Alienware ALX (dual-NV45) benchmarks

Alienware makes great computers and charges a reasonable amount. If you are to take all the alienware parts and even go to pricewatch you will find out they are not chargeing as much as alot of your poor broke jealous people think. Its obvious to me that most of you are just dirt poor bitches... My friend just ordered him 2 alien alx systems, each system was over 6,000.00 dollars and he is happy about it because he makes over 25,000 a month so its nothing to him. Anyways after hitting pricewatch and adding up the prices one of his systems that we priced was only 527.00 dollars more than he could of built himself and this is without the warranty, cool looks, etc. Most of you seem to me your the same kind of person that would dog on a dude that bought a new 6900 or x800 series graphics card cuz your just a dirt poor jealous little kid.
 
IdiotInCharge said:
For those that say 'Alienware sucks,' do you have any proof to back that up? They always seem to be a good deal, comparable to Dell, for a system that looks cool, runs great, and comes with a good warranty right out of the box. I kow there's a price perspective, but what about quality? Can anyone really knock them on that?
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Yeah my friend bought a PC from AW and when he received it he had problems booting the pc. Sometimes it would post others it wouldn't. I opened it up and it turns out they forgot to hook up the molex connector to the VC :D.
 
Grim Incarnation said:
I thought they just patented the Dual AGP, not Dual PCI-e. Though if they patent the software and hardware to make the vid card work as one, I still have to stand by my statement
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well, judging by the fact that they have no patents even related to AGP, you are wrong on that statement. this is a dual PCIE solution, no AGP anywhere near it.
(also Dual AGP was done a few years ago by a mobo manufacturer, not sure if the board was ever sold, but it was shown at IDF a couple of years ago I believe, both dual AGP and dual PCI-e x16 are allowed for in the original specs of the standards, so I don't think anyone can patent them, it would be like someone making a board with one more pci slot than usual and patenting it)
 
( Shane ) My friend just ordered him 2 alien alx systems, each system was over 6,000.00 dollars and he is happy about it because he makes over 25,000 a month so its nothing to him.
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I wanna know what job gets you 25,000 a month cause i need to make sure and major in that while im in college. :D
 
Shane said:
Alienware makes great computers and charges a reasonable amount. If you are to take all the alienware parts and even go to pricewatch you will find out they are not chargeing as much as alot of your poor broke jealous people think. Its obvious to me that most of you are just dirt poor bitches... My friend just ordered him 2 alien alx systems, each system was over 6,000.00 dollars and he is happy about it because he makes over 25,000 a month so its nothing to him. Anyways after hitting pricewatch and adding up the prices one of his systems that we priced was only 527.00 dollars more than he could of built himself and this is without the warranty, cool looks, etc. Most of you seem to me your the same kind of person that would dog on a dude that bought a new 6900 or x800 series graphics card cuz your just a dirt poor jealous little kid.
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well i'm pretty sure you just suck at doing pricewatch.


give me the system specs and i'll save a 1000 bucks easily.
 
Alienware is pretty cool. I just bought one, so we'll see how reliable it winds up being. Bottom line on Alienware is that the quality of parts they use is far better than e-machines, HP, Gateway, etc. Plus they offer AMD based systems (unlike Dell). Why pay a premium? At this time in life, I just want something that works and has a decent warranty. The neato thing about Alienware's warranty is that you can upgrade any component at cost from them during the lifetime of the warranty (which if you use even once pays for itself).

I am tempting the fates with a RAID 0 setup. Swapped out the included Radeon 9600 XP w/ my old Radeon 9700 Pro, no hitches. Added in a TV tuner, no hitches there either. The cabling was very professional. Good airflow (I saw no less than six fans pumping circulation in there).

