Help making a decision.

[Joshx0]

Well i've been thinking about getting back into pc gaming. its been years since i've had a high performance machine and I was thinking about buying the new Alienware x51 desktop. I like it because its a pretty powerful machine and its compact. thats what i'm looking for. I was just posting here because i'm trying to get other peoples thoughts on the ideas.

[ASTRO Vertigo]

Hi Joshx0,

I did own the Alienware X51 as I was looking for a cheap computer to play Battlefield 3 with although I sent it back after a couple of months due to the DVD Drive failing although they have since corrected this issue. It's a nice machine and does the job quite well. It managed to play Battlefield 3 on medium settings and high settings although on certain parts of the game, the frame rate does suffer on high settings which is expected.

The inside doesn't have a lot of space to play with when I opened it up so I doubt you would be able to add extra power to the machine if needed which does add a worry with new games coming out such as Battlefield 4 which might cripple the machine although I feel for this generation of gaming, it should work fine.

I personally wouldn't purchase one again as they are overpriced in the UK and building a custom PC would be cheaper and would have a lot more advantages.

- Mitchell

[Joshx0]

Which version did you have? I plan on getting the one with the i7 processor and 16 gigs of ram. I travel alot and i'd love a PC that I can take with me. what are your thoughts on that?

[SocksWthSandals]

I would always recommend building your own pc rather than purchasing a pre build one. Especially a "gaming" one. Just build a micro setup. It would probably be just as powerful if not more than an alienware one. AlphaIOmega had the x51 and returned it due to overheating. A mini pc with an i7 and 16gb of ram and only putting a 660 in it doesnt quite make sense.

[Jokers Fury]

Completely agree SocksWthSandals, building a PC is a TON amount cheaper. And the fact that they pack all of that on a Mini ATX Mobo and don't give it any breathing room is just asking for trouble.

[mathlucy]

Just get a decent MOBO LGA 1155 with SATA 6GB and USB 3.0,
CPU - i5-3570K
VGA - GeForce GTX 650 2048MB GDDR5 (will play most 99.99% games at highest settings and its cheap, under $150)
RAM - 8GB 1666 mhz RAM; (any vendor)
SSD - Intel 520 series 60GB will do, 120GB better :P use HDD as a secondary drive to keep your stuff (make sure its Intel 520 series)
PSU - Corsair CX 600 Watt awesome PSU