[ebay/newegg] Dell XPS X8700-4386 Desktop Core i7 4790 16GB RAM 2TB+32GB SSHD $930+FS

wow they bought these from bestbuy for 899 and turning it for +$30
I wondered where all the stocks went in a day when bb dropped it to 899
Thanks anyway

btw that 1299 tag as regular price is BS, this unit can be had anywhere for 1099

Double check the specs. The one went for $899 on BB had 8GB RAM and 1TB HD. This one has 16GB RAM and 2TB+32GB SSHD. The video cards were probably different too.

Hrm.. looks like close to the normal price. There is some slight inconsistency in specs (mainly, dell and other vendors state it has a GTX 745 4G ram, while the ebay listing shows it as GTX 750 2G ram), but:

Bestbuy $949
Dell $1,050

I would say its an OK deal

I bought mine from Costco about 4months ago now. Pretty much the same computer, but 12GB ram and 1TB hard drive. Price was $799

Here is the post costco-dell-xps-8700-desktop-computer-p ... a-1663685/

There are different hardware configurations for Dell XPS 8700, at different price points. The one on sale for $799 from Costco, if I recalled correctly, did not have a dedicated video card.

py2000 wrote: ↑There are different hardware configurations for Dell XPS 8700, at different price points. The one on sale for $799 from Costco, if I recalled correctly, did not have a dedicated video card.

yes it did. it came with the nvidia gtx 745 gtx (4gb ram)

Just wanted to also note that the [ebay/newegg] deal is fairly good. would be very hard to build a computer for the price

If this is the spec you wanted, it's a good buy. Compared to the Costco deal (130$ more), it's also a good buy, since a large number of parts prices shifted upwards since then.

i7-4790
16GB RAM <= Costco was 12GB.
2TB HDD + 32GB SSHD <= Costco was 1TB. From the XPS specs, it's implied that it's a 2TB drive with the 32GB Intel Smart Response mSATA card. Already miles ahead of a single 1TB.
nVidia GTX 750 Ti 2GB <= Costco unit was a GTX745, which looks like a GTX750 with very nerfed memory, making it behave more like the low-end GTX 740 card (ie: poor for gaming)

Otherwise, the CPU is downright overkill compared to the GPU they put in. At least the 750 Ti has good enough performance to play games without having to be replaced...

I believe the GTX 750 Ti (!) is better than the GTX 745; the former has GDDR5 while the latter has DDR3. 750ti is leagues ahead from what I can see, even with less memory:

http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nv ... 2187vs2638

This is a good deal. The one at BB for 950$ doesn't even have the same drive, nor graphics card.

dysonlu wrote: ↑I believe the GTX 750 Ti (!) is better than the GTX 745; the former has GDDR5 while the latter has DDR3. 750ti is leagues ahead from what I can see, even with less memory:
http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nv ... 2187vs2638
This is a good deal. The one at BB for 950$ doesn't even have the same drive, nor graphics card.

GTX 745 is simply junk, plain and simple. They just stick it in there to say they have a card, but in the end you'd need to replace it anyway. It's not even aimed as mass market, since it's an OEM model (meaning that the OEM wanted these "specs") which would never actually sell if they sold it in stores by itself.

I MUST buy a pc with similar specs in the next 2 weeks, should I jump on this one?

tours99 wrote: ↑I MUST buy a pc with similar specs in the next 2 weeks, should I jump on this one?

Yes. It's unlikely there will be a better deal in the meanwhile. Most of the big deals are for the mid-range stuff that people don't buy, never the high-end.

apf888 wrote: ↑If this is the spec you wanted, it's a good buy. Compared to the Costco deal (130$ more), it's also a good buy, since a large number of parts prices shifted upwards since then.

i7-4790
16GB RAM <= Costco was 12GB.
2TB HDD + 32GB SSHD <= Costco was 1TB. From the XPS specs, it's implied that it's a 2TB drive with the 32GB Intel Smart Response mSATA card. Already miles ahead of a single 1TB.
nVidia GTX 750 Ti 2GB <= Costco unit was a GTX745, which looks like a GTX750 with very nerfed memory, making it behave more like the low-end GTX 740 card (ie: poor for gaming)

Otherwise, the CPU is downright overkill compared to the GPU they put in. At least the 750 Ti has good enough performance to play games without having to be replaced...

