• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Alienware Alpha first impressions and benchmarks

darkjedi187 said:
Any chance you remember what settings you changed?
Click to expand...


I don't remember all the settings I changed off the top of my head. But I can grab that info. I was following some recommendations someone had made in a Youtube video, I'll share that link as well. I do recall adjusting the 3D performance settings as well as numerous other things including Vsync. Overall it's made a big difference in games for me.

What happened was I would watch gameplay videos people were making with the Alpha, and wondering why my system was never playing anything nearly as smooth as other people's rig's. Even when I turned down alot of graphical settings in a game. Stuttering was pretty constant.
And now it seems to be running pretty darn smooth 60 fps for alot of programs I've tried it with. I've been messing with the steam fps monitor as well to try and get a better handle on what was happening with my games' performances.

I just wish I had known to do this earlier. Although I'm afraid I may become addicted to the higher frame rate.
 
dangeROSS said:
I don't remember all the settings I changed off the top of my head. But I can grab that info. I was following some recommendations someone had made in a Youtube video, I'll share that link as well. I do recall adjusting the 3D performance settings as well as numerous other things including Vsync. Overall it's made a big difference in games for me.

What happened was I would watch gameplay videos people were making with the Alpha, and wondering why my system was never playing anything nearly as smooth as other people's rig's. Even when I turned down alot of graphical settings in a game. Stuttering was pretty constant.
And now it seems to be running pretty darn smooth 60 fps for alot of programs I've tried it with. I've been messing with the steam fps monitor as well to try and get a better handle on what was happening with my games' performances.

I just wish I had known to do this earlier. Although I'm afraid I may become addicted to the higher frame rate.
Click to expand...

What did you change, though? It's great that you're having a good experience now but the advice you've given to people who had your issues amounts to nothing more than "look at stuff in Nvidia Control Panel" and maybe change something related to VSync.

There are a bunch of settings in the control panel, if we don't know which ones to change, we could easily mess things up. If you go back into the control panel, the settings you changed, at least in 3D settings, will show up as bolded since they aren't the default settings. Which settings are bolded for you?
 
I still have the basic I3 I got last November for $400 and spent $20 to upgrade to 8gb of ram. I'm still loving it. I'm not really a PC gamer except for MMOs, it plays FFXIV at 60+ FPS at 1080p on ultra and in raids.. Overwatch is even better...I really love this thing for its price.
 
CrashPrime said:
Better wireless chip? I didn't know about that. Whats the difference? Also what type of CPU upgrades are out there for ~$150 at this point?
Click to expand...

Its a 4 antennae WIFI vs. 2 antennae so potentially better coverage. As for CPU, the bump to quad core is worth it for newer games. The i5-4590 or non "K" variant of the i5-4690 can be found for under $190.

Based on mentions in this thread, I'd probably wait for the refresh, either for the spec bump or the lower price on the current machine.
 
I checked on my order this morning and it say that the expected delivery date is 4/20. Has anyone else has a long lead time, it seems excessive.
 
dragoncdf said:
so would this play rise of the tomb raider and quantum break?
Click to expand...

Rise of the Tomb Raider, yes. Here's a video checking out the FPS in the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VizCCQtfC0

Bear in mind the Alpha running it in the video has had its RAM upgraded to 8 GB, as the 4 GB starting RAM can often have a significant performance impact in many games.

The FPS is clearly locked to 30 there, but since it drops below it on occasion I would say it's probably around 30-40 FPS unlocked.

Quantum Break in its current state is a disgustingly poor PC port and it seems the only computers capable of running it decently are those with top-tier GPUs like the Titan X and 980 Ti. I have a 970/i5-4460 PC personally and I'm not going to buy Quantum Break because my PC probably doesn't have the raw power to brute force through the performance problems in order to still get an enjoyable experience.
 
Hey, anyone have suggestions on how to get dual monitor setups working properly on the Alpha?

I just bought an ASUS gaming monitor that I'm running through the HDMI port, but I have another cheap HP monitor I want to use as my second monitor. I bought this (terribly overpriced) USB to VGA adapter for the HP monitor, and the driver software is destroying my FPS, even when the monitor is disconnected from bootup. I'm going from 120 fps in Team Fortress 2 to sub-50 fps when the driver software is installed, with or without monitor.

