Dell XPS 730 H2C spotted in the wild

Ever since that XPS 630 went all mid-level on us we've been on the hunt for a new gamer desktop heartthrob, and it looks like we've found one in the XPS 730 H2C from Dell. This one was semi-announced at CES, and the official image (along with a shot of the innards) is after the break, but a friendly tipster just hooked us up with some spy sots from what we can only assume are the bowels of Dell. The desktop looks to be a worthy successor to the XPS 720, if perhaps a notch down in sexy, uses DDR3 memory, and is "at least" triple SLI ready. Obviously the H2C cooling will be a big draw for overclockers, but we're most excited about all those drive bays in front: floppy RAID here we come! No other specs or release info is available at the moment, but we're sure it'll spill out of Dell soon enough.

[tjay @ Feb 6th 2008 9:18AM]

is that BMW design °?°?

[CraigJ @ Feb 6th 2008 10:28AM]

looks more like Pontiac to me. From the 1980s

[Dave @ Feb 6th 2008 10:46AM]

please just no more proprietary atx boards that wont let me update the PSU without getting a "custom" dell PSU...

[Zeus.:God @ Feb 6th 2008 4:19PM]

Don't worry, this is a board of the ASUS variety, and it is ATX.

[Cap2501 @ Feb 7th 2008 2:22PM]

Something about the shape reminds me of the Reventon (and not in a good way)

[nak @ Feb 6th 2008 9:26AM]

Is the board in upside down and on the wrong side of the case? Or is that normal for a PC now?

[Chuckles @ Feb 6th 2008 9:31AM]

alot of the new case designs are putting the PS on the bottom, so it doesn't cook at the top of the case. New air flow model.

[nak @ Feb 6th 2008 9:37AM]

I think the cooler is at the bottom and the PSU is at the upper right. It looks backwards, like a Mac, with the PCI slots not at the bottom, and the case opened on the right side instead of left.

[JMM @ Feb 6th 2008 9:50AM]

The picture of the inside is upside down

[Meldon @ Feb 6th 2008 9:54AM]

Its the B-TX architecture, PCI slots at the top, proc at the bottom. It is slowly replacing ATX and was engineered to maximize airflow and keep everything running cool. I am happy it still works with all the regular expansion cards.

[Gremlin @ Feb 6th 2008 9:56AM]

I don't really know what any of you are talking about.

Isn't this merely the BTX form factor?

[John @ Feb 6th 2008 10:17AM]

Looks like the power suppply is at the top (rear). The large box at the bottom (front) of the case is the H2C cooling system. Above that is the HD enclosure, and above that the removable media enclosure.

[Zeus.:God @ Feb 6th 2008 4:24PM]

You're correct, BTX is only a form factor. Its all the same stuff, just upside-down. It isn't a different "architecture" by any means.

The issue with this computer is it was built on the opposite side of the case, and the motherboard is an ATX mounted upside down to get BTX style cooling... The thing is though, there are no "BTX" motherboards capable of SLI or Tri-SLI.

The power supply is still at the top.

[Michael @ Feb 6th 2008 9:29AM]

Looks cool but my cyberpower cost less and is more powerful.

[makishima @ Feb 6th 2008 9:58AM]

How could you possibly know that your's is more powerful when the only specs we have are that it uses DDR3 and is at least SLI X3 ready?

[Matt Corriveau @ Feb 6th 2008 10:17AM]

I knew a kid like this, he tried to tell me that his Dell Optiplex was more powerful than my XPS. He was like, "it has military grade technology". Some people just don't have a f***ing clue about computers.

Either that, or Michael works for Cyberpower.

[Mobius_1 @ Feb 6th 2008 10:24AM]

I think Michael might be talking about the explosions from the PC :P

[Michael @ Feb 6th 2008 1:05PM]

I have sli nvidia 8800 ultra interl q6700 core 2 quad 2.66 Ghz 4 gigs of ram 1.5 terrabytes of hard drive space. thermal take liquid cooling with peltiet plates to cool down the water resevour. from what I could infer my computer is more powerful.

[JEFFREY P DOUGLAS @ Feb 6th 2008 2:59PM]

You have a two year old design. What are you thinking???

[JEFFREY P DOUGLAS @ Feb 6th 2008 2:58PM]

What are you thinking???

[James @ Feb 6th 2008 2:31PM]

Yeah stop bragging already. Your computer is ashamed at you for being its owner, and it isn't as good.

P.S - learn how to spell and use punctuation.