Not sure why people think they are crap. To each, their own.
 
agar said:
Yeah my friend bought a PC from AW and when he received it he had problems booting the pc. Sometimes it would post others it wouldn't. I opened it up and it turns out they forgot to hook up the molex connector to the VC :D.
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They do ship it to you so it could have gotten loose when they shipped it. Also, I remember when I read an article where the same thing happened to a voodoo.
 
it takes a lot of vibrations to knock out a molex connector, takes me a solid 10 seconds to rip the molex out of my x800 :rolleyes:
 
my friends alienware one of the molex connectors was apparntly cut off... and there was the four bare wires just floading around in his case... the +5 touched the side of the case and since the great PSU they used had no short protection the thing pretty much self-destructed

then they tried to blame it on him for cutting off the connector... even tho i know this guy is so stupid he probably dosent know how to use scissors, needless to say i was SURE hey never opened the case...

after talking to some ex-employees ive heard some crazy horror stories about that place... but whatever, who am i to talk really? :rolleyes:


and ya its Latino or some crap in california with the mexicans, here its hispanic, since its like 99% cubans and the rest is puerto ricans, colombians, etc... and ive heard hispanics called all sorts of things from overly PC terms to insulting ones... since i dont look hispanic at all :rolleyes:
 
Well I like to check out reviews at resellerratings.com before I make purchases online for a new PC or just parts. I realize that there is no way to be perfect and that there will be errors from time to time, especially with companies that do a lot of business. While Alienware's lifetime rating is pretty good at the low 8 range, I found it hard to justify the extra cost considering I could get a PC with the same parts from Monarch Computer for a lot less and they have a outstanding 9+ rating.

Well that's my opinion anyway like it really matters.
 
Lol i just went to alienware and priced out a system, lets just put it this way, if you fell like spending $1200 more from alienware then building it yourselves go ahead, but i dont blame them from ripping off people who have no idea how to build Pcs themselves, If i could id do the same thing they do LOL!
 
Shane said:
Alienware makes great computers and charges a reasonable amount. If you are to take all the alienware parts and even go to pricewatch you will find out they are not chargeing as much as alot of your poor broke jealous people think. Its obvious to me that most of you are just dirt poor bitches... My friend just ordered him 2 alien alx systems, each system was over 6,000.00 dollars and he is happy about it because he makes over 25,000 a month so its nothing to him. Anyways after hitting pricewatch and adding up the prices one of his systems that we priced was only 527.00 dollars more than he could of built himself and this is without the warranty, cool looks, etc. Most of you seem to me your the same kind of person that would dog on a dude that bought a new 6900 or x800 series graphics card cuz your just a dirt poor jealous little kid.
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YOU TELL THEM SHANE IF YOU WANT TO SAVE MONEY YOUR JUST A "dirt poor bitch"

:rolleyes:
 
Grim Incarnation said:
Yeah... about that. Alienware patented this so only they can use 2 AGP slots in a motherboard. What this means is that unless somebody finds a loophole, AlienWare's "Project" To further technology has just pissed many people off, and AW probably won't change their mind about letting others use this.

In short: Alienware claims to make this to Further Technology. Alienware patent's this. Alienware made a hipocrital move. I hate Alienware for stopping some Technology from happening
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BS patent. AGP spec allows for 2 slots, so they can't do a derivative patent like that. Only their implementation. Anyone can make a board with 2 slots.
 
I already said that, plus there isn't any AGP in this system, so I don't see the connection, the patent is on the software and hardware to do the combining, not the slots.
 
y0bailey said:
well i'm pretty sure you just suck at doing pricewatch.


give me the system specs and i'll save a 1000 bucks easily.
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Are you also going to warrenty it and do full time support? Someone also mentioned the upgrade program, where you pay for the item at cost to them, would you do that too? Mod the case mouse speakers and monitor? I also want you to build me a dual x800 video card config. See where im going with this?

If i wanted you to mod a case, mouse /speakers etc, and add support to the mix, and a warrenty program, how much would you charge over what you pay for parts?

Most people would charge 1-200 dollars to assemble a pc. Lets add another 200 for full time technical support, then add an extra 1-200 for the warrenty, and how much to mod the case mouse etc? Lets say hmm...200 bucks. I think those figures are fair.

Yes there are cheaper, far cheaper alternatives, but in many cases those cheaper alternatives dont factor in warrenty or support, and of course some of the bells and whistles.