Anyone here running multi-monitor without this stupid caveat?
 
darkjedi187 said:
I checked on my order this morning and it say that the expected delivery date is 4/20. Has anyone else has a long lead time, it seems excessive.
Click to expand...

neonglow said:
I ordered mine in early December and didn't get one until a few days before Christmas.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it seems the lead times are quite long. I saw many people saying they waited a month to get it when buying direct.

This is why I got mine from Amazon when it was on sale. It was NOS though, so I had to upgrade it to Windows 10 (came with 8.1).

The updated one from Dell/Alienware comes with a 7200rpm HDD though (mine has the old 5400rpm, but I'm going to put a SSD in it anyway).
 
QuantumSquid said:
What did you change, though? It's great that you're having a good experience now but the advice you've given to people who had your issues amounts to nothing more than "look at stuff in Nvidia Control Panel" and maybe change something related to VSync.

There are a bunch of settings in the control panel, if we don't know which ones to change, we could easily mess things up. If you go back into the control panel, the settings you changed, at least in 3D settings, will show up as bolded since they aren't the default settings. Which settings are bolded for you?
Click to expand...


I haven't had a chance to get back to my Alpha, so I didn't want to mention anything specific without being able to look at what I changed.

Now again maybe this I just common knowledge stuff to tinker with for people, but I didn't know about doing this. So far it has improved the performance of games on my system. Not sure these are the best settings for everything, or if it will help others. But thought I would share in case that it might. I figure at least discussing it a bit couldn't hurt. If someone else knows more about this subject matter or has better recommended settings, please share.

The youtube video I watched about changing Nvidia Control Panel settings was this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8jeGVttFKI


So first off I changed:


Adjust image settings with Preview - Change to Performance side of the slider. And then clicked on the: Use advanced 3D image settings.


Then go into Manage 3D settings.
Switched off all the "A' lettered settings - Ambient Occlusion, Antisotropic filtering, Antialiasing, Antialiasing Gamma Correction, Antialising mode, Antialising setting, Antialiasing transparency.


Maximum pre-rendered frames - 1


Multi-Display/mixed GPU acceleration - Single display performance.


Texture Filtering - Quality - High performance.


Triple buffering - Off


Vertical Sync - I set to Adaptive. In the video, they turn it off.


I set Vsync to Adaptive and have been trying some games with in-game Vsync off and some games with in-game Vsync on. Not sure what works best for me yet. I think it might be on a game by game basis depending on things. If issues, lag, screen tearing do seem to happen, try turning in-game v-sync on or off and see what gets best results.



Edit: More info about adaptive v-sync:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAiPmazmR_M

Edit Edit:
Found some nifty sites that can test your V-sync in a browser:
http://www.vsynctester.com/

http://www.testufo.com/#test=framerates
 
dangeROSS said:
I haven't had a chance to get back to my Alpha, so I didn't want to mention anything specific without being able to look at what I changed.

Now again maybe this I just common knowledge stuff to tinker with for people, but I didn't know about doing this. So far it has improved the performance of games on my system. Not sure these are the best settings for everything, or if it will help others. But thought I would share in case that it might. I figure at least discussing it a bit couldn't hurt. If someone else knows more about this subject matter or has better recommended settings, please share.

The youtube video I watched about changing Nvidia Control Panel settings was this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8jeGVttFKI
Click to expand...

It would seem that image quality is going to take a HUGE hit with the settings chosen in that video. I guess if you are playing competitive online games it'd be okay, but I wouldn't want to suffer through the IQ with those settings (I don't play online MP games very much, so IQ is still important to me).
 
Not sure exactly how the Nvidia Control Panel setting interact or over-ride with in-game settings for things. I haven't seen a huge drop in visual quality from changing the Nvidia settings that I mentioned in my previous post. Games still look like they did before to me.

