The Sound and the Fury of Dell's THX PC

Tom Mainelli

If you want a solid PC that doubles as a home theater, but you're intimidated by the task of selecting the best components for the job, consider a Dell Dimension 4100 desktop.

I tested this system, which is the first THX-certified PC. (George Lucas's THX grants seals of approval for audio and video systems.)

The $1959 shipping system I tested included a 933-MHz Pentium III CPU, 128MB of PC-133 SDRAM, a 20GB hard drive, a 12X DVD-ROM drive, a graphics board based on a 32MB NVidia GeForce 2 GTS chip that uses DDR memory, a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz DSP sound card, a 56-kbps modem, a set of Altec Lansing ADA885 speakers, a 19-inch P991 Trinitron FD monitor, and the Windows Millennium Edition operating system.

My out-of-box experience wasn't great--Dell provided incorrect speaker cables and a dead subwoofer. But once I got the system running, I had no trouble configuring each piece of hardware for precise sound and video, using the THX optimization software.

Powered by the Santa Cruz sound card, the well-designed five-piece Altec Lansing package (four speakers plus a subwoofer) produced sharp sound, especially suitable for use with Dolby Digital DVD movies.

Experience the aural thrill of The Matrix while perched in the speakers' sweet spot (dead center), and you'll never go back to lesser sound. The 19-inch Trinitron monitor and GeForce2 GTS graphics board delivered good color with sharp details, and DVD playback looked very crisp.

Overall, the system easily handled my informal tests. To future-proof it, however, I'd add memory and a larger hard drive. After all, the system's 20GB is likely to fill up fast if its fantastic sound triggers an MP3 binge.