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Alienware vs. Voodoo vs ?????

My high-end gaming computer of choise would be...

  • Alienware

    Votes: 10 25.0%

  • Voodoo

    Votes: 10 25.0%

  • Other (dell, gateway, falcon northwest) and please list who you would pick.

    Votes: 20 50.0%
  • Total voters
    40
B

Bob002

Gawd
Joined
Jul 22, 2004
Messages
884
I'm looking at purchasing or leasing several higher-end desktops. Now, I've been aware of alienware and voodoo for the last several years, and have always seen them as the "IT" to have for gaming. Now, I'm just doing some base research, but I've seen in a few places that people don't have a very high opinion of them.

I could build my own systems, as I've done that several times, however, I believe it would be smarter and more cost effective to have someone else worrying if something happens (which occasionally does). So, who wold you recommend??
 
build your own, you will save lots of money. if you want to waste money, it doesnt matter it you burn it or just flush it down the toilet; therefore, it doesnt matter who you "buy" from
 
It's not that I want to spend a lot or waste a lot. It's more of a convenience issue than anything.
 
um with the money you save from building your machine buy a segway and use that for convenience. AW and the likes are a waste!
 
I say let me build your computers for you, and you can fly me to your location and I'll run your gaming arcade and maintain your PCs :D
 
okay, five have you have picked "Other" yet it seems only a few of you listed what you'd do...
 
Give me a price quote from any of those companies and I will build you one for $400 cheaper.
 
I just did some generic checkin, and I can get FragBoxs from Falcon for just under 2,000 (upgraded here and there), while every other desktop system I'm looking at will cost around 3k... I need to check on some different monitors and such first however...
 
Compare different companies with the same setup and you'll see which one is the cheapest and for the quality, I doubt any of those companies are bad.
 
That was my next order of business.

So far, they are all fairly comparable in price it seems. Voodoo's site isn't working that great on their configurator, but I can at least compare falcon and alienware.

I really need to find somewhere else for monitors, too.
 
If you have money to spend, get Falcon NW.

I bought an Alienware back in the day (August 1999), before Alienware started coming out with all these ugly colored cases. It was my first gaming PC, and I bought it because I didn't have any experience back then building PCs. Honestly, no problems with it, and I loved it. I've since upgraded everything from that computer.

Only reason I'm saying Falcon now is because just looking at these recent odd shaped and colored cases that've been coming out for the past 3-4 years makes me puke...Plus Falcon has been in the game longer, and they seem more "high-end". But if you want to save a little, get an Alienware... although I'm not sure how much they've changed in 6 years.
 
xagent said:
If you have money to spend, get Falcon NW.

I bought an Alienware back in the day (August 1999), before Alienware started coming out with all these ugly colored cases. It was my first gaming PC, and I bought it because I didn't have any experience back then building PCs. Honestly, no problems with it, and I loved it. I've since upgraded everything from that computer.

Only reason I'm saying Falcon now is because just looking at these recent odd shaped and colored cases that've been coming out for the past 3-4 years makes me puke...Plus Falcon has been in the game longer, and they seem more "high-end". But if you want to save a little, get an Alienware... although I'm not sure how much they've changed in 6 years.
Click to expand...

Well, I noticed that their desktops are a little higher than what I was looking for, however, the fragbox (and even the fragbox pro) were cheaper, with similar specs. They would probably do the trick even... I'm going to do some comparative pricing over the next few days and see who comes out the best with the same specs. I guess I'm going to go between Falcon, Alienware, and Voodoo for the most part. I may even throw Gateway and Dell in there, as I've never had a (major) problem with either of those computers that I've owned.
 
wait for the alien ware ALX series, the onew with the dual video aray, thats what im gona buy when they come out.
 
XxMe_LoCoxX said:
wait for the alien ware ALX series, the onew with the dual video aray, thats what im gona buy when they come out.
Click to expand...

yep, sounds good if you want to buy an OEM...
 
I've just spent the last hour or so looking at comps similarly speced out.

