Dell offers 500 GByte SATA II drives for XPS Gen 5 desktop

Round Rock (TX) - Dell upgraded its gaming PC Dimension XPS Gen 5 with an option of installing SATA II harddrives. A maximum of three drives results in a storage capacity of up to 1.5 TByte.

Dell announced the upgrade just in time with Intel’s announcement of the Pentium D processor. The XPS Gen 5, the firm’s flagship desktop PC, is the first PC from a major vendor that offers 500 GByte SATA II harddrives.

The PC comes standard with a Pentium 4 640 (3.2 GHz) processor and is priced from just under $2000. Options include a dual-core Pentium Extreme Edition, up to 4 GByte DDR2-667 memory, and a choice of a 256 MByte GeForce 6800 or a 256 MByte ATI X850 XT PE graphics card. SLI capability is not offered. Reasonably equipped, a XPS Gen 5 will easily hit the $5000 mark, a monitor and a few goodies will push the price above $6500.

Less extreme and priced below the XPS Gen 5 is the DimensionTM 9100, which is the first model of a new generation desktop PC design that is offered in "alpine white" and "arctic silver" colors. Prices start at about $1050 and include a Pentium 4 630 (3 GHz), 512 MByte memory, a 160 GByte harddrive, a DVD/CD-RW drive, a 128 MByte ATI X300 SE graphics card and Microsoft’s Windows Media Center Edition 2005. Upgrading the standard components, including a dual-core Pentium D processor, will bring the price to about $2000.