Three Core i7 Systems From Botique Builders

[MrMick]

Intel's Core i7 has comfortably established itself as the enthusiast CPU to beat. But we wanted to challenge the system builders in today's roundup with a $2,500 maximum budget. Alienware, AVADirect, and CyberPower battle it out for top billing.

Three Core i7 Systems From Botique Builders : Read more

 

[gkay09]

Well this article would help people buying preassembled computer very much...

 

[crisisavatar]

all 3 suck concidering you can add a 24 inch monitor, high quality speakers, audio card, gaming mouse/keyboard and still have money to spare.

ps. running a couple of gtx 260s at stock will be more than enough to pull 45 fps in crysis and everything else at idk fps.

 

[crisisavatar]

ups forgot to add the new OCZ vortex 30g ssd in raid 0 to boot up and still be in budget.

 

[pivalak]

Hummm, what I tend to miss on these reviews is an actual measurement of the noise generated by the system.

I mean, the subjective evaluation provided is still useful, but... how noisy is "surprisingly quiet" or "the loudest of the three machines"?

 

[pivalak]

Hummm, what I tend to miss on these reviews is an actual measurement of the noise generated by the system.

I mean, the subjective evaluation provided is still useful, but... how noisy is "surprisingly quiet" or "the loudest of the three machines"?

 

[pivalak]

Hummm, what I tend to miss on these reviews is an actual measurement of the noise generated by the system.

I mean, the subjective evaluation provided is still useful, but... how noisy is "surprisingly quiet" or "the loudest of the three machines" in this case?

 

[pivalak]

Oooops... sorry for the multiple posts. I had some issues with my browser (does anyone know how to delete them?)

 

[nerrawg]

Kind of surprised that Thomas Soderstrom's (is he swedish btw?) $2,500 core i7 build from December wasn't mentioned from what I could see for comparison.
If anyone is curious how tom's home-build system compares to the boutiques here's the link: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-overclock,2116.html

From the gaming benches on that review it appears that the now slightly outdated december build still trumps the above builds with its triple 260 SLI and 4.0 Ghz overclocked 920. Best value award goes Tom's own Build! Now if only that one came pre-built with a 3 year warranty .... guess I'll still be getting out my toolkit (no pun intended)

 

[MrMick]

[citation][nom]pivalak[/nom]Hummm, what I tend to miss on these reviews is an actual measurement of the noise generated by the system.I mean, the subjective evaluation provided is still useful, but... how noisy is "surprisingly quiet" or "the loudest of the three machines" in this case?[/citation]

Hi, I'm the author of the story. Trying to objectively measure a system's noise levels without sophisticated measurement equipment is as problematic as describing them subjectively.

I have a level meter, but decided not to use it because it wasn't sensitive enough to measure noise levels where it mattered--at ear level where I was seated. I needed to measure the ambient room noise with no computers running to set a basis for comparison, and the meter wasn't sensitive enough to do that.

And even if the meter was sensitive enough for my purpose, the decibel measurement would be relevant only for the environment in which I was testing (my home office, which measures 13.6x8 feet).

 

[Guest]

“No one ever got laughed at for buying an Alienware.”

Are you kidding? They have to be the most overpriced POS on the market.

Pfft. Alienware = glorified console.

Real PC gamers build their own. Period.

 

[marraco]

Why the Alienware (Dell) do:

-Ruined Asus BIOS support by changing the P6T deluxe naming?. Is standard behavior from Dell, who delays BIOS upgrades, and sometimes totally forget it. Dell ruins motherboards.
-Overclocked nothing.
-Used crappy memory, when significant better memory cost little more.

 

[Luscious]

I'd like to know what power supply the Alienware uses so I can use it in my next build. Power saving like that definitely add up over the course of a year, and when you look at the life of the hardware (18-48 months) those savings on your electricity bill can add up to the cost of the hardware itself sometimes.

