9200 shipped
Tom Scales
ordered them Friday morning (1/5) and they had an estimated ship date of
1/11. Shipped on 1/6.
This is the one area were Dell is very conservative.
I'll likely get them before they send the tracking number. That's a
weakness in their system.
leaenn...@budweiser.com
Yeah mine was with me in no time at all just before Christmas and I'm
tickled pink with it.
Interesting that Dell have reverted back to metal casings for this
model (my 8200, 8300 and 8400's were all plastic and had the clamshell
no-tools method of opening).
To get inside the 9200 you release a black lever at the back of the
case and one side lifts away..........have to say I was very impressed
with the tidiness inside the box, all the cabling has been clipped
neatly.
Haven't tried anything too intensive just yet but even on everyday
tasks this E6600 with 2gb ram is noticeably quicker than my old 3.2
with 4gb.
I think you'll have lots of fun Tom..........!
Tom Scales
<leaenn...@budweiser.com> wrote in message
news:1168179024.9...@11g2000cwr.googlegroups.com...
Sadly, once setup, it will sit in the corner and not get touched. The life
of TV Server
RnR
wrote:
May want to rethink that after you notice how much of a difference in
that role vs. pc it replaces and how you use your own pc for everyday
useage <grin>.
RnR
>
>
>Yeah mine was with me in no time at all just before Christmas and I'm
>tickled pink with it.
>
>Interesting that Dell have reverted back to metal casings for this
>model (my 8200, 8300 and 8400's were all plastic and had the clamshell
>no-tools method of opening).
>
>To get inside the 9200 you release a black lever at the back of the
>case and one side lifts away..........have to say I was very impressed
>with the tidiness inside the box, all the cabling has been clipped
>neatly.
>
>Haven't tried anything too intensive just yet but even on everyday
>tasks this E6600 with 2gb ram is noticeably quicker than my old 3.2
>with 4gb.
>
>I think you'll have lots of fun Tom..........!
You guys are tempting me to make the plunge and I'm 100% sure I WILL
see a big difference since like Tom, I'm using the 4550 for my
everyday pc. Kinda odd I guess when I have a new laptop sitting in
the next room (core2duo) and I only use it for lighter/less often
useage now (supposedly for my wife but we can both use it). I prefer
tho to make the desktop my "main" machine for business related useage
now but maybe in time, I'll change that and just make the desktop more
of a backup machine (unless I go with an external hard drives for
backups in which case I may just keep laptops in the house... that
reminds me to ask something I'll post later).
I think Tom got a good price for the specs in his new pc's based on
what I saw yesterday and since he was kind enough to post the price
and specs, I'll be looking to match it. I'm not in a rush so I can
wait a while if necessary but thanks to Tom, I have a benchmark to
shoot for. I'll only buy one of them tho :( as I don't need more
at this time and it will replace my own 4550 for everyday use at my
home desk and the 4550 will be relegated to a lesser role where I
currently have an older celeron pc which in turn may be donated to a
relative or other. I still love the 4550 tho <okay I'm a bit
sentimental>.
HDRDTD
got to be the worst style case I've run across.
every time you manage to press those two buttons on either end of the case
'just right' so they both relaese at the same time and lift, the whole case
lifts up because the hinge mechanism is so stiff.
I too have recently bought a new Dell (XPS 410 in my case) with the E6600
processor and 2gig of ram.
I love the new style case ( I also have two E520's with the new case style),
it's very easy to work on.
And, I bought my 410 to replace my main system at home which is a 3.2Ghz
with 2gig of ram. The 410 with the E6600 and 2gig of ram is noticably
quicker than the old 3.2Ghz system.
<leaenn...@budweiser.com> wrote in message
news:1168179024.9...@11g2000cwr.googlegroups.com...
>
Tom Scales
<RnR> wrote in message news:gt22q21aafg00iq98...@4ax.com...
>>Sadly, once setup, it will sit in the corner and not get touched. The
>>life
>>of TV Server
>>
>
>
> May want to rethink that after you notice how much of a difference in
> that role vs. pc it replaces and how you use your own pc for everyday
> useage <grin>.
Problem is, that's where I need the power.
Maybe another one for me :)
William R. Walsh
> I was surprised to get an email today that my machines shipped yesterday.
I
> ordered them Friday morning (1/5) and they had an estimated ship date of
> 1/11. Shipped on 1/6.
Did I hear correctly from another post that you have a Dimension 8400 you
are retiring?
Is there any possibility you'd sell the 8400? I have a Dimension 8300 that
is very disappointing performance-wise, and the 8400 seems to be much
better. I'd like to get my hands on an 8400 second-hand. At the same time,
I'd like to know that it has been taken good care of. I don't need hard
drives, just a box that will work when I provide drives to it...so if you
are concerned about data security...
I am located in the US, don't know where you are. If nothing else, I'd like
to know what you'd consider selling your 8400 for...
William
Tom Scales
"William R. Walsh" <newsg...@idontwantjunqueemail.walshcomptech.com>
wrote in message news:7zeoh.297068$FQ1.18551@attbi_s71...
Sorry, no, the 8400 still has great value to me, for the reasons you state.
It's a 2400 and 4550 that may be on the block.
William R. Walsh
> Sorry, no, the 8400 still has great value to me, for the reasons
> you state. It's a 2400 and 4550 that may be on the block.
Okay, thanks for getting back to me. (No harm in asking, right?)
I have a 2400 and a 4550 as well...both are good machines if you don't mind
the limits they have.
