Dell Dimension E521 Questions

[bluemax]

Heh.... another call to Dell revealed that the system is now built and ships tomorrow. Okay... I feel better now. Silly people.

 

[GoingUp]

Heres some pics

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/gobadgrs/IMG_1027.JPG
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/gobadgrs/IMG_1026.JPG
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/gobadgrs/IMG_1024.JPG
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/gobadgrs/IMG_1023.JPG

Ram Says:

On the label of my ram chip it says

HYS64T1280HU-3.7-B
Assembled in China
1GB 2rx8 pc2-4200-444-12-E0

B1D63301

The chips themselves say
0632
B
HYB18T512
800BF37
36545194


Performance Testing With 4GB ram and 5000+ AMD right out of box
Sisoft Sandra - CPU
18878 Dreystone
15975 Whetstone

49018 Integer
53312 Floating Point

Ram
6354 ALU
6304 FPU

System is extremely quiet. I played with it without any audio and I can hear the hard drives clicking over the ram.

IMPORTANT NOTE: They don't offer a dual DVI video card. I was told the ATI x1300 was dual DVI but its not. Now I gotta fork out more cash for a dual DVI card. :|

Also the 4GB of ram only shows up as 3.25GB. Why the hell wouldn't they offer me this with windows xp 64bit?

 

[bluemax]

The 4GB problem is thanks to Microsoft, not Dell. RAM limits.

If you wanna' send that X1300 to another soon-to-be E521 owner, I'd sure give it a good home!
Want a Sandisk Sansa 4GB MP3 player (minus cable) in trade?


Can't wait for my new toy to arrive - FINALLY a good computer in my home!!

 

[imported_LoKe]

I got the 7300 LE. I'll be ordering a better card eventually.

 

[GoingUp]

Originally posted by: bluemax
The 4GB problem is thanks to Microsoft, not Dell. RAM limits.

If you wanna' send that X1300 to another soon-to-be E521 owner, I'd sure give it a good home!
Want a Sandisk Sansa 4GB MP3 player (minus cable) in trade?


Can't wait for my new toy to arrive - FINALLY a good computer in my home!!

I'm going to keep that card for a future system. I like that its passive cooled.

As far as the RAM goes, I now understand that, but why the hell doesn't dell even offer XP 64bit as an option?

 

[bluemax]

Originally posted by: Gobadgrs
As far as the RAM goes, I now understand that, but why the hell doesn't dell even offer XP 64bit as an option?

It does - on the business side. Just as well, as it's near-useless for most home users.

Vista will feature way more RAM support - heck, you could throw in a 1GB compact-flash card into your reader and Vista will use it as temporary system RAM! That's pretty cool in my books.... ...if it's stable!

 

[bluemax]

Ha! It's arrived! I'll have to play with it and open it up when I get back home from work.

Can't wait to use it - it'll be the fastest computer I've ever been on! I just really hope they didn't screw up again!

 

[Raduque]

So according to Gobadger's pics, a dual-slot vidcard won't fit, because the heatsink will hit the BTX shroud, and the back plate doesn't have anywhere to go? Simple solution... smaller aftermarket cooler and a single-slot back plate. Voila`!

Looks like a smokin' deal regardless..... and yes BTX is stupid.

 

[imported_LoKe]

Mine's still in production! :|

 

[bluemax]

Originally posted by: LoKe
Mine's still in production! :|

Have you called to complain? If you do it right (firm but pleasant) you should be able to "encourage" them to follow through. That's what happened in my case.

 

[mshan]

My dad wants to replace his Dell Dimension 8200 (circa 2001 P4 1.8).

He has an Intel iMac for video editing, so this would be for webbrowsing, word processing, and light photo editing in Picassa.

Will there be any perceptible difference (speed and instantaneous snappiness) between the Sempron and Athlon64? What about x2 3800+?

And what about vs. Core2 Duo E520 that have just been released (why is there two memory speeds, 533 and 667, given that fsb is 1066)?

 

[imported_LoKe]

Originally posted by: bluemax

Originally posted by: LoKe
Mine's still in production! :|

Have you called to complain? If you do it right (firm but pleasant) you should be able to "encourage" them to follow through. That's what happened in my case.

I'll be calling tomorrow to "inquire" about its status if it has not changed. The problem is, they quoted a ship date of October 20th. :shocked: Knowing they ship much earlier than that is good, but that could easily turn into their defense, "It doesn't have to go out for another..."