 

[jcknouse]

[citation][nom]User421[/nom]“No one ever got laughed at for buying an Alienware.”Are you kidding? They have to be the most overpriced POS on the market.Pfft. Alienware = glorified console.Real PC gamers build their own. Period.[/citation]

I can't argue that Alienware isn't overpriced for what you get.

But, not all "Real PC gamers" build their own. Some have the dosh to pay for custom rigs.

Not myself, of course. Plus, I like tinkering with gadgets

 

[MrMick]

[citation][nom]Luscious[/nom]I'd like to know what power supply the Alienware uses so I can use it in my next build. Power saving like that definitely add up over the course of a year, and when you look at the life of the hardware (18-48 months) those savings on your electricity bill can add up to the cost of the hardware itself sometimes.[/citation]

There were no markings on the power supply other than Alienware's that I could see, so I'm guessing that they contract with a supplier to build a private-label PSU for them (as they did with the Asus motherboard).

But there's more to power consumption than just the power supply. The Cyberpower rig used a dual-GPU videocard, for instance, and the AVADirect machine was running two Nvidia cards in SLI.

 

[Fadamor]

OK, who wants to chip in for a spell-checker for Mr. Brown? Shouldn't the title of the article be using the word "Boutique"?

 

[marraco]

[citation][nom]Luscious[/nom]I'd like to know what power supply the Alienware uses so I can use it in my next build. Power saving like that definitely add up over the course of a year, and when you look at the life of the hardware (18-48 months) those savings on your electricity bill can add up to the cost of the hardware itself sometimes.[/citation]

I know of a Dell PC whose Power supply stopped working.
The owner buyed a new, standard power supply... and burned the motherboard, because Dell had the custom of modifying his motherboards, and power supplies, making them non standard.
By making that, Dell slaved buyers to buy parts from Dell only, and gave no warning about non standard hardware.

The merely fact that Dell has hidden the P6T Deluxe under a suspicious What The Fck change, advice to not but things from that crappy company.

 

[Fadamor]

I work with hundreds of Dells on a daily basis and can state that the only non-standard power supplies they use are in their "slim" cases. Your standard-size cases have a "regular" ATX compliant power supply.

 

[marraco]

Be warned about Alienware-Dell:

http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=339053

http://www.duxcw.com/dcforum/DCForumID3/436.html

Ha, ha, take it, Dell.

 

[marraco]

[citation][nom]Fadamor[/nom]I work with hundreds of Dells on a daily basis and can state that the only non-standard power supplies they use are in their "slim" cases. Your standard-size cases have a "regular" ATX compliant power supply.[/citation]

That is not the point. If Dell custom modified this mother, probably was to make it non industry standard, to force you to buy Dell only upgrades.

Dell has done it many times. Be warned.

 

[xsamitt]

Wondering when the constant commercials will stop.Most people here build their own systems.Of course I don't deny there is merit in articles like this but the balance of toms is way different than it used to be.
What about a review of the new lcd's that are out now some of which are 120HZ.
Rob & Ben to me was the last saving grace for toms.

 

[marcdiana12]

Hello, my name is Marc Diana and I work at Alienware and I’m a Tom’s fanatic. Mike, great job on the piece! It was very well written and hits a lot of great topics. I’d like to address a few comments in the postings about Alienware to clear up some misconceptions and answer a few questions.

