Area 51 invasion imminent

I hope they update the AW X51.

The chassis is okay for a first generation one, but lots of people really want it to be easier to upgrade the PSU and graphics card. I hope they take that into consideration.

 

I thought there was already a second generation X51. An update would be the X51 R3, would it not?

Using the 330W AC adapter (too wimpy) is definitely past due for retirement. They need to use a standard generic ATX PSU, but then you'd have people some screaming and crying about it being bigger no matter how much of an improvement it would be.

 

x51, swap out the external psu with a sfx 600 watt silverstone unit, you would have to make the case a little bigger, but not by much.

 

That would be good, and worth the small chassis size increase. Or, they could just make a new 600-800W external AC adapter unit that we could borrow for the M18xR2.

An X51 with a 4930K and 780Ti or Titan GPU would be pretty sweet, but 600W likely wouldn't be adequate for that level of performance.

 

It would be nice if it could take the big cards and K CPU's with some room for hefty OCing and tinkering. The Digital Storm Bolt II will have them absolutely outclassed otherwise. It gets the high end cards and optional big PSU's in a tiny chassis.

 

Yeah, sad really... and because it can't, I have no use for the product. The X51 could have turned out so much better if they had release a product with capacity to satisfy the full range of customers instead of just catering to the performance bottom-feeders.

 

They are on the second gen, but it still uses the first gen case (for all intents and purposes).

 

Why do they need all their desktops to be able to fill the same performance niches? The X51 is, and rightfully so, is targeted at people who want a console sized PC with good performance (far better than a console) that isn't to expensive. If they made it so you could put an xtreme CPU and GTX Titan Black in that thing they would have to COMPLETELY redesign it and they would have to probably switch to a metal chassis from a plastic one. All of that means increasing the price, even for the base models. The X51 would lose what makes it attractive in the first place. If you want a really powerful desktop, just get an Aurora. If it has to be a mini tower, Digital Storm, Falcon Northwest, and Maingear all have options for that. They come at a premium however.

 

I get what you're saying about providing performance for different niches. However, the tiny PSU of the previous X51 was the limiting factor rather than the plastic chassis or build design. At least in the sense that you'd reach the PSU limits far before you ever exceeded the machines threshold for adequate cooling. For that reason it seems a lost opportunity to have a perfectly decent system simply limited by an tiny cheap PSU.

 

Oh I completely agree on the PSU front. I was just pointing out that wanting the X51 to be some sort of super machine like the Falcon Northwest Tiki defeats the purpose of what it was originally created to be.

 

That's exactly what I was getting at. Sure, it's better than a console without any upgrades. It's too small to be ever be an extreme performance machine, but at least being able to accommodate a degree of high performance would be nice. People sometimes start out small based on a budget, and that's a smart thing to do versus going into debt. Having little or no available overhead to work with is sad. Having to start over with another product is not a good thing to be faced with. When that happens you may actually lose more money. My comment about the "full range of customers" was probably too brief. What I really mean by that (and did not clarify well) is not inclusive of extreme performance enthusiasts. I meant the "full range of customers interested in the X51" to be more clear. The X51 is capable of handling some decent CPU and GPU hardware upgrades and moderate overclocking that the limitations of the 330W AC adapter makes impossible due to its lack of capacity.

 

Like me
Started with a m11xr1 -> x51r1 -> m14xr2 -> aw17 - future area 51 owner!

 

There you go... a man after my own heart.

 

what aree your guys thoughts? i just think the price tag wll be over priced!!!

 

It definitely has some decent hardware in it. It's fantastic to see 3-way SLI in a mass production machine from a company the size of Alienware. We don't know how overclocker-friendly the BIOS is going to be... that may prove to be interesting if what they have done to their laptop BIOSes is going to be status quo. I sure hope not. The chassis is certainly different. I like the thought that went into it from an ergonomics perspective, but I'm not sure I appreciate it aesthetically. As far as price goes, unless something changes it will be expensive. You can generally save money building your own, but some people feel that having hassle-free warranty support is worth the extra expense compared to having to deal with individual vendors for each component that goes into a self-built machine. I guess it really all boils down to individual preferences.

