When Dell purchased the Miami-based Alienware in 2006, it was a signal that the big PC makers wanted to get into the hearts and minds of PC gamers, many of which spend thousands of dollars each year upgrading and/or building new systems on their own. The idea, of course, is to get those heavy gamers and DIY PC makers to purchase the high end models that made Alienware successful.
However, for a while it looked like Dell was fighting with itself on the high end PC gamer market with Dell's own XPS systems which had cool designs, liquid cooling, special lighting and more. Thankfully Dell decided to retire the XPS brand, at least for high end gaming, and do what it should have done in the first place: let Alienware PCs and branding be Dell's representative to PC gaming.
The results seems to have worked with Alienware basically relaunching its entire line of computers in 2009. First came the new M17x, a 17-inch "desktop replacement" that the company dubbed the world's most powerful laptop. Then last fall Alienware not only released the M15x (a 15-inch version of the M17x) but refreshed its entire line of desktops with new case and interior designs for the high-end Area-51 and the more affordable Aurora line.
Alienware also made the decision to make all desktop PCs run on Intel processors (previously, only the Area-51 was an Intel desktop while the Aurora was AMD-based). However, Alienware still lets people pick from either Nvidia or ATI graphics cards to install. We wanted to get an Alienware Area-51 ALX to review but as it turns out that was not available. Instead, Alienware provided us with an Aurora ALX to try out for a few weeks.
The system specs on the our test Aurora ALX is certainly impressive. With a Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit operating system, our Aurora ALX The processor is an Intel Core i7 975 Extreme, clocked with 3.33GHz and containing 8MB of cache with a MicroATX motherboard. The video card set up is a dual AMD/ATI Radeon HD 5870 with 1 GB of memory and CrossFireX support. The hard drive set up is a RAID 0 with two 1 TB hard drives (SATA-II, 7,200 RPM and 32MB of cache). There is 6 GB of memory installed in the system (Triple Channel 1600MHz DDR3) which should be enough for any gamer at the moment. The optical drive is a Blu-Ray combo that reads Blu-Ray discs and also reads and writes to both DVD and CD). We also got two accessories: an Alienware TacX keyboard and a TactX mouse (which is actually made by Logitech and is based on the G9 laser mouse).
Before we get to the insides of the system we have to say kudos to Alienware's packaging system which eliminates the need for things like peanuts or foam. In fact, the opening of the packaging is something like opening a Chinese puzzle box. You lay the box down on the sides and then unlock four plastic fasteners on each side. The case is set on a kind of platform that you slide out. The system also comes with a driver and recovery disks, a very detailed bound user manual and some Alienware swag (a baseball cap and t-shirt).
The system itself couldn't be easier to set up. Simply plug the Aurora ALX in, plug in your monitor, mouse and keyboard and turn the system on via a button on top of the case. As it starts up, the top of the case literally opens. A series of large flaps on top open up for air circulation, rather like the machine is breathing. There's quite a big of fan noise at first, which might be disconcerting to some, but the noise cuts down after a few seconds. Indeed for most of the time the Aurora ALX is a very quiet system, even when you play graphically intense titles. You can control how the vents open and close via the system's included Command Center software based on fan speeds.
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It would be about twice as cool if it were a bit more reasonably priced - sorry, but this same setup can be built, modestly, for probably $2500-2800.
And if you're going to pay $4,000+ for an over-priced gaming system, you should expect 12GB of triple channel DDR-3, and probably one of those half a grand Intel SSD's.Posted at 12:51AM on Feb 22nd 2010 by Not THAT Matt