Dell has rolled new Intel and ATI technology into its latest performance-class desktop, the Dimension 8300. Match Intel's new 875P chipset and 3GHz Pentium 4 processor with ATI's latest graphics card--the Radeon 9800 Pro--and you have a PC built for both work and play. We recently tested a number of systems based on the new 875P chipset (formally code-named Canterwood), and they all delivered nearly the same blistering performance. Moreover, each of them featured virtually the same internal components. Dell adds a strong set of features to the Dimension 8300, including a stellar, 18-inch flat-panel display, and the company keeps the Dimension line's convenient case design. All of this adds up to a competitively priced system for gaming, DV editing, and any and all SOHO tasks.

Design
At first, we thought the Dimension's tool-free case, which debuted about 18 months ago on the Dimension 8200, was unintuitive and difficult to open. Indeed, the first time you try it, you'll think that the quick-release latch on the top of the case isn't working--that is, until you realize there's an identical latch located on the underside. Then the case suddenly slides open with ease, thanks to a hinge in the front that separates the drive bays from the PCI slots, and gives you unprecedented access to everything.

Of course, having the drive bays on one side and the motherboard on the other means that some cables must traverse the width of the case. Hence, you'll need to unplug a power cord or two to gain access to the drives or the motherboard. Despite the smaller size of the tower, the 8300 still houses a total of seven drive bays, four of which came free in our evaluation model, in addition to four PCI slots. Four DIMM slots hold a maximum of 2GB of memory.

On the outside, the black-and-gray Dimension looks more like a mainstream, general-purpose system than, say, the Alienware Area-51 or even Dell's own Dimension XPS model. Beneath the 8300's staid exterior lies a PC that's equally adept at handling gaming and SOHO duties. The matching black-and-gray keyboard, mouse, and monitor make sleek additions to your desktop. One addition that Dell decided not to make standard on the 8300 is the trusted floppy drive. It's available as an option, however, and Dell also includes a 16MB USB keychain drive to ease your transition.

A full complement of ports adorns the back of the case, including six USB 2.0 connectors, while two USB ports and a headphone jack can be found on the front beneath an annoying flip-up plastic door that looks certain to snap off after a few months of use. We can't say enough, though, about the elegant design of the keyboard, with its built-in audio controls in the top right-hand corner. The various buttons are laid out in a concentric circle around the large, elegant volume control, and the whole module integrates seamlessly with your audio software and speaker system.

Features
The Dimension 8300 features the latest Intel technology in the form of the new 875P chipset and the 3GHz Pentium 4 processor with an 800MHz frontside bus. (Note: the 3GHz P4 differs from the 3.06GHz P4 introduced last fall in that it supports the speedier 800MHz frontside bus of the 875P chipset. The older 3.06GHz P4 supports a frontside bus of 533MHz at most. It may be 60Hz slower in raw clock speed, but the new 3GHz P4 eases a bottleneck by widening the well-traveled path between processor and memory, a.k.a. the frontside bus, which results in improved performance.) The 8300 is substantially overqualified for mundane tasks and is best put to the test with graphics, video, and animation, where this system keeps pace with anything on the market today.

Digital video hobbyists looking to make use of the 8300's muscle will enjoy the speedy 4X DVD+RW drive that Dell included on our evaluation unit. In addition, our 8300 included a 16X DVD drive, a Creative Audigy 2 sound card, and a 7,200rpm Ultra ATA 200GB hard drive. The hard drive offers plenty of space for storing large video files. On a related note, Dell just started selling Serial ATA hard drives, but evaluation units weren't available in time for this review. As for getting some work done between video projects, Dell bundled Microsoft Office Small Business Edition on our test system.

If you plan to put the 8300 on a network, you should know that Dell chose not to integrate Gigabit Ethernet support on the 8300's motherboard. Although the 875P chipset supports this latest version of Ethernet networking, Dell decided to include integrated 10/100 Ethernet instead. Dell does sell a Gigabit PCI card should you have such a network. If you only want to share broadband Internet access among multiple PCs, you should notice no difference between 10/100 and Gigabit.

