I had planned to buy a new PC for almost two years, ever since the quad-core CPUs were available. My aging computer crawled when trying to edit and process large RAW photos taken with my Nikon D200 DSLR, or when rendering a complex 3D animation scene.
I wanted a Dell, as I liked their reliable products and good service. However, their PCs were quite proprietary, making upgrades using off-the-shelf components difficult, and performing esoteric things like overclocking short of impossible.
So, I decided to build my own PC. Researching on the subject, I narrowed down on a specification based on the X48 chipset, Q9450 CPU, DDR2 SDRAMs, Nvidia 9600GT, etc. all with the intention that it could be overclocked, and wishing to run it on 64-bit Vista.
The plan was going fine, until by chance, I happened to surf the Dell website and spotted a new model they just introduced – the XPS 730 H2C. Almost immediately I fell in love with it (as it looked damn cool, hehe) and after reading about its technology and checking out some online reviews, I was convinced this was the PC I was waiting for!
So, without hesitation, (and I don’t normally react so impulsively, well, not always anyway…) I paid for the new XPS online, and within two weeks, got it delivered to my door-step! Yup, this is my very first overclockable, liquid-cooled, quad-core Dell!
I remembered I had owned another Dell XPS model, almost ten years ago, which only had a Pentium II CPU, yet that system cost me almost the same as the new XPS 730 I purchased!
Below, for comparison fun, are the computers I’ve owned:-
Below is a table listing key differences between my older Dell machine and the new speed demon:-
