Dell's XPS 630 gaming desktop gets official, reviewed

Hailed as a rig that "gamers won't outgrow," the XPS 630 that we originally peeked at CES is finally official. As expected, the tower is ATI CrossFire and NVIDIA SLI-ready and will support Intel's Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Extreme processors on the nForce 650i SLI chipset. You can beef things up with 4GB of DDR2 RAM, 1TB of HDD space or an optional Blu-ray drive and AGEIA PhysX accelerator, and you'll have plenty of room for all those peripherals thanks to six total USB 2.0 ports, an optional 19-in-1 media card reader, gigabit Ethernet, audio in / out, FireWire and even PS/2 mouse and keyboard connectors. Also of note, it's the first pre-fab PC to support the Enthusiast System Architecture (ESA), and you can snag your own for as little as $1,249 right now. Click on through for more of the breakdown. Oh, and if you're interested to see how this beast stacks up, you can check out reviews from PC Mag, Hot Hardware and Computer Shopper.

Gallery: Dell's XPS 630 gaming desktop gets official

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Under the hood:

• NVIDIA nForce650 SLI Chipset
• NVIDIA SLI Single/Dual Graphic options
• ATI Crossfire Single/Dual Graphic options
• Overclockable Intel Processors
• OverclockableCorsair® DOMINATOR® Memory
• 750-watt Power Supply
• 4 Internal HDD bays (Up to 3 Factory-Installed)
• 4 DIMM slots
• Two PCIe™ X16 Graphic slots
• Light FX 2.0 (4 lighting zones)
• AGEIA PhysX™ Accelerator option
• Blu-ray Disc™ Drive option
• Red and Black Bezel Color Choice
  

[Aprime @ Feb 26th 2008 10:51AM]

At least the case looks better now.

My opinion, of course.

[CraigJ @ Feb 26th 2008 11:33AM]

Better is relative. Dell computers are best hidden under your desk, preferably with a wastebasket or other large item in front of it to hide it from view.

[Frankenstein Black @ Feb 26th 2008 1:39PM]

Like a pet that startles guests, the beauty of this case is “on the inside”. How sweet is that unfettered access to the Motherboard.
http://www.engadget.com/photos/dells-xps-630-gaming-desktop-gets-official/663557/
Wonder if the case alone is for sale?

[xB Owner @ Feb 26th 2008 2:17PM]

FrankenBlack...

Case is available independently for just under $1300. As a bonus, Dell throws in all of the internals for free!

[Zeus.:God @ Feb 26th 2008 10:52AM]

Yuck- a 650i. Considering you can buy a much better machine for less, I would expect at least a 680i. The 650i is a stable board, but doesn't have the features for a 1000+ dollar computer.

I don't like Dell, but I gotta' hand it to them, they make a clean and tidy PC.

[JDGadget @ Feb 26th 2008 10:55AM]

I agree! There clean and sleek, but not the top of the line performers!

[Zeus.:God @ Feb 26th 2008 11:01AM]

The 650i is a great performing board, it just doesn't have many of the luxury items of a 680i and such, which would make the cost of this a bit more justified...

This is only a mainstream XPS, not the top of the line XPS like the 720/730 or whatever. It will be a solid, well performing PC no doubt.

[kyle @ Feb 26th 2008 1:06PM]

650i runs good enough, but i could build an x38/q6600 for less than 1250. custom build still wins.

that is one sexy case though. i'd love to pick up one of those.

[Abuzar @ Feb 26th 2008 6:05PM]

Some boards on the 650i chipset were horrible. The P5N-E comes to mind.

[Zeus.:God @ Feb 26th 2008 9:00PM]

You mean board manufacturers? The chipsets on all 650i's are the same, and it's the board manufacturer that makes the difference... Couldn't imagine ASUS ever having any major problems... They're a Godly board company.

[Abuzar @ Feb 26th 2008 11:10PM]

Well then you weren't here the past year. The 650i P5N-E SLI was a HORRIBLE board. Seriously, Asus is only good on their high end boards. Gigabytes offer much better value anyway.

[JDGadget @ Feb 26th 2008 10:54AM]

I really like how Dell is developing new XPS Gaming Desktops. It is hard to determine which Dell components to get though. A notebook, all-in-one, or desktop. Also, with Apple releasing it's updated Macbook Pro and Macbook models, I'd have to stick with my good old' fruit company!

[coffee @ Feb 26th 2008 10:54AM]

As long as you let us know when the Dell Store goes down, I won't have to keep checking back.

