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Alienware Alpha Windows gaming PC $399 from Dell

D

Donrule01

Banned
My coworker got an Alpha with a Core i5 and 8gb of ram for $550 after discount and a code he got from Dell. He added a 1TB Samsung EVO 850 SSD he got cheap as well. He loves the system. He has a laptop on his desk for normal pc tasks and the Alpha hooked to a 19inch Dell 1440x900 monitor. He plays almost all of his games on High/Max settings without issue.

I played around with it as his place. Runs quiet and I like how it looks. He also has a 27 inch 1366x768 monitor he can use as well and running games at that res with MAX settings is no problem usually.
 
H

Hydrus

Member
I caved in and ended up getting the i3 version from best buy for 400 after 10% off coupon. Just wanted something small for lan parties and playing through my steam back log on my tv. Hope this thing works out!
 
L

la flama blanca

Banned
Bumping to show how much crow I ate:
la flama blanca said:
Not a good deal imo
Click to expand...


I upgraded my ram(8gb), installed an SSD, optimized Windows(Yamicosft Windows 8 manager) and overclocked the GPU based on recommendations in a reddit thread. The following is what I have achieved: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HXsyaeLqSs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWnPNwoZaBM
Settings on high and very high, Direct X 11, 1080p
BF4 plays on ~50fps on all ultra settings 1080p
Mortal Kombat plays very smoothly.
Really happy with this machine.

The primary reason I bought this machine is bc I can no longer be the same master PC race elitist I once was, needed a Dota 2 machine to play on my bed and ended up getting a much better machine than I thought.
 
S

Stormus

Member
la flama blanca said:
Bumping to show how much crow I ate:



I upgraded my ram(8gb), installed an SSD, optimized Windows(Yamicosft Windows 8 manager) and overclocked the GPU based on recommendations in a reddit thread. The following is what I have achieved: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HXsyaeLqSs
Settings on high and very high, Direct X 11, 1080p
BF4 plays on ~50fps on all ultra settings 1080p
Mortal Kombat plays very smoothly.
Really happy with this machine.

The primary reason I bought this machine is bc I can no longer be the same master PC race elitist I once was, needed a Dota 2 machine to play on my bed and ended up getting a much better machine than I thought.
Click to expand...

Very nice. Was contemplating getting this thing and held off. Kind of kicking myself now.
 
P

pompidu

Member
Hydrus said:
I caved in and ended up getting the i3 version from best buy for 400 after 10% off coupon. Just wanted something small for lan parties and playing through my steam back log on my tv. Hope this thing works out!
Click to expand...

I highly, highly recommend you go to dell site and download updated drivers. After that uninstall all that alienware shit. The computer is great but every alienware piece of software grinds the system to a slow crawl.
 
P

Pooya

Member
jwk94 said:
So what's the difference between the i3 and i5?
Click to expand...

For games? Better and, more importantly, more stable performance.

For everything else is good to have a quad core too if you'e going to use this like a PC. I think i3 one is fine for now for ~95 plus percent of situations, it can max out the GPU fine but those ~5 percent gonna suffer.

Games like StarCraft II, GPU sits at like 40-50 percent utilization and when something interesting happens you drop to 20s. Actually I don't think even the i7 one can fix that, the engine is just weird, you need something in 3.5 to 4GHz range to get 60fps all the time.

Or Wolfenstein, it's like the one game I tried on alpha that it performs considerably worse than PS4. Evil Within isn't so hot either but you can hit 30fps target even with the i3. Checking on youtube even i7 version doesn't seem any better, could be GPU limit. Overall I think if you're interested in this product just get the base model for the cheapest you can. Better CPU is obviously better but the GPU is going to be the major bottleneck sooner than the i3 is going to be, i3 is pretty decent, it works well with emulators too.
 