But the more I read up on Vsync and Adaptive Vsync I wonder if Adaptive V-sync was the big change on my system that has helped eliminate the stuttering and choppiness I was experiencing beforehand.
I will have to research more about how the Nividia control panel affects things and try adjusting settings around a bit more to see what sort of results I get.
 
I've been thinking of building a pc but when I'm being realistic with myself I just don't have the time to really devote to shopping around for parts. Is this machinea good fit for someone who wants to do some gaming(nothing to crazy) and just some general use things? The price seems pretty reasonable.
I have an xbox one that suits me just fine for mostly everything. Just want to play all those indie classics and some marvel heroes.
 
Finally received it last Wednesday, It really is a nice little machine, got some Steam games installed and app I will need. I did notice it booted directly into Window and doesn't have the Hive Mind startup/login in any way.
 
darkjedi187 said:
Finally received it last Wednesday, It really is a nice little machine, got some Steam games installed and app I will need. I did notice it booted directly into Window and doesn't have the Hive Mind startup/login in any way.
Click to expand...

The Windows 10 editions come with keyboard and mouse but don't have Hivemind. There was an issue with that software running in Windows 10 at release but it may have been fixed by now.
 
Hivemind has been supposedly updated with a newer version that is now working fine with Windows 10. I haven't downloaded it myself yet. I was anxious to try out Hivemind when I first got my Alpha, but since there were issues at that time with 10 I just used it as a normal desktop. And now I'm used to it and have just kept using it that way.

Also it looks like further development on Hivemind might be stopping. There has been some talk about it on the Alienware Alpha reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AlienwareA...th_hivemind_cancelled_is_the_windows_console/
 
dangeROSS said:
Hivemind has been supposedly updated with a newer version that is now working fine with Windows 10. I haven't downloaded it myself yet. I was anxious to try out Hivemind when I first got my Alpha, but since there were issues at that time with 10 I just used it as a normal desktop. And now I'm used to it and have just kept using it that way.

Also it looks like further development on Hivemind might be stopping. There has been some talk about it on the Alienware Alpha reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AlienwareA...th_hivemind_cancelled_is_the_windows_console/
Click to expand...
https://www.reddit.com/r/AlienwareAlpha/comments/4fp8o6/hivemind_ui_status/
Great news: HiveMind is off hold. Getting future updates for Windows 10.
 
That is good news. Glad to hear things are still going forward. I still have yet to download the new version but one of these days I'm going to try it out.
 
StaticJam said:
Anyone who upgraded their i3 CPU which one did you go with? I'm looking for an i5 since my CPU seems to be the main issue for me lately and have $300 Amazon credit. Currently looking at this one:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DI6AS50/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Click to expand...

That would be a great choice for the Alpha

dickroach said:
is there a way to connect the Alpha to two monitors?
Click to expand...

USB 3.0 adapter

Outdoor Miner said:
Have there been any rumors of a refresh for the unit with a newer GPU?
Click to expand...

Not yet. Maybe when pascal has a notebook GPU they might consider it. And I'd consider buying another one, heh.
 
Ouch, so the $599 SKU doesn't get you the 960.

There goes my hopes for getting one sub-$500. It'd take one hell of a Dell discount + SlickDeals rebate + Ebates combo to get it that low.
 
Darn. I wanted to get the first one last year but I just couldn't justify it. Same it the new ones. I just don't need a machine that small to play games on. I'm happy with a quiet mid tower by the tv.

It's still one of the best designed sff gaming pcs tho.
 
yoshizzle said:
Alienware Alpha R2

$600:
i3 6100T
8GB Ram
R9 M470X GPU with 2 GB GDDR5
500GB HD

$800:
i5 6400T
8GB Ram
GTX960 GPU 4GB GDDR5
500GB HD

$950:
i7 6700T
8GB Ram
GTX960 GPU 4GB GDDR5
1TB HD
Click to expand...

Glad they updated the RAM to 8 GB minimum, but the other complaint from most previous Alpha owners was the tiny (and slow) HDD. They should have made SSD standard.

Honestly I still feel the original Alpha is good enough that there isn't really a need to upgrade, especially considering the built in gpu still isn't VR capable. This machine IMO is stuck in a place where it's too expensive to capture the normal console crowd, but not quite powerful enough to really be future proofed.

