Are Alienware x51's worth it?

[Coops025]

First off, sorry if this is in the incorrect section (i'm new here).

Thinking of buying an X51 with these specs:

Intel® Core™ i7-4770 Processor (8MB Cache, up to 3.9GHz with Turbo Boost Technology)
Windows 8 64bit, English
8GB1 Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz
1TB (64MB Cache) 7200 RPM SATA 3Gb/s
1.5GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 660

After a haggling phone call to dell they offered it me for £885.

Then I tried to price this up based on a small form factor machine with the specs as close as possible, however it only comes in around £80 cheaper and will not look nearly as good as the X51's case.

Can anyone way up some pro's and cons for me??

the only issue that stands out to me is that the X-51's use power bricks which are rated at 330 watts which are the same as the M18x bricks.

Thanks in advance.

 

[illuz]

No, do not buy from alienware / Dell.

I'm on my phone getting off a train in London atm or I'd offer more help but build it yourself, you will save a hell of a lot of money, customisation down to a T and it becomes a project! You will not regret it and be scared either. We're here to help you! Welcome to the boards!

 

[DaleTheWhale]

What will you be using this for?
You can do better for the price, with more flexibility and choice.

That has a slow HDD, with a non-overclockable chip.

 

[illuz]

I've seen rigs second hand go for 600 which blast that one from Dell cleeeaannn out the water!

 

[Orcvader]

What will you be using this for?
You can do better for the price, with more flexibility and choice.

That has a slow HDD, with a non-overclockable chip.

This. If you plan to mainly game then the i7 will give you no significant benefits over an i5. If you plan to stream/record/encode however then it may come useful. And at that budget, the 660 seems quite out of place . Have you had a look at the BitFenix Prodigy cases?

 

[Coops025]

No, do not buy from alienware / Dell.

I'm on my phone getting off a train in London atm or I'd offer more help but build it yourself, you will save a hell of a lot of money, customisation down to a T and it becomes a project! You will not regret it and be scared either. We're here to help you! Welcome to the boards!

Wow nice quick response already

Well I wanted something small as my computer desk does not have much space, my budget is £900 and I love to play on WoW, but as yet I have never owned a machine that runs it on maximum settings

Having used gaming laptops to keep the use of space to a minimum, the experience for me is that i'm paying more for a laptop and can get much more from a desktop.

I'm always open to a new project but i have been out of the game for so long, my skills on know which components are the best bang for buck have now evaded me. For example, I have read somewhere that people are buying i5's instead of i7's for gaming because they are better, naturally most people would assume i7's would be better

I would be grateful if anyone of you top guys or girls could steer me into the right direct on the sweet spots of what parts I should consider.

Thanks again

 

[Coops025]

This. If you plan to mainly game then the i7 will give you no significant benefits over an i5. If you plan to stream/record/encode however then it may come useful. And at that budget, the 660 seems quite out of place . Have you had a look at the BitFenix Prodigy cases?

Yes, these cases look great to me, however I have never built a small computer so I'm concerned on which parts are right or wrong, which board to get ect.

again you are another person that has stated i5's are the way to go for gaming over the price at least, good to know this info, thanks for this.

 

[Coops025]

Just to clarify, it will only be used for gaming and we browsing.

99% of the time I will be playing World of Warcraft.

 

[zoobee]

Dont buy from Dell or AW imo, now you have discovered Overclockers. I'm serious, these guys will build you, or spec you a much better quality build with better up to date parts, just tell us exactly what you want and what you have like OS, PSU maybe..keyboard... the usual suspects will taylor you the perfect build.

for that kind of money hmmmm you can get a nice i5 haswell build with a GTX670. Yeah as others have said you dont need i7 for gaming, but for 900 bucks and only getting a 660 sucks dude.
Do you need Operating system too, or need screen and CD/DVD/RW? all these little estras...

You are on the right forum, check out some of the builds on here. but for 900 budget i'm SURE you can get a very nice build with at least a GTX670, I5 chip, z87 mobo, case, PSU, CPU cooler, RAM and maybe OC for under 900.

\
GTX670 or maybe GTX770 i5 CPU and 8GB RAM will have you playing WOW with no lag, highest settings even in masive raids, they will lag, you wont!

 

[ToxicTBag]

Agree with everyone, this is the best place to get started on your own project. There is a wealth of information and no shortage of people ready to help out plus you will save money and have the satisfaction of knowing "you built it with your own hands"

From people ready to quote you the best combination of price and hardware to help with overclocking/gaining the most from your system.

