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Alienware Alpha first impressions and benchmarks

M

MicroByter

Member
itchyass86 said:
I have both a Wii U and an Alpha. I love both cuz they're silent. You can only hear the fan on both when they're rendering games and it's much quieter than my desktop with 2 120mm fans on it. Reason why I mention the Wii U is that I consider that thing to be whisper silent. So the Alpha is very comparable. I can't even decide which is louder.

Would you like me to take decibel readings on both to give you a good comparison?
Click to expand...

Oh no, thanks though. The Wii U is comparison is great since that thing is whisper quiet. It sounds like another perk for some - I've grown tired of hearing the white noise from fans over the years coming form the days of my PC running multiple fans at vacuum noise levels!

I almost want to get one of these just to replace our aging Desktop someday. I am more than capable of building (just build my son's this year), but something small that can just sit on the desk next to screen would be pretty great as well. Pair that with getting another Power brick for the TV and you could have a PC that can be easily taken back and forth if needed.
 
I

itchyass86

Member
Just to ease my curiosity, I took my step dad's industrial decibel meter that he uses for the Navy. I aimed the microphone at various spots at the Alpha, including the vents, the top, the side, the front, etc.

It registered 10 decibels (+/- 3 dB) as it was running Wolfenstein: The New Order.

Maybe I'm nott zero-ing it right? I blew on the microphone and it registered 26 decibels just to test it. Even yelled into it and it reached 57 decibels.
 
I

itchyass86

Member
10 decibels is about the sound that rustling leaves make far off in the distance. You can barely decipher what the sound is, and you probably can't pinpoint how far away or which direction it's coming from.

Actually, I'm not exactly sure if the Decibel Meter I was using is entirely accurate.

According to many charts, a quiet bedroom would be around 27 to 30 decibels. However, the sound provided by the Alpha is at 10 plus or minus 3. So this doesn't make sense to me that my room would be between 10 times to 100 times more louder than the Alpha (because decibels are logarithmic-ally scaled).

In the device's defense, my room is dead silent and it's registering between 2 and 5 decibels when the device is in the middle of the room.
 
.hacked

.hacked

Member
Got my Alpha today, went with just the base unit, no upgrade and I am very impressed. 1st game I played was Borderlands 2 and very impressed, dam near constant 60fps at 1080p and it looks good.

Have to give it a few more days of test but 1st impression are very positive (like the controller interface, big picture mode in steam is awesome. Have about 30 games downloading now will post more impressions over the next few days.
 
Warnen

Warnen

Don't pass gaas, it is your Destiny!
So far the alpha is almost perfect for me. I never want to deal with the desk top, steam big picture and the alienware ui work great. Most recent games work excellent, have a mouse plugged in for a few games (ie skyrim you have to hit start.), wish the controller acted like a mouse for these parts like it did in the start up.

Also with you could change the color of the alienware ui, dam that red...

Can't wait for the steam sales, time to load up.
 
T

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
Okay. So for everyone who has a stock Alpha, exactly how noticeable or annoying is the HDD speed? Enough to make you want to just buy an SSD immediately? Or tolerable enough to put up with for a while?
 
.hacked

.hacked

Member
going to put one of these in:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0097LG9U8/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Not so much for speed but for space, loaded up my games last nice and only have about 40GB free. Another 500GB should keep me going for a while.


Some quick game impressions:

Sonic Racing Transformed - blows Wii U version out of the water, eye bleeding good looking.

Mortal Kombat Komplete - Huge upgrade over the X360 version I played before. Everything maxed at 1080p. Very nice

Sleeping Dogs - Now this one is defaulted to medium settings, still looks great. Saw some vids of the Definitive edition on Xbox One and PS4 (DF comparisons vids) and this look like it runs at a higher frame rate. Might upgrade to definitive edition see what that does.
 
Warnen

Warnen

Don't pass gaas, it is your Destiny!
Warnen said:
So far the alpha is almost perfect for me. I never want to deal with the desk top, steam big picture and the alienware ui work great. Most recent games work excellent, have a mouse plugged in for a few games (ie skyrim you have to hit start.), wish the controller acted like a mouse for these parts like it did in the start up.

