Dell to Unleash XPS 625 Based on AMD's Dragon

Like a smear of grape jelly on a peanut butter sandwich, Dell grabbed AMD's spotlight and announced that its upcoming XPS 625 desktop spread supports AMD's "Dragon" platform.

Dell's just-announced the XPS 625 desktop PC which starts at $999 USD and includes overclocking capabilities, expandability, and "extreme gaming components." Powered by the new AMD Phenom II X4 Black Edition processor with ATI Radeon HD graphics, Dell's XPS 625 looks to deliver "extreme" gaming power at an extreme price... depending which spectrum of "extreme" gamers want to go, that is.

“AMD and XPS are two brands known to deliver extreme gaming performance. With AMD’s Dragon platform technology, Dell is enabling an incredible end user experience,” says Leslie Sobon, vice president, product marketing, AMD. “Featuring the AMD Phenom™ II X4 Black Edition processor, ATI Radeon™ HD 4800 Series graphics and AMD 7-Series chipsets, Dragon hardware joins innovative AMD tuning software in the XPS 625 that will drive the gaming experience to a new level.”

And while some gamers may scoff at the "Dell" name when it comes to prime-time gaming, the rig looks rather sweet and does include a few goodies under the hood. The fact that the processor remains "unlocked" means that tweakers can go to town on the hardware, getting the levels just right without starting fires or falling back on boring default settings. AMD understands the need for tuning capabilities, and provides its OverDrive utility to overclock the processor for extra performance headroom.

Housed in a brushed aluminum chassis with a choice of either black or red accents (plus the AlienFX customizable lighting system to boot), the XPS 625 can be configured with a single card or ATI CrossFireX configuration (ATI Radeon HD 4850), 8 GB of memory with a 64-bit edition of Windows Vista plus 10,000 RPM hard drive options. The easily accessible ATX chassis features a 750W power supply and four hard drive bays for all of that extra "night time" video storage (cough).

“The XPS 625 is the ideal desktop for gamers looking for a high-performance rig that won’t break the bank,” says Arthur Lewis, president, Alienware and general manager, Dell Gaming Group. “The robust nature of this system gives users the flexibility to configure anything from an aggressive, value-based platform to an all-out benchmark killer.”

To customize a new Dell XPS 625, head here and start building. But click-happy shoppers be warned: it's easy to start throwing in all the cool hardware options such as a 1.5TB drive, Blu-ray disc burner, dual ATI Radeon HD4850 512 MB, and the Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium. The end result could lead to divorce, a massive coronary or spontaneous combustion.