Just let people know your budget and what kind of useage your pc will be put too and your on your way

 

[zoobee]

YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 Geforce GTX 770 EX OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (77XPH6DV6KXZ) with FREE GPU Keyring £329.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 Pro 64-Bit DVD - OEM (FQC-05955) £114.95
1 x ASRock Z87 PRO4 Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £108.95
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD120BW) £79.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2133HC11ADC01) £71.99
1 x Corsair 2013 Edition Gamer Series GS 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020063-UK) £65.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £54.95
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black £47.95
1 x Corsair Hydro H60 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Guarantee £35.99
Total : £1,103.33 (includes shipping : £10.50).



OK, Ive speced a GTX770 so im over budget, a GTX670 will bring you under budget just, also Win 8 there too and a good refurb CPU cooler, the Mobo does not support SLI though, but you didnt spec u needed it so..

OK, this is my first spec build, but I too play WOW and i'm sure this would kick ass!

Edit Gah, can anyone confirm the H60 will fit into this case? I think so but...

\Also.. if you are looking to overclock the CPU, then you will need the 'k' veriosn i5 chip here is the retail one, worth buying imo over the OEM for the 1 yr extra warranty

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-470-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=567

 

[RJC]

Card on Pre-order:


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £275.99
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II OC Gamer 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £189.95
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £106.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (SH103S3/120G) £69.95
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (TXD38G2400HC10QDC01) £59.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020047-UK) £49.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £49.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H60 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Guarantee £35.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x OcUK 20x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £901.81 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 

[altrewin]

Well I wanted something small as my computer desk does not have much space, my budget is £900

_____________________
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £197.99
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II OC Gamer 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £189.95
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x ASRock B85M-ITX Intel B85 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ITX Motherboard £71.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (SH103S3/120G) £69.95
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (TXD38G2400HC10QDC01) £59.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £51.95
1 x Thermaltake Smart 530W '80 Plus' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Mini-ITX Case - Black £39.95
1 x Prolimatech Samuel 17 CPU Cooler £34.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
1 x Corsair Fan, SP120 PWM Low Noise High Pressure Fan 4 pin, Single Pack (CO-9050011-WW) £14.99
Total : £892.31 (includes shipping : £10.50).


_________________
670 + i5k, B85 does support overclocking to some extent. > Clicky <

Although I wouldn't recommend OC'ing too far due to less durable components on B85/H87 boards

 

[RJC]

With operating system:


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £197.99
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II OC Gamer 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £189.95
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £106.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (SH103S3/120G) £69.95
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (TXD38G2400HC10QDC01) £59.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £49.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020047-UK) £49.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H60 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Guarantee £35.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x OcUK 20x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £903.80 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 

[honosuseri]

My friend had bought one a while back. It was the i5 and had a 400 series GPU. Sure the case looks nice and is small but that's easy to do when the PSU isn't housed inside

He wanted more graphic grunt and it was a nightmare looking for a GPU that would fit and was external exhaust. The PSU being such a low rating didn't help either In the end he bought a new PSU and a Nvidia 660 and was handed down a case from a friend to use. Shockingly the mobo was a ITX H61 which is seriously lowend.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £197.99
1 x VTX3D HD 7870 Black Boost Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £155.99
1 x Asus Z87I PROFESSIONAL Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini-ITX £139.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £86.99
1 x BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Case - CaseKing Anniversary Edt. £60.95
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (TXD38G2400HC10QDC01) £59.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020059-UK) £54.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £51.95
1 x Corsair Hydro H80 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler *Manufacturer Refurbished Unit - 90 Day Guarantee £35.99
1 x OcUK 20x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £871.80 (includes shipping : £10.00).



I could suggest something like that. No OS but there is a Windows 8 trial you can use for 3 months free of charge. You can then decide if you want to stick with 8 or buy 7 instead.

Those prices for the 670s are VERY good. I've used this Tahiti cored 7870LE as it OCs well to trade blows with the stock 7950s, it's priced close to the bog standard 7850/7870s so awesome bang for buck. The i5K can be OC'd (CLC included to help that), the mobo is dear but that's to allow voltage adjustment to help overclocks. It does include bluetooth and wifi which is a nice touch.

Hope this helps, we look forward to seeing what you settle on in the end.....so long as it's NOT an X51

 

[oldestgregg]

First off, sorry if this is in the incorrect section (i'm new here).