[Zeus.:God @ Feb 6th 2008 4:28PM]

Uh... You're a failure... If you're bragging about your computer, it should be something YOU built, not something you bought for bargain bin prices from a company that doesn't know shit about building PCs.

This Dell would easily rape yours in the fact that it has MUCH faster RAM and what appears to be a 790i (780i-DDR2, 790i-DDR3 and many entirely new chipsets) motherboard. That gives you full capabilities to Tri-SLI, that would be faster than any 680i Tri-SLI setup.

You're a disgrace to the PC community. Build your own shit or don't brag about it.

[Michael @ Feb 6th 2008 7:56PM]

Now everyone lets straighten this up. I said my pc cost less and is more powerful. My computer cost $2501.96 for the specs above. I would call that less expensive. With the lack of spec one could infer that this is a shitty system. If you dont know what is in the box then you cannot comprehend the speed. From my understanding I said it was less powerful. If you say its lower than it is then you dont look like a dreamer when you say that the specs will be amazing. Second I am not bragging about my system. I was just showing people that I have a system is in the same ball park in speed with the dell. I forgot to say my motherboard is a nvidia 780i so I could upgrade to the faster ram if I wanted to. All of you are pathetic for commenting back when you have not seen this computer you do not know what is in the dell.I have I went to CES.

[charlie @ Feb 6th 2008 9:31PM]

Yes yours was less expensive, but the Dell will be faster when not considering price.

It has: its vs. yours

DDR3---DDR2
TRI SLI---SLI
790i---780i
penryn---conroe

sorry, you lose :p

[Michael @ Feb 6th 2008 11:32PM]

Yes my computer only has two 8800 ultra's but I do have the 780i motherboard which supports triple sli. the field is now equal in that field lets move on to memory since I have the same motherboard I can get DDR3 that is now equal. lets move on to processor I do have the slower one right now with 65nm tech. I can always upgrade to the new chips. the computer battle is equal in speed but not price.

[asphixiated @ Feb 7th 2008 1:00AM]

FAIL.

You can't jsut pop DDR3 memory into your DDR2 board, dumbass, Get out of your parents basement and stop using thier 7 year old compaq.

.. oh and finish puberty before you post again.

[Michael @ Feb 7th 2008 1:15PM]

according to nvidias site you can use DDR3 with the 780i.

[Cap2501 @ Feb 7th 2008 2:20PM]

Well you also need to face the facts that you said your computer IS more powerful. Therefore stop saying "But I can add this.. and that".

I also agree with the comment that if you didnt build it yourself who cares.

[Michael @ Feb 7th 2008 6:53PM]

Thank you for saying my computer is faster. But I do not recall ever saying "But I can add this .. and that" so you some how misinterpreted my rant and have gotten lost. If you agree that if I did not build it who cares the nwhy were you reading a post about a prefab computer? Building a computer is not hard because you take premade parts and plug them in. wow that was special I plugged in wires. what is even more amazing is if you build the parts. I have gotten sort of bored hearing peoples not thought through comments so I have disabled email pop-up alerts so I will not responde. That means you are basically talking in an empty room without anyone listening. Bye forever.
Michael L

[David @ Apr 24th 2008 9:48PM]

michael is an IDIOT


ok so he originally paid 2500 yes?
lets see what he were to pay if he ADDED more stuff like he says

add another ULTRA, ok bump that up to 3,000

ok add 4 gigs of ddr3... now its 3,400

ok now for the penryn proc, lets say you get the E8400, thats 200 so now your looking at a total of 3,600 with tax.

id say you LOSE. the dell beats you now, and it beats you when you spend an extra 1,100 for new parts.

and anyways, you could BUILD THE COMPUTER YOURSELF, save 1,000+ and have a faster computer.

buying prefab computers for gaming = FAIL.

[itguy07 @ Feb 6th 2008 8:02PM]

Utter Junk like EVERYTHING DELL MAKES.

[asphixiated @ Feb 7th 2008 1:05AM]

Have you tried a XPS yet? Those are in a class of thier own.

Actually, have you even tried a Dell? Or have you just been reading too many engadget comments and think you know everything about computers? They really aren't as bad as all the mac-boys say they are

[Dualboot @ Feb 7th 2008 7:33PM]

Thank you for your very creative and substantiated comment.

I will go home tonight and immediately throw out my XPS 720 that has been running at 100% CPU for the past three months (SETI), plays my games, runs VMWare, records my shows, acts as my backup server and my home office machine without any problems. I guess my system was a fluke and I have to send it back, along with the two 8800s it came with. How foolish of me to think that paying $5,000 for a system would get me top of the line, reliable components, out of the box. I could have built it myself, but I don't have the time, nor do I want to want to run around trying to find replacement parts for it. I call Dell and 24 hours later they show up at my doorstep....