This is a cool teaser video...

<iframe width='853' height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/xjYa6NXtTwU" frameborder='0' allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

They're having a huge sale on the Aurora right now. You can get the Titan Z with the 4930K for less than $4k. I'm wondering if it will replace the Aurora or not. If it outperforms the Aurora (seeing as the Aurora can only support 2-way SLI) then it may be safe to assume it will replace it.

I'm glad Alienware is doing a lot of new things this year. They have yet to disappoint me (from a design perspective). Haswell is a disappointment, but that's more Intel's fault than anything else. Hypothetically, if it were possible to put a 3940XM in the AW 17 (I know it's impossible to do so), it would perform just as well as it would in the M17x R4.

 

Basically that video is pronography

 

I saw that sale last night and priced one out with the specs I wanted (4930K, ALX chassis, the advanced cooling package, Titan-Z, WiFi and Windows 7 Pro, everything else base components). Even with $1420 in discounts it was still just under $4800.

I wish they would make the ALX chassis in a full tower with E-ATX and 3x/4x GPU support. I like the aesthetics of the ALX chassis better than the new Area 51, but a mid-tower chassis is a smaller computer case than what I would prefer to have given the option of full tower.

 

Yeah, exactly. The one I wanted is similar but only $4314~, and that includes 4 Years of Enhanced Support. It's an attractive price - the Titan Z upgrade is only $150 more over 780 SLI. That's a heck of a deal, if you ask me. I want to purchase it. That setup would last a good 3+ years on Ultra, especially at 1080p. And I'd be willing to bet it would look amazing at 1080p on a 120Hz monitor. Not only that, but the Titan Z can be overclocked like a beast and you will literally see a good 25% boost in performance from doing so.

Then again, the 980M is weeks away and I want to know whether or not the rumors are true. 980M SLI Scoring nearly 19k in FireStrike [at stock] is amazing.

 

I don't have the cash and if I did I am not ready to start sitting at a desk for benching and gaming at this point. I am just starting to prepare myself mentally for the level of lameness that I think we may be headed for in laptops. No matter how much I loathe the thought of resorting to desktop benching and gaming, I will not throw away any of my money for a performance downgrade in a laptop. Unless Alienware releases a laptop with performance and overclocking headroom that destroys my M18xR2 it could be the last one I buy/own. Since Clevo is discontinuing the P570WM there may no longer be any acceptable purchase options left for me in a laptop.

 

Alienware revives the Area 51 desktop with a new look
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MTwOynE0oo

Alienware Area 51 Revealed at PAX Prime 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgczVmaITF0

i have been following this for awhile, but I'm pretty happy with my current setup right now, the R4 is really plenty for me at this point. But I might still get one next year with a 25%-30% discount of course. I do love me some Alienware.....

 

It's their new "flagship" system. So, yeah, I think it will be pretty darn powerful and cool pretty well. Let's just hope the prices aren't insanely high (for Alienware).

 

Hey Michael Dell,

For the first 100~ Area 51 units sold in the USA, you should have them delivered at night with a giant UFO drone (lights, the works) at the consent of the purchaser.

Don't know about you guys, but I'd pay to see that. It would be a real invasion! Talk about "good" public relations.

J.Dre

 

That would be cool to make that standard delivery for Alienware in general

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

Maybe one day. I don't think there are any drones with the ability to carry such heavy packages, yet (outside of the military). If it's anything like the Aurora, it will weigh like 50 pounds, lol. Amazon uses drones to deliver small packages in cities already. I'm sure sometime in the near future they'll be used more and more for deliveries.

And yeah, it would be very cool.

 

I still think this is the best and most awesome mass-production desktop beast chassis ever made... The right side drive setup is just wicked.
I wish they would bring back a slightly updated version of this for those of us that that are not especially fond of the Dorito-shaped motif.

<iframe width='853' height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/BtMAy5Mu7vg" frameborder='0' allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

 

Completely agree with mr fox

 

I wasn't around when that chassis/system was out. Can't attest to its "awesomeness." But if Mr. Fox says it was awesome, I guess it was awesome.

It does look pretty cool, though.