AW Pc's arent designed for the pricewatch people, they're gaming pcs designed for people that are willing to pay a premium.
 
WIXARD ill do all of those things for you and others in my town, LOL, youi can call me 24/7 i will answer all of your questions.
 
Wixard said:
Are you also going to warrenty it and do full time support? Someone also mentioned the upgrade program, where you pay for the item at cost to them, would you do that too? Mod the case mouse speakers and monitor? I also want you to build me a dual x800 video card config. See where im going with this?

If i wanted you to mod a case, mouse /speakers etc, and add support to the mix, and a warrenty program, how much would you charge over what you pay for parts?

Most people would charge 1-200 dollars to assemble a pc. Lets add another 200 for full time technical support, then add an extra 1-200 for the warrenty, and how much to mod the case mouse etc? Lets say hmm...200 bucks. I think those figures are fair.

Yes there are cheaper, far cheaper alternatives, but in many cases those cheaper alternatives dont factor in warrenty or support, and of course some of the bells and whistles.

AW Pc's arent designed for the pricewatch people, they're gaming pcs designed for people that are willing to pay a premium.
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My thoughts exactly.
 
oqvist said:
There is cards that consists of 4 9800 PRO:s that is available for the public. 24x aa for the performance hit of 6xaa not bad ;)
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Where would one find information on such a card?
 
lopoetve said:
Google. two 9800 one card
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I actually had spent a bit of time Googling on the subject before I posted. The search term you provided gave me even less to go on than I already found. (As as side note, whenever I give someone a UTFG I check to make sure the search term I spout actually gets the information.)

In any case, all I found was this. It's a dual 9800 supposedly made by sapphire that apparently never made it past prototype. Nothing like the 4 9800 Pro unit quoted earlier. Which is why I was wondering where to find one, since I had never heard of such an animal.
 
FLECOM said:
too bad they are the worst company ever run by a bunch of dirty histpanics (im allowed to say that im hispanic)

most unprofessional group of people ive ever had the displeasure of working with...

and their "building" is a warehouse behind tamiami airport here in miami
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I engaged in dialogue with them after I sold PCFX. Needless to say I very quickly took an offer from BOXX instead. They actually called me 6 months later and I told them I was rather happy where I am now...

Bleh. I feel dirty for even entertaining the thought.
 
Marcdaddy said:
WIXARD ill do all of those things for you and others in my town, LOL, youi can call me 24/7 i will answer all of your questions.
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The company I had doing tech support at PCFX would have a guy onsite within the day...will you buy a round trip air ticket to fix it yourself?? ;)
 
But does the extra price of the AWs include WinXP with a license? How many people here actually payed for theirs? :p
 
Morley said:
The company I had doing tech support at PCFX would have a guy onsite within the day...will you buy a round trip air ticket to fix it yourself?? ;)
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A lot of people don't understand how much time and money it takes to provide good service. On the outside it looks easy, when you're on the other side of the fence, things change.
 
Do you realize how fast these benchmarks really are? They were using Nvidia's hybrid super sampling/multisampling 8x AA mode with these for maximum quality at 1600x1200. With straight multisampling AA it would be even faster. The dual 6800 setup looks like it would run 1600x1200 with 4xAA/8xAF faster than 9800pros are running 1024x768 no AA/no AF today.
 
I'd like to see some worthwhile benchmarks (i.e. not 3D Mark) of this technology.
 
Wixard said:
A lot of people don't understand how much time and money it takes to provide good service. On the outside it looks easy, when you're on the other side of the fence, things change.
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when you are starting out it is a big cost, once you get up to speed, and start selling systems left and right, the cost for customer service becomes a fixed cost, especially in the high end where they are. good service is not equal to a lot of money as you stated.
good service starts on the mission statement of the company and is followed, by the right recruiting and seminars etc.
take newegg for example.

alienware is for people that dont know about computers and have the money to buy them, seriously. go to a compusa and stand in the service area for 30 minutes.
not everybody knows how to work on a computer, and alienware is for those people in the high range. they provide a good looking computer, that performs great.


would i buy one, hell no, but if somebody asked me for a place where to buy a high end good looking computer i would send them asap to alienware.
 