I tried to stay around a 3.2 GHz processor (AMD when I could), 1 GB of PC 3200 RAM, and 120 GB hard drive. I believe they all had just a DVD player (no recorder of any sort). I also went with Soundblaster Audigy 2ZS cards when I could, XP Pro, and NEC 19 inch CRTs. The Alienware was speced with an nVidia geForce Ultra 6800 vid card, while the FragBox comes with a geForce 5600 Ultra. The FragBox PRO has a geForce 5950, which I'd rather have, and would see about having put in.

I've narrowed it down.

It's either Alienware , the Fragbox (which would be fine if I could upgrade the vid card to the 5950) or Dell XPS. I haven't yet ruled out building my own, but right now my brain hurts.

Falcons regular systems seemed to be just WAY overpriced, and Voodoo's configurator never updated pricing, no matter how many times I changed things.

My brain hurts though.

The alienware was just over 3000, while the FragBox was about 1500 with monitor. I can't remember how much the Dell was.

That's what I've been doing though. I like the idea of the FragBox for it's small size, and the price isn't horribly bad either.
 
Alienware = total and complete crap

Go for Falcon NW or Voodoo or build it yourself...
 
If your too busy to build your own, I would go with voodoo. I have seen some great reviews in magazines and online hardware sites for there computers (well made, high quality parts, etc)

Im asuming your:

a. married
b. have kids
c. work 40+ hours
d. college
or
e. all the above

I'm married, but no kids. So I have the free time to build the machines for my friends that have kids. Anyway though. I would sugest voodoo, based on what I have read.

Hope that helps
 
You're right. I'm married, have two kids, and work 40+ hours a week, but that's not the reason I'm being leary about building my own.

Part of it is an ease of convenience thing. For the price I can get some of these comps, yeah, it's a no brainer that I should build my own.

However, the FragBox isn't horribly priced, and it fits right into what I'm looking for... So, I may just go with it. Tomorrow (well, now it's today), I'm going to price out parts, etc and see what I come up with building it myself... Then I'll go from there.
 
www.cyberpowerinc.com

if you wont build your own get it done by someone who does it right. it's where i got my comp from and it works perfectly. best purchase i ever made honestly, and i think the alienware equivalent of mine would have been like 3 grand, i spent 1800 last year. the only problem was the mobo went bad after like the first day (it was just a bad mobo) a few days later, new one came and i was running fine again. if i ever need to buy another comp, i will buy from them again, great service.

Would have built it myself, but it was a gift for school, so i ordered from there.
 
Well, you plain don't want a 5600, that's clear.

The 5950 does Doom3 very well (beats the Radeon 9800XT - both around 30FPS average), but the 6800s are in a league of their own - easily double the gaming performance of a 5950.

Really, though, building your own will save you around $400 a computer (or more) at the price point you are shoppin at.

If you REALLY have that much money to throw around, fine. But, I'd rather take it, build my own, then put nice LCD displays on them instead of having to settle for more affordable CRTs with the money.
 
I think I am the only one here who has a good first hand deal of experience with Alienware. Let me say that their service is fantastic. If you seek convenience, Alienware is it. It made it easy for me to RMA my stuff without a hitch. They don't even ask questions about it. I have RMA'ed about 3 or 4 things. One was my Klipsch speakers that I accidently burnt (overloaded with bass). They replaced it, no problem. Another was my case door broke. They sent an entirely new front case door (with the Alienware name embedded on it) for that, no problem. Another was a dead hard drive (Western Digital). They sent their onsite guy over here to replace it (I was quite new to computer building at that time -- a year ago). That onsite guy was nice and helpful. He feels like a friend for some reason (and that's saying a lot). I was very very questionable, I asked him tons of questions. He wasn't annoyed-- he explained everything to me. But enough about the on-site thing. Online technical support is great too. I had my own personal binder and everything. It listed out numbers for me to call or locations on the website to go to to check out stuff if I needed help. There is quite a community in the Alienware forum. You can ask for help there too. The Alienware mods actually listen to you somewhat in the forum. So, that's nice. About the system they built for me-- it was very nice. The wiring is very nice. They used a Cooler Master (I might've misspelled that) heatsink for the CPU (mine was a Pentium 4). Cools a fine 40 degrees celcius. This is nice convenience really. I believe if you'd buy a nice top end PC from them, they would service you just fine (not like if you buy an el cheapo one, they won't help you-- no). So, this is really a full review of their technical/onsite support. The PC they build is fast, though I don't feel they have enough configurations possible, but last time I read they do their in-house testings for motherboards and such and chose to go with the ones that offer extreme stability with great features (ethernet, audio, etc...). I can't blame them for that because they don't want their customers to see their brand new Alienware computer crash before their eyes. But the ALX line looks very promising. They are offering a plethora amount of service and features and beauty (and performance) along with their liquid cooling. I actually think that's a step up because the PC I bought from them was pretty loud. Seven fans. They incorporated seven fans to keep my PC cool. It was a hot mofo at its time too, so you can tell they considered the PC right. Sometimes I think it's hype but at the same time I think the ALX model (though expensive) is something to go for. You pay the price for the fantastic service too. That's what Alienware is all about.