Also with you could change the color of the alienware ui, dam that red...

Can't wait for the steam sales, time to load up.
Click to expand...

Well spoke to soon, if u hold the triggers and shoulder buttons and click the left stick it goes into mouse mode. Hot dam this thing is awesome for couch play! Just wish had a new game to play trying to hold out for steam sales
 
I

itchyass86

Member
The Real Abed said:
Okay. So for everyone who has a stock Alpha, exactly how noticeable or annoying is the HDD speed? Enough to make you want to just buy an SSD immediately? Or tolerable enough to put up with for a while?
Click to expand...

You can definitely notice it when trying to download more than 2 games on Steam. Steam has to allocate HDD space on the moment you choose to download that second game. It'll take 10 seconds, sometimes up to a minute (it feels like) for Steam to finish allocating space. Usually, when downloading a Steam game, it'll take only a couple of seconds to allocate space. So when downloading one game at a time, this is NOT a problem at all.

As for boot times, it takes less than 18 seconds to press the power button and let Windows set up the desktop. I've uninstalled Alienware UI because I like using a mouse sometimes to navigate through Steam, so the less-than-18-seconds figure should reflect that.

I've also noticed that Wolfenstein: The New Order takes some time to load some levels. Maybe 10 seconds from dying to restarting from a checkpoint. Not much, but definitely noticeable.

In my opinion, I would want to use a SSD, but the Alpha will be okay with a HDD for the meantime. I'll wait a couple of months or so until I find a good deal on a quality SSD.
 
I

itchyass86

Member
sörine;143202343 said:
Has anyone tried Shield streaming with this?
Click to expand...

Gamestream with the Nvidia Shield Portable is the primary reason why I purchased this device.

Gamestream works with Geforce Experience 2.1.3 while using the stock Geforce Drivers (338.xx) that are installed on the Alpha. OR - you can install the custom 344.75 drivers, which will allow the latest Geforce Experience 2.1.4 software to run on the Alpha.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7l4jiapvvcpr1o5/Win8.1Win8Win7_x64_HDA%28344.75%29.exe?dl=0

^These custom drivers come straight from the Software Manager who developed the Alienware UI that is used on the Alienware Alpha. This is NOT my link, and I take no credit for this.

I use Gamestream to play mostly Dark Souls, and I have also completed both Wolfenstein: The New Order campaign timeplines using Gamestream. I have never come across a game which wasn't able to Gamestream to the Nvidia Shield Portable using the Alpha.

You can set up a Wifi Direct-Connection to the Nvidia Shield Portable using the Alpha's internal Wifi dual-band antenna while bypassing the router. You can initiate Wifi Direct-Connection on the shield. You only need to do this once, and then after that - the Alpha will automatically recognize the Shield when it's turned on. I've tested this and it works just fine.

However, I choose to let a wireless router to mediate the data between the devices. This allows Gamestream to be used Remotely while the device is on a different network (like when I'm traveling). I'm using a DLink 860L dualband router rated at AC1200. Using the 5 Ghz channel allows the Shield to Gamestream games with video quality at 1080p at 60 FPS. While using the 2.4 Ghz channel, only 720p is available at either 30 FPS or 60 FPS.

The Alpha has no problems Gamestream-ing at 1080p when using the 5 Ghz channel. There is very little latency. Compared to Nintendo Wii U's Off-TV Play, Gamestream-ing with the Alpha and Shield is just a very VERY TINY bit delayed. Compared to PS4 and PS Vita, called Remote Play, the response is much quicker on the Alpha + Shield. So overall, I'd rate the Gamestreaming capabilities between the Nintendo Wii U + Gamepad and the PS4 + PS Vita.

A 3rd-party open-android app which uses Gamestream, called Limelight, shows only a 3 millisecond latency on average using the 5 Ghz channel, and 11 milleseconds using the 2.4 Ghz channel. The average latency is actually calculated by the Limelight app itself when you exit Gamestream.

Nintendo Wii U Off-TV Play > Alienware Alpha + Shield >>>>> Sony PS4 + PS Vita Remote Play.

So yea, I've tried Gamestreaming on the Shield using the Alpha.



