SHARE
Facebook X Pinterest WhatsApp

Dell’s First AMD System: Good Performance at a Good Price

Apple made news earlier this year by switching entirely to an Intel-based platform. Now Dell is making news by (finally) adding AMD processors to its stable of multimedia-oriented PCs. The Round Rock, Texas, company’s first AMD effort, the Dell Dimension C521 ($1,024 direct; $1,214 with a 17-inch LCD monitor), carries an AMD Athlon 64 X2 […]

Oct 10, 2006
Channel Insider content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More

Apple made news earlier this year by switching entirely to an Intel-based platform.

Now Dell is making news by (finally) adding AMD processors to its stable of multimedia-oriented PCs.

The Round Rock, Texas, company’s first AMD effort, the Dell Dimension C521 ($1,024 direct; $1,214 with a 17-inch LCD monitor), carries an AMD Athlon 64 X2 processor and follows the classic bang-for-the-buck formula by offering good performance at a good price.

The C521 is not only powerful enough for media hounds, it also has the drive space and internal expandability to grow with users’ needs.

Click here to read more about Dell’s first AMD desktops.

Housed in a compact BTX case that’s just a smidge larger than that of the XPS 200, the Dimension C521 is a relatively small desktop.

The slight increase in size is a result of its greater functionality; it has space for three half-height expansion cards (one PCIe x16, one PCIe x1, and one regular PCI) and uses a desktop-size optical bay, while the XPS 200 has only two slots (one PCIe X16 and one PCIe X1) and uses a notebook-class optical drive.

This means the C521 is more expandable, giving you more choices in case you want to upgrade the dual-layer DVD writer drive.

The free optical drive bay in the C251 is also a boon for those thinking about upgrading to a third-party Blu-ray or HD-DVD drive in the future.

The C521 is built around a Dell-sourced motherboard with an Nvidia nForce 430 motherboard chip set, which allows Dell to offer various AMD Athlon, Sempron and Athlon 64 X2 processors with the system.

Read the full story on PCMag.com: Dell Dimension C521

Check out eWEEK.com’s for the latest news in desktop and notebook computing.

Recommended for you...

Caylent Research on Database Migrations: What to Know
Victoria Durgin
Aug 28, 2025
Exterro Debuts Agentic AI Tools for Data Risk and E-Discovery 
Jordan Smith
Aug 26, 2025
Multi-OEM Strategies & More Key to Infrastructure in AI Era
Victoria Durgin
Aug 26, 2025
Kendra Krause on New Role at ThreatDown & Channel Goals
Victoria Durgin
Aug 25, 2025
Channel Insider Logo

Channel Insider combines news and technology recommendations to keep channel partners, value-added resellers, IT solution providers, MSPs, and SaaS providers informed on the changing IT landscape. These resources provide product comparisons, in-depth analysis of vendors, and interviews with subject matter experts to provide vendors with critical information for their operations.

Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2025 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.