Here's my review of the long awaited Plain51 Area 51-7500. Hopefully it will answer some questions about the new P2 chassis, FX, and ordering from Alienware.

I bought this machine for a couple reasons...
A.) My Area 51-m5500 was having trouble with most of the newer games
B.) The aesthetics of the Predator and P2 chassis have always caught my eye
C.) I have had a great experience with my m5500 including CS and TS issues.
D.) The major factor is that I really enjoy playing BF2! and if it does that well, I'll be happy.


Specs

[1] Area-51® 7500

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6700 2.66GHz 4MB Cache 1066MHz FSB
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 with Service Pack 2
Chassis: Alienware® P2 Chassis - Space Black
Chassis Upgrades: Alienware® AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling + AlienFX™ System Lighting
Power Supply: 700 Watt Alienware® Multi-GPU Approved
Motherboard: Alienware® Approved NVIDIA nForce 4 SLI Motherboard
Memory: 2GB DDR2 Performance SDRAM at 800MHz - 2 x 1024MB
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ 8MB Cache
Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive
Secondary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 52x32x52x CD-RW Drive
Graphics Processor: 1024MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 7950 GX2
Sound Card: Added Creative X-Fi Soundblaster
Keyboard: Alienware® USB Full-Size Keyboard
Mouse: Alienware® Optical 3-Button Mouse with Scroll Wheel
Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service
AlienRespawn: Alienware® Respawn Recovery Kit
Alienware Exclusive Offers: GameFly - Unlimited Game Rentals for 15 days - FREE TRIAL
Productivity Software: Microsoft® Works 8 Productivity Suite
Removable Storage: Alienware® 28-in-1 Digital Media Reader
Alienware T-Shirt: Alienware® T-Shirt - Black - Price Includes $5 Instant Rebate
Alienware Extras: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - $99.99 Value - FREE!
Alienware Extras: AlienWiring - Exclusive Internal Wire Management - $99.99 Value - FREE!
Alienware Extras: Exclusive AlienGUIse Theme Manager

(highlighted some of the more pertinent specs)

Ordering

I used the Alienware Credit Card and since I was a returning customer I qualified for my loan amount in about 2 hours from the intial processing online. At the time of ordering Alienware was running a 12 month/no interest financing, so I guess I have 12 months to keep figuring out how to pay for it. . I ended up having to order over the telephone because I ordered immediately after I was approved for my credit line and the online configurator did not accept my card that quick. I actually kind of liked ordering over the phone, the CS rep made me feel like a king with the system. After ordering, an email was sent to make sure I got everything that I wanted and yes my CS rep got it all right.

Phase Game

When I ordered this system my initial ETA was August 28, 2006. I received my system on 10/19/06. If no one knows what kinda of trouble we went through to get our systems please read my 45 page thread "Plain51's Area51-7500" if you would like to know some of the details. They did try to do a few things for us such as free shipping (99$ off), some received 50$ Amazon gift certificates, upgraded 2 day shipping, etc. I'm not going to go into details about all of this again, because I got my system right now, she's working wonderfully, and I don't wanna think about it. I will say that I did find an amazing CS support guy named "George" and yes we got to be on a first name basis with each other, talked about him attending the University of Miami, the StrafeRight servers, etc....so at least he had a personality. I believe he did all he could do for me and I'll be writing him a feedback@alienware email when I get time. He is about the only reason that I stuck it out through all the 2 months 9 days, well him and some of my other compadres that were in the same boat (Baja, BigPun, Snakey, P&G, Dia, Zal, etc.)

Shipping

They put my items into the FedEx website Friday night and I got my system Thursday afternoon. The outer box was slightly beat up, but when I opened it up, it was packed very well. AW wrapped the machine in a white cloth and then used some kind of super duty foam to protect the machine from jarring around too much. When I did get it out I heard something rattling around inside, it was just the side panel fan that had come loose, it just slid right back into place. Also, as I eluded to before, since we waited so long AW gave us all free shipping...so that was nice.


Got you good FedEx man!

Box

Box in a box

Machine packaging

Accessories

Well since most of this stuff was free, I can't complain about it. It came with a free shirt (black), a cheap optical mouse that I doubt I'll use much since I have a Diamondback Plasma LE, leather Alienware binder with "Security Clearance" card. It also had some cables from my motherboard and an adapter for my video card. I also got a APC 700 watt UPS from Best Buy.


