Pros/Cons of Dell XPS 8900 16GB RAM Edition

[boomshiva]

Hello, all.

I'm shopping for a new desktop system this holiday season and would like your insights (both pro and con) on Dell's XPS 8900. Currently on sale for $849.00.

Expected use: home office type stuff with somewhat more than occasional game-play.


Specs:

Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz (Turbo Boost to 4GHz) Quad-Core SKYLAKE CPU
16GB (8GBx2) DDR4 2133MHz RAM, 2TB HDD, DVD burner
802.11n WiFi + gigabit ethernet + Bluetooth 4.0
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit operating system (includes Windows 10 Pro license)
NVIDIA Geforce GTX 745 4GB DDR3 discrete graphics w/ HDMI, DisplayPort
Wired laser mouse & keyboard included
1yr McAfee LiveSafe security subscription, 1yr Dell warranty
6x USB 3.0, 4x USB 2.0, 19-in-1 card reader, 3x HDD bays, 2x ODD bays

Note: GTX 745 is evidently an OEM-branded GTX 640.


Much appreciated!

 

[Supahos]

Thats pretty expensive for a rig... No reason on earth for an i7 in typical desktop environment and a non gaming gpu won't let you game either, find something with an i5 and least a 950/960

 

[Barty1884]

Cons:
1.Lacks Wifi standard 802.11ac
2.GTX 640 is almost 2 years old. A 4GB card, but much better options exist. Depends on the games you play though.
3. Generic PSU - which have not been the greatest over the years. Although I believe they are standard sizes
4. Generic motherboard - used to be proprietary connections etc in the past, don't know any more.
5. Not an unlocked CPU
6. Bloat, bloat, bloat

Pros:
1. Skylake.

Are you open to building a rig yourself? I think you could spend the budget on a more balanced setup for your needs.

 

[boomshiva]

Cons:
1.Lacks Wifi standard 802.11ac
2.GTX 640 is almost 2 years old. A 4GB card, but much better options exist. Depends on the games you play though.
3. Generic PSU - which have not been the greatest over the years. Although I believe they are standard sizes
4. Generic motherboard - used to be proprietary connections etc in the past, don't know any more.
5. Not an unlocked CPU
6. Bloat, bloat, bloat

Pros:
1. Skylake.

Are you open to building a rig yourself? I think you could spend the budget on a more balanced setup for your needs.

Not sure why I would need WiFi on a desktop.

I don't have the time to build something myself, so I'm looking for an out-of-the-box solution.

 

[boomshiva]

Thats pretty expensive for a rig... No reason on earth for an i7 in typical desktop environment and a non gaming gpu won't let you game either, find something with an i5 and least a 950/960

Food for thought re i7.

GTX 745 is a non-gaming GPU? From everything I've read it appears to be a low- to mid-range card capable of all but the most demanding of games.

 

[Barty1884]

Cons:
1.Lacks Wifi standard 802.11ac
2.GTX 640 is almost 2 years old. A 4GB card, but much better options exist. Depends on the games you play though.
3. Generic PSU - which have not been the greatest over the years. Although I believe they are standard sizes
4. Generic motherboard - used to be proprietary connections etc in the past, don't know any more.
5. Not an unlocked CPU
6. Bloat, bloat, bloat

Pros:
1. Skylake.

Are you open to building a rig yourself? I think you could spend the budget on a more balanced setup for your needs.

Not sure why I would need WiFi on a desktop.

I don't have the time to build something myself, so I'm looking for an out-of-the-box solution.

Fair comment, just pointing it out though, they list Wifi in their specs, yet it's not the latest standard. Kind of gives you an insight into some of the components used. Motherboard, PSU, GPU are all either confirmed, or highly likely to be less than ideal. Plus an i7 would be unnecessary for your needs. It's not a balanced build at all.

i5-6600 + GTX 960 4GB would be ideal if you can find it within your budget.

For an out of the box solution, take a look at CyberPower - they're upfront about the components used.

