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Alienware Alpha first impressions and benchmarks
- Thread starter outunderthestars
- Start date
Huh, the Alpha doesn't come with a 360 controller and dongle any more.
I'd personally advocate dropping double the money that a dongle would cost you and get a Steam Controller. It definitely widens the number of Steam games that you can play with minimal hoop jumping. Also, it acts as mouse when not in big picture mode (as long as Steam is running), which is nice.
Barkley's Justice
Member
oh wow, can you type across win10 as well eith it? can it replace a dedicated keyboard?
walltowall
Member
The $150 difference does get you more ram, a bigger hard drive, and a better wireless chip in addition to the shift to quad core.
Now if you can get the i3 for less than $400 then I's look at rolling your own processor.
I think the BIOS does impose a limit on the processor though, so I wouldn't go too high end. If I'm not mistaken DF tested an i5-4690K and said that it clocked in below 3GHz while being overclockable to 4.6GHz on a desktop.
It can't replace a dedicated keyboard, at least not without some other tool to provide an on-screen keyboard. It does have default bindings for some commonly used keys, but not the alpha or numeric keys.
So I finally got around to installing Retroarch and Dolphin to use for some emulator playing on the Alpha. Retroarch seems to run fine, I'm running into some stuttering and slowdown with Dolphin. I haven't gotten too into the Dolphin stuff yet, so perhaps I just need to play with settings a bit to make it more bearable on the Alpha. Very neat to have all that content in one easily accessible place though.
I have to say that having the Steam controller around is pretty convenient. For standard web browsing and for any gameplay it does just fine for me. For extended typing or file management type stuff I still rely on my trackpad/keyboard combo.
I'm also at 8 gigs of Ram at this point. Is that a pretty solid amount of Ram for gaming stuff? Is it worthwhile to invest in a bit more?
I have to say that having the Steam controller around is pretty convenient. For standard web browsing and for any gameplay it does just fine for me. For extended typing or file management type stuff I still rely on my trackpad/keyboard combo.
I'm also at 8 gigs of Ram at this point. Is that a pretty solid amount of Ram for gaming stuff? Is it worthwhile to invest in a bit more?
reSpec Gaming
Member
Gaming still doesn't require more than 8gb of RAM. Bottlenecks to things are elsewhere (GPU mostly)
thats kinda what i want. love the form factor.
i understand that its not super futureproof. but i wouldnt mind to play the games of the last 4 years on it
TsunamiOfSwagger
Member
I have had mine for over a year now, the i5 8GB ram model, and I am pleased with it. It is capable at running most games, managed to pick up Just Cause 3 from the amazon price error the other day, and it looks good.
I am also using a steam controller with it, which took a bit of getting used to but I do enjoy using it now.
I am also using a steam controller with it, which took a bit of getting used to but I do enjoy using it now.
TsunamiOfSwagger
Member
Not got around to w3 yet, still messing with just cause 3 at the moment.
So no matter what I change for power useage on the Alpha, it will go into sleep mode if unused for more then a few minutes. I somehow think this must be related to Alienware Command Center and the power useage stuff on there. Even though I have gone in and changed it to stay awake for longer periods of time. I ran into a similar issue before with trying to disable the login screen at wakeup and finally realized that it was Alienware Command Center settings I had to change.
Should I even bother with Alienware Command Center? I think I may just try an uninstall it to see if that helps at all. I don't plan on changing the LED colors or anything else on the Alpha that Command Center Handles.
Should I even bother with Alienware Command Center? I think I may just try an uninstall it to see if that helps at all. I don't plan on changing the LED colors or anything else on the Alpha that Command Center Handles.
dickroach
Member
I've always just booted mine straight into Win10, never even touched the Alienware software. got no problems with the energy settings
Hm. I think I may have figured it out by delving deep into the energy settings and seeing something about a Hyrbid mode. I turned that off and so far seems to be ok. I'll have to test it some more and see if that did the trick.
I may just uninstall the Command Center stuff anyways as I don't use it all.
I may just uninstall the Command Center stuff anyways as I don't use it all.
I've been using my machine for the past couple days and now the system keeps flashing yellow lights and won't start up. If I swap the position of my memory stick, the system is able to boot up and load up Windows. However it will eventually flash yellow again at the next boot up. Anyone else facing this issue?
outunderthestars
Banned
Seems like the Alpha is mostly out of stock at partner retailers. Wonder if a hardware refresh is in the cards.....