EDIT: Woah, the link to custom 344.75 drivers are now expired. I don't mind upping a link to the drivers if anyone asks at a later time. I'm currently not logged onto the Alpha because I'm "studying for finals".
 
A

AngmarsKing701

Member
itchyass86 said:
Gamestream with the Nvidia Shield Portable is the primary reason why I purchased this device.

Gamestream works with Geforce Experience 2.1.3 while using the stock Geforce Drivers (338.xx) that are installed on the Alpha. OR - you can install the custom 344.75 drivers, which will allow the latest Geforce Experience 2.1.4 software to run on the Alpha.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7l4jiapvvcpr1o5/Win8.1Win8Win7_x64_HDA%28344.75%29.exe?dl=0

^These custom drivers come straight from the Software Manager who developed the Alienware UI that is used on the Alienware Alpha. This is NOT my link, and I take no credit for this.

I use Gamestream to play mostly Dark Souls, and I have also completed both Wolfenstein: The New Order campaign timeplines using Gamestream. I have never come across a game which wasn't able to Gamestream to the Nvidia Shield Portable using the Alpha.

You can set up a Wifi Direct-Connection to the Nvidia Shield Portable using the Alpha's internal Wifi dual-band antenna while bypassing the router. You can initiate Wifi Direct-Connection on the shield. You only need to do this once, and then after that - the Alpha will automatically recognize the Shield when it's turned on. I've tested this and it works just fine.

However, I choose to let a wireless router to mediate the data between the devices. This allows Gamestream to be used Remotely while the device is on a different network (like when I'm traveling). I'm using a DLink 860L dualband router rated at AC1200. Using the 5 Ghz channel allows the Shield to Gamestream games with video quality at 1080p at 60 FPS. While using the 2.4 Ghz channel, only 720p is available at either 30 FPS or 60 FPS.

The Alpha has no problems Gamestream-ing at 1080p when using the 5 Ghz channel. There is very little latency. Compared to Nintendo Wii U's Off-TV Play, Gamestream-ing with the Alpha and Shield is just a very VERY TINY bit delayed. Compared to PS4 and PS Vita, called Remote Play, the response is much quicker on the Alpha + Shield. So overall, I'd rate the Gamestreaming capabilities between the Nintendo Wii U + Gamepad and the PS4 + PS Vita.

A 3rd-party open-android app which uses Gamestream, called Limelight, shows only a 3 millisecond latency on average using the 5 Ghz channel, and 11 milleseconds using the 2.4 Ghz channel. The average latency is actually calculated by the Limelight app itself when you exit Gamestream.

Nintendo Wii U Off-TV Play > Alienware Alpha + Shield >>>>> Sony PS4 + PS Vita Remote Play.

So yea, I've tried Gamestreaming on the Shield using the Alpha.



EDIT: Woah, the link to custom 344.75 drivers are now expired. I don't mind upping a link to the drivers if anyone asks at a later time. I'm currently not logged onto the Alpha because I'm "studying for finals".
Click to expand...
Boner fuel
 
S

sörine

Banned
That's just what I wanted to hear! Super interested in the Alpha now but was also curious if anyone's tested Dolphin/PCSX2 performance on it?
 
T

TsunamiOfSwagger

Member
Looking at buying one of these myself. Should you bother with any form of warranty, I am usually against buying these, but is it considered a safe bet?
 
T

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
sörine;143259043 said:
That's just what I wanted to hear! Super interested in the Alpha now but was also curious if anyone's tested Dolphin/PCSX2 performance on it?
Click to expand...
No one has replied about this yet. Is love to know too.
 
R

RM8

Member
It seems like people are mostly testing last-gen games :x I don't want a monster PC by any means, but I want to be able to play fighters, racers, action games, etc. with okay settings (again, I don't mind 720p). Should I be worried?
 
A

AngmarsKing701

Member
Rm88~ said:
It seems like people are mostly testing last-gen games :x I don't want a monster PC by any means, but I want to be able to play fighters, racers, action games, etc. with okay settings (again, I don't mind 720p). Should I be worried?
Click to expand...
That's why the i5 version would be lowest I'd consider.
 
dugdug

dugdug

Banned
Rm88~ said:
It seems like people are mostly testing last-gen games :x I don't want a monster PC by any means, but I want to be able to play fighters, racers, action games, etc. with okay settings (again, I don't mind 720p). Should I be worried?
Click to expand...