 

[Supahos]

I have a gtx 760which is a good but stronger than the 745, and it is a bottleneck sometimes. If you're not opposed to building one a 4690k/z97/16 gb ram/gtx960 will come in under that price and slaughter that computer for your needs

 

[boomshiva]

Cons:
1.Lacks Wifi standard 802.11ac
2.GTX 640 is almost 2 years old. A 4GB card, but much better options exist. Depends on the games you play though.
3. Generic PSU - which have not been the greatest over the years. Although I believe they are standard sizes
4. Generic motherboard - used to be proprietary connections etc in the past, don't know any more.
5. Not an unlocked CPU
6. Bloat, bloat, bloat

Pros:
1. Skylake.

Are you open to building a rig yourself? I think you could spend the budget on a more balanced setup for your needs.

Not sure why I would need WiFi on a desktop.

I don't have the time to build something myself, so I'm looking for an out-of-the-box solution.

Fair comment, just pointing it out though, they list Wifi in their specs, yet it's not the latest standard. Kind of gives you an insight into some of the components used. Motherboard, PSU, GPU are all either confirmed, or highly likely to be less than ideal. Plus an i7 would be unnecessary for your needs. It's not a balanced build at all.

i5-6600 + GTX 960 4GB would be ideal if you can find it within your budget.

For an out of the box solution, take a look at CyberPower - they're upfront about the components used.

Excellent point!

I'll look into CyberPower. Thank you for your feedback.

 

[boomshiva]

I have a gtx 760which is a good but stronger than the 745, and it is a bottleneck sometimes. If you're not opposed to building one a 4690k/z97/16 gb ram/gtx960 will come in under that price and slaughter that computer for your needs

Haswell build? I imagine that would be cheaper than a Skylake build, but I was thinking of future-proofing my needs with this buy.

 

[Supahos]

An overclocked haswell is more future proof than a locked skylake... You can oc more than the ipc gains between the two

 

[Barty1884]

Surprisingly a Haswell build is barely cheaper than a comparable Skylake build FYI (there's $35 in it today)

4690k for $220 or 6600k for $254

CPU-wise, a OC Haswell is better long-term than a locked Skylake, true. But for the price, you're better off getting an unlocked Skylake over an unlocked Haswell.

Going Skylake, you should pick up a Z170 board and DDR4 - that will be as "future proof" as it gets. Clinging to DDR3 via Haswell and trying to upgrade/add to that in future is going to be comparative to buying DDR2 today - expensive & pointless.

You'll probably end up around the $1,000 opposed to the $850 mark, but it'll be worth it long term.

 

[lyricyst2000]

I picked this box up at Costco for $800 even a few weeks back (mine died right after black friday week grrrrr). I figured I could demo it through the holidays and either keep it or return it and build my own once my finances recover. I wanted a multi-purpose machine for audio/video and gaming purposes as well as the potential to take my work home (software).

Right away I put my old GTX 660 in. Its a definitive step up over the card in the box (745) which sadly feels like the one truly wasted bit of money. It was an extremely tight fit, cables dont leave much room for a full size card. Anything bigger than the EVGA 660 SSC would be a no go without replacing cables.

I also put in my SSD and cloned the OEM drive to it for the time being. I figured if I take it back, itll be that much easier to restore the HDD to its original condition. Probably a meaningless gesture on my part as coscto will basically take ANYTHING back as long as it falls within their allotted time-frame.

All of this works great. Its quiet and lightning fast. Most games can be run at or near Ultra/1080p/60fps. Arma III still wants more power.

Aside from the expected tight squeeze in the case, my only complaint is about the bios. Its extremely slow to load. Even on the SSD, startup takes well over 30 seconds. Nor is it user friendly. My attempts to correct the issue were mostly hampered by its poor UI.

All in all. Im tempted to stick with it. An upgrade to a 970 after the new year will have me future proof for some time. I could build a similar, overclockable (not interested in OC) machine on an i5 skylake platform for roughly the same price INCLUDING the 970 which might actually be slightly more future proof in terms of gaming. Of course I would have to find the time to assemble it, source and install an OS (free but the windows 10 upgrade path is a PITA) and hope I dont cost myself any downtime.