 

That seems to be the inspiration for the current AW notebook line, no? Very similar ID.

 

The flying Dorito is interesting, but I agree, the first Dell-AW Area-51 is still by far the coolest design... sad they don't update it : /

 

i prefer the Aurora ALX R4 Look, i could buy this used at half price the aurora, but it' s definetely huge while aurora it' s microATX and u can place it on your desk.
I couldn t place this thing on the desk.



BTW it s cool and the next one also better. It s only the size that made me chose tha Aurora ALX

 

They just launched the Dell Mystery Coupon sale last night. I'm going to assume the new lineup and new products will be launched soon. Can't wait.

You guys ready? I know I am. I want to see some benchmarks of this weird beast.

 

I'm always ready to see a wicked beast trashing benchmarks like a worn out rag doll.

 

This video is more informative about this machine. It's cool that Alienware Command Center now includes CPU and memory overclocking features. Hopefully, that won't be in lieu of more robust BIOS options. It's also good to know it has a 1500 watt PSU. The drive arrangement is similar to the old Area 51, but it appears to be severely limited in the number of available drives bays... didn't like that part and not sure why they did that. If I end up having to resort to using a desktop to satisfy my speed cravings, I would want to be able to run 6 or 8 drives in a pair of RAID0 volumes (3 or 4 drives per volume). The old Area 51 had 6 drive bay plus ODD.

<iframe width='1280' height="720" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/2xPG3AK9CE0?rel=0" frameborder='0' allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

 

Good video. Yeah the amount of drive bays was pretty underwhelming considering the space it had. I'd still like to know if the GPU fans would sustain fatigue at those angles over time.

I wonder if we'll see a new x51?? I'd love a SLI'd x51 - Yeah I know it's not going to happen.

 

You may actually kinda get your wish.

The alpha pretty much takes up the price point of the x51, the area 51 takes up the high price point.

Now if we keep our current structures (small mid high) that would leave us with a single mid grade machine to find. This has generally been the aurora... a sli box. My thought is that they would remake the aurora with a new design, I dont think it will be a triangle, but hope its something pretty cool looking.

So your new sli x51 will be the new aurora......
If they can make it a slim tower, mount the gpu(s) like the x51 by stacking 4 pci slots next to the mobo. Running a pci extension board to the gpus, putting the psu in the top front of the chassis. Side mounted radiator, single front mounted fan to pull air in, no odd, dual hdds (2.5) and a msata or m2.

Really there are some pretty good ways to make a small sli gaming rig if you have the resources that dell has.

 

Indeed. Falcon Northwest has somehow harnessed some sort of witchcraft and figured out how to put TWO GTX TItan Blacks in the Tiki (13 inches tall, 4 inches wide). I am sure Dell can pull off some cool stuff in a small form factor too.

 

Time will tell buddy. They could certainly do something creative with the form factor using Riser cards etc. I won't expect anything that awesome - less disappointment that way

Not exactly.The Tiki still only has a single GPU slot. They've just thrown in a $3000 titan Z which is essentially 2 Titan Blacks on the same PCB. Theoretically, the current X51 could do the same thing if it had a bigger PSU to power it.

 

Hmmm. If and when they do want to put something like a Titan in the x51, they are going to need to do a lot more than just up the power supply. magnifying the power that much is going to require them to do some pretty significant re-engineering on the chassis (god what I wouldn't do for an ALL METAL x51).

 

Can you set those zones to Hardware temperatures?

It would be cool if you could set each side LED to a hardware component. Say CPU + GPU + GPU.

 

You might be able to. That would be cool to have the color change based on temps on each of the three LED "spokes" on the side panels... for another example, the front panel LED strips might be configured to change with CPU temps and each of the three side panel LED spokes designated to reflect temps for one of the 3 780 cards.

 

Someone on the m11x forum (i think) made a app like that for alienfx. It changed the color of the lights dependant on the temp of the computer.

It was a bit buggy but it worked.

EDIT:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ng-depending-things-like-cpu-temperature.html

 

The GTX 980's have been announced. The day is upon us.

 

Check out the new Alienware Desktop sub-forum and Area-51 Desktop Owner's Lounge.