I

inpHilltr8r

Member
It's totally worth it for a pc-curious console gamer. Windows is still fucking horrible though. Suddenly I see why all the hate for 8.
 
dragonfart28

dragonfart28

Banned
Project Cars is really impressive on this machine.

I think, moving forward, I will be waiting about 1 year or so after consoles release and get the next alpha then.

Seems like this is the sweet spot if you want a capable machine in a small form factor with comfy couch gaming.
 
dugdug

dugdug

Banned
dragonfart28 said:
Project Cars is really impressive on this machine.

I think, moving forward, I will be waiting about 1 year or so after consoles release and get the next alpha then.

Seems like this is the sweet spot if you want a capable machine in a small form factor with comfy couch gaming.
Click to expand...

What settings are you using? I've bumped it down to slightly above PS4 settings, and, it looks pretty good, but, I'm not particularly blown away by it.

Also, is there a way to quit out of the game without using a keyboard/mouse?
 
C

commish

Jason Kidd murdered my dog in cold blood!
Andodalf said:
How long will this last? It's it's around the end of this month I'll be allllll over it.
Click to expand...

Through the 19th.

I pulled the trigger. Figured free return shipping if I don't like it, but I think it'll make a good fit in my living room.
 
Q

Quixzlizx

Member
I'd rather pay a little more for an i5 version, so I'd be able to run pcsx2 on it. It's too bad that one isn't also on sale.
 
M

Mareg

Member
Last night I finally took the time to take the Alpha out of its box. Box had been siting in the corner of the dining room for close to a month.

I sat at the table with all the components to upgrade the box. I had a nice 500gig SSD and an additionnal 4gb of ram.

I flipped the box and found out the screws. But low and behold, for all my considerable collection of screwdrivers (I even got special gear to operate SNES carts), none of them was simple enough (read extra slim and long) to get to those damn screws...

I cried a little and just left everything sitting on the table. It might take a week or two before I find the time to go buy myself a low budget philips screwdriver long and thin enough to reach dem screws.
 
dragonfart28

dragonfart28

Banned
Xer0 said:
What settings are you using? I've bumped it down to slightly above PS4 settings, and, it looks pretty good, but, I'm not particularly blown away by it.

Also, is there a way to quit out of the game without using a keyboard/mouse?
Click to expand...

I have a mish mash of different settings, but generally getting 1080p @ 60 fps (locked with v sync) with some things set to high, some on low and a few on ultra.

I think part of the beauty of playing with PC settings is that you can find things to tune down based on your preference.

The mouse thing is definitely annoying, but the workaround I use is to hit the xbox power button and use steam overlay to exit.
 
dugdug

dugdug

Banned
dragonfart28 said:
I have a mish mash of different settings, but generally getting 1080p @ 60 fps (locked with v sync) with some things set to high, some on low and a few on ultra.

I think part of the beauty of playing with PC settings is that you can find things to tune down based on your preference.

The mouse thing is definitely annoying, but the workaround I use is to hit the xbox power button and use steam overlay to exit.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm getting 60/1080 as well, but, some of the textures are a little gross, and, I have those set to high. Weird. I'll keep fiddling with it.

Also, I never use Steam Overlay because it's always like "only use this as a last resort!" I assume you haven't run into any problems with that, though?
 
dragonfart28

dragonfart28

Banned
Yes, you are right about the steam scare message and at first I was tentative about it, but now I exit with it all the time lol

Also, make sure AF is set to 16x and SMAAx4 if you want textures to pop. I forgot if there is a tesselation option in the game, but that would help too.
 
C

commish

Jason Kidd murdered my dog in cold blood!
Vardhan said:
Is this something that can play The Witcher 3 or Arkham Knight? If so, On what settings?
Click to expand...

You definitely can, but the settings are TBD. In all likelihood, it would look better than the Xbox/PS4 versions, but keep in mind this is not a powerhouse gaming machine by any stretch.
 
