I love my Alienware!

I was wondering the same thing. Here's what I came up with, trying to look for the cheapest versions of each component (yeah, I'm bored tonight):

1. Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6400 - $221.00
   
2. Run of the mill cheap case - $75.00
   
3. Thermaltake Big Water SE 120mm Liquid Cooling System $109.99
   
4. Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $139.99
   
5. ASUS P5N32-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard (open box) - $188.99
   
6. Pioneer 18X DVD±R DVD Burner Beige E-IDE & ATAPI Model DVR-112D BG - $31.99
   
7. LG 16X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write and LightScribe White IDE Model GSAH10LI - $35.99
   
8. MSI GeForce 8800 GTX (open box) - $517.76
   
9. BFG Tech BFGR1000WPSU ATX 12V 2.2/EPS 12V 2.91 1000W Power Supply - $288.99

Even without a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, which someone might have already, and without the charges for pro wiring and integration/inspection, which a do-it-yourselfer would, well, do himself, we're up to $1609.70. Granted, I didn't scour every single source in the world, so it's possible some alternatives for some of the components could be a little cheaper, but not likely by very much. The only way I could see to shave that down to $1200, and still have it be remotely comparable, would be to lose the liquid cooling, and salvage a pre-existing case and power supply from an old PC.

Even without cutting that stuff out though, you still can't call it "the same PC". The components are way, way, way substandard compared to what Alienware is using.

So, Kylos, care to explain what truck your "same PC as the OP" fell off of for $1200, or will you admit it's not actually the same thing?

Heh, I just caught that your post, Suzanne. You actually read through my whole boring list of specs just to pick out one spelling mistake? Impressive.

I didn't have to read the whole thing, the error occurs in the first word of the first bulleted item:


Having found an error allowing for the production of a smart alec comment, my
job was done.

Seriously I did scan the whole thing - my comments are - SL doesn't really make good use of the dual SLI video cards, does it? Maybe the open source people will work on that.
The raid 0 raptors sound good. I wonder if hard drive speed is really a great big issue when you have a lot of ram such that the system can keep a lot of hard drive content cached in ram? Can you tell that SL is hitting your hard drive during normal use?

I could go on but it's pointless, these prices are far more than I can pay, so it's a waste of time to dwell on such matters. Same sort of reason I stopped reading stereo magazines long ago.

I'm happy for both you and Sensual and everyone else that has top end equipment.



U wuz robbed. I got my hammer for a buck and a half.

Well, I'm over here running SL on my laptop with a (I can't think of the specs off the top of my head) 1.8 Ghz processor and a 256 Mb video card, and it isn't too bad considering I usually have 10 tabs open in Firefox and The Gimp and SL all at the same time.

I too just got a new computer, and almost bought an area 51 desktop from alienware..

Until i saw this:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=alienware+sucks



I thought, sure, everyone is going to say that about certain computer brands. BUT.... Alienware's little "reviews" were different, and a bit scary.

I hope yours doesnt burn out and you have to deal with the apparent lack of CS they have...... Was enough haunting reviews to make me steer clear.

I got that too lol!


However, with everything I got on it it ended up being MORE than what the alienware would have costed me. Which surprised me, I thought all alienwares were $$$$$$$$$$$$. (Just most, lol)

I do like the XPS though. Been running smoothly and I can minimize SL and work in other applications and open it back up with no problems (Something i could not do on my laptop lol)



i guess regardless of brand, the important thing is to make sure you get a warranty that covers however long you plan to keep the comp

So that's your goal? Read my posts, hoping to find an error, so you can somehow feel like you're bothering me? Okay then. I hope it's satisfying for you. For me, it's just mildly amusing.


Well, if you feel the difference between 50-100 FPS with SLI turned off and 145+ with it turned on constitutes "not making good use" of it, then call it what you will. My understanding, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, is that applications do not need anything special to take advantage of SLI. The programs simply output the video information to the graphics hardware pipeline, and then the cards & the SLI bridge take it from there.