Are you using stock ram? Or purchased Ram? Either way, I would try to return it because at least one of the module are dead or dying.
darkjedi187
Member
Finally got one. Somehow by going to the site from google I got $100 off plus the $100 discount. When I went directly to Dell's site it was $50 more. Total was $350 not sure how that happened but now I got to order some ram. Doesn't need to be apart or just a single? What controller is best. I did have a wii u pro controller hooked up to my of for steam. Will that still work?
Would be amazing if they did a refresh that was oculus/vive ready. Probably not a realistic thing to hope for, though.
It's doing it with both stock and purchased ram. I just sent it in for repairs.
$350 is a great price for it. The system comes with a single 4GB stick so you just need to purchase another stick to add to it. The system used to come with a X360 controller so that works best but it should also work with the Steam controller or X1 controller. Basically any controllers that support XInput. If you got the Wii U controller working on Steam it should work on the Alpha too. This machine is just another Windows PC.
Would be amazing if they did a refresh that was oculus/vive ready. Probably not a realistic thing to hope for, though.
You can't fit a 970 into such a small form factor.
bobawesome
Member
Finally got the console mode to work. I was pretty disappointed it wouldn't work with Windows 10 off the bat. It's something I'll rarely use but it's neat to have nonetheless.
Probably related to the April Fools promotion.
Probably related to the April Fools promotion.
QuantumSquid
Member
Those of you that have one of these, how loud is it?
My desktop PC is pretty loud and it would sweeten the deal considerably if this thing is quiet. I would use it as a desk PC so it would sit on my desk a few feet away from my monitor and keyboard, so if you could tell me how loud it is when idle and when under loud from about that far away, I would really appreciate it.
My desktop PC is pretty loud and it would sweeten the deal considerably if this thing is quiet. I would use it as a desk PC so it would sit on my desk a few feet away from my monitor and keyboard, so if you could tell me how loud it is when idle and when under loud from about that far away, I would really appreciate it.
Quiet as heck. Neat little PC.
outunderthestars
Banned
I don't have alot to compare it to, but it is quite than my PS4 by a wide margin.
GamingOblivion
Banned
I've now owned this thing for about six months. Got it SUPER cheap at about $330 at the time. Haven't upgraded anything though I feel like I need to start doing so.
A couple questions:
A couple questions:
- What RAM should I use to upgrade and how high can I bring it to?
- What's a good hard drive replacement? The base model is dreadfully slow, to the point where it's the bottleneck for performance.
- Can the CPU be replaced? If so, what's a decent replacement?
- Can the GPU be replaced, and if so what's a good replacement?
Max memory is 16GB.
Get a SSD. Get as much space as you can afford.
CPU is replaceable but not worth it since bottleneck is GPU which is not replaceable.
bobawesome
Member
It's fairly quiet but I wouldn't call it silent or "whisper quiet" as some have in other threads. It's certainly noticeable from that distance.
GamingOblivion
Banned
How many RAM slots is there? By that I mean should I get two 8GB sticks or four 4GB sticks?
So stick with the base model i3? No i5 will really help anything?
QuantumSquid
Member
Can't be worse than my full size desktop PC which I can hear at idle while wearing noise canceling headphones.
There's only 2 slots.
Here's a video on how to replace the memory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRObVP_diL4
I think you'll only get a couple more framerates when upgrading the CPU. For me, it wasn't worth it.
bobawesome
Member
Sure. I'm just giving personal impressions that you wanted. Again, it's not loud. Just somewhat noticeable.
peaceiscloser
Member
Since this thread cropped up on first page again, just want to voice my opinion of how much I love this thing.
Just get the base model, add at LEAST 4 GB of RAM (I use an extra 8 because I had some lying around), swap out for an SSD and you've probably got one of the smallest, price-conscious gaming computers out there. I'm glad I got this bad boy over, say, the Dell i7559 Inspiron which has comparable specs (that's $800)
I love having all of this desk space. Really. It's also great to just carry around if I want to move it from my desk to the TV. I use it as my main computer though, so it doesn't move around much.
