Alienware - are they good?

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2005-07-31 09:32am

What's everyone's opinion of Alienware? I'm looking to get a new computer soon, and I don't have the time to build it myself this go around. I've looked at Falcon NW, Voodoo and ibuypower, and Alienware so far has the lowest price for the system I want (4800+, Dual 7800 GTXs, 2 GB RAM, 320 GB RAID 0). Also, are there other vendors that I've missed that I should check out?

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 2005-07-31 09:39am

I have never bought one but to me they seem like a major waste of money.

Sure, you get a great PC in theory, but it'll be obsolete just as fast as any other high end gaming pc, so in about a year or two you'll be stuck with nothing but a fancy case matching your other crap.

People do 'case mods' for the same "effect" as buying an alienware without having to lose out on the guts and stuff. I've seen some really cool and creatives ones. Sure it obviously takes more time and effort, but then that just increases the coolness factor because you put your sweat into it and it's unique. I figure it's probably better, if you know how, to just build your own rig with the best components and you'll save money, unless it's really important to you to own the brand label to show off.

Just my 2 cents of course!

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2005-07-31 09:52am

Well time isn't something I have a lot of anymore, which is why I'd rather pay to have a system built for me - pull it out of the box and fire it up. I want to know if they are as good as they claim to be and as the few reviews I've read say. Is the workmanship good?

Tiger Ace · Post by **Tiger Ace** » 2005-07-31 09:57am

Its good, quite expensive though but loads of extra's.

FedRebel · Post by **FedRebel** » 2005-07-31 10:54am

Kurgan wrote: Sure, you get a great PC in theory, but it'll be obsolete just as fast as any other high end gaming pc,so in about a year or two you'll be stuck with nothing but a fancy case matching your other crap.

I thought the cheap pieces of crap (systems under $700) are the ones that go obsolete quickly since they employ already obsolete or soon to be obsolete components

Also PC's can be upgraded quite easilly to keep them running as smoothly as possible

Tiger Ace · Post by **Tiger Ace** » 2005-07-31 11:05am

Depends, if you count obselete as "Isn't the mega PC out there" then your obselete inside a few months.

If its "Cannot run at highestsettings" then its half a year or so.
If its "Cannot run games" its a good 3-4 years.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2005-07-31 11:58am

Good. Overpriced, but good and reliable.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2005-07-31 12:39pm

Alienware systems are overpriced, but they are designed to run gams very well. Any good Alienware you get now should be able to run games for quite some time, at least 2 years and possibly as many as 4.

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2005-07-31 02:14pm

Companies like Alienware and Falcon North-west used to talk a lot about how they pre-configured systems for optimal gaming performance, but a quick look at their "Why buy from us" section reveals that this doesn't appear to be the case anymore (hmm, interesting). Basically they are the Cadillac of computers. If you've got the green to spend on one of them, I doubt you'll be disappointed. However there are many other small companies that will offer you absolute power houses at far more reasonable prices.
Below are some companies that can offer you great machines at reasonable prices. They give you a lot of freedom to choose which pieces of hardware you want in your system, so you can pick and choose where you want your money to go; and because they don't have the high profile name, you don't have to pay extra.
Cyberpower
IBuyPower
Discount Laptops

Oh and on the subject of alienware, I've known three people with such systems, one desktop, two laptops... one of which was defective or something and froze during almost every game except warcraft 3 (needless to say, he sent it back). The other two were very happy with their machines.

darthdavid · Post by **darthdavid** » 2005-07-31 02:51pm

Just buy the components yourself off New Egg and assemble it. There are plenty of people here who willl help you make a list of parts to buy, me included. You'll get more value, you'll learn something about computers putting it together, you'll know that it can be upgraded easily w/o having to deal with bass ackwards shit like is built into alot of pre-builts when it comes to upgradability and you'll have something to be proud of, and not just because it shows how much loot you're willing to blow.

