reviews Tes Ted. Reviewed. veRdic Tized
80 MAXIMUMPC november 2007 november 2007 MAXIMUMPC 81
Dell shipped a bushel of extras with
our machine, including Razer’s Tarantula
keyboard and Copperhead mouse, as well
as an Ageia PhysX card, which just seems
silly to us. Sure, it’s an optional component
and dedicated physics processors may one
day be awesome, but until there are PhysX
games worth playing, the card just takes up
a PCI slot.
We have only a few other quibbles
with this machine. First, the front panel is
composed of the same flimsy plastic lattice
that’s appeared on previous XPS models.
Drive bay covers kept falling off their hinges,
and the horizontal bars bend easily. Not a
huge deal, but in an otherwise solid case,
they feel cheap.
Speaking of solid, this machine is heavy.Top-heavy, too—it comes with a stand, com-
plete with backward-swept chrome “wings”
to keep it from toppling over sideways.
Our big complaint with this machine is
Dell’s use of a proprietary motherboard and
power supply. The BTX mobo means upgrad-
ing your system will be almost impossible,
as Intel stopped development on the BTX
standard more than a year ago. The power
supply is also proprietary and features a non-
standard power connection, which means
you can only use a Dell power cord.
Overall, the XPS 720 H2C marks the first
Dell we’ve seen in a while that can stand
toe-to-toe with the baddest machines in
the business. Its lightning-fast multimedia
performance and sick gaming frame rates
make it a good choice for gamers and mediagurus alike. And with a quad-core processor
and 4GB of RAM, it should age well. Just
be aware that the BTX formfactor will make
it difficult to perform major upgrades. And
don’t lose your power cord.
—nathan edwards$6,810, http://www.dell.comdell xps 720 h2cenchanted
Blazing-fast media and
game performance. Looks
good.
slanted^8
Damn you, proprietary systems!
And PhysX? Really?the h2c cooler dominates the 720’s case, but there’s still room for two 8800 Ultras, an X-Fi soundcard, and a PhysX card.