Alienware ALX (dual-NV45) benchmarks

Very interesting, but as long as you have to buy a high $$$$ Alienware to utilize this technology it will go nowhere.

Most of us wouldnt buy a commercial built p.c. if we were filthy rich.

When it hits mainstream they will get my attention. So now we just wait for mainboards with two x16PCI slots.
 
really interesting stuff but will this EVER be possible to do for the average person with out haveing to go thru alienware?
I mean Nvidia did buy out 3DFX so would it be possible for them to some how hybrid two NV40/NV45's into a sli type config?
or are we all fucked and gonna have to go thru AW to get this?
 
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 ;)
 
what i'd find interesting is: if this would go mainstream there'd be some funky options... say like 2x 9600 pro or 1 9800XT and stuff.
 
WalteRr said:
...Or are you just trying to bash nvidia again?

nope, i wasn't. 2 cards (ATI or nvidia) coupled with a fat CPU and stuff just puts out a lot of heat
:rolleyes:
 
hmm, this thing costs $5000. I think I'll be more then happy if I can afford one x800 pro. wow, 2 6800U's + no watercooling=4 expansion slots.
 
Many hard core gamers are not also hardcore PC enthusiasts. They want something that will play their games well, and if Alienware has one-upped the competition, power to them.
 
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
 
alienware computers are perhaps the worst built computers i've delt with... if i won a free one, i'd trade it for an emachine... at least the emachine will work
 
honestly i think the reason that people say alienware is so great, is becuase everyone who buys one, feels so stupid about paying so much for a piece of crap, that they lie and say its great to make themselves feel better about themselves :p
 
its been said that one card will raise your system temp by about 4c. im thinking 2 would be about 10c
 
FLECOM said:
honestly i think the reason that people say alienware is so great, is becuase everyone who buys one, feels so stupid about paying so much for a piece of crap, that they lie and say its great to make themselves feel better about themselves :p
truth++

There's a fellow who comes to my LAN party that brings his alienware, after we ran through some benchmarks we came to the conclusion that our systems were pretty dead even...
then I asked him how much he payed ($2,500), and then I told him that I built mine for a grand less. Needless to say, he was pretty silent with the "OMG ALIENWARE ROXORS" for quite awhile
 
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

Lmao
 
Headbust said:
its been said that one card will raise your system temp by about 4c. im thinking 2 would be about 10c
why would the second card put out 50% more heat than the first one?
 
It will most likely be available to the general public after awhile. It's an Iwill board with the Lindenhurst chipset so it's got 24 PCIe lanes. Iwill either took the lanes and made it 16 + 8 or 2 X 12. It seems easy enough for any company to do. The amount of lanes will probably increase over time so it could become much more common.

EDIT:

Just realized it could be the Tumwater chipset as it has 32 lanes of PCIe IIRC.
 
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

I thought the PC term is Latino, not hispanic, because Latin Americans wanted differentiation from Spanish people.
 
Visable-assassin said:
really interesting stuff but will this EVER be possible to do for the average person with out haveing to go thru alienware?
I mean Nvidia did buy out 3DFX so would it be possible for them to some how hybrid two NV40/NV45's into a sli type config?
or are we all fucked and gonna have to go thru AW to get this?

No, I don't think so, unless alienware decides to sell it to other companies. Maybe i'm mistaken but I read this in PCgamer like 5 minutes ago.

Alienware's solution is built around proprietary software and hardware, including a video-merger hub that is responsible for merging the individual signals into one image on your monitor. Yes, this setup means that if you want Video Array, you're going to have to go to Alienware to get it.
 
FLECOM said:
honestly i think the reason that people say alienware is so great, is becuase everyone who buys one, feels so stupid about paying so much for a piece of crap, that they lie and say its great to make themselves feel better about themselves :p

Exactly; often when I build computers for other people, I goto commercial builders' websites (Alienware, Dell, ect.) and try to build the exact computer they want to show them the price difference. Alienware is usually a grand or two more expensive, which is ridiculous. Sure they make it look "swank," but you could do the same thing; you just need a little patience.
 
Yes you can build an alienware pc for a grand less(in some cases more or less). Yes they are expensive. But, they're meant for people who dont know a lot about computers, yet want the best possible gaming machine you can buy. You have to remember the warrenty that comes with them, and the support also. Other companies make good machines, but alienware doesnt just put it together and put a name on it, actual R and D goes into the machines beyond what the case looks like. They use custom cases, mice, keyboards, monitors and in some cases custom motherboards. Support, service, and performance wise ive never heard a bad thing about them.

