I Remain Skeptical....
Written: Dec 08 '00 (Updated Jan 08 '01)
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Pros: Highest clockspeed gives you bragging rights
Cons: Only affordable by sacrificing component quality
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| KarsinTheHutt's Full Review: Dell Dimension 8100 Series |
****Update: A few weeks after launch, Dell has added some more options to the Dimension 8100, making it a more attractive package. Top-quality PC800 RDRAM is now available, and it costs only 70 $US to upgrade 128 MB of RAM from PC600 to PC800.
I would also recommend upgrading the basic TNT2 M64 video card to an ATI Radeon or higher. As I've said before, it makes absolutely no sense to pair a powerful processor with a puny video card - especially in a computer designed for gaming and multimedia editing.
Concerning processors - the current incarnation of the Pentium 4 uses a socket 478 format. This Pentium 4 will max out at around 1.8 GHz. In the second half of this year, Intel will be releasing an improved Pentium 4 that uses socket 423. This means that anyone purchasing a Pentium 4 system today may not be able to make a significant upgrade in processor speeds. Of course, there remains the possibility of a socket adaptor, but don't bet everything on it.
In light of Dell's recent improvements to the 8100, I'm upgrading my rating to 3 stars and removing the 8100 from my 'hate it' list. I've given the 8100 3 stars because it scores a perfect 5 with games/multimedia, but performs only about the same as much more inexpensive Pentium 3 systems in business applications.
Bottom line - its the gamer's dream machine right now... but most of us would do well to save a couple hundred bucks and buy a Pentium III system.
*** ORIGINAL ARTICLE***
With the launch of the 1.5 GHz Dimension 8100, Dell has finally blasted past the 1 GHz barrier. At an advertised starting price of a mere $2000, the Dimension appears to be a steal - and many people might be tempted to pick this machine over the older 4100 series. From my experience, this would be a mistake.
***Disclaimer: I have not yet had the opportunity to test the 8100 IN PERSON. However, I feel I can still make a fair and accurate judgement of the system based on my knowledge of computer components.
My suspicions - 2000 $US for a 1.5 GHz machine? This was too good to be true, so I took a look at some of the components inside this supposedly state of the art system. My findings reveal that Dell has apparently cut some corners...
1. Got RDRAM?
Dell is shipping the Dimension 4100 with PC600 RDRAM, which is the LOWEST grade available. This provides only 2.4 GB/sec of bandwidth, compared to 3.2 GB/sec for a P4 system based on PC800 RDRAM. According to several independent sources such as Tom's Hardware Guide (http://www.tomshardware.com), high bandwidth keeps Pentium 4 systems up to speed with their Athlon DDR competitors. By shipping the worst quality RDRAM, Dell is hampering what could have been an advantage for the 8100.
2. Blazingly fast 4x AGP.... with a TNT2 M64? :(
I don't know what Dell was thinking even offering the TNT2 M64 video card with the 8100 series. This video card was first released a year or two ago as the *budget* version of nVidia TNT2 based cards. In games, especially at high resolution, this video card's puny 64 bit RAM causes the system to choke for lack of memory bandwidth. In most 3D shooters, the M64 will be the limiting factor in performance. Pairing a 1.5 GHz processor with an antique video card was a poor idea indeed. Luckily, you can upgrade the video card... for a price.
3. Balancing the system is costly
At the Dell website, I decided to see how much improving the basic system would cost. After configuring the Dimension 4100 with a GeForce2 64 MB Ultra (Really the only video card that won't hold the rest of the system back in games), adding a 12/10/32 CD-RW, upgrading the speakers to something other than the puny standard 2 piece set, and requesting a LAN card, the price came to over 3,100 $US. This setup also included:
19" monitor
128 MB of PC600 RDRAM
40 GB Hard Drive
56k modem
Soundblaster Live! sound card
For $900 less, I could have bought a 1 GHz Dimension 4100 with similar features (Except the P4 and RDRAM, of course). And I doubt the performance difference is very much, judging from the reviews I've read on ZDnet (www.pcmag.com) and PCWorld (www.pcworld.com). In short, the Dimension 8100 is probably the first Dell system I haven't liked. Of course I might change my recommendation should Dell decide to use PC800 RDRAM and ditch the TNT2 M64 as the basic video card.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): n/a, $2000 retail (including shipping)
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 31-40
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Epinions.com ID:
KarsinTheHutt
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Member: Karsin Eng
Location: United States of America
Reviews written: 83
Trusted by: 19 members
About Me:
I am a part time computer hobbyist and moderator at forum.thinkpads.com
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