Dell Studio XPS 8300 review
This Sandy Bridge system has refreshingly different styling and some interesting features, but it's out-performed by almost every other comparable system on the market.
Specifications
3.3GHz Intel Core i5-2500K, 8GB RAM, 21.5in 1,920×1,080 display, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
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This PC only comes with a 21.5in monitor, though, so you’ll have to be reasonably close to watch. It looked a little dull in side-by-side comparisons with other displays, but it was evenly lit and colours looked natural. The supplied mouse is generic but comfortable, while the keyboard lends itself to swift and efficient typing.
With a score of 97 in our benchmarks, the Studio XPS 8300 fails to match the performance of other i5-2500K PCs we’ve tested. Although Dell has used an unlocked processor, it hasn’t been overclocked and there aren’t any overclocking options in the UEFI (BIOS) either, so you can’t do it yourself. With a graphics card that managed 24.2fps in Crysis when similarly priced PCs are getting scores of over 60fps, there’s nothing to impress us here. This is still a powerful PC that can run Call of Duty 4 with a snappy frame rate of 48.6fps, but you can do much better for your money.
Even though it’s a little cheaper than most of the i5-2500K PCs we’ve seen, we were distinctly unimpressed by the 8300’s cluttered interior and poor test scores, and we only got the price down to less than £1,000 by settling for a DVD drive, rather than Blu-ray. Even Dell’s one-year collect and return warranty is outshone by some of its rivals. We prefer the Wired2Fire Hellspawn XFire.
The PC we reviewed is based on Dell’s 123456-D00X8318 evalue code. To get our test specification, you’ll have to phone Dell to add a monitor and swap the Blu-ray re-writer for a DVD-RW drive.
Basic Specifications | |
---|---|
Rating | ** |
Processor | Intel Core i5-2500K |
Processor external bus | 100MHz (Sandy Bridge DMI) |
Processor multiplier | x33 |
Processor clock speed | 3.3GHz |
Processor socket | LGA1155 |
Memory | 8 |
Memory type | PC3-10666 |
Maximum memory | 32GB |
Motherboard | Dell 0Y2MRG |
Motherboard chipset | Intel Sandy Bridge |
Ports | |
USB2 ports (front/rear) | 4/5 |
Firewire ports (front/rear) | 0/0 |
eSATA ports (front/rear) | 0/1 |
Wired network ports | 1x 10/100/1000 |
Wireless networking support | 802.11n (dual band) |
Internal Expansion | |
Case | midi tower |
PCI-E x1 slots (free) | 2 (0) |
PCI-E x16 slots (free) | 1 (0) |
Free Serial ATA ports | 2 |
Free memory slots | 2 |
Free 3.5in drive bays | 2 |
Hard Disk | |
Hard disk model(s) | Hitachi DeskStar (HDS721010CLA) |
Interface | SATA2 |
Total storage capacity | 1,000GB |
Graphics | |
Graphics card(s) | 1GB ATI Radeon HD 5770 |
Graphics/video ports | 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort |
Sound | |
Sound | Realtek HD Audio |
Sound outputs | 7.1 line out, optical S/PDIF out, stereo line out, mic in |
Speakers | none |
Removable Drives | |
Supported memory cards | SD, SDHC, CF, Memory Stick PRO Duo, MMC, RS-MMC, Micro Drive, Smart Media, xD |
Optical drive type(s) | DVD+/-RW +/-DL |
Display | |
Viewable size | 21.5 in |
Screen model | Dell ST2220L |
Native resolution | 1,920×1,080 |
Screen inputs | DVI, VGA, HDMI |
Other Hardware | |
Keyboard | Dell Enhanced USB Multimedia Keyboard |
Mouse | Dell M787C |
Software | |
Software included | Microsoft Office Starter 2010, one year DataSafe Online Blackup 2GB, 15 months McAffee Security Centre |
Operating system | Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit |
Operating system restore option | restore partition |
Buying Information | |
Warranty | one year collect and return |
Price | £889 |
Details | www.dell.co.uk |