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Alienware Desktop
My wife really likes the style of the Alienware Aurora ALX desktop (for those of you who are married, you know happy wife=happy life). I would never pay the prices they are asking for a new one, but I was looking at used ones on Ebay.
However, I know Dell used to use proprietary parts. Does anyone know if Alienware/Dell still does this? If I were to buy a used one, I may change out the parts, depending on what is has in it. If it's all proprietary still, then it wouldn't be worth it.
Thanks.
Comments
Why does she want an Alienware Aurora ALX? Does she think that the brand name means it's better? Does she love the looks of the case? If the latter, you could show her New Egg's case selection and see if she likes anything there. Even if she picks a $200 case, you'd probably come out money ahead as compared to an Alienware Aurora ALX. The NZXT Phantom cases look somewhat similar to the Aurora ALX:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146073
They come in a bunch of other colors, too.
The LGA 2011 platform that the Aurora ALX uses is thoroughly insensible unless you're on at least a $2000+ budget, and probably not worth getting unless you're looking to spend $3000+ excluding peripherals.
Actually, the way Dell gouges you on upgrades, you'd probably need a much bigger budget than that for an Alienware Aurora ALX, as opposed to merely what it would take to justify an LGA 2011 system. The cheapest SSD+hard drive combination (which basically every $1000+ desktop should get) that they offer is a $650 upgrade (fair market value for a sensibly-sized SSD: a little over $100). They offer a processor at one clock speed, or will overclock it by an extra 100 MHz to a still fairly modest overclock for an extra $150 (fair market value: $0; or maybe $2 if you think that whoever assembles it should be paid $100/hour). Upgrading from their base memory configuration to 32 GB is a $450 upgrade (buying 32 GB yourself is $144). Upgrading from a $200 video card to a $300 video card is a $350 upgrade. I'm used to seeing Dell gouge you on parts, but this is far worse than I expected even from them.
The 2011 Socket has definitely dropped in price (even though it's still up there) it's about a 1500$(With no peripherals) build and is getting more and more common as newer parts come in. I've started to suggest builds for the 3820 + 2011 over the 3770k + 1155, because of the future upgradibility if has over the final 3770k on the 1155 socket. (And no it's still not a dead socket). It also has better performance then the 3770k and can overclock the same if not higher with less heat generated. With the 3820+2011 and the 3770+1155 being so close in price it's almost worth getting the 2011 socket now if you're budget is in 1500$ region.
I don't know OPs budget, but defintely don't look for an Alienware just for the case. The case Quizzical recommended is a decent looking "Alienware" type case.
As for Dell gounging you. Unbelievably so. It's almost starting to get as bad as Mac overcharging for their hardware. (Although some of it makes sense because they have to solder it directly to the mobo)
Alienware is an overpriced item and is just a namebrand salespitch. I'd never pay for an alienware product again.
Also Dell is going down the draintude, I would put my money towards a more promising company like HP or something if your not going to build one.
You can get a Core i7-3820 for $300. The problem is that once you add in motherboard costs, you're paying extra for an inferior product as compared to a Core i7-3770K on an LGA 1155 platform. The next cheapest LGA 2011 CPU is well over $500.
The 3770K is faster than the 3820 at stock speeds if you ignore turbo due to higher IPC more than making up for the 100 MHz nominal clock speed difference. It also has a larger turbo boost, as well as an unlocked multiplier to allow you to overclock it further. And that's on top of using less power.
Yes, there probably will be a future CPU on LGA 2011: Ivy Bridge-E. But even once that comes out, the $300 chip will probably just be nearly the same as the Core i7-3820 except with Ivy Bridge cores in place of Sandy Bridge. (Yes, yes, 22 nm instead of 32 nm, but Ivy versus Sandy is the only real benefit there.) So even if you buy the $300 CPU today and upgrade it to a $300 CPU in the future, you still end up with something slower after the upgrade than a single Core i7-3770K that you can buy today.
Only if you want more than four cores does LGA 2011 make sense. Intel charges $500+ for that, and Ivy Bridge-E isn't likely to change their pricing strategy. It's a server chip and they charge server prices for it.
If she just likes the look of the case then buy just the case off ebay, craigslist, ect.
