Dell announces new XPS gaming system

Round Rock (TX) - Dell has launched its third generation XPS high-end consumer desktop aimed at gamers. The PCs are based on Intel’s new 925X chipset but will not offer its Wi-Fi capability in the foreseeable time.

The new XPS systems come either with a Pentium 4 560 (3.6 GHz) or a Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.4 GHz processor. The computers come standard with 512 MByte DDR2 SDRAM (533 MHz), a 256 MByte PCI Express ATI Radeon X800 XT graphics card, a SATA harddrive (80 GByte) as well as a DVD-ROM drive.

The XPS also offers a 460watt power supply, two 1394 ports and supports up to three hard drives for a maximum 1.2 TByte of total storage.

Prices of the systems start at about $2400, according to Dell’s online store. Additions of an Extreme Edition processor, increasing RAM and harddrive space, adding a DVD burner and a monitor quickly lift the price to more than $4000.

New options however have appeared in Dell’s online store such as a double layer 12X DVD+RW3 drive, a 400 GByte SATA harddrive, and high-end peripherals like the Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 speakers.

The Wi-Fi capability of the 925X chipset is not integrated. According to a spokesperson, this feature has not yet been requested by Dell customers. "We did not want our users to pay extra for something they probably don’t use. Wireless security also was a concern," the spokesperson said. "We continue to look at it, but in the foreseeable future we will not use the Wi-Fi feature of the chipset."