Thinking of a gaming desktop. Is this Alienware any good?

[Tommy42]

I'm thinking of getting into an Alienware rig for gaming.
Specifically, the X51 model.
I'd provide a link, but I'm sure everyone here can Google up the info at Dell/Alienware without having to think too hard.
I'm not in the mood to built one myself; while I like that kind of thing, I've got too much going on and just want to get one and not have to think too hard.
Is this a good deal? Any gotchas?
Suggestions?
Thanks!

 

[T_Yamamoto]

No. They're overpriced.

Building your own will save you 200 dollars or so.

Edit: rather get a cyber power or ibuypower built one.

 

[Tommy42]

Thanks for the tip.
My best wishes to the young lady linked in your sig.

 

[DSF]

I'd provide a link, but I'm sure everyone here can Google up the info at Dell/Alienware without having to think too hard.

But you're the one asking for advice...shouldn't you be the one doing the basic legwork?

There's more than one X51 customization path on their website. Which are you looking at, and how much are they asking for it?

The short answer, as T_Yamamoto said, is that Alienware is likely to be overpriced.

 

[Tommy42]

I wasn't 100% on whether or not a link followed community rules.
I was looking at maxed-out configs...
Excuse the below copy & paste, which I haven't tweaked for formatting:

Alienware X51 Alienware X51
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English
PROCESSOR 3rd Gen Intel® Core™ i7-3770 (3.4GHz, 8MB Cache, w/ Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost 2.0)
MEMORY 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz - 2 DIMMS
CHASSIS COLOR Matte Stealth Black with Dark Chrome Accents
VIDEO CARD 1GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 555
HARD DRIVE 1TB SATA 3Gb/s (7,200RPM) 32MB Cache
WIRELESS DW1502 Wireless-N WLAN Half Mini-Card

 

[azeem40]

That is a horrible system tbh. The GPU is very low in performance and would be lucky to play games on super low settings.

 

[Tommy42]

Azeem40, Thanks for the comment, esp. regarding the GPU.

To all:
So why does anyone go with that build?
Is it attractive because of the size?
Are the buyers just being silly geese and choosing on looks?
Do they buy it to carry around to parties?

 

[azeem40]

They buy it cuz they doubt their abilities of building a PC. Anyone can build a PC.

 

[DaveSimmons]

See the sticky thread for questions you should answer, like:
- What is your budget?
- What screen resolution?
- Any existing parts like a monitor?
- Anything about the case size or type that matters to you?

Cyberpower offers a much better choice of parts, for example most people should get an i5 processor for gaming not an i7. and Aliewnware has a lousy selection of graphics cards at most price points.

A nice $1-2K system would be a (socket 1155) i5, Z77 motherboard, 8 GB RAM, GTX 670, SSD boot drive, platter backup drive. Depending on budget the SSD might be 64 GB (OS only), 128 GB (OS + a few games) or even 250-256 (OS and most or all of your games).

 

[ElFenix]

people buy it because it's small and it has a warranty. most people don't want to mess with building their own. and most people don't want to mess with supporting their own. and very few people want big computers anymore.

with the bigger wattage power brick that system has been tested to run some of the better graphics cards out there. should be really good with nvidia's new generation of chips that eat less power.

 

[Tommy42]

My budget was $1000, but I noticed the choices got a lot nicer, so upped it to $1300.
I'm not much of a gamer; I'd be happy at 1280x1024.
Unfortunately, my existing rig is an ASUS EEE 1005HAB with no gaming potential for values of 'gaming' not equal to Harpoon Commander's Edition.

My existing monitor specs:

Features/Specifications:
22" A220Z1-T06 TFT LCD Flat Panel Monitor

General Features:
Silver and black profile
22-inch widescreen display
1680 x 1050 maximum resolution
16.2 million color support
700:1 contrast ratio
300 cdm2 brightness
0.282 pixel pitch
170-degree horizontal viewing angle
160-degree vertical viewing angle
140 MHz bandwidth
Energy Star compliant
Built-in speakers

Connectors:
15-pin D-Sub standard VGA connector
DVI-D connector
3.5 mm stereo audio jack for speakers

 

[DaveSimmons]

Oops, I missed that the X51 was a (weak) small form factor.

For just 12 x 10 the GT555 in the Alienware is probably OK, but you might consider the Cyberpower Lan Power EVO Mini, in a Silverstone SG-07 mini-ITX case:
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/LAN_Party_EVO_Mini/

At $1,100 iIt comes with a Radeon 6770, or for ~$1,250 you could get it with a GTX 560 ti that will run everything smoothly at 1680 x 1050.

 

[Tommy42]

DaveSimmons,

Thanks for that link. It's my new go-to.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Here's a review of the case used in that CyberPower pre-built, showing you the internals and a sample build.

With that case you can buy replacement or upgrade parts from Newegg, etc. if needed.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/silverstone-sg07

 

[krnmastersgt]

I still think you should build your own, you usually save quite a bit of money for upper range systems since pre-builts have a pretty high premium on certain components (video cards and ram usually).

Is there a need for a small form factor case, or did that Alienware model just catch your eye?

 

[Tommy42]

It just caught my eye.
That being said, I'm all about convenience now, not looks.

 

[DSF]

Do you need the computer to be smallish, or is performance for the price the maon concern?

 

[Tommy42]

Heck, I got room for an IBM zEnterprise 114 2818 if a good gaming rig was that size.
Yeah, being able to play Skyrim / Mass Effect / Fallout 3 happily for the lowest sane price is the goal.

 

[azeem40]

You live in the US correct?

 

[slayernine]

No.

Custom builds done right will be far better. My advice is to get an Intel Quad core processor with a Gigabyte, Asus or Asrock motherboard, kingston or g.skill ram (8-16gb), nVidia GTX 680 graphics card, corsair or seasonic power supply no exceptions. Case is aesthetic but make sure you don't go too cheap or you will regret it when you look at it everyday of your life.


Edit: If someone here is kind enough to help you with more precise specs. go with that and get the parts locally and pay the local shop or a knowledgeable friend to assemble. Local shops love trying to get you to buy different shit at the last second because the salesperson doesn't like X brand of whatever so be sure to ignore their bullshit. I've told friends what to get with sku numbers and the whole deal and some guy selling it to them convinces them to buy some other crap and they have no end of trouble with it and ask me to help fix it.

Also when building custom you need to buy a copy of Windows, don't mess around with pirated copies like some people do. It isn't worth your time and it will just end up breaking on you. Be sure to buy an OEM system builders copy of Windows as they are about half the price of retail (at least here in Canada, I can't speak for other countries).

 

[Tommy42]

You live in the US correct?

Yup.

 

[kingkung]

If your close to a micro center they had awesome bundle deals with i5 3570k. I got the cpu and a asus p8z77 v pro, it was 360 + tax. They also have kingston 8gb 2x4gb fof 39.99 and hyper 212+ for 20 bucks after MR. that should be a good start

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk 2

 

[BigBarney]

Do you value your time at more than $30 an hour?

If so, buy pre built.

Do you value legal software?

If so, buy pre built

Do you want to be able to call up a company, when your computer is going 'beep beeeeeep beep beep beep beeeep' and hear the reason it wont POST?

If so, buy pre built

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Do you value your time at more than $30 an hour?

If so, buy pre built.

Do you value legal software?

If so, buy pre built

Do you want to be able to call up a company, when your computer is going 'beep beeeeeep beep beep beep beeeep' and hear the reason it wont POST?

If so, buy pre built

Sounds like you don't know how to build a computer.

 

[DSF]

Do you value legal software?

If so, buy pre built

Not sure what you mean by this part.