Alienware computers (laptops, desktop, RAM, games)

[Calwine]

Does anyone would have a good Alienware computer to recommend?
Thanks

[reed303]

My 21 y/o granddaughter, an avid "gamer", bought one about 6 months ago. Here is what she said re model, etc:
" It's the 15 inch R3 model with Intel i7 processor, GTX 1060 video card, 16GB of ram (with upgrade slots), dual drives with 256 SSD for boot and a 1TB of storage, 1535 killer wifi, and a 99 Wh battery."

She loves it.

[Malloric]

Desktop or laptop? I'm assuming primary purpose is gaming if you're looking at Alienware.

The only laptop that's really worth considering is the 17" model. It's fairly competitively priced with other 17" gaming laptops. The major issue is that Alienware has poor assembly quality control. You're more likely to need to repaste the CPU and GPU than with other brands. That's either an issue or it's not. The 13" is extremely expensive and the 15" you can get better price and quality from Clevo resellers (Sager/Eluktronics). The 17" the main competitor is MSI GT73VR. MSI GE Raider series is cheaper but not well built.

Desktop the Aurora. On the other hand, the Aurora uses pricey components that offer marginal benefits. For a solid mid-range build you're looking at around $1,400. Buying a discounted 7th generation prebuilt system is a much better value. You can pick one up easily for $800 and then add a second stick of RAM ($80) and Samsung 850 250 GB ($85). There's just not any good deals on prebuilt systems with the 8th generation i5-8400 as there's no supply. The few system builders that even have any are pricing them pretty high. Better to look at discounted systems with an i5-7400/7500 or 7th generation i7 chips for now until Intel is able to meet demand.

Alternatively, for a similar price you can get a discounted 7th generation i7 with a GTX 1080.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...82E16883102169

[davidt1]

For desktop consider one with the new AMD Ryzen 5 1600x. It has the best performance/value ratio. Personally I want to give the underdog AMD a fighting chance so the market is not controlled by a monopoly.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php...D+Ryzen+5+1600

[Malloric]

Originally Posted by davidt1

For desktop consider one with the new AMD Ryzen 5 1600x. It has the best performance/value ratio. Personally I want to give the underdog AMD a fighting chance so the market is not controlled by a monopoly.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php...D+Ryzen+5+1600

Not for gaming, given the CPU is not that important for gaming. It's just that aside from a very few games (like Civ VI), games almost never make use of hyperthreading. It's just a faster six core processor (i5-8400) versus a slower six core processor (Ryzen 5 1600). Same reason the i7 isn't that useful for gaming. You get faster boost, but the hyperthreading is pretty much useless for gaming so it's not worth double the price. The money is better spent on the GPU. Productivity, yeah. Mixed use, yeah. The gaming hit on the Ryzen 5 1600 isn't that big and it is better for productivity than the 8400 without costing what an i7 8700 would cost.