Dell's previous attempts to build a fancy gaming system that competes with those from the likes of Alienware, Voodoo Computer, and Falcon Northwest have been pretty tame. But its upcoming XPS Renegade 600 uses an Intel Pentium Extreme Edition Dual-Core 955 that's been overclocked from 3.46GHz to 4.26GHz, and the case gets a really rockin' custom paint job.

One important note -- Dell warrants the system even though the CPU's overclocked. Depending on the CPU (and other factors), overclocking can cause instability, but logic says that Dell wouldn't sell or support a system that's inherently unstable -- right?

The custom paint job is by Michael Lavallee, who's better known for painting cars and motorcycles. The PC has a flaming, angry skull on the side and an iridescent panel on the front. You might suspect that putting that kind of look on a Dell is like pinstriping a Ford Pinto, but to Lavallee's credit, it works pretty well.

The components inside seem pretty serious, too--two NVidia GeForce 7800 SLI graphics cards, for a total of four GPUs; 2GB of RAM; one 10,000-RPM, 150GB hard drive and two additional 250GB hard drives; and a Creative X-Fi Platinum sound card with a drive-bay module with audio connections. It'll also have a 650-watt power supply.

The Renegade 600 will be available in limited quantities when it ships sometime this spring, and most of the internal components will be preselected. Dell won't name a price, but look for it to be US$5000 or US$6000 with a monitor.