I run Dolphin 720p to get super smooth 60fps (this is mostly a CPU thing, anyway) for my playthrough of Paper Mario Thousand Year Door and Netplay Project M Smash Bros. It's fantastic.
Get a Steam Controller, if you can. There's a slot on the bottom of the console that was built for it. They match so well!
Just get the base model, add at LEAST 4 GB of RAM (I use an extra 8 because I had some lying around), swap out for an SSD and you've probably got one of the smallest, price-conscious gaming computers out there. I'm glad I got this bad boy over, say, the Dell i7559 Inspiron which has comparable specs (that's $800)
I love having all of this desk space. Really. It's also great to just carry around if I want to move it from my desk to the TV. I use it as my main computer though, so it doesn't move around much.
I run Dolphin 720p to get super smooth 60fps (this is mostly a CPU thing, anyway) for my playthrough of Paper Mario Thousand Year Door and Netplay Project M Smash Bros. It's fantastic.
Get a Steam Controller, if you can. There's a slot on the bottom of the console that was built for it. They match so well!
345triangle
Member
980m doesn't work.
GamingOblivion
Banned
Last question for the smart ones in the thread? What kind of screwdriver do I need to open the machine?
darkjedi187
Member
Ended up getting the ram listed above. Went with 8gb so I could go to 16 if needed.
Ram : http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o07_s00
Do I need the dongle for the xbox controllers? Doesn't the Alpha have Bluetooth?
Ram : http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o07_s00
Do I need the dongle for the xbox controllers? Doesn't the Alpha have Bluetooth?
It does have bluetooth.
darkjedi187
Member
Or is the steam controller the way to go??
Steam controller with the Alpha is pretty great. I use it all the time. It's nice to be able to just sit back and navigate websites and stuff too with just a controller. I also have a wireless trackpad/keyboard and I feel that it's kinda necessary. As sometimes you may need to type something out or the controller might not be recognized in a random situation.
You do need a dongle for wireless 360 controllers. Or if you have a standard wired 360 pad, that works fine too. But you cannot use a usb cable to connect a wireless pad.
I currently have 8GB of Ram on my machine and from what I can gather from others more knowledgeable then myself, that is a sufficient amount of memory. I sort of want to upgrade to 16GB but it sounds like the results wouldn't be that advantageous. Anyone else want to chime in on that?
I believe all you need to open the Alpha is a phillips head screwdriver.
And a bit of a PSA:
I've had my Alpha since December. I would consider myself a somewhat knowledge computer guy but it wasn't until last week while messing around with the Nvidia Control panel settings that I really got a idea of what the Alpha could do. Up until that point many games had been running with a bit of judder or stuttering with things. Not sure what my framerates were, probably not great. So I changed some Nvidia Control panel settings about performance and some other things I did it - I am now able to play games at 60 frames a second without crazy stuttering that I was getting before. It looks sooo much better with things now. Maybe I'm just an idiot when it comes down to getting into the nitty gritty details of PC configuring, but I'm surprised it took me this long to really get it working as well as it does now. Just throwing that info out there in case anyone else was in a similar position as myself.
You do need a dongle for wireless 360 controllers. Or if you have a standard wired 360 pad, that works fine too. But you cannot use a usb cable to connect a wireless pad.
I currently have 8GB of Ram on my machine and from what I can gather from others more knowledgeable then myself, that is a sufficient amount of memory. I sort of want to upgrade to 16GB but it sounds like the results wouldn't be that advantageous. Anyone else want to chime in on that?
I believe all you need to open the Alpha is a phillips head screwdriver.
And a bit of a PSA:
I've had my Alpha since December. I would consider myself a somewhat knowledge computer guy but it wasn't until last week while messing around with the Nvidia Control panel settings that I really got a idea of what the Alpha could do. Up until that point many games had been running with a bit of judder or stuttering with things. Not sure what my framerates were, probably not great. So I changed some Nvidia Control panel settings about performance and some other things I did it - I am now able to play games at 60 frames a second without crazy stuttering that I was getting before. It looks sooo much better with things now. Maybe I'm just an idiot when it comes down to getting into the nitty gritty details of PC configuring, but I'm surprised it took me this long to really get it working as well as it does now. Just throwing that info out there in case anyone else was in a similar position as myself.
darkjedi187
Member
Any chance you remember what settings you changed?
CrashPrime
Member
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?