William
S.Lewis
"William R. Walsh" <newsg...@idontwantjunqueemail.walshcomptech.com>
wrote in message news:3Ugoh.342075$1i1.60695@attbi_s72...
I personally would never take an 8400 over an 8300, but I'm biased. My
experience with both of these models finds the Dim8300 to be generally more
well-behaved and stable.
The 8400 added a lot of new technology at once when it was introduced and
those with problems (of which Tom's is obviously not one) are a royal PITA.
I love my 8300, even though it's just sitting around at the moment.
Stew
Tom Scales
"S.Lewis" <stew...@mail.com> wrote in message
news:A9hoh.20551$_X.13872@bigfe9...
Just curious. What did the 8400 add that the 8300 didn't have. PCIe?
Both have Sata.
The 8400 was my wife's machine. She was brutal on machines and it has been
absolutely rock solid.
S.Lewis
"Tom Scales" <tjsc...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:45a1a3a1$0$25956$c3e...@news.astraweb.com...
Full SATA for the hard disks, only a single IDE controller on the system
board for the opticals. RAID. DDR2. LGA775 CPU. New, larger cpu/case fan
assembly.(Additional vents front/back of the case). PCIexpress. Additional
optional clip-on case fan for under the drive cage.
That model was a pretty aggressive departure from the (Dell) Intel 875 based
board in the 8300. Given the lack of any quantity of problem posts in this
ng, I've always assumed the ones I'd seen were early on in the model, or
perhaps I just have bad luck. g
Incredible runaway fan phenomenon I'll never forget, among some other
things.
Stew
William R. Walsh
> My experience with both of these models finds the Dim8300 to
> be generally more well-behaved and stable.
I do wish I could say that for mine. I custom built it to be a very nice
machine. Even today it stacks up well, with two SATA hard drives, 1GB of RAM
and a 3.4GHz Pentium 4 HT CPU. Windows 2000 Pro SP4 is the OS of choice. On
paper, it should be hard to beat.
At that rate, it ought to be a screamer. Sadly, my Latitude D800 can (and
does) run circles around it for just about every task. It's not that the
processor in the 8300 isn't fast...it's more like the machine gets to be
disk I/O bound. From the behavior I've seen, it's almost like the disk
subsystem just can't keep up. Sometimes the machine hangs up so hard with
the disk light on solid, and stays that way. The only way to regain control
is to hold the power button or pull the plug. I can still try to control
things, but I'm waiting on the disk subsystem to come up for air.
Both Western Digital SATA hard disks (one 160GB and the other 200) seem to
be in excellent health. They pass through SpinRite 6 without any issues on
both this and another SATA-equipped machine. I have no viruses, spyware or
other problems. This machine lives to run VMware Workstation, and sometimes
gets used as a TV with my ATI TV Wonder PCI. It really doesn't get out on
the 'net much.
> The 8400 added a lot of new technology at once when it
> was introduced and those with problems (of which Tom's
> is obviously not one) are a royal PITA.
The one I saw early on was well behaved as far as I could tell. And it ran
rings around my 8300 as well. I don't know...maybe I just got a lemon?
What is your suggestion for a replacement to the 8300, if the 8400 might be
troublesome in some cases?
William
William R. Walsh
> Incredible runaway fan phenomenon I'll never forget, among some other
> things.
Hmmm...the 8400 I played with was quiet and well behaved. My 8300 has to be
heard to be believed. On a summer day it's as loud as a vacuum cleaner!
For differences in the case and insides, I took pictures of the inside and
outside of both machines here:
http://greyghost.dyndns.org/8300vs8400/
(Just in "case" anyone's interested... :-) )
William
William R. Walsh
there...must have deleted them by mistake. Oh well.
William
Tom Scales
"William R. Walsh" <newsg...@idontwantjunqueemail.walshcomptech.com>
wrote in message news:o3loh.205860$aJ.86069@attbi_s21...
> Hi!
>
>> My experience with both of these models finds the Dim8300 to
>> be generally more well-behaved and stable.
>
> I do wish I could say that for mine. I custom built it to be a very nice
> machine. Even today it stacks up well, with two SATA hard drives, 1GB of
> RAM
> and a 3.4GHz Pentium 4 HT CPU. Windows 2000 Pro SP4 is the OS of choice.
> On
> paper, it should be hard to beat.
Two things
- Check and make sure both drives are set to Auto in the BIOS. Many people
don't do this step. It works, but they are really, really slow
- This machine was never designed for Windows 2000 and I suspect it is being
slowed down by weakness in the OS. Try XP. Just curious, why are you
running 2000?
William R. Walsh
Thank you for the pointers. I have some more questions, primarily to help in
clarifying what I should check.
> - Check and make sure both drives are set to Auto in the BIOS.
> Many people don't do this step. It works, but they are really, really
slow
What "auto" parameter am I looking for? I remember two, one for the device
attached to the SATA controller, and another for drive acoustics. The
acoustic management was set to "performance" when I got the machine.
> This machine was never designed for Windows 2000 and I suspect
> it is being slowed down by weakness in the OS. Try XP. Just curious,
> why are you running 2000?
I guess I'd have to say that I don't buy into the whole "designed for"
business. I really think that's more of a function for Microsoft to sell
more new operating systems. :-) The computer did come preloaded with XP
Home, primarily because I had to pick something at the time of purchase. Had
I known about the "N" models, I probably would have purchased one of those
instead.
I can't imagine why (given the few differences between W2K and XP) this
computer wouldn't run well under Windows 2000. I'm not interested in running
Windows XP (or Vista) for a variety of reasons that start with (but are by
no means limited to) product activation.
William