Yes, that pretty much sums it up between the two. If I didn't buy the Costco model I probably would of jumped on this deal. Only other thing Costco has over this is the extra 2 year warranty for free and easy return without the shipping

You can build a near identical system for about the same price, minus the OS.

This build however is not that great for the price, the i7 is overkill while the 750 ti is better suited for lower/medium end/budget builds. If you want to do better for gaming you'll need to replace video card & power supply. For gaming you would generally build an i5 paired with a 280/290/780/970/980.

For office work with an option of light to medium end gaming this might be okay, if you really don't want to build yourself. Another plus is that a couple of years down the road you can upgrade it into a more suitable gaming machine.

The only major upsides with this is that it comes with Windows, you won't have to it build yourself, you won't have to wait for separate shipments of items you want and you'll avoid MIRs.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($366.75 @ shopRBC)
Motherboard: ASRock B85 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($67.95 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Team Vulcan 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($119.49 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Patriot Blaze 60GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($43.93 @ shopRBC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($79.99 @ Canada Computers)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($138.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: BitFenix Comrade ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.12 @ DirectCanada)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($35.99 @ NCIX)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0 DVD/CD Writer ($16.98 @ DirectCanada)
Total: $909.18
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-22 17:03 EDT-0400

zentro wrote: ↑You can build a near identical system for about the same price, minus the OS.

This build however is not that great for the price, the i7 is overkill while the 750 ti is better suited for lower/medium end/budget builds. If you want to do better for gaming you'll need to replace video card & power supply. For gaming you would generally build an i5 paired with a 280/290/780/970/980.

For office work with an option of light to medium end gaming this might be okay, if you really don't want to build yourself. Another plus is that a couple of years down the road you can upgrade it into a more suitable gaming machine.

The only major upsides with this is that it comes with Windows, you won't have to it build yourself, you won't have to wait for separate shipments of items you want and you'll avoid MIRs.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($366.75 @ shopRBC)
Motherboard: ASRock B85 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($67.95 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Team Vulcan 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($119.49 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Patriot Blaze 60GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($43.93 @ shopRBC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($79.99 @ Canada Computers)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($138.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: BitFenix Comrade ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.12 @ DirectCanada)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($35.99 @ NCIX)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0 DVD/CD Writer ($16.98 @ DirectCanada)
Total: $909.18
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-22 17:03 EDT-0400

*sigh*

That build isn't even remotely identical:
1. It doesn't match the spec. XPS 8700 has a Z87, not a B85. That's a minimum 40$ difference.
2. An SLC cache drive is not the same as an MLC drive. That same SLC cache drive costs twice as much as that Patriot Blaze. Plus the Intel drive can be used for SRT.
3. Windows *does* count if you do a comparison. It costs an extra 100$.
4. Also missing from your build: keyboard, mouse, 802.11ac wireless card, Bluetooth, card reader (removed, since it's not listed on this SKU). That's another 60$ there.

