Alienware X51 vs Falcon Northwest Tiki

[NaeemTHM]

Good people,

First let me just say, I'm on my virtual hands and knees here asking you not to make fun of me. I KNOW both these options are overpriced and I could build something better for far less. I've certainly built a few towers in my day.

However, I just want to buy a nice (powerful) mico gaming PC for my entertainment center at home. Money isn't really a concern and decided to get one of these machines:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/14055229/Falcon_Tiki.pdf

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/14055229/Alienware%20X51.pdf


I like the look of both PC's so it basically comes down to a Core i7-3770 with a 1.5GB GTX 660 graphics card for $1,300 vs a Core i5 3570 with a 2GB GTX 680 for $2,200. I would just get the X51 but I'm worried the GTX 660 won't handle games come 2014. The GTX 680 on the other hand has already displayed that it can handle Unreal Engine 4. Save 900 dollars or future proof myself?

Which would you choose? Is there a better 3rd option? Should I just wait for E3 to see what Valve has to offer? Apparently they'll have a whole bunch of Steam Box's to show off soon.

In closing, OH LAWD PLEASE DON'T MAKE FUN OF ME!

 

[bob lightnin]

I'd buy neither, but If you HAVE to get one, get the Falcon thing. On games an i5 3570 has near similar performance to the i7-3770. The better graphics card would be the better choice.
They're both incredibly overpriced, I don't know why you'd buy either but whatever floats your boat.

 

[tiny voices]

I know money doesn't really matter, but you could save $1000 on the TIKI thing and not lose performance if you built it yourself.

The Alienware is very overpriced and not put together well. Its only has a gtx 660 but it has an i7. You want a better GPU and an i5. An i5 will game exactly the same as an i7. This alienware will only play games at a mix of med/high settings at 1080p.

 

[NaeemTHM]

I'd buy neither, but If you HAVE to get one, get the Falcon thing. On games an i5 3570 has near similar performance to the i7-3770. The better graphics card would be the better choice.
They're both incredibly overpriced, I don't know why you'd buy either but whatever floats your boat.

I would just jump on the Tiki, but I have no experience with Falcon Northwest. I mean, they've been around since the dawn of time so I assume the have a good track record. Is their warranty service as good/better than Dell?

 

[g-unit1111]

I'd buy neither, but If you HAVE to get one, get the Falcon thing. On games an i5 3570 has near similar performance to the i7-3770. The better graphics card would be the better choice.
They're both incredibly overpriced, I don't know why you'd buy either but whatever floats your boat.

I would just jump on the Tiki, but I have no experience with Falcon Northwest. I mean, they've been around since the dawn of time so I assume the have a good track record. Is their warranty service as good/better than Dell?

Falcon Northwest is one of the most highly regarded boutique PC vendors out there, hell, they're the company that invented the concept of boutique PCs.

If I had the money I'd get a Tiki without even thinking about it. But if you build it yourself it would be far less expensive. That's the bad thing about smaller PC vendors like Digital Storm, Origin, and Falcon Northwest. They have some of the best equipped systems around with solid warranties but you will pay big bucks for them. But also really - Alienware sucks.

 

[ronmccord]

I'd buy neither, but If you HAVE to get one, get the Falcon thing. On games an i5 3570 has near similar performance to the i7-3770. The better graphics card would be the better choice.
They're both incredibly overpriced, I don't know why you'd buy either but whatever floats your boat.

I would just jump on the Tiki, but I have no experience with Falcon Northwest. I mean, they've been around since the dawn of time so I assume the have a good track record. Is their warranty service as good/better than Dell?

Falcon Northwest is one of the most highly regarded boutique PC vendors out there, hell, they're the company that invented the concept of boutique PCs.

If I had the money I'd get a Tiki without even thinking about it. But if you build it yourself it would be far less expensive. That's the bad thing about smaller PC vendors like Digital Storm, Origin, and Falcon Northwest. They have some of the best equipped systems around with solid warranties but you will pay big bucks for them. But also really - Alienware sucks.

 

[ronmccord]

I hate it when you want advice and you get answers like Alienware sucks or just build it yourself. This is nonsense and a waste of anyone's time. I own two Alienware laptops and I have discovered they don't definitely suck. Ok the X51 vs Tiki. The only thing they have in common is they are both small. The X51 r2 is actually not overpriced. Build it and compare it to new egg and make sure you account for awesome tech support and warranty add around 150 in value here for 1 year. Also if you live overseas Alienware is the only company that will back your product and come to your house or office ( worth a thousand bucs to avoid a flight back to usa) Now form factor. The X51 will fit in a backpack, fit flat or upright and is allot lighter then the Tiki An easy win. The X51 is more then 500 dollars cheaper then the Tiki another win. Looks are subjective I like both but since I live Overseas the warranty, the size for transporting and the laying flat, and 500 to 800 bucs cheaper in my case since me being a loyal dell customer wins easy for X51. If you need a really powerful rig, more then a gtx 670 then the Tiki is your only choice. Again for those idiots saying build it yourself. You cant do it. There is no case in the Universe as small as the X51 and as powerful. Also the cabling, and motherboard, graphics etc are custom so the cables are measured to the millimeter. So please spare the ignorance, any other case is twice as large so go ahead build a prodigy, elite 120, lian li etc it is not as cool, or as thought out or backed by 24 -7 warranty superior support. So yes do it yourself stuff can be done but they sell thousands of these because more people want an X51 ready to roll then they want a generic mini itx case. What is the best mini Itx do it yourself case right now? I think the Coolermaster Elite 130 looks nice and is fully featured. Also a mini atx Silverstone GD05 granadia htpc can be made pretty awesome, you can put your monitor on top and add the silverstone fan controller for the 3x120mm fans, quiet powerful and really not that big! I like the Elite because you can put a fan controller in it or led controller and looks kinda military like a mini Haf Xb. For the money though X51 and I build a custom steel stand for it to be displayed on, powersupply and battery backup under the stand and it looks badass

 

[g-unit1111]

If you need a really powerful rig, more then a gtx 670 then the Tiki is your only choice. Again for those idiots saying build it yourself. You cant do it.

Well let's agree to disagree here. There's nothing out there like the Falcon Northwest Tiki. And it's true that you cannot build an mITX rig with the quality of the Tiki yourself. But to say that you can't do it is flat out wrong. Anything is possible if you put your mind to it, the closest rig you could build yourself around an mITX form factor would be something like a Fractal Design Node 605 or a Bitfenix Prodigy. You can match the power of the Tiki part for part but you'll never find a case out there on the market there.

The X51 is more then 500 dollars cheaper then the Tiki another win. Looks are subjective I like both but since I live Overseas the warranty, the size for transporting and the laying flat, and 500 to 800 bucs cheaper in my case since me being a loyal dell customer wins easy for X51.

I've never had good experiences with Dell. They used to be a good vendor back in the mid 90's and I bought my first and second laptops from them. But around the late 90s, at least here in the USA, their quality of customer service just completely went downhill. My second laptop I bought from them had a defective pixel in the monitor and when I called technical support they tried to claim that the laptop was damaged by shipping. That's one reason why I will never buy or endorse Dell products ever again.