1. Build vs. Buy- a lot of great points from the Tom’s readership out there on this one, and as usual it seems to be a similar theme whenever system builders are brought up. The article is a roundup on 3 system builders, not a build-it-your-own article so you shouldn’t expect many comparisons or listings to touch on that point. Like most of you, I fell in love with PCs by building them; however, I can also tell you that the experience of purchasing a new PC and unpacking your new build hitting power and gaming into the wee hours of the night is like no other. I have no doubt that there are some Tom’s readers that can also build their own automobiles, I too can. I can tell you that I can build a high performance automobile for far less than other newer models from many of the major manufacturers; however, I can also tell you that one of the coolest experiences is purchasing a new high performance automobile and driving it off the lot. It is this same experience that we strive to give to all our customers, and it is one that we do exceptionally well (trust me you’ll know you’re going to have a great time when that big black box with the Alienware logo shows up at your front door). There are also countless hours of engineering time put into our systems to make sure that your turn-key experience is a flawless one, you can’t get that in a personal build, and when you’re dealing in the arena of high performance with components that are extremely new, having these hours behind our products is key for a fantastic immersive user experience.
2. Alienware tampers with board BIOS- this could not be further from the truth. In fact, all our desktop systems come with what we have evaluated as to be the best boards in their respective categories for the price, the Asus P6T Deluxe that is equipped in the Area-51 X58 is no exception. We do not lock our BIOS, and any customer can tinker with their product as if they built it their own.
3. Alienware is “Overpriced”- Check out Alienware’s pricing, please. We’ve taken major strides to eliminate this assumption everyday, and I can assure you that our pricing is extremely competitive. Our new system pricing has also come down drastically. Take for example our Area-51 m17x notebook which started at $2,499 and launched over a year ago. Now take a look at our new M17 notebook which started at $1,399 and launched last November. Price vs. performance you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better performing 17” notebook. Today we launched a liquid cooling system on our X58 desktop that starts at $99. Take another look at Alienware, we’re doing good things in this sector I promise you.
4. Alienware’s Power supply unit- This is a power supply we built in tandem with Dell. It does excel at providing a very stable throughput of consistent power and shines at efficiency in S1 and S3 sleep states.

All in all, a great review Mike, and another excellent piece in the Tom’s achieves of high performance computing!

 

[marraco]

[citation][nom]marcdiana12[/nom]...
2. Alienware tampers with board BIOS- this could not be further from the truth. In fact, all our desktop systems come with what we have evaluated as to be the best boards in their respective categories for the price, the Asus P6T Deluxe that is equipped in the Area-51 X58 is no exception. We do not lock our BIOS, and any customer can tinker with their product as if they built it their own.[/citation]

Is a P6T Deluxe, so when Asus fixes the P6T deluxe, will the customer be capable of download the update and use it right away?

...Or him gonna need to wait months until Dell decides to allow the Bios upgrade? (Dell have a history of never making available some Bios upgrades, specially concerning to new CPU support).

[citation][nom]marcdiana12[/nom]3. Alienware is “Overpriced”- Check out Alienware’s pricing, please...
Take for example our Area-51 m17x notebook which started at $2,499 and launched over a year ago. Now take a look...[/citation]

ALL notebooks prices gets down with time. Any trademark PC is overpriced.

Now, if the buyer pays extra money, him should get extra benefices. Selling to him non standard hardware, and slaving it to your trademark, is misbehaving, and giving him less benefices for his extra money.

Taking away BIOS upgrades is giving him less for his extra money.

Forcing him to buy an unwanted OS, is giving him less for extra money.

Limiting, or blocking upgrades, is giving him less for extra money.

Not giving him an OS installation DVD, instead giving him only an OEM image in hard disk, is risky, and giving him less for extra money.

DDR3 1066? That is crap, and giving him less for extra money.

[citation][nom]marcdiana12[/nom]4. Alienware’s Power supply unit- This is a power supply we built in tandem with Dell. It does excel at providing a very stable throughput of consistent power and shines at efficiency in S1 and S3 sleep states.All in all, a great review Mike, and another excellent piece in the Tom’s achieves of high performance computing![/citation]

You carefully avoided to say if the power supply is standard, so, i guess is not. right? (Then wrong!)

 

[Nossy]

Why even bother. It's all bunch of bullcrap.

 

[marraco]

To author Michael Brown:

The Alienware is, or is not a standard power supply? Not even have a standard connector?

That is VERY important. A review should include that data.

¿Can you change the videocards next year? do the connectors are standard? what if the provided power is not enough, and you need a new one?

Please, fix it.