Dell's AMD line up revealed

WHEN WE FIRST BROKE the AMD-Dell contract story back in June, many analysts contacted us and asked how we knew about the contract. There were also many internal discussions about how the story leaked, but that does not matter anymore. What we knew then is that AMD had to be able to supply over 10 million CPUs to Dell - and when AMD said it could do that the contract was signed.

If you thought that the AMD-ATI line-up would shove Nvidia out of the door, think again. SNAP (Strategic Nvidia-AMD Partnership) was never dead, nor will it end anytime soon, since AMD is constantly telling us that "AMD is not Intel". The Dell line-up only confirms what we previously thought. All of the business-class PCs are equipped with Nvidia nForce 430 chipset with integrated GeForce 6150 graphics. The graphics is also upgradeable since every PC comes with PCIe x16 slot built-in.

The line up is divided into Dimension, Optiplex and XPS. However, XPS will not be launched alongside the Dimension/Optiplex combination, since the company is waiting for AMD's 4x4 platform. We will give you more details about XPS line-up in a series of follow-up articles, so stay tuned to theoINQwire for more news. But you can expect that Dell and Dellienware will probably end up as the highest volume provider for the 4x4 platform.

Dimension C521
Processor Type: AMD Athlon 64, AMD Athlon 64 X2, Sempron
System Chipset: nVIDIA GeForce 6150-LE / nVIDIA nForce 430 (C51-PVG-MCP51)
Memory: 533/667/800 MHz DDR2 (dual)
Memory min/max: 256MB to 4GB (four slots)
Storage: 2-ch SATA-II 3.0 GB/s - No IDE
RAID Support: RAID 0, 1
Bays: One 5.25", One 3.5" FlexBay, one hard drive
Network: BroadCom BCM4401 10/100
Audio: SigmaTel 9227 (HDA) PCI audio card
Bus slot/type: One PCIe x16 (low-profile), One PCIe x1(low-profile), One PCI
Graphics: Nvidia Integrated Video (DX9 Shader Model 3.0 graphics), PCIe x16
I/O: USB 2.0: Two Front, four Back, one internal
OS: Windows XP Home, Pro (32-bit), XP Media Center, Vista-ready
Chassis: Neo
Power Supply: 280 W

As you can see, C521 will be offered with both single and dual-core Athlon 64s, while Sempr0ns will be in the lowest price segment. The motherboard comes with two channel SATA-II ports which are filled by SATA Hard drive and DVD burner.

To our big surprise, Dell isn't using Nvidia nForce Gigabit Ethernet, but rather a PCI based BroadCom 10/100 Mbit link. High-Definition Audio is provided, however. For those wishing to upgrade the graphics, think only about low-profile PCIe cards...

Dimension E521
Processor Type: AMD Athlon 64, AMD Athlon 64 X2, Sempron
System Chipset: Nvidia GeForce 6150-LE / nVIDIA nForce 430 (C51-PVG-MCP51)
Memory: 533/667/800 MHz DDR2 (dual)
Memory min/max: 256MB to 4GB (four slots)
Storage: 4-ch SATA-II 3.0 GB/s - No IDE
RAID Support: RAID 0, 1
Bays: Two 5.25", One 3.5" FlexBay, Two Hard drive
Network: BroadCom BCM4401 10/100
Audio: SigmaTel 9227 (HDA) PCI audio card
Bus slot/type: One PCIe x16, One PCIe x1, Two PCI
Graphics: Nvidia Integrated Video (DX9 Shader Model 3.0 graphics), PCIe x16
I/O: USB 2.0: Two Front, four Back, one internal
OS: Windows XP Home, Pro (32-bit), XP Media Center, Vista-ready
Chassis: Smith
Power Supply: 305 W

The E series comes with a bigger punch, offering full-flexibility in terms of performance. Chassis is codenamed Smith, and it offers a full-size ATX motherboard with PCIe x16 and x1 slots, and PCI is represented with two slots. The chipset remained the same as the C rev, but now we're talking about RAID0 and RAID1 support, 4 SATA slots (two for HDDs, two for storage). PSU is now specc'ed at 305W, and that's about that.

The AMD-Dell rollout begins with PR releases on the 15th in the USofA, while Rest of the World will have to wait a for a week. Remember, these two are entry-level solutions. Forget about the specs, we're talking about millions of computers containing millions of AMD CPUs and Nvidia chipsets.

The exact release dates in US format
Americas: 09/15/2006
Europe: 09/22/2006
Japan: 09/22/2006
Asia/Pacific: 09/22/2006
China: 09/22/2006
Brazil: 09/22/2006

Still think that AMD and Nvidia are on a war trail? Think again. Money talks, FUD walks. µ