Dell Dimension 8300 review

Sometimes you just can't compromise. You want caviar - not cod's roe. But to get the very best, you have to be prepared to dig deep into your pocket. If you don't think that's a problem, we've found you the perfect PC.

This system positively bristles with new technology. For starters, its 3GHz processor is one of Intel's latest chips. Not only does it have a high core clock speed, it also has an 800MHz front-side bus. This is the link through which the processor communicates with the motherboard chipset - and, through the chipset, with the rest of your PC. The faster the speed of the front-side bus, the more able the processor is to work at its full capacity.

Supporting the processor is Intel's latest chipset, the 875P, often referred to by its codename 'Canterwood'. This supports something called 'dual channel memory', which means that instead of having just one pipeline between the RAM and the chipset, the Dell PC has two. Because of this, the memory bandwidth (the speed at which data can be shifted to and from the memory) is 6.4GB a second - double that of Intel's normal DDR chipsets.

There's more to performance, however, than just the processor and RAM. If you're interested in playing games, the real clincher here is the Dell's graphics card. It has a Radeon 9800 Pro - ATI's latest and fastest product, which has a clock speed that's 55MHz faster than its previous performance champ, the 9700 Pro.

With all this top-notch hardware on board, the last thing you want is to find a bottleneck elsewhere in the system. For this reason, Dell has chosen a hard disk that uses the latest and fastest kind of connection: Serial ATA. At the moment, hard disks can't supply data quickly enough to take full advantage of Serial ATA's rapid transfer times - the 7,200rpm Seagate Serial ATA hard disk fitted in this system didn't come out any faster than the company's old-fashioned IDE counterparts in our hard disk group test last issue. Don't let this put you off, though - this machine is still the fastest we've ever seen, clocking up an absolutely incredible 17,347 points in 3DMark 2001, our benchmark for testing 3D graphics performance.

We also like a PC to come with a few gadgets that'll allow you to have a bit of fun with it. In the case of the Dell, you get plenty. The Dimension 8300 includes an NEC ND-1100A DVD burner, which allows you to create your own DVDs. With a capacity of 4.7GB, DVDs are ideal for backing up essential files from your hard disk - not to mention turning your own home movies into discs that will play in other computers and most commercial DVD players. Be aware, however, that although the DVD+ standard that this drive supports can be read by most DVD players, there's a chance that yours won't - check its manual for details.

If you're more of a hi-fi buff than a movie fan, you won't be disappointed either. This system comes with an Audigy 2 sound card and Altec Lansing ADA-995 surround sound speakers. The Audigy 2 is the latest sound card from Creative Labs, and can play 24-bit sound. This makes no difference if you're listening to CDs, as they're recorded in 16-bit audio - but it makes for much greater realism in game soundtracks.

The ADA-995 speakers left us awestruck. The subwoofer speaker, which pumps out all the heavy bass sounds, is as big as the PC itself! The beauty of these speakers, however, is that they can achieve massive volumes without sounding too bassy. Unusually, the speakers have no volume control at all, but that's not really a problem, as the Dell has a volume knob on its keyboard.