[EMaster @ Feb 6th 2008 10:23AM]

Meh.... It's a Dell... So what? *shrugging shoulders*.

[tundraboy @ Feb 6th 2008 10:58AM]

That is one ugly mutha.

[zam786 @ Feb 6th 2008 10:59AM]

how is it ddr3 and triple sli ? last time i checked nvidia didnt use ddr3 only ddr2

[DonatoM3 @ Feb 6th 2008 11:52AM]

They're probably talking about system ram not the video card's ram.

[captain underpants and the bringdown gang @ Feb 6th 2008 12:57PM]

Nvidia 8800 Ultra Probbably Uses GDDR3, whereas ATI uses GDDR4

[Zeus.:God @ Feb 6th 2008 4:31PM]

Uh... You guys are so far off base...

The new 780i, what this appears to be using, only has DDR2 capabilities, but Nvidia has been working on a new board with DDR3 capabilities called the 790i, and it features all new components. If it is Tri-SLI capable and supports DDR3, then its gotta' be the release of the 790i.

Whoever went on to talk about graphics cards... Well... Nvidia mainly uses GDDR3 to help keep costs down, ATI uses GDDR4 at a loss to try and coax buyers at this point. Engadget was talking about the mainboard, not the video cards, anyway.

[Paul Chan @ Feb 6th 2008 10:59AM]

is it just me or does the front bottom half of this comp look very much like the supposed XPS630 of what they show in the teaser??

plus nowhere on the "official" photos does it say XPS 730.....

I think this could be the XPS 630...

[cuneiform @ Feb 6th 2008 7:36PM]

It could be, but they are probably just using some of the same design elements as the 630. The idea is that it helps to sell the lower-end model. The customer that cannot afford the 730 can then tell themselves that the 630 is "just like" the 730. Kind of how car companies, clothing brands, et cetera design their lines.

I hope the XPS 630 and/or 730 will have a GDDR3 option for the system RAM. I am in the market...

[Zam786 @ Feb 7th 2008 5:42AM]

no i mean stystem ram which nvidia chipset uses ddr3 680i and 780i both have tri sli but only ddr2

[Paul @ Feb 6th 2008 12:41PM]

looks like a futuristic easy-bake oven.

[Tom @ Feb 6th 2008 6:54PM]

And it still looks like a mess inside. Dell, seriously, would it kill you to spend just a few more dollars on your high end gaming rig to clean up the cable layout, and maybe spring for some SATA backplanes to flip the drives around and get rid of the cables there?

I also hope the disc drive doesn't have the same issue it does on the 710/720. Due to the angle of the front of the case, you can't just plop a disc down on the tray, you have to angle it into position.

[Bilsko @ Feb 6th 2008 3:01PM]

Doesn't look all that different from the setup that they put in place for the original XPS 700:
its using the BTX board,
has 4 HardDrive bays at the top,
and 4 or 5 drive bays on the front.

The only big differences are
1) that the PCI slots are further up on the MoBo (so they sit about halfway up the chasis, as opposed to near the bottom on the 700&720, and
2) you have the H2O cooling unit on the bottom where the 700 has a big fan to cool single and dual-SLI graphics cards.

Still, looks like they've made some aesthetic revisions to the front grill and a few more tweaks to the aluminum side-body.

[Zeus.:God @ Feb 6th 2008 4:35PM]

Wrong.

Thats an ATX board (790i is ATX) that has been mounted upside-down and on the opposite side of the case (left side, rather than right when looking from the front of the case) to allow for BTX style cooling advantages and to allow the "H2C" crap to cool the CPU and memory a bit better.

You're correct on the hard drive bays, but there are, indeed, only 4 drive bays on top.

[aZTEKv2 @ Feb 6th 2008 3:50PM]

hey thats dell!!! i have those cubicles shade of blue burned into my eyes.

sales config specialist was the 1337 title i had.

all sarcastic btw, before i get some g4y response.

[Chris @ Feb 6th 2008 3:51PM]

Bigger news would be if Dell finally decided not to lock the bios. When that happens I might actually get one.

[Leon2ky @ Feb 7th 2008 9:34AM]

"Obviously the H2C cooling will be a big draw for overclockers"

Uh...if a 'overclocker' is buying this PC they don't need to be overclocking a damn thing.

[Spencer @ Feb 7th 2008 4:48PM]

Man, after owning a Blackbird, anything by any other vendor is just not as sexy.