$4,000 Alienware Aurora ALX benchmarked: domination this world has never seen
By Darren Murph 
posted September 24th 2009 4:04PM
posted September 24th 2009 4:04PM
posted September 24th 2009 4:04PM
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..and engad is buying is all one!
Err "Buying US all one."
I'm assuming this is extremely overpriced as every other alienware product is. I am going to look at the specs, add up the costs and see how much I could hand build this for minus the custom case(i will be using a haf 932), 20 bucks says I can save ya a couple hundies easy.
@God: Correct, this system is extremely overpriced for what you get. It is possible to build this for around $2k at best.
Of course, when i say that, I mean using the non-extreme version of the i7. Performance difference would be neglible anyway after overclocking
They want about $2900 for a base Core i7 + 6 GB RAM + dual 5870's + 2x640 GB's in RAID 0. Now granted, they bundle in a free mouse and keyboard, and the case is cool and all, but I could build that for about $1800 tops.
Well then, for all the lazy people who doubt your claims, can you show me how to build one for "$1800 tops"?
@Lumberjack: It's easy, just go to newegg.com, search for the parts they used, buy them, build the PC, and then donate the extra grand to charity or something.
Um yeah, I'm gonna call bs on $1800 tops.
CPU: i7-975 $279
GPU: HD5870 $758(2X379)
RAM:CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB $209
MOBO: ASUS RAMPAGE II GENE $219
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 500GB $150(2X75)
ODD: LITE-ON Black 4X Blu-ray* $199
CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro H50 $79
total $1746
and that leaves, $1154 to spend on a Windows OS, PSU, case, KB and mouse which is about $525 er...$400 since you barred kb and mouse
I meant 920 not 975
No need in buying OS, install hacked one or LINUX;)
alienware actually wants +900 dollars to upgrade from 6gigs of memory to 12gigs. im sorry but that is absolutely ridiculous. not gonna happen.
it looks as if its because the motherboard only has 3 ram slots. meaning youd need 4gig sticks. those 'are' expensive but come on.. change the mobo to an evga or asus with 6 slots and youve saved yourself 900 dollars.
How about you do not even buy 6gb of freaking ram in the first place, sheep.
whats the point of installing Linux on a GAMING computer
and dont say you can use wine
i have Linux and windows and Linux absolutely sucks for gaming even with wine
You had me at blue lights. Where do I sign?
Is there a blue light special? What aisle is it on?
Yeah... not bad for a preassembled rig.
Of course still much inferior to my server/workstation rig I assembled for my home just last month; I skipped on the blue lights and added some more muscle and speed and, cannibalizing some component from other machines (like its modded case with its embedded 7" touchscreen), it costed me just over a grand more than this clownish thing.
I'm so pleased by it that I postponed the installation of the server room (ok; server closet) that will have to take its place in a not so distant future.
Lights? You had me at 'blue'.
@Plexus
And how much ass are you getting now?
As an added bonus, you can roast a whole chicken with the heat this thing puts out. Rotisserie not included.
If it is fully loaded, it is probably liquid cooled...
Most would be content with hot pockets... I know I would.
@bigjaydogg3: The heat has to go somewhere.
@bigjaydogg3: I didn't realize liquid cooling could violate the first law of thermodynamics. Cool!
@bigjay:
yeah, it's liquid cooled.. look at the main pic for the article. there's a waterblock and tubing going to the radiator at the back.
The only thing that's liquid cooled is the CPU...I'm sure those crossfired 5870s + RAM + all the HDs put out quite a nice amount of heat.
@Hayter D.: Well, I gotta hand you this: At least you realize you're a douche bag.
Engadget needs to edit their system so the absolute lowest ranked post doesn't get lowest ranked but replaces it with Epic Douche in red. I would die laughing if they just did that one day. No announcements. Just Epic Douche in red.
6GB DDR3 is just an embarrassment on a machine like this...
@E71
When are you ever going to need more than 6gb of RAM? Plus it's not like you can't buy another 6gb if you ever do need it.
The energy used to run this rig for a seven hours could power four orphanages for a full year.
What is the things with news PC and that anoying blue light?
It is really anoying
Perhaps purple, green, or red will suite you fancy?
This PC sucks compared to my i7 975, 24GB DDR3-2000, 2xGTX295 system.
Sure, the card may be a little quicker than 1 GTX 295. but i have two.
I don't think it's fair to compare the dual-GPU ALX to your quad-GPU rig... also I think the HD5870 is actually a little slower than the GTX295 in most tests.
the 5870 is the best single GPU card but it doesnt compare to the 295 and the 4870 x2 beats it in some games.
Am the only one who thinks a $4000 PC should have something a little more fancy than a pair of Seagate 1TB 7200RPM drives in a RAID0.
I am not a total snob but come on that is skimping.
I certainly agree. Those should be WD Raptors. Dependable, speedy.
They should be SSD, what kind of "ultimate performance" computer doesnt have SSD?
Agreed, $4000 in, it's too late to skimp on the hard drives.
Still, *drool*
Tommy five. The wd raptors in our dells here have been all dying after 2 years. I wouldnt call that dependable
Yep. And the performance is not THAT much better.
@MajorTom:
I've been running the same WD Raptor for the better part of 5 years now in a 24/7 setup. A lot of people have hard drive horror stories, and will preach endlessly that one brand of hard drives is of poor quality. If you look at reliability surveys (like on storagereview.com), you will see that reliability is generally quite flat between manufacturers. In fact, the original 74gb raptor has a 94 percentile rating on that website.
I personally don't trust SSDs quite yet - they're too expensive, and too new to be truly trusted (in my book). Traditional HDDs are tried and true, and SCSI/Raptor hard drives pull a lot of performance out of that technology. I'll wait on the SSD bandwagon for another 4 or 5 years to see what the real-world dependability is - in the meantime, my workstation sticks with HDD.
I would say an X-25 OS/programs SSD coupled with two 750GB/1000GB HDD's for this price.
It's an animal
Now all I need is $4000 to get one....:[
Can I wait 12 months and buy it for $300 at a garage sale?
Shut up you idiot.
12 months? Probably not. In 12 months, this computer will still be new enough it won't be worth selling for rock bottom prices. Since it's got a good solid processor, in 12 months, you might see the 5870s for sale for $300.00 as the owner looks to pickup next-years '68xx' models.
My nearly two year old 8800 GTS 512 still rocks the latest games at high settings.
@Einhanderkiller
Whats your config.My 8800 gts can barely do crysis at between mainstream and gamer only at 1440*900.I wanna know what part is my bottleneck.