Hardware Review: Alienware X51 Desktop

by **BennyBurner** » 4 Jun 12, 10:35 pm

Wow....gotta love alienware. An i7/550ti is just silly for gaming, too much CPU, not enough GPU. Much smarter to go a 2500k/3570k, use the extra $100 or so to whack a 560Ti/570 in it...if they could fit. If you bought this, you'd probably buy a 1080p monitor, and for $1500 (or $1400?) it's a bit over the top.

There's my anti-alienware rant, by now you've probably guessed that i build my own PCs

Good review though

by **Nekosan** » 4 Jun 12, 10:52 pm

It's not like Alienware are traditionally budget spec machines anyway, they've always been about "check out out ultra gaming rig", even if they DID tone it down a lot in the Dell era.

Aren't Valve doing something like this also?

by **Village idiot** » 5 Jun 12, 8:41 am

Nekosan wrote:It's not like Alienware are traditionally budget spec machines anyway, they've always been about "check out out ultra gaming rig", even if they DID tone it down a lot in the Dell era.

Aren't Valve doing something like this also?

Check out the 'ultra gaming rig' that isn't ally ultra at all. I must admit I do like going to their website just to spec out the best machine I can and watch the price skyrocket to about 6k. Then see how much it would really cost me elsewhere, haha.

by **frigidhell** » 5 Jun 12, 10:52 am

Vengeance47 wrote:Would be nice if the start of the review listed the system specs straight off the bat. More charts/graphs with settings/frame rates would also be appreciated. After all, it is a hardware review, so it should be put through its paces just like any other CPU or GPU would and presented in such a way.

This. Nevertheless, the review was good, honest and informative. But for the benefits of the people who are too lazy to read some long review articles (like myself), a list of specs would surely help... but hey, I read the review before I post this.

by **jerichosainte** » 5 Jun 12, 12:53 pm

Yeah I agree its probably not the best rig as far as desktop gaming goes but this would be perfect if you frequent a lot of lan events.

by **Nekosan** » 5 Jun 12, 1:09 pm

Village idiot wrote:
Nekosan wrote:It's not like Alienware are traditionally budget spec machines anyway, they've always been about "check out out ultra gaming rig", even if they DID tone it down a lot in the Dell era.

Aren't Valve doing something like this also?

Check out the 'ultra gaming rig' that isn't ally ultra at all. I must admit I do like going to their website just to spec out the best machine I can and watch the price skyrocket to about 6k. Then see how much it would really cost me elsewhere, haha.

They're one of those businesses that has really become a relic of the past, their business model worked so much better a decade+ ago when anyone couldn't build a pc by themselves, it just wasn't as common to have places putting together gaming computers like they do/did.

by **SA soldier** » 5 Jun 12, 2:21 pm

Alienware have always been overpriced, and now Dell own them.

A bad situation made worse really.

Do yourself a favor and custom build your next rig and leave the door wide open to upgrade in future with much more ease. Just pay the kid in the shop to build it for you and it will still come in a better deal for product in the case your not a tech savy customer or have the time to build yourself. It usually costs next to nothing.

These slim Alienware rigs have their place, but it's usually in the hands of someone who has cash to burn, absolutely no patients and even less knowledge of the custom build options available to care about paying a premium.

SSD's are critical, I would never go back to mechanical. Keep in mind this is where most of the noise comes from especially under load like in Battlefield 3 with high settings. SSD's dramatically reduce noise and load times from booting to file management.

by **Le_Gambit** » 5 Jun 12, 2:30 pm

The problem with with Alienware is the overpriced and outdated Australian gear. You are always able to negotiate here though.

I would like to remind people that this box is not supposed to be a hardcore gaming rig. It is supposed to be a miniature gaming computer. Building a small gaming computer is much harder than building a large box. That is easy and will always be cheaper. This is appealing to those people who do not want to spend hours finding the best pieces to fit in a small body. The prices from the international stores are so good you can prolly get it shipped to a friend in that country then forwarded on. Only for it to still be cheaper than buying here.

BTW, built 3 gaming rigs so far with many upgrades. I am still looking at getting this for its size and power.

by **steve_rogers42** » 5 Jun 12, 5:07 pm

<3 Tim

Oh Hey guys...

First off, im 'gonna start with when this was brought to my attention by Tim, the three specs were @ 1399, 1499 and 1699 for three different builds, the first two were running a 2600 with a change from a 545 to the 555 and the last build had a 3770 with a 555. No i dont have screenies, but my memory's ok when it comes to remembering specs for things...

I spec'd up a few builds for Tim as a result of the different pricing, ones was to try and get as 'close' to the dell spec as possible for the 1299 price point, another was to get close to the 1699 price point, and another was to spec out a rig that would be 'competitive' with the 1699 build, as if to say better than the highest spec'd X51.

Also when building up, the X-51 had inbuilt wireless,

i'll put 'em in hiddens...

the $1299 spec'd build

Hidden: show

the $1699 build

Hidden: show

and the competitive build, or 'what i'd get for the $$$)

Hidden: show

There are something you need to remember, if you build a similar spec'd machine, your loosing the back end support that Dell provides, anyone who has an XPS or an alienware system knows that its not the 'same' dell service, you tell them its broken, they fix it, your happier. Another thing that Alienware brings tot he table, a fully assembled and customization case WITH included software to boot. You'll notice my 'weird' use of cases in the above builds, alienware cases stick out for a reason, they do a good job, and you can only get them from one place. Yes your buying into a brand, but its not a bad machine to look at.

Also the i7/550ti - too much cpu/ low end gpu, most games this machine is aimed at, the gpu isnt a hugely stressful thing, also housing a higher end gpu into the small chassis would result in some heat issues, a decent cpu and a mid range card is easily good for 1080p gaming.

On the 550 Ti, the current dell spec is for a GTX 545 and at the time of writing it was a GTX 555, whilst the 550 Ti sits mid way between the two OEM parts, performance should be about on par. i think the 560Ti would have been better, but more $$$ and didn't bring a more accurate representation to the field like the 550Ti does.

I never had hands on with the machine, but fortunately i was down in Sydney for CEBIT a week later, and low and behold, the alienware van... with the X51.

Its about the size of an xbox, no joke, original not 360 that is, and the one i had a look at had full height card slots in the rear which is a big plus from me, it was also running dirt 3 fairly smoothly in 3D albeit in low settings with not a whole lot of eye candy on, but still smooth enough to play.

Easily the X51 is a computer build to bridge the gap for people sick of console gaming and those not interested in building their own or going to that effort inorder to do so. @ $1300 to play anything on the market at playable frames @ 1080 without the 'console hassle' its pretty reasonably priced, and compact.

Hardware Review: Alienware X51 Desktop

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