I wonder if the gpu is no longer soldered to the motherboard?
 
Omega Kirby said:
Can these machines be upgraded?
Click to expand...
Trouble said:
Everything but the GPU.
Click to expand...
peaceiscloser said:
Glad they updated the RAM to 8 GB minimum, but the other complaint from most previous Alpha owners was the tiny (and slow) HDD. They should have made SSD standard.

Honestly I still feel the original Alpha is good enough that there isn't really a need to upgrade, especially considering the built in gpu still isn't VR capable. This machine IMO is stuck in a place where it's too expensive to capture the normal console crowd, but not quite powerful enough to really be future proofed.

I wonder if the gpu is no longer soldered to the motherboard?
Click to expand...
Actually, while that's true, apparently the top two new models will have the ability to expand using a special external GPU case so you will be able to expand it over time if you want to. It was in the interview posted above. But I think it's only the $800 and higher if I'm not mistaken since they both have Nvidia while the low end is ATI? I forget. I don't know PC spec stuff. Which is why I'm even interested in this in the first place.

As for VR, yes they will be able to do VR using that external box as well. So while out of the box it won't, but through expansion it will eventually. Not sure when though.

At least according to the Alienware PR guy in that interview.
 
here is a very nice review of Alpha R2 with unboxing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHrJ9IA60MI

some things I found interesting.

-There is an empty M.2 slot inside now, you can have a second drive now, for SSD.

-It comes with a cheap looking keyboard and mouse, no controller (this is the i7 model)

-There is no thunderbolt 3.0, it can only work with AW amp (which I believe is limited to pcie 4x, poor decision for consumer, selling propriety stuff)

- GPU is not up gradable, it's same deal as R1. I'm going to assume that this is not desktop 960 but 965m instead which is similar to desktop 960. It's like how they were selling 860m as "Geforce GTX" with R1 without stating which one, some vendors like Asus were even selling 860m in their own pcs as 750Ti. They are similar alright but it's misleading still, "m" models have some stigma around them I guess they want to avoid for marketing. Yes, they can flash whatever model number they want on bios and the driver will report just that.

-The base model with AMD card can't use the amp.


Overall I think what made R1 appealing was the price/performance, the value you got with the package, controller and everything was great and definitely worthwhile , which is not here with R2. 965m is quite a lot better and probably enough for current gen games but 4GB VRAM is already pushing it in recent games like Quantum Break or Tomb Raider even. The external GPU is great but you're limited to AWs not so optimal solution that looks hideous and enormous.
 
The Alpha has included keyboard and mouse for a while, unfortunately. I was hoping for a controller when I ordered mine back in February.
 
I'd rather at least have the Steam controller as an optional replacement. At least then you can use the Steam keyboard overlay thing right? Does that still exist?
 
The Real Abed said:
I'd rather at least have the Steam controller as an optional replacement. At least then you can use the Steam keyboard overlay thing right? Does that still exist?
Click to expand...

It's there but I have found it always unreliable. It won't focus on certain text entry fields, and sometimes does not appear at all. I'm looking forward to it being improved because it is a great feature when it works.
 
With the pricing on the R2, I'm glad I went with the R1 for the price I got.

After Dell sale price + Slickdeals rebate + Discover cashback, it came right under $300 for the lowest end model. Half the price of the cheapest R2 model for not much of a performance hit.

Is the AMD R9 M470X GPU even better than a Nvidia GTX 860m?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Hardware Unboxed - Forza Horizon 6 GPU benchmarks
Hardware 
1
56
realcool replied
Marathon Alpha Impressions
19 20 21 22 23
1K
16K
Arsic replied
Avowed first impressions 'really long post': I'm having a blast.
Opinion Spoilers 
40
543
seb85 replied
Crimson Desert - Final Preview and Impressions
7 8 9 10 11
517
4K
Orionsangel replied
Starfield 4/26 Update Impressions: DLCs and PS5 Release
7 8 9 10 11
527
3K
mdkirby replied
Top Bottom