Like earlier Dell workstations we’ve reviewed, the Precision T3500 case opens on the right. Our evaluation did not include FireWire, which is available as an option.
Dell precision 490 xeon x5570 serial#
The rear panel houses a 9-pin serial port, a 25-pin parallel port, six USB ports, an RJ45 connector for the integrated Broadcom 5761 Gigabit Ethernet LAN, PS/2 mouse and keyboard connectors, audio-in and out, and an eSATA connector.
The backlit power button is center just above the Dell medallion. Down from there, a sloping panel contained microphone and headphone jacks and two USB ports, with cleverly concealed hard drive and network activity LEDs as well as four numbered diagnostic lights that help identify any problems during startup. Below these, a smaller 3.5-inch flex bay contained a 19-in-1 media card reader. The front panel provides two 5.25-inch drive bays that came filled with a pair of optical drives: a 16X DVD-ROM and a 16X DVD+/-RW drive. Although configured as a tower, the T3500 can also be reoriented as a desktop system. The Precision T3500 comes housed in a similar gray and black case measuring 6.8 in. In spite of the passing of time, however, our evaluation unit bore a distinct resemblance to the much older Dell Precision 490 ( see DE December 2006).
The single-socket T3500 joins the Dell T5500 and T7500 in the latest refresh of the company’s Precision workstation lineup. This time around, the Dell Precision T3500 that we received is powered by one of the latest Xeon processors, based on Intel’s Nehalem microarchitecture. It’s been nearly three years since we last reviewed a Dell Precision workstation, and needless to say, a lot has changed in that time. The Dell Precision T3500 workstation looks strikingly similar to earlier workstations, but is now equipped with a single Intel Xeon Nehalem-based quad-core CPU.