Steve: I appreciate the warning. The upgrade will cost me $300, not $200, plus sales tax because the discount I received on the order I placed would not apply for an upgrade. Also, I just don't want to add on the additional expense especially since I'm spending over $1200 for the new NEC monitor and Spectraview calibrator you recommended. My wife's going to kill me as it is.
In any case, why is 32gb the magic number? I didn't think I needed more than 16gb when zI started shopping but went with 24gb as a cushion. Is there anyone here who's having problems with 16gb ?
1. Dell salespeople generally will price match, bargain, carry over discounts.. talk to them. Often, asking to talk to their manager will yield results.
2.There is no magic number for RAM.. but there is what's considered the point of marginal returns from an economic sense.. and the way RAM is priced and utilized, 16, 32, 64 are the numbers most often used. This doesn't mean you can't use less.. but the moment you wrote that Dell wouldn't increase that machine to 32gb.. that put me off on it. It doesn't make sense. When something doesn't make sense I stay away from it.
This doesn't mean you won't find it a great machine, in fact I'm sure you'll try it out and report back it's the computer of your dreams and you can't imagine needing more power. But what I'm concerned with is your report 12-24 months from now.
CURVE BALL - So for fun I went to Newegg and compiled a total build list that meets or exceeds your Dell system in al respects. Dell doesn't tell you what power supply, what chip set, what motherboard, what SSD, what HDD, what wifi.. the only thing you know for sure is the video card and CPU.. The list I made up is all top grade components.. AND you've got your 32gb of RAM and 3tb drive (a 3tb BLACK, the best), a Samsung 250gb EVO (top tier but not the absolute best), Seasonic Gold 650watt PS (room for expansion and absolutely silent), a CPU cooler that makes very little noise, way ahead of what Dell was giving you, same video GPU but over clocked with bigger more quiet fans, blue-ray, card reader, Windows 8.1 (I'd get Win7) etc, etc.. It's all there. All great stuff. A few bucks less than your Dell setup..
In short, if you want the better system, which BTW is ready to ship as we speak, all you need to do is order and put it together. And yes, we'll help..
Others, feel free to recommend changes.. maybe we can narrow down the ultimate system at this level of performance.
PDF parts list attached.