Alienware X51 or Alienware Aurora ???

Reefpotato

Honorable
Aug 18, 2012
1
0
10,510
Hi Guys
So here's the problem, I ordered this Alienware X51 to get the new i7 3770 cpu, then found out the form factor is "slim"
Knowing I need to keep this for at least the next two years upgrading came to mind,the m/b is mini with only 2 slots max 8gb ram, so Im told by the Dell rep and no sli capability, memory is enough for what I need now but in 1 year or more ?
where as the Aurora has 32gb capacity? thinking 8gb ram sticks might be an option for the future for the X51 but cheaper to get 2 more 4 gb in the 4 slots on the Aurora and its dual ram or quad?? confused again!!
Also,although I have chosen the gtx 660 on both systems, the Aurora can sli later so that maybe takes care of the graphics, on the x51 means a card upgrade, at what cost?
I have a slim Acer i3 at the moment which seems to perform ok, but I would like to go to i7, but which one? Mainly gaming,so could probably get away with an i5 I know, but want to go i7. Running a 27" Samsung led screen,so nothing should cause too much issue?
As far as looks, they are both ok too look at, the Aurora is much bigger and more flashy,but I wouldn't be upset with either.
Any advice may be helpful, struggling at the moment.
Oh, the x51 is near £230 cheaper to be fair. £999 x51 or £1229 Aurora at these specs.


Alienware X51 Matte Stealth Black Chassis
8192MB (2x4GB) 1600MHz DDR3 Dual Channel Memory
1.5GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 660
1TB Serial ATA (7,200 rpm)
English Windows® 7 Home Premium (64 BIT )
Alienware Optical Mouse
DVD+/-RW (Read/Write)
Internal High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio

OR

Alienware Aurora Matte Black 875W Chassis 1
Intel® Core™ i7-3820 (Four Core, 10MB Cache) 3.60GHz 1
English Windows® 7 Home Premium (64 BIT) 1
1.5GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 660 1
8192MB (4x2GB) 1600MHz DDR3 Quad Channel 1
1TB SATA 6Gb/s (7200RPM) 32MB Cache 1
DVD+/-RW (Read/Write) 24x 1
Integrated HDA 7.1 Dolby Digital capability 1
 

jakeforrer

Honorable
Aug 23, 2012
1
0
10,510
I went with the x51 i7 3770 gf660 8gig 2TB. The only down side that i'm foreseeing in the future would be getting a 2gig card. Power supply is only a 330, but with modding you can attach a 750 psu to a 2gig gpu and be fine. Hopefully these tech company's start catching on that smaller is better and they actually continue with making cards like the 660 OEM for smaller systems with more power. I do not want a laptop, but i also do not want to have to hassle a rig around the city again. So in the future i see more technology being made for smaller systems that's powerful enough for gamers to be able to get full specs without having 2 gpu's and liquid cooled and with 32gigs of ram.. its just overkill and overpriced. hopefully that helps


 

soulreaperrider

Honorable
Feb 19, 2013
3
0
10,510
Hi :hello: , I first went with an Alienware X51 and also nearly bought it, but, my father knows the dealer of Alienwares in our state, hell, he is the manager of all this sells from dozens of different company! I asked the dealer that how long will this last, I mean with more hi-fi games coming up how many years will it play them in high, he said maybe 3 or 4 years, then I asked about Aurora, he gave a advise a friend would have given, get the lowest cost version because Aurora can be upgraded for maybe next 10 years! and he gave us a 40% discount in that with all the extra specs, I am going to get that ultimate keyboard thingy and that FPS mouse and that gaming headset! I will receive mine this April, and one of my friend has an aurora, 8 gb one or the one you listed above, and man, he is running games like Minecraft, Crysis 2, BF3, BF:Bad company 2 etc many games, and he is going to upgrade his GPU real soon, with the X51 you cannot upgrade mate, not much though, and I heard that Nvidia will release small cards but X51 also has a risk of overheating, I saw a video about a X51 running Nvidia GTX 695, and it burned up due to overheating!! MY ADVISE, GET A AURORA. :sol: hope it helped a lot, buy the lowest cost one and then upgrade yourself, will save you maybe $500!! :bounce:
 
I'm just curious....but for the money you spent on an Alienware you probably could have built a computer to the specs you wanted. Just saying...

I used to work for DELL (almost 4 years) in tech support and witnessed some of the nightmares associated with the Alienware and XPS line of computers.