews
looks good
Pros: Good reviews
Cons: people puting false reviews
out of 26 user reviews
thats not a good testing
Pros: Didnt own it yet, thinking about it
Cons: Didnt own it yet, thinking about it
we are pc lovers yes, but not to the point where you testers thinks of us as stupid people who takes all the numbers you give us without eadings specs***
anyways, good day
out of 26 user reviews
Great Machine
Pros: Fast as hell
Cons: Had a few crashes clocked down CPU to 3ghz, no vista support yet
The quality of the case is on par with what I would expect from Apple. (I own a Mac Pro and use that at my office).
I use this machine primarily to game, also for various home computing tasks such as basic video, pictures and surfing.
For the gaming it's a dream, the thing is fast. I have the dell 30" monitor and it runs World of Warcraft at full resolution (2560x1600) with all the options turned to max without any lag or slow down at all.
The computer is relatively quiet, for the hardware it has in it I'm impressed with nothing more than a light hum coming from the case.
The 8800 is still relatively new, so they are probably trying to get bugs worked out of the drivers , I've had a few crashes in game.. but for the most part the system has been stable.
I have downclocked the system from 3.2ghz to 3ghz (easy to do in the bios)
I installed vista on a seperate drive and it works alright, but not all the hardware drivers are out of beta yet.
You need to run either XP 64 or Vista 64 to use the 4 gigs that the machine was configured with. The default XP install only uses about 2.75gb of the 4gb of ram, I had to check the forums to verify I didn't have a hardware problem.
Overall I recommend this machine to anyone that can afford it. In the past I had always built my own computers, and decided that I was going to break the franken-computer upgrade cycle and buy something new and fresh, this machine has not disappointed me at all yet.
out of 26 user reviews
yeah right!
Pros: none! since i can't buy it!!
Cons: plenty!! just ask me!!
out of 26 user reviews
CNET needs to disclose
Pros: none that I know of
Cons: we're being conned
out of 26 user reviews
Bogus Review
Pros: Good Machine
Cons: Can't buy it at priced reviewed & equipped
Configuring this machine on the Dell website (just like the CNET review) yields a price of of $6069.00. This was done on February 15th.
I have no doubt this is a pretty good machine, the point being I cannot buy it at the price reviewed, which was less. When the review states it is a good value for the money, then the average person should be able to buy it for that price. When you can't - the review is misleading.
I rechecked on February 15th, the machine configured on the Dell Website (same as the CNET review) yields a price of $6069.00. This is higher than the price quoted in the review. When the review purports a good value for the money - yet I cannot buy the identical machine for the price reviewed, the review is misleading to the consumer.
out of 26 user reviews
Future proof and cutting edge
Pros: looks, speed, expansion, reliability, build, fit and finish, support
Cons: Vista will not work with SLI so XP media center is the OS, however did get the free upgrade when they have them, No HDDVD/Blu Ray Drive, Bluray preferred, 667Mhz Memory, can change that though
MS Media Center 2005 (Dual Tuners, Remote)
3.2 QX6700 (Overclocked 2.66)
4GB 667Mhz memory
1 TB Storage
Dual 768MB 8800 Cards
DVD Burner, CDRW/DVD Rom Combo
13 in one card reader
5.8 Ghz 5.1 Speakers
Premium Optical mouse
Premium Multimedia keyboard
Using Windows Media Center 2005, No graphics support for SLI under Vista yet, however, I did get the free upgrade, as soon as they make it compatible. Only bought the 22" monitor, want to upgrade to dual 30" later on. (hey I said for what you get for your money, not that it's cheap!)
out of 26 user reviews
If money is not an issue and you need to have the Best
Pros: The Best PC. Fast and Silent.
Cons: I personally think it's ugly.
out of 26 user reviews
save your money and your sanity-don't buy a dell
Pros: You might learn a new language calling India every day
Cons: Um, it's a Dell, duh
out of 26 user reviews
So it's slightly faster than a Mac Pro (at over twice the price)
Pros: Cool, blazing fast, quiet
Cons: Or buy an Apple Mac and a copy of XP Pro to get same or better performance
It would have been embarrassing to show that the Apple desktop could very well have smacked all these PCs for under $3,500! But hey, we're talking Windows-loving CNet here, not an impartial review web site. Ha, ha, ha!
out of 26 user reviews
Great product; amazingly fast
Pros: Incredibly fast, very configurable; ready for next gen everything!
Cons: Building this yourself may yield a lower price
out of 26 user reviews
THE WORST DELL COULD OF DONE
Pros: THE COLOR AND THE LEDS WHEN THEY WORK!
Cons: TO MUCH TO LIST!
Mick
mdgg2009@aol.com
Oh yea if you think the 710H2C is nice just look what happend to me!
plus its way to over priced!
