Alienware Area-51 x58

Uselesswarrior

So what is the consensus here on Alienware? How is the build quality/noise levels/cooling?

Because I have been adding up the components for the new Area 51 and it actually seems quite reasonably priced. It still costs about $400 - $200 more then building it yourself, but in the past the alienware builds I looked at where alot more expensive.

Here is a rough list of the stock parts/what they probably go for on new egg, rough estimate

• Intel® Core™ i7-920 2.66 GHz 8MB Cache -- $300
• Case -- no real equivalent, assuming it is a high end case ~ $150
• Cooling -- I have no idea if they are using stock coolers or high end stuff ~ $100 - $0
• 750w Power supply -- varies alot depending on quality the pricest one on newegg is $300 ~ $300 - $100
• Single 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 9800 GT ~ $175 - $114
• 3GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 3 x 1024MB ~ $125 - $90
• Alienware® Approved Intel® X-58 Motherboard- Socket 1366 Core i7 Ready -- not sure what the i7 mobo are going to go for, probably ~ $400 - $220
• Windows Vista® Home Premium (64-bit Edition) with Service Pack 1 -- oem ~ $200 - $100
• 250GB SATA 3Gb/s 7,200RPM 16MB Cache -- ~ $75 - $50
• Dvd writer drive -- $20

Not bad for 1,650.00. Again more expensive then DIY, but maybe the warranty/ build quality might be worth it?

I am torn about the DIY build versus pre-built. On one hand I think building it myself might be alittle fun, but on the other hand I remember what a disaster my last custom built PC was (celeron 450mhz). The thing was a rat's nest, with heating issues, lots of fan noise, giant case that was still a pain to work in, and hardware that would be become unseated. While it is cool to hand pick components yourself, I am starting to think it may be worth it to get a warranty / professionally built machine.

Also, any good deals/coupons out there for Alienware? I know they are selling some of their older systems for about $200 less on black friday, but those systems are overpriced to begin with, so after the $200 they just become reasonable.

kaliyama

I think DIY is worth it, unless $400 isn't a significant amount to you. The parts you install will be warrantied, as long as you don't do foolish things with thermal paste or hit them with a hammer. A DIY would only be a real hassle if you got a micro or mini form factor case.

Shorn Scrotum Man

Last I heard Alienware was owned by Dell.

So you should probably think long and hard about that. I dunno how much Dell has leaked into Alienware yet, and by that I mean requiring non-standard drivers for everything, and incredibly shitty tech support.

Barcardi

Go and look at what best buy is selling, look at the laughable case, then wonder if you want that thing in your house.

Daedalus

"High-end case"?!

hahahahahahhahahahhahahahhhahahahahahaha

Ego

You know, that's just not a very impressive computer. I'm guessing Dell has leaked into Alienware to a considerable extent. I'd pass on it. If you like the specs, you can get a million places --online or off-- to build you that same computer.

Less the case, and the alienware hat, and whatever other scraps 400$ of markup buys your customers these days.

kpeezy

Really not a great deal.

I got 6GB of ram, 1TB hard drive, and a Radeon 4870 with my core i7 920 build and came out under $1400. Nicer components for cheaper.

edit: Also, I got my Antec P182 case for $135.

Khavall

Alienware brands itself as the "gamers choice" and everyone who has heard good things about them either heard good things from them or have heard good things from people who bought one because they heard good things from them.


There is no hype about them that they have not created.


Build. Build build build build build.

Uselesswarrior

Message received. I still have nightmares about that old box, but hopefully the next one I build will turn out alot better.

Ego

The trick to building a good PC from the ground up is just to be very picky about components. If you put quality components into a machine, you end up with a quality machine.

Get a general idea of what you want your new rig to do and then research the available components until you can make informed choices each step of the way. The research takes time and it gets boring sifting through a dozen motherboard options hunting up reviews and benchmarks (for example) or finding quality PSUs that are also affordable, but the time invested pays off and you end up with a machine that will do exactly what you like. If you've settled on the core i7 then you've already narrowed your choices down considerably and your important research will basically come down to choosing a good motherboard (asus/gigabyte/evga at least already have core i7 boards out so you've got some choices but not a huge variety yet... I personally avoid intel boards given the limited performance tweaking available to them), video card, RAM and PSU.

PA forumers can provide shortcuts for the above (the PC build thread is a good thing to check out if you haven't already.) Just be careful with what parts you pick, and you'll end up with a good machine. Don't hesitate to ask around for advice and opinions, and remember that people here will almost always be happy to look over what parts you've settled on before you actually go out and order them.