Buying a Dell Alienware X51 is it worth it?

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  1. Posts : 11,424
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64
       #41

    I would love to have some dimensional spec's and a picture of the inside space. I would be very surprised if a full length GPU will fit and for sure the heat and power issues again rear their ugly head. I'm not trying to talk you out of this, but just get real about it's expansion/growth capabilities down the road.
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  2. Posts : 5,642
    Windows 10 Pro (x64)
       #42

    You have 11+ inches of space for a dual slot graphics card within the x51. The only limiting factor is the power supply, 330W. The GTX 670 is currently the max you can put into it, the 680 requires an additional power supply. We should see better options down the line as power requirements for graphic cards decrease. (Performance to Power ratio)

    And by the way. The components inside the x51 are no different then any custom build computer. Saying a i7 3770 or i7 4770 is not going to amount to much? Are you kidding? Or that it won't be able to do all of this other stuff that people are already doing with an Ivy Brdige CPU and GTX 660? The x51 is no less machine or capable then any custom computer. Its only smaller.

    -----------------------------------------------

    Much as in if you plan for:
    * multi-monitor gaming
    * high to very high settings on the latest and greatest generation of games with acceptable frame rates
    * 3D gaming gimmicks
    * games 3-4 years from now to run at high graphical settings with acceptable frame rates
    * gaming on PC monitor with higher than 1920x1080 or so resolution without sacrificing eye-candy
    You do NOT need a monster of a computer todo any of that. I have a high end gaming machine, 6 core beast of a process, more RAM then I can use, over powered GPU, and a giant monitor. I barely use a quarter of the power of my machine to play Crysis (1, 2, & 3).

    Here is the problem I hate. Bias, without even a thought you assume its a horrible machine because it is pre-built. However, like everything, it serves its purpose. Gaming machine in a small form factor which a lot of people would like to have.

    BTW, the RAM is Samsung, the SSD is Samsung, hmm who makes most of the memory chips they put on RAM/SSDs...oh Samsung! Heck, even my GTX 690 has Samsung memory.
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  3. Posts : 6,879
    Win 7 Ultimate x64
       #43

    linnemeyerhere said:
    I would love to have some dimensional spec's and a picture of the inside space.
    how's this,

    Alien Autopsy: We Look Inside the Alienware X51 | Maximum PC
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  4. Posts : 11,424
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64
       #44

    Great, looks like there's more there than I realized. Heat still worries my but I'm sure smarter minds then mine have analyzed.
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  5. Posts : 10
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #45

    BomberAF said:

    I will always be able to upgrade the graphics card on that machine.
    As it was said, thermals are a concern for one. The air flow seems quite constricted. Alien Autopsy: We Look Inside the Alienware X51 | Maximum PC and slide 2 ... The video card fan is sucking in warm air (that has bounced off the HDD's) from the sealed case. And this with a low clearance between the fan and the warm HDD. That can't be good.

    Also slide 0, it looks like the CPU cooler is taking in air from the closed side panel (no venting orifices), that also doesn't look like is good for the system.

    And PSU needs a look at.

    For instance the latest GTX 770 that came out this week (i.e. lower upper range video card) I saw it powered by 2x 8 pin pci-e connectors from a couple of manufacturers.
    The 6 pin pci-e connector is rated at 75w. The 8 pins connector is 150w. Pcie specs also allow up to 75w of power to come from the pcie slot.

    Hence, the max. power going to feed the GTX 770 is 375W. In reality, the card (alone) draws about 270W in gaming sessions according to reviews, hence at the minimum the PSU will need to have 1x PCI-E 8 and 1x pci-e 6 pin to feed the card (75+75+150= 300w vs 270-280 max power draw). And no, the 6 to 8 pin pci-e adapters are not a good thing to use here.

    AnandTech | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 Review: The $400 Fight notes total system power draw being about 370W, a PSU for that system will need to have minimum 500-550W range to power it safely without straining the PSU.

