ShinobiFist
Banned
Fuck yeah! I want this now, but I'll wait and see how the 700 series brings to the table...But I might bite if the price is right.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Alienware X51 thread of 2.56TFLOPS comfy couch gaming at 180W in a console size box
- Thread starter Chittagong
- Start date
- Status
Fuck yeah! I want this now, but I'll wait and see how the 700 series brings to the table...But I might bite if the price is right.
What's the cooler on the X-51 GTX 660 look like?
Honestly, the X-51 would be at the top of my list if it weren't for that 330 watt PSU. The price is great for an i7 system with a solid GPU, and as far as SFF PCs go it seems easy enough to upgrade the GPU, but that PSU is going to be such a bottleneck.
Honestly, the X-51 would be at the top of my list if it weren't for that 330 watt PSU. The price is great for an i7 system with a solid GPU, and as far as SFF PCs go it seems easy enough to upgrade the GPU, but that PSU is going to be such a bottleneck.
Jawmuncher
Member
That does look nice. Though I'm a bit confused. It's a GTX 670 but its made by ASUS I'm assuming then it would use ASUS drivers or would it work with the Nvidia Drivers?
Nvidia drivers, always. The stuff on the ASUS disk would be older Nvidia drivers and probably an ASUS overclocking utility.
The brand of the card (ASUS, EVGA, XFX, etc) doesn't affect what driver you use, Nvidia cards will always use Nvidia drivers and AMD cards will use AMD drivers.
Jawmuncher
Member
ShinobiFist
Banned
GPU's are made by different manufactures. Like EVGA and MSI for example. They all have their own type of drivers for the harware. But they all use Nivida drivers for game performance. I think you got ASUS confuse with AMD...
-EDIT_Beaten like a hooker in Thailand.
Posting this for this page to temper everyone's excitement:
Get the reference 670. That kind of cooler design doesn't work well with the X51.
Get the reference 670. That kind of cooler design doesn't work well with the X51.
Pretty sure Alienware is currently offering a free upgrade to the i7 from the i5.
If you can afford it I wouldn't tell you not to as it gives you a clock speed boost (which as mkenyon said is nothing to dismiss) as well as 4 extra threads.
Your call, but if it were my money and the i7 was within budget I would do it.
Your call, but if it were my money and the i7 was within budget I would do it.
Nihilistic Monk
Member
Seem to have run into my first oddity.
Apart from steam only things I've done is run windows update & install newer wifidrivers, Nvidia drivers & drivers for Bluetooth USB dongle.
Not in games but in the desktop very intermittently I get black flashes on the screen when flicking from metro to the desktop or when a particular app loads.
Is this the graphics switching and just "normal" or is something weird going on. I think it's switching related as in games/watching movies etc it NEVER happens.
Reading up on this Optimus graphics switching it appears you have to remove all intel GFX and Nvidia drivers & re install latest versions to upgrade. There is an update out for the intel onboard graphics so I might try a full removal and reinstall tonight. Anyone ever seen similar? Google doesn't bring up much for it.
Apart from steam only things I've done is run windows update & install newer wifidrivers, Nvidia drivers & drivers for Bluetooth USB dongle.
Not in games but in the desktop very intermittently I get black flashes on the screen when flicking from metro to the desktop or when a particular app loads.
Is this the graphics switching and just "normal" or is something weird going on. I think it's switching related as in games/watching movies etc it NEVER happens.
Reading up on this Optimus graphics switching it appears you have to remove all intel GFX and Nvidia drivers & re install latest versions to upgrade. There is an update out for the intel onboard graphics so I might try a full removal and reinstall tonight. Anyone ever seen similar? Google doesn't bring up much for it.
Seriously, I spent less than 10 minutes making Metro to what I want it and now I boot up, click the game and it launches. the only time I go to the desktop is for steam because I find it easier to just open the game from there, and I'd have like 100 game icons on metro lol. Metro is cake.
Depends on how many games you have. For me it's a definite no as I've easily filled a terrabyte with my Steam games and I've still yet more that I've not downloaded.
ussjtrunks
Member
Having seen some monitors today ips glow is very annoying, anyone got a good alternate monitor thats not ips to pair with this?
