Alienware worth the money?

Lee Madden · Apr 24, 2009

Hi all...

Im seriusly thinking of buying an Alianware gaming pc
and the Area51 ( i think ) is the one I was eyeing up ! the spec I put
in the basket came in near £1300 And I was sooo tempted to hit the BUY
button but then sense kicked in and I thought lets ask the guys on RD if
there worth the wonga ...

I really dont want to spend £1300 if I can help it !!!
the cheaper the better obviusly but it comes ready to use out the box
with no head aches (I HOPE )
IF you had upto £1000 to play with what would you do ?

cheers lee

Damian Henderson · Apr 24, 2009

Not sure, depends what the exact specs are for £1300. Can you show us what the exact specs and everything else where from Alienware for £1300?

Y

Lee Madden said:
IF you had upto £1000 to play with what would you do ?

cheers lee

Simon Trendell · Apr 24, 2009

*Is Jealous*

Keith Peppiatt · Apr 24, 2009

Damian Dainhumain said:
Or though I would use XP untill Windows 7 comes.

second that. RC due out in May.

Ben Tusting · Apr 24, 2009

Simon Trendell said:
*Is Jealous*

Same here, Lucky sod

I would also look around for those products as you might be able to get them cheaper from somewhere else (google uk them)

Mark Birney · Apr 24, 2009

I've heard it from so many people, I get a headache. Building your own is the cheaper option, better value. You say what goes in, and you also get much longer warranty on each part, rather than a relatively short warranty on the whole ready-built PC. Also, you can upgrade the PC bit by bit if it struggles.

Hey, it's your money...

Simon Trendell · Apr 24, 2009

Own build now isn't really that much cheaper, if at all. The advantage comes from the knowledge & skills you gain from building it, if something goes wrong you know how to take that part out & replace it

Lee Madden · Apr 24, 2009

This is the spec :

750 Watt Alienware® Approved Multi-GPU Power Supply
4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 2 x 2048MB
896MB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium 64-bit with Service Pack 1
500GB SATA 3Gb/s 7200 RPM
20X Dual Layer DVD±RW/CD-RW Writer
Single High Performance Gigabit Ethernet Port
Integrated 7.1 High-Definition Audio
gitech® Classic Keyboard UK - Space Black
Standard Optical 3-Button Mouse with Scroll Wheel
all in for £1,307.55

Damian Henderson · Apr 24, 2009

Pieter Theron · Apr 24, 2009

I agree with you on the getting to know components and gaining skill but I still think you can save quite a few bucks by sourcing from right places and building your won...

Another thing about own built is the pain of guarantees on the components and the pain of getting them replaced...

If you have the money for AW go for it

Simon Trendell said:
Own build now isn't really that much cheaper, if at all. The advantage comes from the knowledge & skills you gain from building it, if something goes wrong you know how to take that part out & replace it

Damian Henderson · Apr 24, 2009

Lee Madden said:
This is the spec :

750 Watt Alienware® Approved Multi-GPU Power Supply
4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 2 x 2048MB
896MB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium 64-bit with Service Pack 1
500GB SATA 3Gb/s 7200 RPM
20X Dual Layer DVD±RW/CD-RW Writer
Single High Performance Gigabit Ethernet Port
Integrated 7.1 High-Definition Audio
gitech® Classic Keyboard UK - Space Black
Standard Optical 3-Button Mouse with Scroll Wheel
all in for £1,307.55

That's simply very expensive....not worth the money at all, if you where to build that system you would be looking at around £750-£850 with everything you need. What I posted is better and £300 cheaper.

Simon Trendell said:
Own build now isn't really that much cheaper, if at all.

It is though, it's so much cheaper, specially if it's alienware

And most PC shops charge to much for full builds, you end up paying to much for pre-built systems, but if you have the money to spend and don't mind wasting £150-£400 or so and maybe the full PC getting damaged in the post ( it's happened to people I know ) or don't know how to build pc's then it's fine.

Christopher Aponte · Apr 24, 2009

Damian Dainhumain said:
Or though I would use XP untill Windows 7 comes.

the Guru has made a fine example of a great pc

Lee
Alienware has 2 sides for buying
yes because they take good care of their products i think (and if not mistaken they overclock their system)

but no, because for that money you can get much more....or the same products for less the money and yourself build it, so you know where the problems might be and replace

and also agree waith with xp until windows 7 gets out.