Just a hint though-- don't buy the monitors from Alienware-- they inflate the price for some reason. Get one by a search from www.pricegrabber.com or www.pricewatch.com. I bought my 22" NEC MultiSync monitor from one of the stores listed there. Costed me $450 dollars back then (two years ago). I've been happy with my purchase!

No, I am not affiliated with Alienware, kthx.

Edit: I just checked the Aurora ALX build -- they use the Asus A8V motherboard. No complaints there. It's a wonderful motherboard and they couldn't have chosen any better. ;-)

-J.
 
Alienware if I wanted value for my money, but if the question is who makes the best PCs, Voodoo wins hands down right now. You have to pay an incredible premium for it, but their personalized tricked out machines are amazing. That said, Alienware might take the lead again if they can get their ALX system out the door before others have access to Nvidia's SLI.
 
Falcon's okay. Voodoo though is probably at the top of the game now (but who says you can't overclock your Falcon/Alienware hardware?).

-J.
 
The ALX Experience includes a unique aluminum briefcase filled with unique ALX accessories. These include a exclusive keychain, stylish executive notepad, personalized ID card and some added surprises.

Exclusive ALX Items
Available only to ALX owners, this collection of stylish and unique items is sure to get attention.

ALX Style
Show your membership in the ALX community while at work or on the road.

Exclusive Alienware® ALX Items
Specifications
Briefcase Laser Engraved Brushed Aluminum
Keychain Laser Engraved Metallic
ALX ID Unique ALX Customer ID Card
Additional Items Classified
Click to expand...

The 'classified' thing makes me really want one. Damn them.

-J.
 
I just did a price check on every component Alienware charges for. I made up the list based on the Alienware's Aurora ALX system: http://www.alienware.com/ALX_pages/aurora_alx.aspx. I tried to keep it similar in resemblance. There's many things I'm missing here that Alienware offers, such as their unique case, water cooling, some cabling works and video optimizer (which is actually PowerStrip). And on top of that, they offer great service and extras for you (if you're willing to shell out $5,000+ dollars, that is). So here's a comparable list. Don't flame me. You can pick a better case or power supply but I'm too lazy to even care which ones, as long as they're similar.

Chassis - Lian-Li PC-65 - $110.00
Power Supply - Enermax 660 Watts EG851AX-VH(W) FH - $248.00
Motherboard - Asus A8V Deluxe K8T800 Pro Chipset - $152.00
Processor - AMD Athlon 64 FX-53 1 MB Cache Socket 939 - $829.00
Cooling - Thermaltake PIPE101 CL-P0006 - $56.00
Memory - Corsair 1 GB XMS Platinum Series LL DDR PC-4400 - $378.00
Video Card - NVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra - $589.00
Hard Drive - Western Digital 74 GB Raptor 10,000 RPM x 2 RAID-0 - $370.00
Optical Drive One - Plextor® PlexWriter Premium 52x32x52 CD-RW - $86.00
Optical Drive Two - Plextor® PX-712A 12x DVD±RW - $147.00
Sound Card - Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS 7.1 Surround Sound - $88.00
Operating System - Microsoft Windows XP Professional OEM - $90.00
Total Price - $3143.00

That's without the monitor, speakers, keyboard and mouse. Amazing Alienware would charge this much without any of that. But then again, they're going to serve you excellently with all your personalized things dedicated to you. For the well experienced people, build it yourself. For the idiots, go for Alienware-- you'll love it. I don't mind buying one myself, but hey, my money supply speaks for itself.