What SL does have trouble with is multiple CPU's, not multiple GPU's. It's just not set up to swap functions across the multiple cores, so when running SL on a multi-core system, you need to set the affinity for it to just one core, or else it runs like crap. That's actually not a bad thing though. As we all know, SL always uses 100% of whatever CPU power is available to it. By relegating SL to a single core, you free up the others cores so they don't have to be bothered with it. Any other programs that are running along side SL don't even flinch. It's cool.


Absolutely. SL, by design, is constantly writing and rewriting files to your local cache, which resides on your hard drive. The faster your hard drive can physically access those files, the faster SL will run for you.

Having a lot of RAM helps as well, of course, but that's only part of the equation. To use an analogy, the hard drive cache can be considered to be everything your computer currently knows about the SL world. The portion of that knowledge that can fit into the available RAM constitutes the amount that the computer can think about at any one time. Your computer, just like your brain, needs both knowledge and thought in order to function. Both are equally important. You know lots and lots and lots of things, but you can only think about a few of those things at any given time. It's the same for your computer.


I wouldn't call it pointless to ask questions. It's arguably pointless to make assumptions about that of which you have no first hand knowledge, but it's not pointless to ask about the experiences of those who do. Even if the answers don't directly affect you, there are others reading who might benefit.

In any case, the prices are dropping fast. My two GeForce 8800's were $800 apiece, for example, when I bought them three months ago. Now you can get one for $500-600. Early adopters always get screwed on pricing. Those who wait a little bit get a much better deal. It probably won't be long before the 8800 technology becomes more main stream, and those cards will get pretty cheap.

For my part, I didn't have much choice but to go ahead with it when I did, as my old machine was really becoming problematic at about the same time that SL became my full time job. I knew I'd be spending way more than if I could wait another 6 months, but that just wasn't an option. I needed the speed, and I needed it right away.

Hmm so far they have actually been wonderful to me, they have called and emailed me at least a 6 times before I even received the machine I think they are much better and personal than when I dealt with Dell.

Cool.


Also, dell owns alienware.

With SL, it's not quite an out-of-box experience; you have to set up an SLI profile for it, as I recall. And you don't get as much benefit as you do with games that have been specially optimized for SLI. (You get perhaps 1.5x speed with two cards; there are titles were you can get very close to 2x.) But you do get SOME benefit.

Mostly, SLI is only worth doing for SL if you're already at the top of the line of video cards, or if you already own the first card. Otherwise, spend the money on a single faster card instead, unless you want the dual cards for other reasons (i.e., supporting a larger number of monitors for video editing).

I love my GeForce4 graphics card

First of all I LOVE my alienware, I would have sex with it if I could.. literally!
Second, that was over 2 years old and find me a company that doesnt have bad press at one time or another?
Linden Lab has bad press all over the place, but thier good press out weighs the bad.. you are still in SL aren't you?

You do know that two 256 cards on that SLI board will outperform your single board right? Why pay for an SLI motherboard and only have one vidoe card?

So you can buy a second card in the future and not have to replace the motherboard again?

You're much better at answering questions.

Well I figured it would be best to have it now than upgrade in another couple months when I feel like treating myself to an upgarde

Nevertheless its true. SLI cards are faster than the sum of thier parts.

A good Idea, I am just venting bitterness and envy at your new ride.

Sensual - Casanova - come on I sort of expected more .....


But.... I have a question - what Internet connections do you people have - I know that around the world we will all see different stuff - but just what line speed must be being delivered to make this kit rock.

I don't hate Sensual or Chosen, your kit rocks (as soon as I can find some rocks.....)

But reads and writes to the hard drive are cached in ram, aren't they?

umm? huh?? Do I know you? Do you know me? Have I given you a reason to hate me or expect more from me for that matter? I don't understand why these comments were even made...I don't get it...