Dell XPS 430-121B review: Dell XPS 430-121B

Back in 2007, we reviewed Dell's XPS 420 that focused in on digital video with a few other light upgrades on the side. Just over a year later, Best Buy and Dell now offer the $900 Dell XPS 430-121B, a lightweight version of the Dell's customizable media-centric system. This refresh leaves out the superfluous Windows SideShow LCD that made an appearance on the 420, and it also costs significantly less. Instead, the 430-121B come stuffed with accessories like a dedicated graphics card, a TV tuner, and a blazing quad-core processor. We have no problem recommending it for media sharing across a network as well as performing light digital-editing duties.

7.6

Dell XPS 430-121B

The Good

Aggressive processor speed and DD3 memory yield impressive benchmarks; configuration includes TV tuner; innovative chassis design and open ports encourage expansion; inexpensive.

The Bad

No wireless networking; budget graphics card can't compete with the competition.

The Bottom Line

Dell's XPS 430-121B, sold exclusively at Best Buy, outpaces the competition and carries an impressive set of media-centric features. Heavy gamers can find a more suitable system elsewhere, but digital media enthusiasts will appreciate this Dell in their home network.

At first glance, the XPS 430-121B's chassis looks very similar to the XPS 420. The case features a stoic glossy black finish that exudes subtle class. A dual-layer DVD burner occupies one of the three optical slots on the front panel--the other two below it remain available to accept another drive or extra storage. A small digital media card reader sits between the drives and the USB, FireWire, and audio ports, providing direct access for your SD, MemoryStick, CompactFlash, and SmartMedia cards.

Starting at the top, you'll see an Ethernet port and the standard set of audio ports including one for digital output, as well as five additional USB plugs. Dell does not include wireless networking, and while we still don't expect to see wireless come standard in traditional tower PCs, we can also understand if you miss it given Wi-Fi's ubiquity.

Although this system doesn't come with a Blu-ray player or the dedicated video transcoder that we saw in the 420, you can still plug an antenna cable into the TV tuner card and watch basic over-the-air television or unencrypted cable. With the included software from Hauppauge, you can watch and record live TV, but one initial suggestion we'll make is that you go to the Hauppauge site and update the driver, or you'll suffer from choppy onscreen video. Just underneath the TV tuner cable plug, you'll find a dual set of extra storage connectivity options by way of eSATA and FireWire ports.

Dell makes good use of the top of the tower with a textured tray for external accessories and a quick release handle that pops off the side panel sans screws. In fact, the system has barely any screws at all. The hard drive and optical bays fasten using tabbed plastic brackets that make swapping a breeze. Once inside, you'll see an open hard-drive bay for increasing storage, and two slots in the optical drive bay. In terms of card expansion, you get an extra PCI slot in addition to the one taken by the graphics card, a PCI-E x1 slot, three SATA plugs, and another PCI-E x8 slot if you pop out the 56k modem. Unfortunately, the four memory slots are already filled with two 1GB and two 2GB sticks, so you'll have to throw at least one away to upgrade to the maximum 8GB, an expensive replacement considering the current price of DDR3 memory sticks.

Gateway puts together a similar system in its LX6810-01 quad-core system, but for $100 less than the Dell XPS thanks to its slower processor and smaller hard drive. In the end, the Gateway makes a more compelling argument for the hard-core PC gamer, thanks to its aggressive graphics card and an extra two gigs of RAM; Dell isn't exactly sleeping on the job, though--its 6GB of DDR3 memory compared with DDR2 makes the promise to transfer data at twice the transfer speed.

Cinebench
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Rendering multiple CPUs

Rendering single CPU

Dell XPS 430-121B

10,701 

2,983 

Dell Studio MT

9,914 

2,747 

Gateway LX6810-01

9,545 

2,731 

HP Pavilion Elite m9500y

9,586 

2,466 

HP Pavilion Elite m9402f

8,759 

2,277 

Unreal Tournament 3
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

1,280x1,024

Dell Studio MT

HP Pavilion Elite m9500y

41 

Gateway LX6810-01

43 

Dell XPS 430-121B

37 

Dell makes its most noticeable leap in the multitasking test, where it beats the Gateway by almost a full minute, likely due to a slightly faster CPU and memory speeds. The Gateway does have two more gigabytes of RAM inside, but the DDR3 RAM in the Dell may help offset the Gateway's memory volume advantage with more speed. The extra minute of load time is especially significant for those interested in a media-oriented PC. As shown by our Unreal Tournament benchmark scores, the Gateway's GeForce GT 120 card easily outpaces Dell's middle-range ATI Radeon 3650 without breaking a sweat. You also get a TV tuner built into the Gateway for added home theater entertainment, but both computers lack wireless Internet.

Based on its Unreal Tournament 3 scores, the Gateway is a better choice if you value graphic muscle over storage and speed. However, go with this Dell XPS if you're planning on streaming video, media storage, and general entertainment over a home network. It'll let you blaze through multiple programs and encode audio/video with incomparable speeds. Make no mistake that this Dell is missing advanced features like Blu-ray, wireless Internet, Bluetooth, and a remote that extends the home theater capabilities of the system, but the current configuration provides enough power to float you through online streaming video content, media serving, and light gaming.

Dell's support guarantee is a solid competitor against other midrange vendors. You get the standard one-year parts-and-labor coverage as well as 24-7 toll-free phone troubleshooting and a full year of onsite service in case you require help in person. Dell also offers online chats that put you directly in touch with a Dell technician who can help you fix internal problems or even access your computer remotely.

Find out more about how we test desktop systems.

System configurations:
Dell Studio Desktop
64-bit Windows Vista Home Premium; 2.3GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200; 4GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 128MB 256MB ATI Radeon HD 3650; 640GB, 7,200 rpm hard drive.

Dell XPS 430-121B
64-bit Windows Vista Home Premium; 2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q8300 ; 6GB DDR3 1066MHz; 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 Graphics card; 750GB, 7,200 rpm hard drive.

Gateway LX6810-01
64-bit Windows Vista Home Premium; 2.3GHz Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q8200; 8GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 256MB ATI Radeon HD 3650 graphics card; 640GB, 7,200RPM hard drive.

HP Pavilion Elite m9402f
64-bit Windows Vista Home Premium; 2.3GHz AMD Phenom Quad Core X4 9650; 7GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 128MB (shared) Nvidia GeForce 6150 SE integrated graphics chip; 640GB, 7,200 rpm hard drive.

HP Pavilion Elite Ordinateur m9500y
64-bit Windows Vista Home Premium; 2.4GHz AMD Phenim 9750 X4 Quad Core; 8GB DDR2 800MHz; 512MB Nvidia GeForce 9500 GS; 750GB, 7,200 rpm hard drive.