Thinking of buying an X51 with these specs:

Intel® Core™ i7-4770 Processor (8MB Cache, up to 3.9GHz with Turbo Boost Technology)
Windows 8 64bit, English
8GB1 Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz
1TB (64MB Cache) 7200 RPM SATA 3Gb/s
1.5GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 660

After a haggling phone call to dell they offered it me for £885.

Then I tried to price this up based on a small form factor machine with the specs as close as possible, however it only comes in around £80 cheaper and will not look nearly as good as the X51's case.

Can anyone way up some pro's and cons for me??

the only issue that stands out to me is that the X-51's use power bricks which are rated at 330 watts which are the same as the M18x bricks.

Thanks in advance.

Spot on, people are here to help you if you are polite and friendly!

As for alienware/dell stay clear exept Dells monitors which are lovely and have excellent warranties.

 

[olivier renault]

YOUR BASKET
1 x "Gold Rush Gamer" Intel Core i5 4670K @ 4.4GHz Overclocked Haswell LAN Gaming PC £640
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 760 EX OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE GPU Keyring £215.99
1 x No Second Hard Drive Option (ZERO Cost) £0
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £51.95
1 x No Operating System £0
1 x Standard Build Systems - Approximately 5-7 working days £0
1 x 24 MONTH WARRANTY - COLLECT & RETURN £0.01
1 x "Prodigy Cobalt" Intel Core i5 4670K @ 4.2GHz Quad Core Mini ITX LAN Gaming PC £574.04
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 760 EX OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE GPU Keyring £215.99
1 x No Second Hard Drive Option (ZERO Cost) £0
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £51.95
1 x BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Cube Case - Arctic White £69.95
1 x Standard Build Systems - Approximately 5-7 working days £0
1 x No Operating System £0
1 x 24 MONTH WARRANTY - COLLECT & RETURN £0.01
Total : £1,855.28 (includes shipping : £29.50).



plus many more. Specialist shops will always beat Alienware. Self build, and you get a SSD extra, or windows. Or maybe even both.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 670 OC Twin Frozr Power Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £209.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £197.99
1 x Asus Z87 GRYPHON Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £119.99
1 x Corsair Obsidian 350D Windowed Micro ATX Case - Black £86.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (SH103S3/120G) £69.95
1 x Thermaltake Smart M550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply £59.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £51.95
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £47.99
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler £29.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £907.80 (includes shipping : £12.50).



BTW that PC in the original post is ****. Don't even bother. Alienware / Dell always prop their 'gaming' PCs with expensive i7's and crap video cards (although 660 ain't too bad), not even unlocked CPU, and with no way of upgrading them. Certainly not with that kind of form factor.

Here's the size of the case.

 

[Coops025]

Thanks guys, I am slowly looking through your posted builds

BTW the prodigy cases may still be slightly and i mean slightly too wide

Defo need to get some decent Mini-ITX case ideas.

 

[altrewin]

_____________________
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £197.99
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II OC Gamer 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £189.95
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x ASRock B85M-ITX Intel B85 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ITX Motherboard £71.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (SH103S3/120G) £69.95
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (TXD38G2400HC10QDC01) £59.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £51.95
1 x Thermaltake Smart 530W '80 Plus' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Mini-ITX Case - Black £39.95
1 x Prolimatech Samuel 17 CPU Cooler £34.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
1 x Corsair Fan, SP120 PWM Low Noise High Pressure Fan 4 pin, Single Pack (CO-9050011-WW) £14.99
Total : £892.31 (includes shipping : £10.50).


_________________
670 + i5k, B85 does support overclocking to some extent. > Clicky <

Although I wouldn't recommend OC'ing too far due to less durable components on B85/H87 boards

This is probably about as small as you're likely to get unless you go for something like a Sugo SG05, but then you'd need to sacrifice some other bits. I'll have a go at a spec with that in a moment

 

[altrewin]

YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 670 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £199.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £197.99
1 x Silverstone Sugo SG05 HTPC Case with 450W Power Supply - All Black ( SST-SG05BB USB 3.0) £114.95
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x ASRock B85M-ITX Intel B85 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ITX Motherboard £71.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (SH103S3/120G) £69.95
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (TXD38G2400HC10QDC01) £59.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £51.95
1 x Phanteks PH-TC90LS Low-Profile CPU-Cooler - White £29.99
1 x Samsung SN-208DB/BEBE Slimline 8x DVD±RW SATA Drive - OEM £17.99
Total : £908.27 (includes shipping : £11.25).



____________________
Suprisingly managed to fit everything within budget still, even with the price increase on the 670