Dell Vostro 430: Good deal or not?

[gcefaloni]

# Vostro 430 @ 999$.

Offer seen at redflagdeals.com/deals/main.php/alldeals/comments/dellca_quad_core_vostro_pc_deals_from_599_including_699_i5_750_799_i7_860_9/ for the Vostro 430 @ 999$.


I do intend to play some games on the computer so I was planning on changing the Video Card for an ATI Radeon 4870 I already own and to change the power supply that is currently 350 watts for an OCZ 700 GameXstream that I already own in another computer.. I would also like to plug in 2 monitors on it eventually..

I was wondering if you guys think it is a good deal for me to buy this system from Dell in order to use it as a base system to the changes/plans I described above.. I don't really want to spend more than 1200$ on the system tax included so I figured it was a really good deal with OS included, 8gb 1333mhz ram and the new i7 processor.. What do you guys think? Tell me if you need any other information.

Thank you very much in advance for your time..
Your help is very appreciated..

Specs:

Processor:
Intel® Core™ i7-860 (2.8GHz 8MB L3 Cache)

Operating System:
Genuine Windows® 7 Professional, with Media, 64-bit, English

Hard Drive:
1TB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™

Memory:
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz - 4DIMMs

Video Card:
512MB ATI Radeon™ HD 4350 (DVI, VGA, HDMI)

Optical Drive:
Single Drive: 16X (DVD+/-RW) Burner Drive

Sound:
Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi Xtreme Audio

Vostro 430:

BASE,MNTW,NPFC,VOSD,430,CTO

Documentation and Power Management:
Vostro 430 Documents and 110 Volt Power setting

Network Interface:
Integrated PCIE 10/100/1000

1 Year ProSupport for End Users and 1 Year NBD Onsite Service


After digging more in manuals, here's more info:

Chipset Intel® P55 Express Chipset

Memory:
Memory module connector 4 DIMM slots
Memory module capacity 1GB, 2 GB, or 4 GB
Type 1066 MHz, 1333 MHz DDR3
Minimum memory 1 GB
Maximum memory 16 GB

Drives:
Externally accessible:
3.5 inch drive bays One
5.25 inch drive bays Two
Internally accessible:
3.5 inch SATA drive bays Two
Available devices:
3.5 inch SATA hard drives Two
5.25 inch SATA DVD-ROM,
DVD+/-RW, or Blu-ray™ drive Two

Power:
Wattage 350 W
Maximum heat dissipation 1837 BTUs/h (350 W power supply)
NOTE: Heat dissipation is calculated using the power supply wattage rating.
Voltage 100–127 V/200–240 V, 50–60 Hz, 10/5 A
(see the safety information that shipped with your computer for important voltage setting information)
Coin-cell battery 3 V CR2032 lithium coin cell


Full PDF Here: support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/vos430/en/SFITS/SFITS_EN.pdf

 

[gcefaloni]

As far as the Crossfiring goes, yea I'd like to go dual 4870 eventually..

The following are the specs from my current computer, from which I'd like to take the parts to implement in the Dell system I'm talking about above.. I need the second desktop for office use so I'd just mix in the best pieces of both computers for my gaming computer and the rest in the other for office usage..


Specs of current computer:

CPU Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz Wolfdale 6MB 1333FSB 45nm
CPU Cooling OCZ Vendetta 2 CPU Cooler-MIR
Overclock Enable Overclock Function
Memory 1 OCZ Plat XTC 4GB Kit DDR2 800MHz (OCZ2P8004GK)-MIR
Motherboard GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3L (4DDR2,PCI-E 2.0)
Hard Drive 1 Seagate 500GB 7200RPM 32MB Cache SATA (ST3500320AS)
Video Palit Radeon HD 4870 512MB DDR5
Audio Onboard Audio
Network Card Onboard Network Card
Case Antec Three Hundred The Versatile Gamer Case (Black)
Power Supply PC POWER & COOLING Silencer 610 EPS12V (S61EPS)-MIR
Warranty 1 Year Parts & 3 Years Labor Warranty

 

[BorisandBailey]

This looks like an average deal to me. I'm not sure about that Redflagdeals site. I'd check it out with the BBB. The Vostro 430 is a small business computer but the components do look nice. You can find them on Dell's own site for about $860 but with smaller hard disk space. They have their own gaming computers called Alienware.

You sound like you like to mix and match components. You might get a kick out of building your own computer. It's not difficult as Redflagdeals would suggest and there is a fun factor to it.