The Dell Dimension C521 is Dell's version of the sleek, mid-performance desktop system. The C521 is nowhere near as bulky as the larger Dimensions, yet a step up in expandability from the XPS 210 systems. With it's sleek looks and good performance, this is a desktop system to get for those worried not only about performance, but aesthetics as well.

The C521 can be highly customized as the Dell advertising campaign suggests. In my case I was only looking for the tower at this time, as the other peripheral equipment was either already purchased or on it's way through a separate order. My system consists of the following:

Athlon 64 3200+ running at 2 GHz with 512k of L2 cache
1 GB DDR2 SDRAM; 533 MHz
ATI Radeon X1300 Pro with 256MB onboard Video RAM
250GB SATA II Hard Drive spinning at 7200 RPM
Microsoft Windows XP Home, SP2
Integrated 10/1000 Ethernet
16X DVD plus and minus RW Drive
Integrated 7.1 audio
Dell Motherboard featuring the NForce 430 chipset
6 USB 2.0 ports, two in front, 4 in back

I bought this system for a kitchen PC… That's right, a kitchen PC. My family and I recently moved to a new house with a larger kitchen complete with a built-in work space that lended itself nicely to a under-cabinet mounted TV. Not one to just buy a TV, I decided to upgrade the TV to a computer complete with radio/TV tuner that would allow for the full media center experience. As space beneath the cabinet was limited, the choice was narrowed to the XPS 210 and the C521. The C521 has a PCI slot, (wireless network card) PCIe X1 slot,(tuner card) and PCIe X16 for the X1300 Pro video card. The 210 was missing the PCI slot, leaving me to use other alternatives for the network card and it cost quite a bit more. Simple choice, really…

Out of the box/Setup

In the box was the typical Dell paraphernalia; the computer tower itself, power cord, poster-sized quick start guide and user manual. Along with this came the software CD's, which really is a misnomer in this case. No software was purchased with the computer except what is 'included' for free, so the CD's are basically useless to me. The one CD that might have been useful is the Restore CD, but Dell has taken to not shipping these with their computers. There is an option to burn your own, which I did right away. In the event that you burn and lose the CD or don't find the utility for burning the disc, a restore CD can be purchased from Dell for a nominal fee.

Once the box was rifled through, it was time to setup the computer. Aside from drilling some holes in cabinets and running a few wires, setup was a breeze. Plug in the power, keyboard/mouse wireless receiver and monitor/speaker setup and power the unit up. Within no time I was seeing the familiar Windows XP boot screen. The first order of business with any pre-built computer is to wipe any and all useless (excuse me, trial) software from the system. While this used to take a total of a few minutes, Dell has added more and more garbage to the list so it took upwards of 15 minutes to do this time. Feeling better with an uncluttered computer, I was ready to get into the nuts and bolts of the computer.

Physical attributes

The C521 is one of the better looking pre-built's I have seen in a while. It has a nice silver metal-flake faceplate and the now-familiar Dell white on the side panels. On the right panel is an impression of the Dell logo bigger than life, and I must say it looks nice. The front panel sports only the microphone and headphone plugs along with two USB 2.0 ports and the DVD drive. The DVD drive sets vertically in the case to allow for the smaller footprint. All in all the tower is on the smaller side measuring 15.8" high by 4.5" wide and 14.2" deep. Nice sized! Below the power button is the exhaust grille for the processor, which is set on the N430 motherboard in the BTX fashion. I have never noticed heat on my leg while working on the computer, so either I am insensitive (don't answer that) or the fan does a nice job of cooling the processor.

The rear panel houses the exhaust grille for the 280W power supply along with the six connectors for the audio setup. There is a line-in, line-out, mic, rear surround, side surround, and SPDIF connectors to output the integrated 7.1 audio signal. Also present is the Ethernet jack and four USB 2.0 ports. In a display of cheapness to the max Dell decided to take out the VGA jack for the onboard video when I ordered the X1300 Pro add-on card; this really sucks, as I was thinking of setting up a dual display with this! At the bottom of the back panel are the slots for the add-in cards explained above. The case is a tool-less design, so opening the side panel to pop in a card is simply done with a lever. A slide-away clip allows the user to insert two half-height cards into the slots and then slide the clip back into place, all without any tools. Nice touch!

Hardware

Processor

The new lineup of Dell desktops represents a new direction for Dell; if you didn't already know, Dell has been a sole user of Intel products until very recently. With the C521 I was able to select an AMD Athlon 64 3200+, a respectable processor that will allow for 64 bit processing as this becomes more widely accepted. The processor is plenty fast for most home users at 2.0 GHz and performance matching the 3.2GHz Intel offerings, and coupled with a goodly amount of RAM all of your processing needs should be satisfied. The NForce 430 chipset allows the RAM and processor to talk quickly, thus keeping you speeding right along the computing highway.

RAM

Speaking of RAM, the C521 that I purchased came with two sticks of 512MB DDR2 SDRAM running at a quick 533MHz. SisSoft Sandra indicates that each stick is manufactured by **NONE**, indicating that this is perhaps a no-name or contracted piece of hardware. Sandra indicates that the RAM has a throughput of 4800-4900 MB/s, so there is no speed bumps on the Front Side Bus! I shouldn't have any problems computing large amounts of data for video rendering and the like, and this is a very good thing at this point.