thelostrican said:
when you are starting out it is a big cost, once you get up to speed, and start selling systems left and right, the cost for customer service becomes a fixed cost, especially in the high end where they are. good service is not equal to a lot of money as you stated.
good service starts on the mission statement of the company and is followed, by the right recruiting and seminars etc.
take newegg for example.

alienware is for people that dont know about computers and have the money to buy them, seriously. go to a compusa and stand in the service area for 30 minutes.
not everybody knows how to work on a computer, and alienware is for those people in the high range. they provide a good looking computer, that performs great.


would i buy one, hell no, but if somebody asked me for a place where to buy a high end good looking computer i would send them asap to alienware.
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Of course i suppose thats because we dont say "well, thats not under warrenty anymore". Where you get its not expensive im not sure. It costs at the large scale personel (or outsourcing) infrastructure, training, a location etc. If something has a year warrenty, and someone brings it in, in 13 months. We'll still cover it.

It gets expensive very quickly. That costs rises as you do more business, and like you said it will eventually level off. Good service costs money appropriate to the size of the business. And yes, it costs a lot of money proportionately at any level. Due to low prices on low end models, a bad part can drastically cut into that profit. On the high end it costs proportionately as much, due to the expectation of added support. Its going to depend on how you run your business, whether you're a "we only install drivers, you're on your own now" kind of business or not.
If good service were cheap, reseller ratings would be full of 8-10 scale companies.
 
Wixard said:
Of course i suppose thats because we dont say "well, thats not under warrenty anymore". Where you get its not expensive im not sure. It costs at the large scale personel (or outsourcing) infrastructure, training, a location etc. If something has a year warrenty, and someone brings it in, in 13 months. We'll still cover it.

It gets expensive very quickly. That costs rises as you do more business, and like you said it will eventually level off. Good service costs money appropriate to the size of the business. And yes, it costs a lot of money proportionately at any level. Due to low prices on low end models, a bad part can drastically cut into that profit. On the high end it costs proportionately as much, due to the expectation of added support. Its going to depend on how you run your business, whether you're a "we only install drivers, you're on your own now" kind of business or not.
If good service were cheap, reseller ratings would be full of 8-10 scale companies.
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the only reason why you dont see reseller ratings full of 8-10 scales company, has is not because of the money it cost, its because of the dedication it takes to build it.

in the low end its hard its a very fine art to deal with the customer service it will make or brake a company, but in the high end, the story is different, seriously do you think that alienware pays per motherboard what you and me pay?

the total cost for alienware to build a machine is much less than what you and me pay when we search in pricewatch and get the best deal we can get.

so if we can build a machine for a 1000 less than a retail alienware, it costed them about 300 to 400 less to build it than what it costed you or me.

alienware is a niche, period, it doesnt matter how you want to cut it slice or whatever.
they are a niche a highend one, and they are for profit company.

so to take away you theory, alienware makes a hell of a profit for a product, they dont spend it on on support, as a matter of fact alienware support is outsourced to another company, why because they are in the making money business.

and sure one computer can need support, and eat away the profits of that machine, but then you have 5 machines that dont ever need support or at least while the warranty is in effect, and thx indirectly to the economies of scale they made a profit, not only did they make a profit on the machines, but they made a profit on money that was alocated for warranty and support.


and to be honest apart from the video array, an alienware is an off the shelf product. i would understand if we where talking about a 499 computer, and even those make a profit. but at the price point of alienware. to put it in perspective, if dell can sell you a computer for say 799 with a 2 year or 3 year warranty, and make a profit, i am pretty sure alienware can sell you a computer for 1600.00 (low end for alienware) and make a profit

bottom line is dont take it personally we are here to exchange ideas and learn from each other :)

they have a great niche, and they make a killing profit. good for them. i wish i would have come up with the idea first.:)
 
Alienware sucks, they are an abomination to computing! I myself live near them, and offer my help to bring them down.... First, start a campeign to tell everyone i know to not buy them, and explain why, i can tell enough so they tell more, and onward.....
Then, me and a small contigent of mad gamers/computer entusiasts launch an all out embargo on their facilities, we blockade there facility so noone can get in or out....Maybe even get the workers ot strike....
Me and two others will take a large amount of gasoline and matches, set fire to their building, and cheer the death of a stupid and worthless company!
 