[Aprime @ Feb 26th 2008 11:02AM]

As far as I know, it never goes down for product updates.

[coffee @ Feb 26th 2008 11:05AM]

My jokes aren't working, aprime. I'll do better next time, I promise!

//there's only one store that has to go offline to be updated

[Aprime @ Feb 26th 2008 11:13AM]

Eh, sorry.

[Mobius_1 @ Feb 27th 2008 6:04AM]

Are you suggesting the Dell Store is superior than the-store-that-must-not-be-named?

Aaargggghhhh (Fanboys around the world erupt in fury)

[Iridium @ Feb 26th 2008 10:57AM]

I hate the slant forward design. It looks good in photos but a tower will always be on the floor for me and that design makes it real hard to reach the power button and USB ports.

[Aprime @ Feb 26th 2008 11:14AM]

We used to put towers on the floor because they were massive and beige.

Now I don't know why we put them on the floor.

[kyle @ Feb 26th 2008 1:08PM]

@aprime: because massive and silver is still massive. still take up as much desk space as they did when they were beige. they just look better doing it now.

[AlexP @ Feb 26th 2008 7:19PM]

Actually, our first PC's tower was bigger than the last XPS' I've seen.

But Yeah, not everyone has the kind of desktop space I do.

[Jake Howe @ Feb 26th 2008 10:57AM]

i deffinatly like the new looks, very nice. The only thing is, you have all these fantastic specs, but still only 4gb of ram, 4gb looks so average. I hope that micro$oft kick out some better support with windows 7. and yes i do use more than 4 gb of ram, i like to hav big programs open at once! (mac user btw, not fanboy, so no flame wars pls) kthxbai

[eggothewaffle @ Feb 26th 2008 11:00AM]

More like more companies across the entire board of consumer/professional hardware/software kick out better support/usability for a 64 bit Windows operating system.

I use huge amounts of RAM as well in my audio work so I totally feel you (and it would be great to be liberated away from the Mac Pro I use at work) :[

[Zeus.:God @ Feb 26th 2008 11:04AM]

There is really no point in having more than 4GB of RAM in a gaming PC, and when it comes down to it, the average user doesn't need that much, either.

If you don't mind my asking, what and how many programs do you use and have open at one time that takes up 4GB of memory?

[Zeus.:God @ Feb 26th 2008 11:04AM]

Sorry, this is in response to Jake Howe.

[FreshJulius @ Feb 26th 2008 11:31AM]

I'm not them, but I could use it just doing everyday work with Design work [graphic + architecture]. I can easily have AutoCAD, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Flash, Dreamweaver and SketchUp running typically along with the need for Outlook and Firefox. Though I don't usually, I'd like to have an iTunes or WMP running for some tunes as well... so, feed me all the RAM you can!

[Jake Howe @ Feb 26th 2008 12:26PM]

Well, as other people have said, us creative types have use for alot of big programs, so pretty much all the creative suite, quark, lots of programs to do with imposition for print. and ontop of all that i like mite like a quick break to play some halo. (without closing programs)
I agree that gaming machines dont require these massive amounts, but alot of professionals look straight to gaming machines.
But to say vista only supports 3.2gb of ram in its 32bit flavour, something has got to give. people were promised native 64bit windows with vista. not just a 64 bit version (which struggles to run most games)
/end rant

[Zeus.:God @ Feb 26th 2008 5:13PM]

I run modeling programs and PhotoShop at the same time while I'm making skins and models and such, along with 3 different instant messengers, Firefox, WMP, and such, and I don't get anywhere near using the 2GB I have in my PC- Hell, I'll take breaks, like you said, and play Unreal Tournament 3, CS:S, Doom 3, Quake 4, ET:QW, or something, with no performance issues or lack of memory, and I have settings maxed out.

I can understand if you are editing some high definition video or something, but even then, 4GB is plenty.

I think you guys just need to learn how to manage your programs a bit better.

[Abuzar @ Feb 26th 2008 11:14PM]

The 64bit version of Vista has come a long way and is a viable option now.

[Mr. Gremlin @ Feb 26th 2008 11:05AM]

Interesting that they chose to go with the aged 650i chipset; although, I'm sure it saves them a decent penny and doesn't sacrifice too much on the performance side.

Aside from that, this one looks great, is everything we expected, and is filling a nice little niche for Dell. I would have loved to see an Expresscard reader for the newer high-end camcorders (ie. my PMW EX1) that record directly to SxS Expresscards. Add that, and I'm sold as this would be a great value-driven media powerhouse solution.