Hard Drive

The hard drive that accompanied the 521c is manufactured by Samsung and contains 250GB of material with an 8MB buffer. It uses the fast SATA II interface, meaning that theoretically we could transfer 3GB/s of data from it to the RAM and processor. Not bad at all, considering that just a few years ago the speediest hard drive connection had a theoretical throughput of 133 MB/s. With larger and larger amounts of data goes the need to move this data quicker, as programs will be made to access them. HD Tach, a free software utility designed to test the read/write speed of drives, reports a respectable burst speed of 203.2 MB/s with an average read speed of 61.7 MB/s. I remember just a few years back when the average read speed would have been a great burst speed! Awesome speed results… The CPU utilization of this drive is 5%, which is higher than I am used to seeing, but then again a massive amount of data is being transferred in a relatively short amount of time. The latency of the drive is 14.8ms which isn't terrible, but not terribly good either. All in all I am happy with the drive, and it doesn't make much audible noise either.

CD/DVD Drive

The DVD drive which accompanied my C521 is reported by SisSoft Sandra to be of the TSST variety, namely a TS-553A. Having never heard of TSST, I searched the internet to discover that this too is a Samsung drive, just rebranded. It seems from many of the forums that I found that this is a 'hot' drive, sought after by many. It plugs directly to the SATA port on the motherboard, theoretically making this one fast cookie.

I installed CD Speed, a free drive testing utility, and ran a few read and write tests on the system. I ran a few music CD's through the read tests and found that the average read speed hung in at about 28X speed. This was the results of read tests that started out at 15-17X and ended between 32 and 35X. For DVD reads the average read speed was 9X with a range of 5-12X throughout the process. A quick data burn using an 8X Ritek DVD-R showed that the drive is right on target with an average write speed of 7.48X , burning a 4.3GB disc in 8 minutes and 22 seconds. Running a real world test burning a movie to disc using Nero shows that a 4.38GB disc was burned in 8 minutes and 58 seconds. Pretty close actual burning to the tested benchmarks! Overall, this is a fairly good quality drive included with the C521.

Graphics card


Normally I would include a bunch of benchmarks on the X1300 Pro, but to tell the truth this isn't something that was important to me with this card. The only games we play on this computer are those found on websites such as Disney Playhouse. The kids do this often, while my wife and I use this for recipe storage, TV viewing and radio playing. A few DVD's get watched and some media is streamed from the HTPC server downstairs, but other than that it is used for browsing the internet and viewing emails. Games are played on a system with a much beefier setup downstairs. If in the future I start using this computer for gaming I will write a review for the X1300 Pro in the correct slot on Epinions.

'Included' Software

I alluded to this earlier, but I don't use much of the included software and trial packs. Usually this is something of an annoyance as the first 5 to 15 minutes of my computing experience is spent wiping these applications. That being said, I do understand that many folks like and use the 'free' software that is included, so I will give you a rundown of the bundle.

Included with the C521 on my purchase was Windows XP Home, Windows Media Player 10 and Dell Direct Download (a software updates manager). A Dell Support utility is included that will sit in the system tray and alert you to problems and updates, and the image restore option is present for reverting your system to it's original configuration using a hidden partition on the hard drive. Adobe Acrobat 7.0 and Sonic Cineplayer are included; the first is a necessary program although available for free on the internet while the second is a media player program that can be wiped or used, your preference. Roxio Creator Basic/MyDVD Basic are lite programs of the original titles that will constantly prompt you to upgrade if you would like to have full functionality. Music Match 10.1 Basic with 7 days of OnDemand is included, again a lite version of the original application that won't have much utility unless upgraded. Paint Shop Photo Album 6.0 Starter Edition; guess what the Starter Edition is? You guessed it, a lite version of an otherwise decent program. A free 6-month trial of Earthlink or AOL is added on, and this was wiped right away. MS Works 8.5 Plus Office Trial is included, but if you don't already have office software on your computer there are much better alternatives to this, some that are even free. I would recommend paying up for the full blown office suite myself, but OpenOffice.org is another nice suite that comes with a free pricetag…

Real-World Use

The C521 is exactly what I needed and fits our kitchen well. The silver-on-black tones fit in nicely in our stainless steel appliances, and it is small enough to be unobtrusive under the counter. The computer is nice and quiet, a nice change from my past gaming rigs that sounded similar to jet engines taking off under load. The DVD drive is quiet when reading a DVD, but the fast speeds of reading and writing CD's make it more noticeable. The fans for the processor and power supply obviously work, although they don't add considerably to the noise of the kitchen. About the only thing you notice is when the kitchen is quiet and the hard drive is accessed, and even that isn't too loud.

Support

I stuck with the base warranty that is included in the price of the Desktop which is a one year limited warranty. I would recommend this route for anyone who is somewhat proficient in computers, as the warranty/on-site service is somewhat difficult to obtain. I have had to use Dell service in the past, and while it can be an agonizing experience it has always led to a satisfying experience in that my problems have been solved or addressed. There is a fairly active forum for user support on the dell website, and I have had good luck solving a few minor issues via this route.

Overall

The Dimension C521 tower has filled our needs very well. We are happy with the performance of the PC and the size and looks of the tower are a testament to fitting the target audience. The only downside to my experience was the fact that the VGA adapter was removed when I requested an add-on card in the X1300 Pro. Other than that, this computer works great and I would recommend it to anyone who understands that they are not getting a full blown tower but rather a nice-sized, mid-range performer.


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 634
Operating System: Windows
Processor: AMD Athlon (K7)
Processor speed: over 1000
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50