    The power consumption of the cards doesn't look like is going down any time soon. The transistor manufacturing technology is stagnant at around 22-28 nm for some time. For the significant power savings this needs to go down, but is already pushing the the physical limits of the process.
    For the newer cards to be commercially successful they'll have to increase performance, and with the transistor size staying like this, the only way that is happening is with architecture improvements and/or bigger dies. Power draw looks like it will remain like this or get higher.

    logicearth said:
    And by the way. The components inside the x51 are no different then any custom build computer. Saying a i7 3770 or i7 4770 is not going to amount to much? Are you kidding?
    There is a difference between "amounting to much" and "better part for the purpose of the build"
    Have a look at:
    PassMark CPU Benchmarks - Single Thread Performance

    At stock speeds:
    i7-3770 has 2070 performance points and a cost of 289 $
    i5-3750k has 2012 performance points and a cost of 219 $


    making some percentages: ~3% increase in performance over the i5k costs ~30% extra $.
    The i7 4000 series is too fresh to consider at this moment since their price will go down in a few months.

    In many games, single thread performance is what drives the game FPS. The "k" CPU's will however overclock higher than the non "k" CPU's, and will end up giving a higher single thread performance than non k's. And this with lower cost (even after factoring in the extra aftermarket cooler).

    That is the difference.

    http://www.techspot.com/review/642-c...nce/page6.html shows that even in high performance hyperthreaded "k" series i7 CPU's, the FPS can still be influenced by single thread performance. The graph shows that the same i7k CPU, overclocked at different levels, yields better and better FPS.

    Here is the problem I hate. Bias, without even a thought you assume its a horrible machine because it is pre-built.
    Bias goes both ways.

    Much as in if you plan for:
    * multi-monitor gaming
    * high to very high settings on the latest and greatest generation of games with acceptable frame rates
    * 3D gaming gimmicks
    * games 3-4 years from now to run at high graphical settings with acceptable frame rates
    * gaming on PC monitor with higher than 1920x1080 or so resolution without sacrificing eye-candy
    You do NOT need a monster of a computer todo any of that. I have a high end gaming machine
    ...
    I barely use a quarter of the power of my machine to play Crysis (1, 2, & 3).
    Define quarter: is your GPU below 100% usage ? are the game settings maxed ? is your gaming resolution in the 2500x1400 range ? is the game FPS in the 60's range ?
    If all of those are "yes" and the system is still "quarter" used, then do tell the guys that made the Single-Card Results: Crysis 3 - The GeForce GTX 770 Review: Calling In A Hit On Radeon HD 7970? crysis 3 benchmarks a call since they are clearly not knowing what they are doing and are spreading false information.
    If "quarter" means CPU utilization, then you'll be happy to know that most games saturate 1 core. In a quad CPU that means 25% overall cpu usage, however the FPS of the game is driven by the single 100% used core. That's where the single thread performance kicks in.
    In your case I expect the cpu to be overall 25-35 % loaded, consistent with 4 crysis threads not saturating their respective cores. But this is only because crysis 3, along with battlefield is one of the few games designed with multithreading support.
    Other notable games (especially MMO's) use 1 or at most 2 threads, and can saturate the core they run off at times, thus acting as a bottleneck.

    Benchmarks for the alien's 660 card:

    Crysis 3 Performance Test: Graphics & CPU > High Quality Performance - TechSpot shows the performance of the gtx 660 in crysis 3, at 1900p with good graphical settings the FPS is in the 30's.

    Crysis 3 -gtx 660 on very high graphics @1900p, the FPS drops in the 15's range.
    For the record, 50-60 FPS is what is considered to be smooth gameplay.

    So bottom line is the alien 51 is ok if you don't expect too much from it.
    Last edited by hexaq; 06 Jun 2013 at 03:53.
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  6. Posts : 491
    Windows 7
    Thread Starter
       #46

    Can someone let me know whether the GTX 680 would fit inside this machine as looking on this website it seems that it is smaller than the GTX 670.

    Nvidia GeForce GTX 670 specifications | Expert Reviews

    Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 specifications | Expert Reviews
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  7. Posts : 5,642
    Windows 10 Pro (x64)
       #47

    The GTX 680 will fit but you will need to mod the case to allow for an external power supply to give the 680 juice. The current max you can put inside the x51 is the GTX 670.
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  8. Posts : 491
    Windows 7
    Thread Starter
       #48

    logicearth said:
    The GTX 680 will fit but you will need to mod the case to allow for an external power supply to give the 680 juice. The current max you can put inside the x51 is the GTX 670.
    Someone said that the 680 is 25 watts more will that not do, or is there anyway to change the power supply?

    Is there a huge difference between the 670 and the 680?
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