Fuzzy Accessories

THE MACHINE

I now know why I waited through those 2 months and 9 days so patiently....my initial impression was just a "wow it's big and black". The Black is shiny and had no flaws. It not just another case that you can go buy at Newegg, it's unique. The machine itself, while smaller than the previous Predator chassis, is still a beast. It is 19.01" high, 9.97" wide, has a depth of 25.02" and weighs approximately 70lbs (weight by FedEx).






What's my view on the new P2?

P2 Chassis Pros
-It is long to accomodate longer cards that may be coming out in the future
-excellent airflow, the front of the case is cool to the touch. There are 4 system fans (1 intake, 1exhaust, 1 side panel fan, 1 fan for harddrives), plus a fan for the PS. I haven't check the gpu and cpu temps while under a load yet, but I can tell the case has optimal cooling.
-AlienFX option, I'll discuss this later
-front peripheral connects, these are in the mid front of the case. There is One FireWire 400 port (Front), 2 Hi-Speed USB 2.0 ports, mic, and headphone port. While some do not like the ports' location, it seems very convenient for me. I hook my headset up here, also plug in USB peripherals up when I need them there, it's just easier than fumbling around in the back of the computer.
-The removable panel has a fan that does not have a cord directly to the mobo, when you place the side panel on the box, there is a chip sticking up that makes contact with the side panel chip to power the panel fan and FX Alienhead, works great. You don't have to worry about disconnecting the side panel fan anymore.
-There is a pull up latch at the back of the rear panel to release the side panel, it takes one or two times to figure out how to up the panel back on, but after that it is fairly easy.
-Toolless drive bays

P2 Chassis Cons
-There are 6 LED's that provide the front intake with the lighting. To me they seem slightly dim. It's not bad at night, just seems it could be brighter.
-I don't particularly like the front Alienhead to show system activity. It flickers when there is HD activity, it's pretty subtle, but I prefer a steady light or to only change with the FX.
-No lockable front door like the P1 chassis. I don't care, but if you are worried about ppl stealing drives at a LAN or something, it might be a con for you. The new front door is secured by 2 magnets.
-It's not as tall as the P1, for people modding and doing a lot to their system there may not be enough room for them. I haven't tried to figure out a water cooling system for it....yet! There is also only 3 bays, mine are all filled with the Memory Card reader, DVD-RW, and CD-RW.
-The wiring is not as clean as the P1, the P1's wire management use to amaze me. The P2 is mostly all sleeved, but not hidden as well as the P1.

AlienFX
I like performance and I like aesthetics. I'm glad I waited it out for the FX. While not a necessity, it still does some pretty cool stuff. You can change one of five zones (side panel Alienheads, front intake, front ports, front Alienhead, and also the 2 drive bay lights using either the basic editor or an advanced editor. The basic editor allows you to customize one of 5 zones to 1 of about 24 colors. The advanced editor allows you to customize each zone to about a million colors, set it light to system events such as receiving emails, custom actions such as morphing and pulsating from one color to another. There is a place to set lighting to system actions, but it says the FX version does not support it....I noticed an update button in the menu, so I suspect that we will be seeing updates with the FX that will allow us even more things to do with it. My roommate really likes the FX.


FX Basic Editor


FX Advanced Editor



Performance
After I got it all setup and crossed my fingers, it booted up fine. I then quickly started installing stuff like a madman such as BF2 and 2142. When they were installed I had to put everything at their highest settings to see how the 7950gx2 handle the graphics. To my amazement they don't even lag at all, I brought up the FPS command on BF2 and it showed an average FPS of 99. I haven't had time to adjust many settings or tweak the system. The system handles everything so well, I don't know if I want to even mess with overclocking right now. I did run 3DMark05 on it straight out of the box and received a score of 14,138. I'll try to get some 06 numbers up soon.


Out of box 3dMark05

The guts


The 7950GX2 (not the long 7900gtx duo that some other customers received instead) & X-Fi Soundblaster



Other Thoughts

The HiPro power supply seems to be handling everything fine, I would rather of had a better name brand, but this is doing well. The system sounds like a 747 taking off when I first boot, but as the fans adjust it becomes quite a bit quieter. It is still definately making noise, but not bad at all. The 28-1 media reader doesn't seem to be working, so I guess I'll call up TS in a couple days, it's not that big of deal since I only use the reader a couple times a month. I also installed a Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi soundcard that I bought off of newegg.com, it installed without any problems and sounds great.

This computer is definately a BAMF, glad I waited it out. I didn't realize games look so realistic nowadays.

The whole setup





I will be updating this with more info and pictures. Also, I will try to get some more night pics and stuff to show off the FX.

If anyone has questions, ask or PM me.