14 DAY TRIAL // The XPS 720 H2C computer is one of Dell's high end desktop PCs and it comes with an Intel Core 2 Extreme chip overclocked from factory for some extra processing power. This PC was designed to be top of the line in Dell's desktops. It should boost video games performance significantly because of the two Nvidia graphics cards and a processor that runs at a higher frequency that Intel intended.
To dissipate the simply huge amount of heat generated by the Core 2 Extreme and the two high end video cards, the computer comes with a liquid radiator, a more expensive solution, but a better one than standard air cooled radiators. But it looks like something doesn?t work quite right with that computer as Dell told its customers that it would no longer accept orders for a certain version of the computer running Intel's QX6800 Extreme Eddition CPU at 3.73GHz instead of the standard 2.93GHz.
"We apologize for having to do this, [but the] truth is that we do not have a line of sight to enough supply of QX6800 processors that can tolerate the Bin+3 overclocking," Dell's digital media manager, Lionel Menchaca, said on a company blog, later cited by Infoworld. Because of these problems, the company asked customers to cancel their orders and choose another processor: a little slower QX6800 chip or a QX6700 one that is less powerful but runs at the same frequency.
"They're taking these units that run at 2.93GHz and overclocking them, although we guarantee them at 2.93 only," said Intel spokesman George Alfs. "We're certainly proud of the headroom of the Core architecture, and we're aware of them doing this, but once they start overclocking, it's their responsibility to support and warrant the chips." So, in other words, Intel has no intention of helping Dell with a new batch of QX6800 processors for free, because of the damaged ones.
This is not the first time when Dell has problems and delays shipment of PCs for its gaming and enthusiast lines. The company had a similar problem in August 2006, when a design mistake in the cooling assembly of the similar XPS700 model stopped all shippings until it was resolved.