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2005-07-31 02:59pm

darthdavid wrote:Just buy the components yourself off New Egg and assemble it. There are plenty of people here who willl help you make a list of parts to buy, me included. You'll get more value, you'll learn something about computers putting it together, you'll know that it can be upgraded easily w/o having to deal with bass ackwards shit like is built into alot of pre-builts when it comes to upgradability and you'll have something to be proud of, and not just because it shows how much loot you're willing to blow.

Actually building a system wouldn't be a problem for me; between home and work, I've build about a dozen machine, from gaming rigs, to servers to low-end office rigs. SLI and RAID would be new experiences for me. Maybe I'll just tell everyone to get lost for a weekend so I'll have time to put the thing together myself, after all. Time to fire up a new wishlist at Newegg...

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2005-07-31 03:15pm

I've found building your own system tends to be the best option.

The only issue I've run across is dealing with problems with the system once you've built it. You have to trouble shoot the problems yourself and its your own dime to fix.

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 2005-07-31 04:16pm

FedRebel wrote:
Kurgan wrote: Sure, you get a great PC in theory, but it'll be obsolete just as fast as any other high end gaming pc,so in about a year or two you'll be stuck with nothing but a fancy case matching your other crap.
I thought the cheap pieces of crap (systems under $700) are the ones that go obsolete quickly since they employ already obsolete or soon to be obsolete components

Also PC's can be upgraded quite easilly to keep them running as smoothly as possible

Everything goes obsolete in time, computer stuff usually faster than other stuff. I'm saying that as I see it buying an AlienWare rather than building your own PC with good components is that you're paying a premium price for a brand name and fancy case. The guts won't "last" any longer than any other good rig you put together. And yes you can ugprade, but you can upgrade any other non-laptop pc just as easily.

So if you want the fancy case and exterior aesthetic, get an Alienware. Otherwise build your own or have a friend who knows computers do it for you (if it's just a question of not wanting to or being able to put it together). That's my advice.

Making your custom built PC look as pretty on the outside as an Alienware PC would take time, and it may or may not come out looking as proffessional in the end (I've seen some completely awesome custom case mods, but I have no idea how much time and money it took to get them that way). So it's a valid reason to get one, just not one I'd advocate, since it seems to me like a waste of money, like buying designer jeans or t-shirts just for the label.

What would be nice is if they just sold the alienware tower case, and monitor or whatnot seperately. Then you could just put whatever guts you wanted inside. Maybe they already do that I dunno. But all I see advertised are the complete rig.

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2005-07-31 04:18pm

Ok, same system specs, with some better manufacturers for the drives and power supply, was over a $1000 cheaper at new egg. With higher capacity HDs.

YT300000 · Post by **YT300000** » 2005-07-31 04:38pm

Arrow Mk84 wrote:What's everyone's opinion of Alienware? I'm looking to get a new computer soon, and I don't have the time to build it myself this go around. I've looked at Falcon NW, Voodoo and ibuypower, and Alienware so far has the lowest price for the system I want (4800+, Dual 7800 GTXs, 2 GB RAM, 320 GB RAID 0). Also, are there other vendors that I've missed that I should check out?

The world truly has changed. What I always do is just go to Alienware, take a look at their setups, and slavishly copy them with components bought at cheaper places. Same system, but as much as $1000 cheaper. And don't bother getting a custom case, they're far too expensive.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2005-07-31 04:58pm

Alyeska wrote:I've found building your own system tends to be the best option.

The only issue I've run across is dealing with problems with the system once you've built it. You have to trouble shoot the problems yourself and its your own dime to fix.

This is why you buy components with warranties and keep track of the warranty information.

Arrow Mk84 wrote:4800+, Dual 7800 GTXs, 2 GB RAM, 320 GB RAID 0

Don't go with RAID 0. You will see minimal performance gain at the cost of risking losing all of your data if any hard drive in the array fails. And hard drives do fail.