There are two alienware cases on ebay right now for less than $200 each. Buy components and build the computer using that case + save $1000 ( or more ) from not buying alienware = Everybody wins.
if you want a power pre built machione go to digital storm but i still recommend building your own.
but never buy from alien ware they are nothing but a name brand, your paying a few thousand extra fro prtty light on a machine that will annoy you after a week or two and a name nothing more
F2P may be the way of the future, but ya know they dont make them like they used to
Proper Grammer & spelling are extra, corrections will be LOL at.
The 2011 and 3820 is probably only about 30-50$ more then the 3770k + 1155.
And it seems they perform the same @ the stock speeds.
Overclocking is different setup then the 1155 way, and IMO a ton easier. I'm currently overclocked at 4.6 @ 1.3V. Just because the 3770k has a unlocked multiplier doesn't mean it'll overclock more. So I believe yes, it does use a bit more power then the 1155.
Truefully IMO, the benefits outweigh the cons in this setup.
Take a look at that thread. It gives a prime comparison between the two boards + processors, http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/164qx0/psa_i73820_the_x79_chipset_and_gaming/
Sandy Bridge does tend to overclock farther than Ivy, if you are trying to take it nearer to the extremes.
Stock speeds, Ivy wins, by about 10-15%.
CPU alone, the 3820 is about $20 cheaper than a 3770k, but why would you buy that? There are only two benefits to a Socket 2011 system: the first is quad-channel memory (which means very little), the second is the availability of the hexacore CPUs. So let's compare motherboards - I'll take two similar models, Asus Maximus Gene (Socket 1155 version) vs the Asus Rampage Gene (Socket 2011 version). Feature-wise, these two motherboards are nearly equivalent. Both are mid-range Republic of Gamers brand, targeting enthusiasts with a mATX form factor. Same aftermarket Audio (SupremeIII), Both support SLI/CFX, pretty much identical packages, save the parts which are chipset specific (Z77 vs X79). The prices: X79: $279, Z77: $199. So $80 more, strips out the $20 you saved, and yeah, your looking at $60 difference to run a Socket 2011 system, with the ~potential~ (no guarantee) to overclock better, but a 100% guarantee to run slower at stock speeds.
Also, your comparing a locked quad core Sandy Bridge, to an unlocked quad core Ivy Bridge. So is the "overclocking potential" even a consideration on a 3820, when you need to step up to the $3930k to get the unlocked multiplier (at a cost of $570 for the CPU alone, we're up to a delta of +$330 now, including the $80 from the motherboard).
Why?
Which is exactly part of Quiz's point - why would Dell do such a thing, except to people who don't know any better.
Wow, I go to work, and this discussion blows up. I guess I wasn't as clear in my question as I thought I was, as this has turned in to a debate of Z77 vs X79. Let me try to remedy that.
All I really want is the case. If I can't find just the case on Ebay, then I might consider buying a used computer anyway. One that I would replace all the internal parts with parts I either currently have, or would purchase. However, in the past Dell used proprietary parts in its systems, you couldn't replace the power supply or motherboard, for example, unless you purchased those parts from Dell. Anything besides RAM or video card purchased from a different supplier wouldn't fit in their cases.
What I would like to know, is if anyone knows, does Alienware do this now to, since they are part of Dell. Or, can you purchase parts from Newegg, or Amazon, or wherever, and they will fit because Alienware uses standard parts and sizes.
Try having her look through the cases on New Egg and see if there's one she likes as well as the Aurora case there. If she finds one that she likes better than the Aurora case, then that makes things a lot simpler for you, as a standard case can certainly take off the shelf parts. Even if she picks out a $300 case, that might well be cheaper than trying to buy an Aurora case and then gut it.
To (not really) answer your main question directly, I don't know if Dell uses a custom form factor for the Alienware Aurora ALX case. I know that they do for the Alienware X51, but that's a very small form factor, which creates the need for custom stuff. But whether or not Dell uses a custom form factor today, if it's different from what the Alienware case did a few years ago and you get a used one, that could still mess things up. You could try calling Dell to ask them how replaceable the parts are today, and how that compares to how they were a few years ago.
Yeah sorry OP, I didn't mean to derail it off so much, Listen to what Quizzical says, the one he showed is a good looking 'alienware case' Newegg should have a subcategory section for cases as well you can look through.
I ended up buying a dell, cost me 2k, and a similar Alienware was half again as much.. Granted my Dell was on sale, nevertheless, Alienware is overpiced simply because of the name.
Save the money and either build the PC or buy from another company who doesn't offer flashy lights and markup to use their name.