When people talk about alienware they usually do either two things, review the price, or review the person who bought it. In this case, i believe the extra price is justified.
 
Wixard said:
Yes you can build an alienware pc for a grand less(in some cases more or less). Yes they are expensive. But, they're meant for people who dont know a lot about computers, yet want the best possible gaming machine you can buy. You have to remember the warrenty that comes with them, and the support also. Other companies make good machines, but alienware doesnt just put it together and put a name on it, actual R and D goes into the machines beyond what the case looks like. They use custom cases, mice, keyboards, monitors and in some cases custom motherboards. Support, service, and performance wise ive never heard a bad thing about them.

When people talk about alienware they usually do either two things, review the price, or review the person who bought it. In this case, i believe the extra price is justified.

well put
 
Actually several Alienware machines are built with off the shelf Abit and Asus boards. They use a Generic PSU and usually every component can be identified.

They had as much R&D going on for their machines as I did when I built mine. Alienware's first real foray into R&D is with the watercooling and video array.

Otherwise go to their website. It tells you the brand of everything but the case and PSU. Their mice and keyboards are Microsoft OEM parts with custom colors. Theres nothing they can do that any of us can't do for $1000 less.

I know I priced everything out on pricewatch and matched specs exactly.

Alienware=teh rip off

But I do see the point about them being for people who don't want to build their own. Those people pay for it. But I think that Alienware charges too much even considering that.
 
Although alienware does in fact suck, but the video array is a pretty decent idea. I hope other companies will offer something similar.
 
MaxHardcore said:
Very interesting, but as long as you have to buy a high $$$$ Alienware to utilize this technology it will go nowhere.

Most of us wouldnt buy a commercial built p.c. if we were filthy rich.

When it hits mainstream they will get my attention. So now we just wait for mainboards with two x16PCI slots.

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
 
I'm fairly certain it's not that hard to do. One just devotes the rest of the PCIe lanes to another video card. We don't have one chipset for SMP--why would we for this?
 
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
actually, I don't think that most of the pattented tech has much to do with the dual pci-e slots, most of it has to do with the software and hardware to run 2 cards as one. I suspect that we will see plenty of workstation mobos with multiple pci-e x16 slots in a few years, just they won't be running the vid cards as one uber card like the AW solution does.
 
Alienware is overpriced crap....if you want to spend alienware money buy a voodoo or falcon, if you don't there are multiple other companies with as good or better machines for less.....hypersonic, abs, raptor ocx, zeus, etc......
 
I bought a system from Monarch Computer since they let you customize a system with the same low-priced brand name parts they stock for individual sale and they have a very good 9+ rating on resellerratings.com.
 
ya I've ordered parts from them before...was trying to list some names of gaming pc companies though :)....I'm sure you can order a gaming rig from monarch though too :)
 
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?
 
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

This is actually not different from the AGP socket itself. Intel created it but that doesn't stop other manufacturers from creating "compatible" ports. Since the layout and design of intel and non-Intel chipsets differ even though they have the same form factor and accomplish the same thing, it doesn't violate the patents. Or a company can negotiate with the patent holder to pay royalties for exactly duplicating a design.

The fact is though for a company that sells $5000 machines regularly this isn't a big deal. The R&D is worthwhile. For a motherboard manufacturer and or a video card maker to do this is another story as few could spend the money on such a solution.

Since the AGP bus bandwidth isn't maximized a video card manufacturer could actually stick two cards to gether using the same port. You see this all the time with video capture hardware. They use pegs and an interconnect board to join them and they use one slot.

So there are possibilities. There just has to be a market for them. If Alienware can prove theres a market for it companies will attempt to capitalize on that market in one form or another.
 
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?


How many Alienwares do you own? :confused: Must be alot :D
 
None -- which is exactly why I asked. I have been building computers for 10 years, and never bought one preassembled. But I like to know 'what's good,' and have never heard a bad thing about Alienware, except when comparing price vs. performance betwen Alienware and self built systems.
 
Merlin45 said:
actually, I don't think that most of the pattented tech has much to do with the dual pci-e slots, most of it has to do with the software and hardware to run 2 cards as one. I suspect that we will see plenty of workstation mobos with multiple pci-e x16 slots in a few years, just they won't be running the vid cards as one uber card like the AW solution does.

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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