[Backlin @ Feb 26th 2008 11:11AM]

Them is the key word here. IMO, that is way too expensive for a 650i chipset.
Seems like there are people here that agree with me

[anonymous @ May 9th 2008 4:10PM]

@Backlin

I'm sure that if they were to offer this system at $650, you'd still be squawking the 'it's too much' rant

[Richard @ Feb 26th 2008 11:06AM]

I gotta say, they really did a nice job on the external design here. Very impressive.
Guess it's time to see how much I have on the DFS credit account, eh?

[lou @ Feb 26th 2008 11:24AM]

I misread the title. I thought it read 360!

[herb-derbley @ Feb 26th 2008 3:48PM]

Yeah, XPS 630 looks mighty like XPOS 630 then XBOX 360... I thought Dell was making its own Xbox. That would be interesting...

[Johann Smetzger @ Feb 26th 2008 11:25AM]

4gb of Ram! Way too average. I need at least 8gb so that I can have World of Warcraft up (farming bot running, of course), Photoshop (airbrushing out my porn collection photos' copyrights), PowerDirector (editing my porn videos), and my Autodesk Showcase and AutoCad (gotta make a living to afford this habit, you know.)

And that's just surviving that average work day!

[adrian @ Feb 26th 2008 11:45AM]

Someone throw me a bone here.

I am in the market for a PC that I can use for :
Photo editing
Flight simulator
Home theatre

Is this the best wagon to jump on to ?
Is this the Next Generation ?

Should I choose the GTX or stick with the dual GT video card ?

Should I wait ?

[fortunado @ Feb 26th 2008 12:10PM]

don't get the gtx. get the gt. if you need the raaw speed and power of $449 either wait a month for the 9800gtx or buy the 3870 x2 which is currently the fastest single card out there now.

[kyle @ Feb 26th 2008 1:11PM]

you only need a single 8800gts512 or 8800gt to run flight simulator, and way, way less to do photo editing or home theatre. don't waste your money.

[Abuzar @ Feb 26th 2008 11:21PM]

Flight Simulator is more CPU dependent. Get a good CPU and overclock it to the sky and see your frames go up.

[stankychicken @ Feb 26th 2008 11:30AM]

but can it play crysis on high?

[xB Owner @ Feb 26th 2008 12:04PM]

I read both of the linked reviews and I'm quite puzzled as to why they compared the XPS 630 to the Gateway FX 7020. I've been considering a new sub-$1500 gaming computer and though I considered the FX 7020 when first released but I quickly focused my attention to the FX 7024 upon its arrival. It is a more capable gaming rig at a lower price point.

Why no comparisons between the XPS 630 and the FX 7024. I'd love to see how these computers stack up to each other. The Gateway has the Dell beat hands down on price, but it looks like the Dell takes the "upgradeability" cake. I'd love to see a head to head between the base XPS 630 and the FX 7020.

Faster Core 2 Duo or slower Core 2 Quad? Faster 2GB ram or slower 3GB ram?

[bonedog73 @ Feb 26th 2008 12:10PM]

What a cheap looking case, just buy the crap from newegg and put it together, that is the cheapest looking Dell gamer system I've seen.


XPS = Xtra Plastic Shit

[Leo @ Feb 26th 2008 12:47PM]

"...even PS/2 mouse and keyboard connectors" - holy crap! I'm buying!

[giantenemycrab @ Feb 26th 2008 2:19PM]

I'm actually pretty impressed and if it means more mainstream PC gamers then I'm all for it. When is the release date on it? I don't see an order button on the linked site.

[celerysword @ Feb 26th 2008 2:57PM]

"Blu-ray Disc Drive option"?! Where's the support for HD DVD? This is an outrage! um, err, nevermind...

[Grammar freak @ Feb 26th 2008 3:22PM]

I bought a $400 Dimension last year on sale. It's expandable as hell, and I put maybe $300 more into it, and have an extremely competent gaming machine. (Well, all I really play is Civ 4, but Doom 3 and Oblivion worked great too. Hopefully Spore and Starcraft 2 will cooperate as well.)

[willyboy @ Feb 26th 2008 10:41PM]

Does that thing float?

[bw @ Feb 26th 2008 10:41PM]

Looks pretty good.

[Kaz @ Feb 27th 2008 4:46AM]

I configured an XPS 720, with no monitor for $1,600. Why would someone buy this?