Dell Dimension 8400 Opinions

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Hello all, I am new to this site and have a question for ya. My
company has a deal with Dell and I can get an 8400 fairly cheap I
suppose, I am trying to get some feedback on how good the machine is.
I am looking at getting the P4 3.2GHz, 1GHz DDR2 @ 533MHz, 250GB HD @
7200rpm (would rather have a 10000rpm but they say its not available),
Dual Drives: 48x CD-RW Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW w/dbl layer write
capability, 128MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon™ X300
SE. Now, to me running a Dell Latitude CPXj 750 maxed out with
processor and 512MB RAM, this machine sounds insanly awesome. Just
trying to bouce this off someone and get a good idea of if the
quality of the 8400, from chipset, performancce, RAM, loudness,
quietness... anything and everything I can find out before I buy one.
Thanks in adavance.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

On 19 May 2005 20:33:56 -0400,
ringfinger2763@comcast-dot-net.no-spam.invalid (ringfinger) wrote:

>Hello all, I am new to this site and have a question for ya. My
>company has a deal with Dell and I can get an 8400 fairly cheap I
>suppose, I am trying to get some feedback on how good the machine is.
> I am looking at getting the P4 3.2GHz, 1GHz DDR2 @ 533MHz, 250GB HD @
>7200rpm (would rather have a 10000rpm but they say its not available),
>Dual Drives: 48x CD-RW Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW w/dbl layer write
>capability, 128MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon™ X300
>SE. Now, to me running a Dell Latitude CPXj 750 maxed out with
>processor and 512MB RAM, this machine sounds insanly awesome. Just
>trying to bouce this off someone and get a good idea of if the
>quality of the 8400, from chipset, performancce, RAM, loudness,
>quietness... anything and everything I can find out before I buy one.
> Thanks in adavance.

If you intend on doing any gaming , get a 256 video card rather than
128 and don't let them install Norton. Also the 3.4 Gig is faster
without much difference in price.

Bob

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Thanks. I am overdue for an upgrade, just want to make sure I'm
getting my money's worth. As far as the better vid card goes do you
think it'd be better to get the 256 one that Dell is offering or
should I just get a generic one and drain some cash into a card from
somewhere else? Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

I have the same machine. Have had it a couple weeks now. It's quiet till
my old WD backup drive kicks in. I never realized how loud the other
machine was. Asking advice here before my purchase, several suggested just
getting the one DVD dual layering burner drive since it can do it all. So
that's what I did. So far I haven't missed the extra drive. I'm very
pleased with it performance. I haven't run any benchmark tests but it's
doing what I want it to a lot whole lot faster than my P3 700 did so I'm a
happy camper Oh and I have USB ports coming out of my ears! <lol> No
more need for a hub. Six on back of the box, 2 on front, 2 on the
UltraSharp 20" flat panel widescreen and 2 on the keyboard A this point,
I have 5 open. The only upgrade I've done on it so far wasn't as user
friendly as my previous Dell. In order to install my old hard drive, I had
to use expansion brackets to fit the drive into a CD bay because the cables
wouldn't reach to the hdd bay. If I ever want to install another CD drive,
I'll have to run a long ribbon cable and power line to the hdd bay adn move
the hard drive again. It was suggested I go the route I did because the
extra ribbon would cut down on air flow
Monica
"ringfinger" <ringfinger2763@comcast-dot-net.no-spam.invalid> wrote in
message news:428f62cc$1_4@alt.athenanews.com...
> Thanks. I am overdue for an upgrade, just want to make sure I'm
> getting my money's worth. As far as the better vid card goes do you
> think it'd be better to get the 256 one that Dell is offering or
> should I just get a generic one and drain some cash into a card from
> somewhere else? Thanks.
>

 

[Mike]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

On 19 May 2005 20:33:56 -0400,
ringfinger2763@comcast-dot-net.no-spam.invalid (ringfinger) wrote:

>Hello all, I am new to this site and have a question for ya. My
>company has a deal with Dell and I can get an 8400 fairly cheap I
>suppose, I am trying to get some feedback on how good the machine is.
> I am looking at getting the P4 3.2GHz, 1GHz DDR2 @ 533MHz, 250GB HD @
>7200rpm (would rather have a 10000rpm but they say its not available),
>Dual Drives: 48x CD-RW Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW w/dbl layer write
>capability, 128MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon™ X300
>SE. Now, to me running a Dell Latitude CPXj 750 maxed out with
>processor and 512MB RAM, this machine sounds insanly awesome. Just
>trying to bouce this off someone and get a good idea of if the
>quality of the 8400, from chipset, performancce, RAM, loudness,
>quietness... anything and everything I can find out before I buy one.
> Thanks in adavance.

Ditto on Capt. Bob's post. If your going to play games you'll want a
different video card. I have an 8400 very similar to the one you
listed but have a GeForce 6800 GTO video card. Play games silky
smooth I really like my 8400.

Mike

 

[Mike]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

On 21 May 2005 12:33:16 -0400,
ringfinger2763@comcast-dot-net.no-spam.invalid (ringfinger) wrote:

>Thanks. I am overdue for an upgrade, just want to make sure I'm
>getting my money's worth. As far as the better vid card goes do you
>think it'd be better to get the 256 one that Dell is offering or
>should I just get a generic one and drain some cash into a card from
>somewhere else? Thanks.

Personally I like Nvidia cards but that is all more or less personal
preference. I have a GeForce 6800 GTO w/256. If you buy a standard
6800 GT aftermarket your gonna pay around $300. Difference between
the GTO and the GT is slower clock speed of the memory on the GTO, but
it still has faster memory than a standard 6800.

You can find some benchmark comparisons for video cards here ...

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041222/index.html

Mike

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Thanks all.