So why does everyone hate alienware lol

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aj2013

aj2013

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May 30, 2013
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So I have been doing a lot of searching recently. Now I've been planning to buy the Alienware x51, the £569 model, or $699 in US currency. Nether less people said to just build one you know. So I went on websites, that allow you to choose everything, and for about the same price, or around £40ish or $70cheaper, I can could get a slightly better Graphics card, more ram although 6GB is all you ever need for gaming, and that's about it. And people said that Alienware would only run most games on medium graphics, battlefield 3 being one of them, so just build one.

But this guy, who has the same $699 Alienware x51, is playing battlefield 3 on ultra settings, while recording with fraps an as you know lowers the fps by about 8-10, but it's still very smooth 30+.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF38dvb5--Q

So if this can run Battlefield fine on max, it can run anything on max, or if not max, high no problem. So why do I need 16GB ram and a 2.3 cyberpower motherboard GTI twin turbo and stuff that people have been telling me. I know it won't have upgrade possibilities as a big tower, but it don't need an upgrade if it can run Battlefield 3 max right?
 
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4745454b

4745454b

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Nether less people said to just build one you know. So I went on websites, that allow you to choose everything, and for about the same price, or around £40ish or $70cheaper, I can could get a slightly better Graphics card, more ram although 6GB is all you ever need for gaming, and that's about it.
Click to expand...

That's because you still aren't building it. Building it yourself means going on newegg.com, Tirgerdirect.com, Mwave (if they are still around), geeks.com, etc and buying the parts and plugging everything together yourself. The problem with Alienware usually is the same as other places. It will cost you more then if you simply built it yourself. That's how they make money. The exception to this is their really cheap $299 computers. You can't do that with an OS. But if you have ~$700 then you should be able to build something really good.
 
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Micah Hettmansperger

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If someone is claiming that the $699 version can play BF3 on Ultra settings without adding/upgrading any hardware, they are lying. This configuration comes with an nVidia GTX 645 as the graphics card, which is a mid-low range card as far as cards within a given series go. While you are generally correct about everything else (the rest of the computer is fine for modern games, I play games at high on a 5yo computer) being fine for gaming, the graphics card is where it matters most and that $699 computer is lacking a good one.

Personally, I would recommend looking into a better graphics card if you want to play games and have them look great whether you build, have it built, or buy it prebuilt. High-end graphics cards need bigger power supplies to support them, so I would be wary of trying to upgrade the card in a prebuilt PC because the power supply may be only large enough for the card that's in it already.
 
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makkem

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Hi
since you appear to be a Brit, try pricing up the same components as the Alienware uses on ebuyer or overclockers
then decide whether its worthwhile building your own.
 
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aj2013

aj2013

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I'm in the UK and I heard that Newegg site don't deliver to the UK? But it's ok I've been going on overclockers or pcsepcialist and yes you build it yourself. Like pick the case, motherboard, etc. And it gives you an error if your PSU for example is more than you need so I know what you mean. I'll probably just buy the Alienware because while the higher models might be a bit overpriced, the standard does everything just fine for good price, then I can just buy the Geforce GTX 660ti later on when it goes cheaper or on sale, but no need for it any time soon beause with that or the one in the x51 now it's still going to run battlefield / arma the same.
 
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aj2013

aj2013

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I understand what your saying but that Alienware is much better than the thing I'm on now, and my computer right now is;

CPU; Amd Athlon 3.2 dual core lmao
2 GB ram
AMD 6770
I mean it's aincent compared to that x51, but I can run a lot of games on high graphics, it's just shadows and post processing effects really lowers the fps on this.
 
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Optimus_Toaster

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I doubt the legitimacy of the video, nowhere does he show that he is playing on a GT640, and due to the video compression that youtube does it is pretty hard to tell whether he is playing at Ultra settings. All the benchmarks out there show the GT640 getting around 20fps, which is not a smooth gaming experience especially for an FPS.

Also the statement "if this can run Battlefield fine on max, it can run anything on max, or if not max, high no problem" may have been true when the game first came out, but that was nearly 2 years ago. Now things like crysis 3, metro LL, tomb raider, far cry 3 etc exist that are more demanding.

And as the guy above me said, building it yourself means building it yourself. It's really easy and quite fun and requires very little technical know-how. You just need to know how to plug stuff in. It also costs less as you can buy exactly what you want and nothing else, plus you know that the parts are reliable (OEMs love using crappy PSUs and featureless motherboards) and many parts can be reused for years to come.
 
