Dell Dimension E510 desktop computer Review

Bottom-Line: The Dimension E510 Media Center Mini-tower is powerful home workstation that is more then adequate for Media Center duties, but also serves well as a small business server platform. 

And so it happened; my ever slowing Pentium III based server finally died on me, and it was not a graceful death.  When she died she took two hard drives with her.  And so I needed to replace the server, my applications server, with a new box, but this time I decided not to go the built-it-myself route, but go in a different direction.  Lucky for me my company receives a Dell Employee discount of up to 33 percent. 

I spent a week on-line configuring different systems that both fit my specifications (hyper-treading Pentium 4, SATA hard drive backbone, dual channel memory, and DVD/RW drive) and budget parameters.  I needed a box that was robust enough to run several Microsoft server applications including AD and SQL server.  I looked at Dell, Gateway, and Hewlett Packard, but in the end I settled on the Dell Dimension E510 mini-tower computer.    

The Computer

Dell designed the Dimension E510 as an entry-level media-center computer and indeed mine shipped with Windows XP Media Center Edition pre-installed.  The E510 incorporates the new BTX design into its mid-tower case.  The case itself is a sleek white and silver BTX cassis with huge vents cut into the front sides of the case, allowing the fan to draw in a large volume of air.  The BTX design calls for more venting slots in the case and a single large fan to keep the innards of the computer cool.  The result is a very quite system and I have to strain to hear. 

Dell decided to offer only (fast) Intel processors in the E510, including the new Intel Pentium D with dual-core technology.  The Pentium D incorporates two execution cores in a single processor chip greatly enhancing the computers performance, or so Intel would have us believe.  The E510 can also be ordered with a Pentium 4 630 w/ Hyper-treading technology; I chose this chip.  Both chips run on an 800MHz FSB (Front Side Bus), feature 3.0GHz cord speed, 2MB of cache, and accept 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM in either single or dual channel operation.  The Pentium 4 630 chip however, incorporate EM64T-compatibility into its design making the E510 ready for future 64-bit operating systems and software.  

I ordered my E510 with a 250GB SATA drive, and later bought another one to slide into the other open slot.  With two drives, RAID can be implemented, but I didn't bother.  Since I got the upgraded video (ATI Radeon X300 graphics card) and sound card (Audigy 2 ZS sound card w/FireWire), just about all the expansion slots are filled; there is a single PCIe x1 slot available for future expansion, though at this point I don't see the need.  The E510 has eight USB 2.0 ports (two in front and six in back) and a FireWire port, as well as front audio and microphone jacks. And along with this Dell has included a rather impressive array of features including a 17-inch LCD, dual TV tuners, dual-layer DVD burner and speakers.  They round out the system's Media Center capabilities for dealing with music, photos, video and storage, though I do not utilize them; I install Windows 2003 Standard Ed. on the computer.   

In addition to Windows XP Media Center Edition, Dell for includes a 15-month subscription to McAfee's Internet Security Suite, which includes antivirus, firewall, anti-spam, and privacy protection. 

My Viewpoint

Despite the limited (expandable) capabilities of the Dell Dimension E510 I do like the unit, though it is a little larger then I bargained for; I guess I was used to the small footprint of the Dell GX series desktops in our inventory at work. No matter, the mid-tower fits nicely on top of my computer desk, on its side with the light 17" monitor on top.  One thing I did not take into consideration when I ordered the machine is the fact that the E510 does not ship with standard PS/2 ports for the keyboard and mouse.  The computer does ship with a USB mouse and keyboard so ordinarily this would not be a problem, but I have two other computers on the cart to connect to and do so with a KCM switch that has standard PS/2 connection ports so I improvised.  The front panel that houses the front USB ports also has LED's for the hard drive and back USB ports. 

The built-in 10/100/1000 network card (NIC) works as advertised, but I as I stated in earlier reviews of the Dell GX line, I would have preferred a standalone card which could be swapped out, or a card that could be upgrade in the future via firmware.  And I wish Dell would stick with one manufacturer; preferably Intel, or 3Com.  The NIC chip can be disabled via the BIOS. 

The eight USB version 2.0 ports (six in the back, two in the front) are a welcome addition especially the two in the front which are not hidden behind an annoying hinged door, though I would like to have seen the number revised somewhat; i.e. four in the back and four in the front. Increasing, the devices that utilize USB ports are portable in nature and having to continually move the Tower in order to access them can become a pain.  Nevertheless, I do appreciate the two USB 2.0 port in the front of the tower, though they are quite close together which might hinder the use of more then one at a time.

After I received the E510 I immediately reformatted the drive and install Windows 2003 Standard Edition, so I could use the computer as a server.  Despite it stated purpose, the E510 if outfitted with more memory makes an excellent server platform for small business use.  The processor is certainly up to the task as is the bus and memory, and certainly the hard drive.  And if you just have to have RAID, that feature can be enabled via the system BIOS.  Backing up the system is not a problem; I utilize external high capacity (300GB - 400GB) Seagate hard drives for the purpose; they work rather well and cost far less than a comparable taps backup unit.     

Conclusion

The Dell Dimension E510 Media Center Mini-tower is powerful home workstation that is more then adequate for Media Center duties, but also serves well as a small business server platform.  For the price ($759.00 including 17" flat panel monitor) the Dell Dimension E510 is a relatively inexpensive high performance workhorse that more than meets my current computing needs and fits into my network-centric environment with ease.