-J.
 
GeForceX said:
I just did a price check on every component Alienware charges for. I made up the list based on the Alienware's Aurora ALX system: http://www.alienware.com/ALX_pages/aurora_alx.aspx. I tried to keep it similar in resemblance. There's many things I'm missing here that Alienware offers, such as their unique case, water cooling, some cabling works and video optimizer (which is actually PowerStrip). And on top of that, they offer great service and extras for you (if you're willing to shell out $5,000+ dollars, that is). So here's a comparable list. Don't flame me. You can pick a better case or power supply but I'm too lazy to even care which ones, as long as they're similar.

Chassis - Lian-Li PC-65 - $110.00
Power Supply - Enermax 660 Watts EG851AX-VH(W) FH - $248.00
Motherboard - Asus A8V Deluxe K8T800 Pro Chipset - $152.00
Processor - AMD Athlon 64 FX-53 1 MB Cache Socket 939 - $829.00
Cooling - Thermaltake PIPE101 CL-P0006 - $56.00
Memory - Corsair 1 GB XMS Platinum Series LL DDR PC-4400 - $378.00
Video Card - NVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra - $589.00
Hard Drive - Western Digital 74 GB Raptor 10,000 RPM x 2 RAID-0 - $370.00
Optical Drive One - Plextor® PlexWriter Premium 52x32x52 CD-RW - $86.00
Optical Drive Two - Plextor® PX-712A 12x DVD±RW - $147.00
Sound Card - Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS 7.1 Surround Sound - $88.00
Operating System - Microsoft Windows XP Professional OEM - $90.00
Total Price - $3143.00

That's without the monitor, speakers, keyboard and mouse. Amazing Alienware would charge this much without any of that. But then again, they're going to serve you excellently with all your personalized things dedicated to you. For the well experienced people, build it yourself. For the idiots, go for Alienware-- you'll love it. I don't mind buying one myself, but hey, my money supply speaks for itself.

-J.
Click to expand...

I just priced out most of a system on NewEgg.com, and came up with around 1300 for parts. I may still do this. The only problem with newegg is they sometimes limit how many you can buy, and that could be a problem... Oh well, I'd work it out...
 
Also tried pricing out with the Antec Aria case to go with something *small*, but couldn't find a mobo to make certain it would work... Will keep looking however...
 
While I haven't finalized the exact specs of the systems I will be buying, after looking through all the system specs, and pricing them out, I would be saving WAY too much money to build them myself. While it's something I do not want to do necessarily, the money savings is just TOO great to get nearly the exact same thing...

Once I finalize what parts and pieces I'll be using, I'll make sure to post up the specs for everyone's approval. :D
 
Bob002 said:
I just priced out most of a system on NewEgg.com, and came up with around 1300 for parts. I may still do this. The only problem with newegg is they sometimes limit how many you can buy, and that could be a problem... Oh well, I'd work it out...
Click to expand...

What? $1,300.00? I don't understand. You either skimped on some the stuff but the most expensive parts are the processor and the graphics card (both altogether costing $1518.00). There is no way to skimp on those, unless you go for an Athlon 64-based processor and/or a lower classed GeForce/Radeon.

-J.
 
GeForceX said:
What? $1,300.00? I don't understand. You either skimped on some the stuff but the most expensive parts are the processor and the graphics card (both altogether costing $1518.00). There is no way to skimp on those, unless you go for an Athlon 64-based processor and/or a lower classed GeForce/Radeon.

-J.
Click to expand...

I "skimped" as you put it. I went with a 3000+ with the 400 mHz FSB and a radeon 9800 Pro 256 mb vid card.
 
Then there is no need for the higher PC-4400 RAM. You could go for the extra low latency PC-3200 twinpack from Corsair. There is no need for such a high power supply watt amount. Go for at least 400 watts from Antec of any reputational company. No need for so many of those things, Plextor's even. Well, then-- if you skimped that much, $1300 would make sense by then.

-J.
 
how come no one has said abs?
http://www.abspc.com/
they make as good a computer as you want and are a division of newegg which means their prices are about as good as building your own and they are just as reliable as newegg is. be sure to check them out.
 
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