Dell Dimension XPS: Gaming with all the Trimmings
by Wesley Fink on November 13, 2003 10:35 PM EST- Posted in
- Systems
Dell Dimension XPS: XPS Motherboard
Motherboard Specifications | |
CPU Interface | Socket-478 |
Chipset | Intel 82875P (North Bridge) Intel ICH5R (South Bridge) |
Bus Speeds | Fixed |
AGP/PCI Speeds | Fixed |
Core Voltages Supported | Fixed |
AGP Voltages Supported | Fixed |
DRAM Voltages Supported | Fixed |
Memory Slots | 4 184-pin Dual-Channel DDR DIMM Slots 2 DIMMs (2 x 512MB) installed provide 1 GB of DDR400 memory at 3-3-3-6 timings |
Expansion Slots | 1 AGP 8X Slot 4 PCI Slot |
Onboard Graphics | None — ATI 9800 XT installed |
Onboard RAID | Intel SATA RAID 2 x 250GB SATA Drives Installed in Raid 0 configuration |
Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 | Eight USB 2.0 supported through ICH5 FireWire Controller on Audigy 2 |
Onboard LAN | 10/100 |
Onboard Audio | None — Creative Audigy 2 5.1 Digital Audio installed |
Onboard Serial ATA | Two Standard SATA connectors ICH5R Used by SATA RAID 0 |
The proprietary Dell XPS motherboard uses Intel's top 875P chipset, and even includes the top ICH5R South Bridge with Intel SATA RAID support. All of the current top features are certainly here, but there are no means at all to overclock or tweak the motherboard settings. This is not a surprise, as Dell has never advocated overclocking or tweaking their systems.
Dimension XPS fully supports all of the Intel chipset and CPU features, including PAT (Performance Acceleration Technology), Dual Channel DDR400 memory, and Hyper-threading. While you cannot tweak FSB or memory timings, you can be assured that these performance-enhancing features are all working properly. We checked operation of the Dell motherboard with CPU-Z, and found that both Hyper-threading and PAT were identified as working properly.
Dimension XPS, like other 875P boards, fully supports 2 pairs of Dual-Channel DDR400 memory. It is very easy to add an additional pair of Dual-Channel DDR400 memory with the easy access to the 4 DIMM slots.
Dell provides an AGP 8X slot plus 4 PCI slots on the XPS motherboard. With a space skipped between the ATI 9800 XT and the Audigy 2, there is effectively one PCI slot left for expansion. You could install 2 additional cards in a pinch. Keep in mind that the XPS is already loaded with top-end video, audio, firewire, USB ports, LAN, etc., so the need for additional expansion is minimal.
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edub82 - Friday, November 14, 2003 - link
I'm glad to see Anandtech bringing in some more revenue with advertisments for Dell now. Special Deal Only for Anand readers... :Pdvinnen - Friday, November 14, 2003 - link
At least it looks better than an alienware.apsve - Sunday, March 29, 2020 - link
Hey, I got one of these for my 15th birthday!The config was a little different, it had a P4 3.06 and 9800 Pro.
It was a sweet rig, now I build my own machines!