Lee Madden · Apr 24, 2009

Damian Dainhumain said:
That's simply very expensive....not worth the money at all, if you where to build that system you would be looking at around £750-£850 with everything you need. What I posted is better and £300 cheaper.

So the spec is a good spec tho good enough to play max on race07/gtr/stcc maybe the odd COD4/5 ?
and all for around 750/850 yes

Ben Tusting · Apr 24, 2009

Lee if you want to play race07/gtr/stcc maybe the odd COD4/5 you don't have to spend that much money.

I Spent £600 and i can play race07/gtr/stcc on max settings and i could even play cod4/5 with still good settings(no lag/fps hits)

Ricky Willox · Apr 24, 2009

If you dont want to build your own check out Overclockers.co.uk They do built systems. For example:

- Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz Overclocked to 3.40GHz! (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366)
- Gigabyte EX58-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
- OCZ 6GB DDR3 PC3-10666C9 Gold Low-Voltage Triple Channel Kit
- Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 CPU Cooler
- ATI & Nvidia Graphics Card Options
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache
- Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black)
- Corsair TX 650W ATX2.2 SLI Compliant PSU
- Arctic Silver 5 Heatsink compound professionally hand installed by our technicians
- 1yr Onsite Collect & Return Warranty (Can collect from any address (UK Mainland ONLY) and same day collection possible if requested before 11am)

Add vista 64 ultimate and a GTX260 "216" 896 MB vga card
and it will cost £1270.96 inc VATand factory overclocked as well.

Id say that was better than the AW system.

Damian Henderson · Apr 24, 2009

Lee Madden said:
So the spec is a good spec tho good enough to play max on race07/gtr/stcc maybe the odd COD4/5 ?
and all for around 750/850 yes

It would run those games like they where not even running

For £800 / £1000 you could get a i7 rig with a GTX275 / 285 and it would play those games without a glitch and any more demanding of today's games, while being future proof. Can you build your own system or know of anyone if you can't though? that's the main question here I think.

Ricky Willox said:
If you dont want to build your own check out Overclockers.co.uk They do built systems. For example:

- Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz Overclocked to 3.40GHz! (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366)
- Gigabyte EX58-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
- OCZ 6GB DDR3 PC3-10666C9 Gold Low-Voltage Triple Channel Kit
- Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 CPU Cooler
- ATI & Nvidia Graphics Card Options
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache
- Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black)
- Corsair TX 650W ATX2.2 SLI Compliant PSU
- Arctic Silver 5 Heatsink compound professionally hand installed by our technicians
- 1yr Onsite Collect & Return Warranty (Can collect from any address (UK Mainland ONLY) and same day collection possible if requested before 11am)

Add vista 64 ultimate and a GTX260 "216" 896 MB vga card
and it will cost £1270.96 inc VATand factory overclocked as well.

Id say that was better than the AW system.

Overclockers is a bit hit and miss though, I know people who had very bad experience with them, deflict products and poor return service, while know some people and few on here who don't have no problems with them at all.

Mark Birney · Apr 24, 2009

Looking at the specs, I have just priced a very simlar rig (slightly better, too. 1TB harddrive, GTX 260 Core16) for around €700-€900, depending on the website.

Kyle Evers · Apr 24, 2009

NO! Alienware is a rip off! Do not buy one. I can guarantee that if you look in the right places you can build a custom computer to your liking with equivalent or better performance for a lower price of potentially $700. Do NOT get an Alienware.

Abdul Al-Amry · Apr 24, 2009

Hi Lee,

Ave a look here, http://forum.racedepartment.com/member-support-forum/9492-i-trust-your-advice-need-your-help.html

Not even close to that price tag you have and I am extremelly happy. Built it myself. Well chuffed just doing that.

I trusted Rders for advice and I'll trust em again 100%

Its fun Lee getting the PC built and the satisfaction has to be experianced, especially if its your first build.

Lee Downham · Apr 25, 2009

Hi Lee ... this Lee says ... build your own, or if you can't face that, do a "design your own and we will build it for you" from somewhere like scan, overclockers type places :thumb:
IMO: Alienware lives off its name, and charges top whack for a gimmicky case with last years components in it.
That spec you showed is silly expensive ... trust Damo ... he knows his stuff :wink2: