Dell's XPS 710 H2C Hot and Cool
Table of contents
- 1. Dell Takes On Subsidiary Alienware? Not Really!
- 2. Beauty That's More Than Skin Deep
- 3. Visual And Audible Immersion
- 4. All Else Considered
- 5. Test Setup
Dell is going to extremes to shed its reputation as a "dull" office system supplier, and wants to include gaming enthusiasts in its target market. But before you say "aren't they already doing that through their ownership of Alienware," take a glance at the strikingly different case design:

Gaming has matured, and with it so has a large chunk of the game system market. Dell realizes that gamers span several demographics, and its XPS 710 obviously is aimed at a gaming crowd with aesthetic tastes more refined than those of people who get excited by a "plastic alien face" case. The aluminium exterior with "piano black" finish looks better suited to an oak-trimmed office than a college dorm.
It's well understood that experienced gamers will not accept any system at face value, so let's see if the XPS 710 H2C Edition has guts that go beyond its glory!
| Dell XPS 710 H2C Edition System Configuration | |
|---|---|
| Hardware | |
| Processor | Intel® CoreTM 2 Extreme quad-core processor QX6800
2.93 GHz at 3.73 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB, 2x 4 MB cache |
| Motherboard | Dell XPS710, BIOS: Phoenix A00 (05/03/07)
nVidia 680i SLI chipset |
| Memory | 4x Corsair Dominator CM2X1024-8500C5D PC2-8500
4x 1024 MB, Overclocked 1066MHz, CAS 5-5-5-15 |
| System Hard Drives | 2x WDC WD1600ADFD-75NLR1 RAID 0
160 GB, 10,000 RPM, 16 MB Cache, SATA 1.5 Gb/s |
| Storage Hard Drive | 1x Hitachi HDS721010KLA
1 TB, 7200 RPM, 32 MB Cache, SATA 3 Gb/s |
| CPU Cooling System | H2C Ceramic Liquid Cooling |
| Floppy Drive | 13-in-1 media card reader |
| Optical Drives | LG GSA-H31N 16x Double-Layer 16x DVD+/-RW
PHILIPS BD-RE BDD1001 Blu-Ray Disk Writer |
| Case | 10-bay Aluminium BTX tower case |
| Expansion Slots | 2x PCIe x16, 1x PCIe x8, 3x PCI, 1x PCIe x1 |
| Front Panel Ports | 2x USB 2.0, 1x IEEE-1394 FireWire, Headphone/Mic |
| Rear Panel Ports | 5x USB 2.0, 1x IEEE-1394 FireWire, PS/2, Network |
| Graphics Cards | 2x nVidia GeForce 8800 Ultra
612 MHz GPU, 768 MB RAM (1080 MHz) |
| Physics Processor | Ageia PhysX, driver 1.0.6.0 |
| Network | Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller |
| 8-Channel Audio | Sound Blaster® X-FiTM XtremeMusic Sound Card |
| Power Supply | 1000W 5-Rail Power SLI/CrossFire Compatible |
| Software | |
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows XP Pro 5.1.2600 (32-bit)
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate (32-bit) |
| DirectX Version | 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904) |
| Platform Driver | Intel 6.0.6000.16386 |
| Graphics Driver | 7.15.11.5824 - nVIDIA ForceWare 97.94 |
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I assume it is just a matter of Dell changing the product but the text tals of the 710 and the stats quote the 720 - or have I missed something?