I played the Evil Within demo on my i7 model, and, it ran pretty well. Better than the PS4 version I played earlier this year, for sure. 1080p and, while not really hitting 60, it was definitely above the 24-30 that the PS4 version was hitting when I played it.

I also played Titanfall, and got a full 60fps/1080p out of it, but, I guess that's a cross-gen title. Certainly runs better than the XB1 version.
 
W

wachie

Member
littlepooch21 said:
try building one that is this small. it just won't happen.
Click to expand...
ok, this is hilarious. first it was the "off-the-shelf" and now the goalpost has moved to "small"

outunderthestars said:
Ummm, if anyone is moving goalposts, it would appear to be you. And yes, you can save money by building anything yourself. This is not a new point that you are bringing up.
Click to expand...
I'm not the one placing any constraints in the argument .. so then you are the only person moving goalposts
 
R

RM8

Member
Xer0 said:
I played the Evil Within demo on my i7 model, and, it ran pretty well. Better than the PS4 version I played earlier this year, for sure. 1080p and, while not really hitting 60, it was definitely above the 24-30 that the PS4 version was hitting when I played it.

I also played Titanfall, and got a full 60fps/1080p out of it, but, I guess that's a cross-gen title. Certainly runs better than the XB1 version.
Click to expand...
I'm going with the i5 model. I hope I'm not stuck in PS360 territory :/

wachie said:
ok, this is hilarious. first it was the "off-the-shelf" and now the goalpost has moved to "small"
Click to expand...
I'm buying this as opposed to building a PC literally because of its size, it's silly dismissing its selling point, lol.
 
T

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
I only have one goalpost and it's staying in one place. A small box that connects to my TV, runs Steam and plays my games at any quality.
 
V

Version 1

Member
Bought the i5 on launch and am loving it, especially paired with U-verse GigaPower and the Samsung 500GB EVO SSD drive I installed post-purchase.

My primary use for this is a fast, small, and quiet office PC as I'm normally a console gamer but I wanted to test it out with the free copy of Far Cry 4 that came with the EVO drive. I redeemed my key, installed (including U-Play), but when I go to start a new game during the loading screen it constantly crashes to the desktop. Any tips for what could be going wrong?
 
dugdug

dugdug

Banned
Version 1 said:
Bought the i5 on launch and am loving it, especially paired with U-verse GigaPower and the Samsung 500GB EVO SSD drive I installed post-purchase.

My primary use for this is a fast, small, and quiet office PC as I'm normally a console gamer but I wanted to test it out with the free copy of Far Cry 4 that came with the EVO drive. I redeemed my key, installed (including U-Play), but when I go to start a new game during the loading screen it constantly crashes to the desktop. Any tips for what could be going wrong?
Click to expand...


Check the Steam forums. Any games that I've had trouble with, I was able to find a fix in there.
 
O

outunderthestars

Banned
Version 1 said:
Bought the i5 on launch and am loving it, especially paired with U-verse GigaPower and the Samsung 500GB EVO SSD drive I installed post-purchase.

My primary use for this is a fast, small, and quiet office PC as I'm normally a console gamer but I wanted to test it out with the free copy of Far Cry 4 that came with the EVO drive. I redeemed my key, installed (including U-Play), but when I go to start a new game during the loading screen it constantly crashes to the desktop. Any tips for what could be going wrong?
Click to expand...

Dumb question: How do you swap out drives in terms of software? Did you just back up the entire HDD and then copy those contents over to the SSD?
 
T

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
Rm88~ said:
I'll add "...that you can realistically take with you anywhere".
Click to expand...
And to that I'll add "...that I don't have to build myself."

I get that some people have fun building gaming PCs but I really personally don't want to. It's just not my thing right now. I spent my whole childhood taking things apart and trying to put them back together. Now I just want it to be done already.

I'll probably aim to get one by the spring. Really looking forward to it. Wish I could get it now so I could post impressions.
 