Dell offers this bundle with the fastest graphics card currently available: the Radeon 9800 Pro, with 128MB of dedicated video memory. The result is a multimedia system that flew through our 3D graphics benchmarks and delivered spellbinding DVD video, although some jitters with our prerelease system caused playback to be a little jerky at times. In our experience, the 1,280x1,024 native resolution looked crystal clear on the bundled 18-inch, 1800FP LCD. We wish that the onscreen menu system on this display were a bit more intuitive, but there's no arguing with the picture quality of the UltraSharp monitor. Colors look intense, animation moves smoothly, and the viewing angle is wide enough to accommodate multiple users viewing the screen at once for, say, watching a DVD.

Dell pairs this display with the Altec-Lansing ADA-995 speaker system, which supports 5.1 surround sound and the THX-audio format. Unfortunately, the huge subwoofer is almost as large as the 8300's tower itself (and weighs even more), but the system features foolproof setup, thanks to color-coded ports and connectors that can be plugged into only the proper jacks. Though its sound is delicious, especially when playing the new DVD-audio format, we would have appreciated having Klipsch and Logitech speakers available as options.

Performance

Application performance
The Dimension 8300 application performance was quite good overall, as were all of the systems we tested using the Intel 875P chipset. The 8300 performed about 8 percent faster on SysMark compared to the 3.06 P4-based Motherboard Express Glacier P50, which has the older 3.06GHz Pentium 4 with a 533MHz frontside bus. And in comparison to its higher-end cousin, the Dell Dimension XPS, the 8300 received a slightly lower SysMark score. The only difference between the 8300 and the XPS is the Serial ATA hard drives that the XPS uses; otherwise, the hardware in the two systems is identical. Keep in mind that even though the XPS is a hair faster, both the 8300 and the XPS perform extremely well overall and can ably handle any of today's applications.

Note: The other desktop PCs used in the benchmark comparison table are currently not available in Asia.

3D graphics and gaming performance
The Dell Dimension 8300 uses ATI's leading Radeon 9800 Pro graphics card, and it turned in outstanding 3D performance scores. When we first received the machine, Dell had enabled the vertical sync (v-sync) setting for OpenGL. This kept the frame rates on our Quake III benchmark--an OpenGL game--at an even 60 frames per second (fps), because it syncronizes the graphics card's refresh rate with that of the monitor, which in the case of an LCD is 60Hz. According to a Dell representative, the company "made the decision to enable v-sync on the Dimension 8300 and the XPS systems that utilize the 9800 or the 9800 Pro based on customer feedback. Disabling v-sync, while it allows for an increased frame rate, has a tendency to create tearing or screen artifacts on some games." At the last minute, perhaps wary of receiving seemingly low benchmarks on its first high-end gaming PC, Dell decided to disable the v-sync setting for the 8300. With v-sync turned off, the system turned in the ridiculously high frame rates you'd expect from a system with a Radeon 9800 Pro graphics card. Though Dell decided to disable v-sync in the end, you can easily enable v-sync via the Display Properties window if you begin to notice screen artifacts.

Service And Support
Our Dimension 8300 evaluation model shipped with the baseline one-year warranty protection, which includes one year of onsite service. Of course, you can upgrade this to three years of protection for an additional S$100 (US$58). (Note: The cost of upgrade can differ from country to country.)

Dell also offers a one year toll-free phone support package, but this service is available only during office hours. If you think you'll need a lot of hand-holding, opt for the Priority User PC Phone Support, which lets you jump to the front of phone queues when you have a support issue--three years of this service costs an additional S$183 (US$106).

Dell's online support is also extremely thorough, featuring full interactive chat with support technicians, downloads, FAQs, a knowledge base, and customer forums. You can even set up a password-protected, personalized account on Dell's site that stores all of your support needs in one place. All in all, Dell offers a full menu of support options, even if the standard parts-and-labor coverage lasts for only one year.