There will be a LOT more folks with an "SLI" setup far beyond Alienware.... :cool:
 
I find this quite amusing.... The alx systems cost 5,200 bucks (rougly).... Aren't they supposed to have TWO video cards...I only see 1 in their specs......so, in all if u wanted a real duel card computer, u would have to pay ANOTHER 500 bucks for what is promised by AW.,.... I dunno about you folks, but im building a guy the same spec computer, with better watercooling, more ram, and ADDED A SECOND COMPUTER to the customer, an amd 2500+ barton, with a 9800 pro, and 2x 250 gb harddrives, in addition to the 80 gb caviar, and the 2x raid arry on the primary system. Im even giving him an extra gig for each system!!!!!! FOR THE SAME DAMN PRICE AS THEY ARE ASKING FOR!!
Ill have 200 bucks, and be able to build the exact same computer for myself after the sale!!!!
Wtf is AW doing!
So for 5600 bucks im givin the guy 2 really well made computers, a lot of power, and cooling....and still have an fx-53 system(i got the x800xt myself already) and 200 bucks!!

Nvm about my last post, AW is making me look better!!
 
Alright, I see a lot of posting about how Alienware is at least $1k more expensive than a RELIABLE home built system. Let's prove it scientifically. Please build me the following system for the best price you can find (if you find the lowest price at a company that has no / poor ratings, it 'doesn't count' because I doubt anyone would take the chance in real life). So 'build it' using parts from reputable companies.

I want :
Athlon64 3400+ (1 MB Clawhammer)
Any DECENT motherboard, obviously (w/ integrated networking)
1 GB DDR (2-2-2 timings)
320 GB Serial ATA Raid 0 (7200 RPM w/ 8 MB cache per drive)
DVD R+- all in one combo drive
SB Audigy 2
Radeon 9600XT
A keyboard and a mouse
A floppy drive
A reliable 400W minimum PSU/Case
A minimum of 4 fans for good air circulation
(You may or may not wind up having to pay shipping depending on the size of the order, and Alienware is currently offering free shipping by Fed Ex 3-day).

It must also include WindowsXP Home, Nero, PowerDVD, and Office Professional. No monitor is necessary (as I already have one). Let's see what prices we can come up with. I would expect that the difference using quality parts would be < $1000.00 for Alienware vs. home built.
 
jmcmike said:
I actually had spent a bit of time Googling on the subject before I posted. The search term you provided gave me even less to go on than I already found. (As as side note, whenever I give someone a UTFG I check to make sure the search term I spout actually gets the information.)

In any case, all I found was this. It's a dual 9800 supposedly made by sapphire that apparently never made it past prototype. Nothing like the 4 9800 Pro unit quoted earlier. Which is why I was wondering where to find one, since I had never heard of such an animal.
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it's a real card, only used to run aircraft training simulations

i beleive i saw it on here a while back
 
Sharps97 said:
Alright, I see a lot of posting about how Alienware is at least $1k more expensive than a RELIABLE home built system. Let's prove it scientifically. Please build me the following system for the best price you can find (if you find the lowest price at a company that has no / poor ratings, it 'doesn't count' because I doubt anyone would take the chance in real life). So 'build it' using parts from reputable companies.

I want :
Athlon64 3400+ (1 MB Clawhammer)
Any DECENT motherboard, obviously (w/ integrated networking)
1 GB DDR (2-2-2 timings)
320 GB Serial ATA Raid 0 (7200 RPM w/ 8 MB cache per drive)
DVD R+- all in one combo drive
SB Audigy 2
Radeon 9600XT
A keyboard and a mouse
A floppy drive
A reliable 400W minimum PSU/Case
A minimum of 4 fans for good air circulation
(You may or may not wind up having to pay shipping depending on the size of the order, and Alienware is currently offering free shipping by Fed Ex 3-day).