If you don't mind deleting titles often. Grab at least a 1TB mechanical drive for backup purposes and use Steam Mover to move files from the SSD to the mechanical drive. As someone with experience having a 256GB SSD, it isn't enough on its own. But with Steam Mover it's easy to move my played games with games I'm not playing anymore but don't want to delete off my HDD.
Jawmuncher
Member
http://alienware.com/ubuntu/
Suspect that will be shipping with Steam OS soon enough. I don't really see the point at the moment, there's fuck all games on Linux. Still, you save $100 if you already have a Windows license.
Suspect that will be shipping with Steam OS soon enough. I don't really see the point at the moment, there's fuck all games on Linux. Still, you save $100 if you already have a Windows license.
You can put an SSD anywhere with some double sided tape. It's nearly impossible to make them overheat, and there's no moving parts.
Seems like a good compromise. Does an SSD really make that much of a difference?
True. Does the motherboard have enough headers for two drives though? I don't know what mobo the X51 uses. And if you're putting the SSD outside the chassis you'll have to drill a hole in it or something to get the wire in, won't you?
Not sure about how many Sata ports are on available (would assume a minimum of 3-4) but with regards to mounting the SSD you would mount it inside the case using duct tape or something similar. No point mounting it outside the case.
Apparently, I was able to snag the very last iBuyPower special deal at NewEgg. It's the NE731i system with i5 3570k, Gigabyte GTX 660 OC and 8GB RAM for $849. Amazing gaming rig for that kind of money.
Immediately after purchasing, it went discontinued on their website. Probably the only time in my life I'll have that kind of luck, lol
Immediately after purchasing, it went discontinued on their website. Probably the only time in my life I'll have that kind of luck, lol
I wouldn't call that an amazing deal (A good deal maybe) seeing as I got the i7 3770, 660, 8GB ram x51 from dell for less....
Anyways, look forward to your impressions of it....
Fair Trial
Member
Dont see how thats a good deal at all but ok
could be a good option if you already own Windows and wish to reuse your key.
My thoughts exactly. Got a copy of Windows 8 at home, so an Ubuntu box would be sweet. Just need to wait for it to come to the UK...
How did you get all that for less when the config starts at $1,049?
OverHeat
« generous god »
350 $ rebate from a couple of week back.
Well, darn. With my luck, I knew it was too good to be true.
I did consider the X51, but the 330 watt PSU worried me. I'm hoping the 500 PSU will at least provide enough juice to upgrade to a 670 sometime this fall.
OverHeat
« generous god »
Some user are already rocking 670 in their X51.
I understand your concern about the PSU, but I have been running a 670 without issues in my x51 for a while now.
Also, if you are going to buy a 670 down the road then why not just add an extra $100 on the $850 or so you have spent and get a beast of a machine (Buying a 670 down the road would cost you an additional $200-300).
Also, just had a closer look at the iBuyPower and it supposedly has a ASROCK H61M-HVS motherboard which uses a Intel H61 chipset , which is quite strange for a company using a Ivy Bridge CPU. This motherboard is quite dated as it was originally built for the previous generation of CPU's
I would see if you can cancel the order. I am sure that you could get something custom built for less but with better specs.
ElRenoRaven
Member
So just happened to find the thread today after I purchased mine. Must say glad to see others enjoying theirs.
Went with the I5 and the 1.5GB GTX 660 myself.
Went with the I5 and the 1.5GB GTX 660 myself.
ussjtrunks
Member
Mines shipped 2 weeks early I'm probably going to grab a dell u2412m off amazon to go with it 
Heh, the cheapest one is FIVE HUNDRED NINETY NINE US DOLLARS!
Spaaaaaaaaace
Member
Same here.
Anyways, I have a quick question. Is the computer made for easy upgrading? The one I got only had 6GB DDR3 and I wanted to upgrade maybe later on.
CosmicQueso
Member
Alright, I bit. Thanks to all for providing advice in the thread.
i7, GTX660, 2TB, 8GB SDRAM.
Didn't take THAT much rationalization. A little. Not too much.
i7, GTX660, 2TB, 8GB SDRAM.
Didn't take THAT much rationalization. A little. Not too much.
Or if you don't want windows at all...
Grats you'll love it.
Got mine about a month ago--17 3770k, 16gb ram, gtx 660, 2tb. Pretty much just like yours. It runs so god damn good it blew me away. Ultra quiet too.
- Status
Similar threads
- Poll