Warablo

Warablo

Member
commish said:
You definitely can, but the settings are TBD. In all likelihood, it would look better than the Xbox/PS4 versions, but keep in mind this is not a powerhouse gaming machine by any stretch.
Click to expand...

Doesn't it need a better CPU to run those? I don't know much on PC specs, but that's what I gather for the Witcher 3..
 
O

oatmeal

Banned
That 329 deal was insane and yet again my dumbass skipped it.

It would finish my theater and I'm a dickhole for ignoring it. :/

Next time. Next time.

If RDR came to steam I could get rid of my PS3 and 360 completely. :(
 
S

Schweinehund

Member
Pretty good deal, you could definitely play dota 2 or league on it with max settings, and most other games already out on normal or console-like settings. Had I the funds I would pick one up for the living room.
 
E

evilalien

Member
oatmeal said:
That 329 deal was insane and yet again my dumbass skipped it.

It would finish my theater and I'm a dickhole for ignoring it. :/

Next time. Next time.

If RDR came to steam I could get rid of my PS3 and 360 completely. :(
Click to expand...

The deal is still available. I think it will be until the 19th.
 
B

belmonkey

Member
It'd be nice if the base price was reduced to $400 indefinitely; it'd probably sell even better then (although I do wonder how much they spend per Alpha).
 
Sorcerer

Sorcerer

Member
I read a thread where people are asking for an alienware alpha compatible with the graphics accelerator box. Put a card of your choice in the box, plug the box into the laptop and overide the current gpu.

Basically the Alpha is a laptop so they could conceivably add a port for this.

Will it happen or will Alienware hold off because it gives one less reason to buy a whole new Alpha/Steam Machine in the future?
 
B

belmonkey

Member
Sorcerer said:
I read a thread where people are asking for an alienware alpha compatible with the graphics accelerator box. Put a card of your choice in the box, plug the box into the laptop and overide the current gpu.

Basically the Alpha is a laptop so they could conceivably add a port for this.

Will it happen or will Alienware hold off because it gives one less reason to buy a whole new Alpha/Steam Machine in the future.
Click to expand...

Would be great if such a thing was more common and affordable; would be a boon to people with laptops that want to get into PC gaming without buying a whole new computer. Laptops usually already have decent CPUs already, so could probably get pretty good performance for a price less than buying any other gaming device.

I kinda feel like it'd be a waste to override the decent 860m in the Alpha though, since the whole device is fairly evenly balanced in terms of GPU and CPU.
 
Sorcerer

Sorcerer

Member
belmonkey said:
Would be great if such a thing was more common and affordable; would be a boon to people with laptops that want to get into PC gaming without buying a whole new computer. Laptops usually already have decent CPUs already, so could probably get pretty good performance for a price less than buying any other gaming device.

I kinda feel like it'd be a waste to override the decent 860m in the Alpha though, since the whole device is fairly evenly balanced in terms of GPU and CPU.
Click to expand...

You are right. The box by itself is $300 and then you are probably doing to drop another $300 for a video card.

Probably would never fly.
 
B

bndadm

Member
Okay I've had the Alpha for about a month now and it's turned out to be an absolute boon for travelling. However there's one caveat I'm having trouble with. Playing certain MS-DOS games or older games is causing some audio skips (full screen).

Specifically games like Rebel Assault 1 & 2 and Rogue Squadron 3D and Jedi Knight.

It seems like when I run Rebel Assault 1 & 2 in a window I don't get the audio hitches. Rogue Squadron 3D however I can't seem to go to a window no matter how hard I try.

Current games do not have this issue, so I am perplexed as to what could be causing it. The TV also has the little Input box with resolution pop on every time the audio hitches, so it seems to be resolution or processing the signal. I'm not savvy enough to know why only older games would do this.

My TV is a bit older so there's no "Game" setting, but if any geniuses on here have some suggestions I'd love to hear them.

Edit: Just saw a widescreen patch for Rogue Squadron. Will try that out to see if that solves the issue.
 
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