V

Version 1

Member
outunderthestars said:
Dumb question: How do you swap out drives in terms of software? Did you just back up the entire HDD and then copy those contents over to the SSD?
Click to expand...

It was actually pretty easy considering this was the first time I've swapped HDDs in a PC. I downloaded the Samsung Data Migration software for the EVO drives on the stock HDD, plugged in the SSD with the USB to 2.5" SATA III cable I found on Amazon, and within an hour or so everything was copied. I then unplugged the cable, got the screwdriver, and opened the Alpha case to swap. Powered on and everything from the old HDD was there. Very easy and the performance gain seems to be pretty incredible in terms of boot and app loading times.
 
M

MercuryLS

Banned
Version 1 said:
It was actually pretty easy considering this was the first time I've swapped HDDs in a PC. I downloaded the Samsung Data Migration software for the EVO drives on the stock HDD, plugged in the SSD with the USB to 2.5" SATA III cable I found on Amazon, and within an hour or so everything was copied. I then unplugged the cable, got the screwdriver, and opened the Alpha case to swap. Powered on and everything from the old HDD was there. Very easy and the performance gain seems to be pretty incredible in terms of boot and app loading times.
Click to expand...

Can you use a external HDD to save Steam games to?
 
O

outunderthestars

Banned
Version 1 said:
It was actually pretty easy considering this was the first time I've swapped HDDs in a PC. I downloaded the Samsung Data Migration software for the EVO drives on the stock HDD, plugged in the SSD with the USB to 2.5" SATA III cable I found on Amazon, and within an hour or so everything was copied. I then unplugged the cable, got the screwdriver, and opened the Alpha case to swap. Powered on and everything from the old HDD was there. Very easy and the performance gain seems to be pretty incredible in terms of boot and app loading times.
Click to expand...

That is super awesome! Thank you for your help. How noticeable is the performance increase?

PM me your steam username. I want to send you something as a thank you. :)
 
M

MercuryLS

Banned
I'm really hoping the second gen with SteamOS is a bit cheaper as Dell doesn't have to pay for a Windows license, hopefully they pass on the savings to customers.

I also hope there's a big bump in the GPU they use, since you can't upgrade that I want something that will last most of this gen in the box if I'm going drop a lot of money on one of these things. I also want the Steam controller included in the box, which should happen with next years refresh.

It's good to see that this thing is solid, I might get into PC gaming in a big way for the first time thanks to this thing.
 
.hacked

.hacked

Member
wow BioShock works, could never get BioShock to boot on my old rig, works fine on alpha. Bravo!

Swapped out the hard drive, used a little adapter to clone the drive to the new larger 1tb drive then a free partion program to extend the usable space to the full drive. Total time about 2hrs but most of that was waiting for drive to clone.

Have far cry 3 set to ultra runs great but have to load it via desktop mode won't boot from uplay in steam.

Have 54 games installed on this thing, quickly becoming my favorite gaming machine.
 
.hacked

.hacked

Member
I had to have an Alienware gaming laptop service due to a faulty screen. Sent a poorly trained tech out to fix it who did more damage to the laptop while trying to repair it (bent up the heat syncs, closed laptop with wire still sticking out the back along the hinges), after another phone call 2 days later had a brand new laptop. Just have to be firm with them and tell them what will make you happy.

On a positive note the alpha is very well built and easly serviceable unlike their laptops.
 
L

littlepooch21

Member
Well I was able to pick up the i3 version for $450 brand new locally. I got it all set up last night and while at work today let some of my games download to it. I haven't played it yet but it seems pretty cool. I am going to try a few games like Shadow of Mordor, NBA 2k15 tonight.
 
A

AngmarsKing701

Member
littlepooch21 said:
Well I was able to pick up the i3 version for $450 brand new locally. I got it all set up last night and while at work today let some of my games download to it. I haven't played it yet but it seems pretty cool. I am going to try a few games like Shadow of Mordor, NBA 2k15 tonight.
Click to expand...
Holy shit where did you get it at that price?
 
O

onetoescape

Banned
Hooked my in last night. Gaming wise I'm happy games look really good. However big picture mode of you tube and Netflix and all needs a bit work. I'm really happy with it though and bought myself a wee keyboard and trackpad combo
 
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