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manofchalk

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Because you really can build a better rig for that amount of money.

I was playing Metro: Last Light just today, I noticed whenever the game dropped below 45FPS. I wouldn't consider 30FPS as a good gaming experience, its playable but I would rather lower settings so I can get a consistent 50+FPS.

Im looking at the Alienware MX1 config page right now.
http://www.dell.com/au/p/alienware-x51/fs
The lowest model is $1500 (dont know where your getting $700 from) and has 8GB of RAM, an i5-3330 processor, GTX 660 graphics card and a 1TB HDD. That is pretty poor value, you can build a far superior rig with that kind of cash.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($33.24 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($114.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($93.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($95.86 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($389.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair C70 Military Green (Green) ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Plus 750W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($119.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1273.01
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-31 11:02 EDT-0400)

That can overclock, supports dual graphics cards if you wanted, far stronger graphics card , SSD boot drive as well as a larger HDD, more efficient and powerful (in all likelihood, far higher quality) PSU coming in $250 cheaper.



:lol:
But can it run BF4 at Max, BF5? You'd be surprised how quickly things become outdated.

This might sound like im just bashing on the Alienware, I am to an extent but I do understand the reasons why its expensive and why a custom rig is not. For instance that Alienware PC isnt just a PC, its also a service, Dell owe you 1yr of whole system warranty by buying it. If it ever dies, you drop it on their doorstep and its their problem. Your custom rig dies, youv got to fix it and if a component has died, you have to prove its at fault and get the brand in question to replace it.
 
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jwk3

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I smell a rat with this guy and think he's over-hyping his performance results. (remember, the Alienware sticker on the front doesn't improve performance, it's the same parts as the other companies underneath) looking at other sources that config will run BF3 at medium/low settings, especially with fraps running. a dual core i3 will struggle with BF3, let alone the FPS with FRAPS recording supposedly being the same when recording...

The value for the X51 isn't actually terrible considering the size of the PC, it's only normally the high end PCs where the Alienware price takes a sharp increase. you don't have to get a 16GB RAM uber-turbo PC to run games, it's just that a top end ones will run the new games at high graphics for more years than a mid range gaming PC.
 
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aj2013

aj2013

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Oh yeah the Graphics card in the x51 is GTX 645 but because is GDDR5 and not 3, I heard that means it's just as good up toa 660?



Nah look it's right here - http://www.dell.com/uk/p/alienware-x51/fs
I don't have that much to spend though, because I want to get like headphones and stuff to. But yeah I know what you mean, I'm not even a battlefield player to be honest was just using that as an example because it is game with nice graphics. Main games I'll be playing is League of Legends, but that runs on a windows 95 anyway, Dayz, and maybe Final Fantasy when it comes out. I don't really play Far cry and stuff like that. This garbage of a PC I got right now can run crysis 2on max graphics which surprised me, I just figured the game was well optimized .

 
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g-unit1111

g-unit1111

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Considering the OP is in the UK, none of those stores are where to go for PC parts. Scan, eBuyer, and Novatech are the go to sites for the UK.

To answer the OP's question, the reason everyone hates Alienware is because the overall quality of their builds has gone drastically downhill since Dell bought them back in 2008. Their PCs are no longer made for standard ATX form factors. Instead they're made for proprietary Dell form factors. The power supplies included are of extremely poor quality. The GPUs are not what they advertise. In short, it's better to build your own than to buy an overrated Dell POS.
 
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Micah Hettmansperger

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Noooooooooo. They may be in the same generation and use the same type of memory, but they are priced differently for a reason. Here's a site that compares their specs side-by-side: http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-660-vs-GeForce-GTX-645 The 660 kills the 645 in everything (except power usage of course, more power requires more power, heh)



Ok, so here is something to consider... Your current graphics card is fine for the games you listed and better than the 645 that comes in the Alienware you listed...perhaps you can just exchange the cards and use the 6770 in the Alienware and the 645 in the old computer. Hopefully, it shouldn't use too much more power to overload the Power Supply (manufacturers tend to use the smallest and cheapest PSU that they can get away with).

P.S. My 5yo computer that plays modern games (Borderlands 2, DMC, ...others) at high or max settings (Little to no AA enabled usually, but who needs it) at 1920x1080:
Core 2 Duo E8400
4GB DDR2 1066
ATI Radeon 4870 <- The most expensive component is the video card, was $315 at launch
 
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