 

[bluemax]

Well, first evening of using it.

Overall impression: meh... it's okay. Not super quiet, IMHO. I miss IDE which is not present on here at all... I'll have to go grab a PCI IDE controller to use my old DVD burner (no way was I paying $50 for a DVDRW upgrade!)

I can't believe they shipped it with two big scratches across the top of the case!!

Haven't tried to use anything that would show off the X2's multitasking pep yet.

Cleaned out the Dell junk I didn't want preinstalled.

The only really big thing goinf for it was it was cheap, and I had a discount coupon from my ISP making it VERY cheap - and I could finance that cheapness.

I'll report back later as to my overall impressions.

 

[mshan]

Do any of these Dells (e.g. Core2 Duo E520) have IDE connectors for optical drives?

 

[bluemax]

Negative.

Make sure you get a good deal that *includes* whatever you need. No legacy ports on here - except a floppy controller! I find that odd... lose IDE but keep floppy??

 

[saber800]

So how come Dell isn't using DDR2-800 instead of DDR2-533 (other than price)? Are there any big disadvantages to using the slower memory?

I'm really considering buying the E521 instead of a custom build. Very tempting...

 

[imported_LoKe]

Holy crap it's still in production. The only reason I bought a Dell was because I could get financing, since I didn't have the money. By the time it gets here, I'd be able to build my own. :|

 

[imported_TechGod]

Hi All , I thought you'd like to know about Dell completely screwing up and falsely advertising their Dell Dimension E521..


http://www.d4n.org/2006/12/06/dell-dime...ise-in-futility-customer-support-hell/

It Doesn't support RAID 0 but supports RAID 1, and I figured out its cheaper just to build your own system!

 

[kalster]

what is the best video card you can put in the e521, i got a great deal on one. I am not a heavy gamer, mostly sports (madden, fifa) type stuff, will a 7900gs or x1950 pro fit and does the psu have enough juice for it

 

[Mjvyxyn]

I love how people say " YOU CAN'T DO THAT !!!" without using thier brain and realizing that with a dremel and a few mins you can make anything possible : )

Pic 1

Pic 2

Thats right you know it all's. Thats an X1800XT flashed to an X1800XT PE running from the Stock PSU, not to mention I modded the case to accept a standard ATX PSU : O

Try looking into it or thinking before you state your idea of a fact for an actual fact : )

Dell E521 = 9,876,382.7

Know it all's = 0

You can shove any card you want into the E521 if you're willing to spend some time to mod the case and upgrade the PSU : ) Forget what the know it all's say ; )

 

[Roguestar]

Most people don't want to have to take their power tools out just to add in expansion cards for their PC. Sounds reasonable to me.

Originally posted by: saber800
So how come Dell isn't using DDR2-800 instead of DDR2-533 (other than price)?

With a Core 2 Duo, the memory runs at 533mhz as standard unless it's overclocked, because the FSB is default at 266. They only need 533 and there's not a huge, noticeable real-world difference in running memory at 800 unless your CPU is overclocked as well.

 

[scidork]

Is it just me or does the motherboard seem to be on the opposite side of the computer case than normal. At least in my experience, as you look at the front of the comp, isnt the motherboard on the inside right wall?

 

[mezrah]

Originally posted by: scidork
Is it just me or does the motherboard seem to be on the opposite side of the computer case than normal. At least in my experience, as you look at the front of the comp, isnt the motherboard on the inside right wall?

It's called BTX...it's the successor to ATX, which you are used to seeing.

 

[In2Photos]

I believe that is because the Motherboard is BTX and not ATX.

Originally posted by: scidork
Is it just me or does the motherboard seem to be on the opposite side of the computer case than normal. At least in my experience, as you look at the front of the comp, isnt the motherboard on the inside right wall?

 

[deutschlander16]

hm, this is an old topic, but my question matches with it, so here we go. I'm going to upgrade my dell E521 with a new video card, i'm personnally thinking about the BFG geforce 8600 GTS OC2 256mb ddr3, along with a new power supply. now, i think this card is just a single slot, so, should can this card work in a dell E521 w/ a new power supply? i was also looking at some cards that take up one slot, but use two external metal slots? can i do that? or are those cards too much for this computer?

thanks for your time, any comments are appriciated