Product Reviews

We reviewed Dell's XPS 420 last month, but while that is marketed as a multimedia PC, the XPS 630 is an out-and-out gaming PC. The black case looks the part, and has four LED lighting zones you can customise using the included utility to create the colours you want. However, considering that the 630 doesn't come with a monitor or any speakers, it has to provide more than a nifty-looking case to justify its high price.

Like the 420, the 630 has a Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor and 2GB of RAM. This pairing performed well in our benchmarks, managing 437 in our video-encoding benchmark. This means it can handle demanding tasks with ease, although not all programs take advantage of the quad-core processor.

The main attraction - for gamers, at least - is the pair of GeForce 8800GT graphics cards configured in SLI mode. Each has a whopping 512MB of RAM, and we saw some blistering results in our Prey and Call of Duty 2 tests.

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The frame rates were around three times more than you need for smooth gameplay, so the 630 should be able to play the latest 3D games smoothly.

We've been used to Dell making PCs using Intel's BTX form factor, but the 630 uses an ATX design. It's not the standard design, though; the motherboard is mounted upside down and on the opposite side of the case, meaning that expansion cards don't hang upside down as with a normal PC. The 750W power supply is still at the top, however. Overall, the 630 isn't as noisy as Cube 247's Sigma ST13 (reviewed What's New, Shopper 244), but it isn't as quiet as the XPS 420.

Unlike other SLI-configured PCs, such as Eclipse's Solar i85n88GT SLi, the 630's twin graphics cards don't block off access to its expansion card slots as they occupy only a single slot each. There are PCI, PCI Express x1 and x4 slots so you can fit peripherals such as a TV tuner. You won't need to add a dedicated sound card, though, as a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi is already fitted.

For storage, two 500GB hard disks are configured as a RAID 0 array, providing a huge total of 1TB. There's also a DVD writer, a media card reader and Bluetooth, but no WiFi.

The price includes a year of onsite warranty with gaming support, but even with this, we'd expect a PC with these specifications to cost around £850. Proof of this is easily found: CyberPower's Gamer Infinity Crossfire HD was faster in our tests, has an X-Fi sound card and a 22in widescreen monitor, yet costs £300 less.