Dell Now Shipping Alienware Alpha 'Console'

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holyknight1121

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No way its gonna be one of the new 900 series with that "2gb vram", unless they pull off a surprise with it being 960 or 950. Probably isn't gonna be a 780 either since from nvidia website the standard vram for 780 is 3gb.
 

Donny Saengkio

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It is a modified Nvidia GTX 860m GPU. If you look on YouTube under their Alienware account they have posted numerous game-play videos on the base-line: Core i3/ 4gb RAM/ 500gb HDD model - which performed rather well but people will argue you can build something better for the price.
 

TheXRavenX

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We took an Nvidia 860m and modified it to suit our needs.

We had space, thermal, power, price, and performance requires. This chip and its components fit the bill.
 

jtd871

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I'd at least like to see a review unit tested for framerates, temps and noise. Could be a pretty good deal considering that it'll be plug and chug. Wonder when the manual will appear on the Dell support site...
 

Vlad Rose

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Why not just buy a laptop at this point since the price isn't much higher then and you'll gain the advantages of a laptop? Never understood why they try to sell computers (AIO, console, etc) with laptop parts, and at nearly the prices of the laptop themselves.
 

TheXRavenX

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We have posted frame rate videos on our youtube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpDhGs-OGYvt64IgZfU7u21LZwbkt0MTm

I'd give you a noise video off my box but it is pre-production so I don't know how accurate that part would be. I can say that compared to my PS4, it is quiter. My XB1 is very quite and id say they are on par. Definitely not the tornado of the XB360 and PS3 era.
 

ferooxidan

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For all of you wondering about the gpu, I got the info from Dell representative from their G+ page, it is a modified Maxwell based on GTX860M. Just look at Dell G+ and find post about Alienware Alpha. I ask them the question and that's what their reply.
 

game junky

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Meh - I know there are people out there that will definitely take advantage of the Alpha but if I am putting a machine in my living room, it's going to be as a PVR. If they had made it have more full Win 8.1 app add-ins like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO Go, etc. then they might have picked up a couple of fringe users but I think this has too small of a market to really make a name for itself.
 

Haravikk

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@Vlad Rose: Feel free to show us how you build a 20cm x 20cm x 5cm system with an i3 and 860m for less than $550; you can only do it for less if you don't value size and custom components. So many people have made the same tired argument against the Alpha about it being over-priced, but the alternatives given are huge systems that usually don't include the cost of a Windows license or controller. If you pre-order in the US then you also get a free game (PayDay 2), possibly more through Nvidia and a $100 Dell voucher, which is nothing to sneeze at either.


Personally I'm psyched for this machine as I've been looking at building a small console-like system for a while now, and this is smaller than I could manage myself, but manages to pack a lot, at a good price. The markup to £450 in the UK is a bit steep, but compare that to the £329 PS4 and Xbox One. If you factor in a few years of Xbox Live Gold then the price is actually good indeed.

I probably will stick to the entry level model though; it only has 4gb RAM but it seems that's using a single module, so you only need to stick a matching 4gb in the other slot to double it, at which point the i3 is a decent enough processor to match the 860m, and 500gb is a good amount of storage, so there's not much need to go higher IMO as you're limited by the graphics.

In fact it's a shame the GPU isn't on a daughterboard of some kind, especially with the motherboard being bespoke anyway; with it being fixed I don't think there's much point in upgrading as you'll be better served swapping it for a new one later down the line instead when it gets a 970m or something newer. The old model should still fetch a bit of money, and with the savings on games you should still come under the total cost of an Xbox One or PS4, while jumping ahead in performance (whereas the current Alpha is only just about level).
 
I'm not clear on how a 860M is going to run pc games very well, I have a 760M and 880M and they are really pretty poor performers at 1080p unless you dial down details. Pretty sure a GTX 760 or amd 270 would have made this much more attractive, also no user upgrade possibility is a no go.
 
I'm not clear on how a 860M is going to run pc games very well, I have a 760M and 880M and they are really pretty poor performers at 1080p unless you dial down details. Pretty sure a GTX 760 or amd 270 would have made this much more attractive, also no user upgrade possibility is a no go.
 
I'm not clear on how a 860M is going to run pc games very well, I have a 760M and 880M and they are really pretty poor performers at 1080p unless you dial down details. Pretty sure a GTX 760 or amd 270 would have made this much more attractive, also no user upgrade possibility is a no go.
 


A desktop Geforce GTX 550 Ti or Radeon HD 5830 is better than a GTX 860M

 

Vlad Rose

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That is my point exactly. Everyone asks "tell me how you're going to build a system with an 860m for cheaper". Simple, build a mini-itx system and use desktop components as even the low end video cards run faster as well as the CPUs. $500 will build a mini-itx with windows that will outrun this system.
 
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