It must also include WindowsXP Home, Nero, PowerDVD, and Office Professional. No monitor is necessary (as I already have one). Let's see what prices we can come up with. I would expect that the difference using quality parts would be < $1000.00 for Alienware vs. home built.
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2070.98---For an audigy zs card, a dvd burner, a samsung drive, with teh nero and powerdvd, windows xp, microsoft cordless duo, a 9800 pro, 500 gb hdd, and etc...Shippign and tax included....well, for me....Everything is manufacturer warrenty...
 
IF you want teh specific list, that i had, but lost becasue the site failed, if u pm me ill give you the specs....One other thing to mention.. Alienware also saves money in buying bulk, sponsering their partners, and so on.....
 
Thanks for the response.

With Alienware's 1 year warranty, the rig I specified came out to $2350 or so, and with the two year warranty it comes out to be $2500 or so. So, there is still a difference with the advantage of doing it yourself. However, the difference between the two is well under $1k. And probably the only reason for that is simply all the competition in the market.

IMO, margins for the box makers have been shrinking over the last few years and will continue to do so until some of the smaller builders give up the ghost, so to speak.
 
Sharps97 said:
Thanks for the response.

With Alienware's 1 year warranty, the rig I specified came out to $2350 or so, and with the two year warranty it comes out to be $2500 or so. So, there is still a difference with the advantage of doing it yourself. However, the difference between the two is well under $1k. And probably the only reason for that is simply all the competition in the market.

IMO, margins for the box makers have been shrinking over the last few years and will continue to do so until some of the smaller builders give up the ghost, so to speak.
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At PCFX I can tell you we were doing 15-17% after CC charges. That's far below any other industry.
 
Dell doesnt make that much profit off of low end machines. And any company spends a nice, large chunk of cash on service and support. Profit margins are slim all around.

Large OEM's dont get their stuff as cheaply as youd like to imagine, if they did, they would sell an assembled pc for less than you could build it for.

thelostrican said:
so if we can build a machine for a 1000 less than a retail alienware, it costed them about 300 to 400 less to build it than what it costed you or me.

alienware is a niche, period, it doesnt matter how you want to cut it slice or whatever.
they are a niche a highend one, and they are for profit company. so to take away you theory, alienware makes a hell of a profit for a product, they dont spend it on on support, as a matter of fact alienware support is outsourced to another company, why because they are in the making money business.
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I never argued alienware wasnt a niche company. Every company spends a lot of money on support, if it were so cheap it wouldnt be worth the PR black eye to outsource to india.

Ive been selling pcs for companies for years, and without a doubt support is expensive, probably the largest expense for a business aside from employee salaries. Unless you dont give 2 shits about your customers, in that case its a whole other story. (I own my own business now)

But thats besides the point. The point is, the competition at the low end is ferocious, profit margins are razor thin, at the high end, the expectation of added support for the premium price doesnt help either. Sure, you make more money off high end computers.(or at least, you should be)

I eye balled a random alieware computer. The "aurora", to build that pc yourself using similar parts (in other words a nice case to match a nice case) Would probably run you 1400 (compared to their 1800) But that doesnt include tech support, and the warrenty.
 
Sharps97 said:
Thanks for the response.

With Alienware's 1 year warranty, the rig I specified came out to $2350 or so, and with the two year warranty it comes out to be $2500 or so. So, there is still a difference with the advantage of doing it yourself. However, the difference between the two is well under $1k. And probably the only reason for that is simply all the competition in the market.

IMO, margins for the box makers have been shrinking over the last few years and will continue to do so until some of the smaller builders give up the ghost, so to speak.
Click to expand...

YOu have to know one thing, its not top of the kline, they usually lowwer the price little by little on (polder) models....did u add in teh 9800 pro, the non generic ram, the real corsair ram, which is decent 232, teh 500gb hdd, etc, that i had said? Im getting aroudn 3 grand for those specs....but this is with a 3500 amd 64 and an x800 pro, which will add up to like a 300 buck diff, so in all u save around $800....Ive looked at everymodel they make, and each one costs arond $800 more...
 
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