Also, it doesn't look like you tested your order. It's coming from 5 different places and has 4 different MIRs which are locked to that store, making single-source impossible. If we do try to order it, we get:

Order #1 NCIX
$369.99 Intel Core i7 I7-4790 Haswell 3.6GHZ Processor LGA1150 8MB Cache Retail
-> Free GROUND SHIPPING for this order!
$45.99 EVGA 500W 80 Plus Certified Active PFC 12V 34A Power Supply 3 Year Warranty
$79.99 Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA3 64MB Cache 3.5in Internal Hard Drive
-> after PM with 79.99 http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_ ... _id=042241
$16.98 LG GH24NSC0 DVD-RW 24X SATA Black OEM
-> after 16.98 PM with http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=16951101199
$39.12 Bitfenix Comrade Black ATX Mid Tower Case 3X5.25 3X3.25 3X2.5 *No PS* 2XUSB3.0 Audio
-> after 39.12 PM with with http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=31230AC0636
Subtotal (assuming all PMs go through): $552.07
Shipping: $0.00 (because of Intel CPU)
Total before taxes: $552.07
MIR: $10.00

Order #2 Vuugo
$92.95 ASRock B85 Anniversary ATX Motherboard
Subtotal: $92.95
Shipping: $7.99
Total before taxes: $100.94
MIR: $25.00

Order #3 Newegg
$179.99 MSI N750TI-2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB 128-Bit GDDR5
$129.99 Team Vulcan 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (TLYD316G1600HC10ADC01)
-$19.50 Discount From Promo Code *****CA518EX
-$20.00 Discount From Promo Code 0521CAMMG15
Subtotal: $270.48
Shipping: $17.98
Total before taxes: $288.46
MIR: $30.00

Order #4 ShopRBC
$43.93 Patriot Blaze 60GB 2.5" SATA3 SSD
Subtotal: $43.98
Shipping $8.00
Total before taxes: $51.93
MIR: $0.00

All orders total:
Totals before shipping+tx: 552.07 + 92.95 + 270.48 + 43.93 = $959.43
Shipping: 0 + 7.99 + 17.98 + 8.00 = $33.97
Total after shipping before tax: $993.40
MIR: 10 + 25 + 30 + 0 = $65 MIR

So, assuming 15% tax, this inferior-spec build will cost you: $993.40 + $149.01 tx - 65$MIR = $1077.41 IF you get all the MIRs (and doesn't even have Windows...).

Meanwhile, the XPS will cost you: $929.99 free shipping + $139.49 tx = $1069.48 (ie: LESS without MIR) and has the following advantages over the other build:
- Includes a Z87 instead of a B85 (note: B85 does NOT support Intel SRT)
- Includes keyboard and mouse
- Includes wireless card that does 802.11ac and BT 4.0
- Includes a card reader(removed, since not outright listed on this SKU)
- Includes a full, legit Windows 8.1
- Includes a full 1 year single source warranty that doesn't involve you paying 25$ to ship a bloody power supply back to California.

The only benefit of that custom build is that the XPS only has a 460W power supply (not that I would trust that eVGA power supply, it's even more generic than that Dell one...).

So yeah, this XPS is irrefutably a good deal and trying to do a build using the cheapest parts possible in a desperate attempt to match/undercut it is foolhardy at best. To make it equivalent, you had to add at *least* another $200-$250 in parts before taxes. You just can't beat economies of scale.

Custom builds are a good choice when you want to CHOOSE your pieces (ie: if you didn't want a 4790 or a GTX 750Ti and swap with something else). Otherwise you'll end up with random xyz crap that's worse.

I have been using an i7/16GBRAM/2TB/750Ti(purchased separately) similar built from Acer for over a year now, and it runs great for gaming. I paid less than $800 all together for it, and it's worth every penny. CPU is never overkill; I've always believed you should get the best CPU you can at the time of your purchase. I can game on this rig, while transcoding videos to multiple Plex clients simultaneously. Didn't bother with an SSD, as this computer is always on, and everything runs so fast, save a few seconds when I load a new game or whatnot.

apf888: You have some good points, but you are reading into it a bit too much as far as the components, vendors & specific prices, as I posted it as a general concept not an actual build. Most people wouldn't build such an oddly configured system as the Dell XPS X8700.

In reality a budget of $900-1000 is far better spent on an i5 and a better video card, psu, ssd, etc.

apf888,

If you like this hardware configuration and miss it last time, it's now $950 + $25 shipping.