News Dell's $35 AlienFX cable kit makes Alienware Area-51 desktop compatible with third-party motherboards

[Admin]

Dell has provided its Area-51 flagship gaming PC with an optional cable conversion kit that enables support for third party motherboards.

Dell's $35 AlienFX cable kit makes Alienware Area-51 desktop compatible with third-party motherboards : Read more

 

[DS426]

Nope, still a no-go -- shouldn't have to spend even more to get standard ATX compatibility that should have been there in the first place.

 

[thestryker]

It makes sense that Dell doesn't want to derail their manufacturing lines for what is undoubtedly a low volume portion of their market. While this solution isn't great it's significantly better than having to DIY everything which is what the situation has been. I'm somewhat surprised they shifted over to 12VO from their proprietary power connector, but this likely wasn't a huge deal since they were using something similar before the spec was ratified. Unfortunately this is likely to be the biggest barrier as the number of 12VO motherboards on the consumer market is tiny.

 

[stonecarver]

The big shift is Dell is listening. Not a prefect solution but one even I didn't ever expect from them.

 

[usertests]

Nope, still a no-go -- shouldn't have to spend even more to get standard ATX compatibility that should have been there in the first place.

Just factor the cost of the kit into any sale price. See the Alienware, add $35 to the price in your head.

These OEM pre-built PCs shouldn't be bought by enthusiasts unless they are heavily discounted anyway.

 

[VizzieTheViz]

Well it’s better than nothing I guess, though I don’t see great value in having to pay $35 for $3 worth of cables and nuts.

Just include this with the systems and make them a few bucks more expensive. They’re already overpriced anyway so nobody is going to notice.

Still the least they could do is absolutely nothing so this is kind of a nice move by dell for people wanting to put another mainbiard in such a system.

 

[Notton]

I think it's a good gesture and good direction for dell.
Who knows what the next 10~20years of desktop PCs will look like, but at least you can reuse the case for a retro build by the time 2050 rolls around.