If you're truly desperate for the absolute best hard drive performance, you could burn money on a SCSI controller and a 15,000 RPM SCSI hard drive. You'd probably be best off just getting a Western Digital Raptor SATA hard drive for things that absolutely have to load as quickly as possible, then just bog-standard high-capacity drives for your music/video files.

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2005-07-31 05:22pm

Uraniun235 wrote: Don't go with RAID 0. You will see minimal performance gain at the cost of risking losing all of your data if any hard drive in the array fails. And hard drives do fail.

If you're truly desperate for the absolute best hard drive performance, you could burn money on a SCSI controller and a 15,000 RPM SCSI hard drive. You'd probably be best off just getting a Western Digital Raptor SATA hard drive for things that absolutely have to load as quickly as possible, then just bog-standard high-capacity drives for your music/video files.

As far as RAID 0 goes, I was looking for a speed boost. The drives I'm looking at on Newegg are WD 250GB SATA IIs. I guess I'd just use one for programs and the other for ISO images/Daemon Tools. As along as the drives load faster than my UATA 100, I'll be happy.

Also, here's a question on Althon X2s and memory. I want 2 GB total, so should I go with 4 512MB sticks or 2 1GB sticks? I've been told that Althons only support DDR 333 with four sticks. The motherboard is an Asus A8N-SLI Premium.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2005-07-31 05:37pm

I think that the new cores support full speed with four RAM sticks, but even then I think there's the possibility for a motherboard limitation; I don't know if this applies or not to your motherboard.

At any rate, going with two 1GB sticks is a safe bet.

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2005-07-31 06:00pm

Here's the Newegg Wishlist.

My only concern now is if the heatsink will fit in the case. It looks like it should, but...

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2005-07-31 06:56pm

Uraniun235 wrote:This is why you buy components with warranties and keep track of the warranty information.

First you have to diagnose the problem in the first place. Most computer manufacturers these days have tech support you can call that will walk you through to find the problem and even fix the software issues. With a self built computer these are all things you have to learn on your own.

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 2005-07-31 08:57pm

Alyeska wrote:
Uraniun235 wrote:This is why you buy components with warranties and keep track of the warranty information.
First you have to diagnose the problem in the first place. Most computer manufacturers these days have tech support you can call that will walk you through to find the problem and even fix the software issues. With a self built computer these are all things you have to learn on your own.

Not so, you can still get tech support on custom built pc's. That's what I had to do with mine once I graduate from college (mine was custom built while I was in school, companies that I bought the components from went out of business). Heck there were times I just called Best Buy, asked them a few questions and figured out what was wrong. Sure, you'll have to pay if you want somebody to "repair" it for you, but that's life. It's not like you're totally on your own.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2005-07-31 10:51pm

Arrow Mk84 wrote: Also, are there other vendors that I've missed that I should check out?

Take a look at Monarchcomputers

http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv

Tiger Ace · Post by **Tiger Ace** » 2005-08-01 01:57am

Uraniun235 wrote:I think that the new cores support full speed with four RAM sticks, but even then I think there's the possibility for a motherboard limitation; I don't know if this applies or not to your motherboard.

At any rate, going with two 1GB sticks is a safe bet.

The newer Venice cores(DC is based on this IIRC), can support 4 sticks, I'd advise just quickly googling on what core is it based on.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2005-08-01 08:42am

Miscellaneous points....

A 600W PSU is probably not neccessary and Enermax is not a brand I trust. Go for Antec, Fortron/FSP or Sparkle. They'll probably be cheaper, too.

A Thermalright XP120 would be a better heatsink (coupled with a decent 120mm fan) and it will fit on your motherboard.

Consider a 74GB Raptor for your boot/application drive and, say, a RAID1 array for data. The SATA drives should be faster than your current PATA drives but only because they are newer.

Tiger Ace · Post by **Tiger Ace** » 2005-08-01 08:45am

An Antec 2.0 Truepower would be a good buy.

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Alienware - are they good?

Alienware - are they good?

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Re: Alienware - are they good?