DT: Craig's Alienware Aurora Extreme Review - And Rant

This is a review of not only the Alienware Aurora Extreme desktop computer, but of the entire Alienware Experience as a whole. Herein, I will outline certain aspects of buying a PC from Alienware that are not usually discussed but all add up to that final Experience. At the close, I'll also comment on a social issue that I've come to be concerned about in the last few years of being an computer enthusiast and an active member of the internet community. A simple rant if you will. So let's dig in, huh?

(Notes: All underlined text are hyperlinks to websites...If you are having problems reading certain colors against the background, scroll to the bottom left hand side of this screen and select the "NOTEBOOKFORUMS" template...A very special thanks to the crew at PCTorque for hosting these forums!!)

System Specs:
Case - Aurora in Saucer Silver
CPU - AMD Athlon64 FX-55
RAM - 1GB DDR Dual Channel SDRAM
Video Card - NVIDIA® GeForce™ BFG 6800Ultra 256MB DDR3 @ 425MHz Stock
Hard Drives - 160GB Seagate® Barracuda 7,200 RPM System Drive and 200GB Seagate® Barracuda 7200 RPM Storage Drive (Storage Drive ordered seperately from www.newegg.com)
Optical Drive - NEC® ND-3500 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Recorder
Monitor - Dell 2001FP Monitor (ordered seperately from www.dell.com)

Ordering Process:
Ordering from Alienware is pretty simple. You have two options to choose from.

1-Order online using their website and wait for the confirmation phone call where they verify your identity, shipping address and credit card information.

2-You simply call them and speak with an Alienware sales representative who will help you through the process of picking the right components for your system so that the final product fits your needs as best as possible.

This reviewer simply went to the website, built a system, picked up the phone and ordered the system. As painless as it was exciting. Nothing like ordering up those toys, eh boys?

I'd like to make a point of how intuitive their website is in walking you through the component choosing process. There is a Live Chat function where you can converse with a sales rep in realtime during daylight hours to answer any questions you may have with regards to configurations and the such. There is also a very thorough and easily navigated Desktop Solutions Page where they give you the features and benefits of the various desktops available to help you find out which one best fits your needs.

It's not hard to see that Alienware is taking great strides to communicate better with the less-than-extreme crowd these days. In this reviewer's eyes, it's an excellent move to shift certain marketing strategies this way, and I'll tell you why. Anything that will bring in more people to this ever-growing segment (Gamers and other Enthusiasts) of PC consumers is fine with me. We'll see component manufacturers spending more time and money in Research and Development of products, hence yielding the best parts current technologies and expertise will allow. We'll see better prices as these various manufacturers compete with one another to provide us with the best of the best...because they know we will pay for it like no other segment of PC buyers. We will also see better support as far as drivers and live Tech Support given larger sales of these Extreme products. These are all good things that will come from companies like Alienware reaching out and pulling more mainstream customers into our Enthusiast fold.

It should be noted that at the time of this review, Alienware was running several Specials and Promotions including a $500 mail in rebate, free shipping and an extra 10% discount on your next EB Games purchase. That's over $600 in savings!

Phases:
Alienware has, as do many other consumer direct sellers, a "Phase" system that allows you to keep up with where exactly your order is in the build process. Here is a link to the Specific Phases and what they entail. Make note that they're the same for the UK as for the USA.

The system I had originally put together for review was a PCI-Express based Intel system (Area51). Now when I ordered this, I was made full aware that the lead time on these systems was more than 45 days given the huge demand for PCI-Express ready motherboards and video cards in the marketplace. I was quite comfortable with a wait as I have been an Intel guy since my K6-3 experience some years ago and wanted to stick with the I-guys and PCI-Express.

I was emailed quite regularly by my sales contact at Alienware letting me know that they were doing everything possible to get their hands on the components to build my system. I felt very comfortable that this company understood the potential anxiety that a consumer may be experiencing that has had an expensive system on order for over 30 days. They did everything possible to keep me in the loop.

After a time I was phoned (yes, phoned directly) and informed that the computer was ready to be built but the only PCI-Express nVidia video cards in stock were the nVidia 6800GT, not the 6800Ultra I had originally wanted. I was also told that if I wanted, they could switch me over to an Aurora system as those components were in stock but as we know, at the moment, the only FX based motherboards were 8x AGP only, not PCI-Express.

I did some research online at the various tech sites on the AMD FX-55 chips as well as the AGP vs PCI-Express debate.

So I made a decision to switch to an AMD FX-55 based motherboard with the 8x AGP video card solution as the CPU benchmarks showed significant gains for the AMD FX based chips over their Intel Extreme Edition counterparts while PCI-Express (at this moment) showed no gains what so ever in 3D games. I would like to add, however, that in this reviewer's opinion Intel makes a heck of a processor (my previous laptop, Area51m had an Intel P4 3.0GHz and it was a rock solid performer) and everyone knows that Hyper-Threading is great in many applications. Yet for pure gaming, what this desktop was for, the AMD FX-55 is the current King of the hill...for now...

And my new desktop shipped the very next week

Bottom line: Alienware kept me abreast of all aspects of my order throughout the Phase Game (as we call it around here) and made me feel very good about their level of customer service after the sale...where many companies falter. They offered me several alternative solutions to expedite the delivery of my new PC, all the while stressing what changes the new components would have, if any, as opposed to my original configuration.

Shipping and Packaging:
Shipping was via Fed-Ex and arrived to Raleigh, NC from Miami, FL in two full days. You are provided with tracking numbers via email to keep tabs on the shipment once the computer is ready to leave Alienware's loading dock. You can easily check the Fed Ex website for estimated time of delivery, package weight, ect.

As far as packaging, I'm not going to spend much time as you can see in the other various reviews on these very forums, Alienware does an excellent job of packaging their computers to make sure your new toy arrives from the Mothership in one piece.

Benchmarks:
I'm not a huge fan of synthetic benchmarks but, for arguments sake, will include a few of the more popular releases from Futuremark and Aquamark. Games are always the best way to gauge your machine's performance but these programs give us a good idea of what to expect. I've also included a good all around benchmark from SiSoftware.

For more specific gaming benchmarks, we'll use the Half Life 2 Video Stress Test, Unreal Tournament 2004 and Doom 3 as they all represent different timeframes of game designer technologies as well as Direct3d and OpenGL rendering.

I like to see how a system performs with plenty of programs and files installed to get a real-world analysis of the computer's potential for the Enthusiast that also depends on their PC for practical everyday uses such as email, word processing, internet surfing, ect.

All results are with stock (and sometimes overclocked) hardware settings after installing Norton System Works, Spy Bot Search & Destroy, SpyWare Blaster, Adaware SE, the entire Office 2003 Suite, Trillian, Logitech MX1000 and Multimedia keyboard drivers as well as the HP 5000 Series All-In-One printer drivers. Norton Virus protection and System Works were enabled as were all spyware related programs during testing. Latest version of nVidia 66.93 drivers installed.















































Picture Gallery:
I'm just throwing in a few pictures as this site is already full of some excellent pictures of the Aurora. One is of the test bed/workstation and the other is a close up picture of the case itself.


Build Quality:
The case that Alienware is using, codenamed Predator, is excellent. The front and side panels are lockable with an included set of keys, and also require a little "Know How" that Alienware has built into the chassis to keep would be users out unless they know the trick...even if they have the key. Very cool!

The case itself sits on four retractable legs and is rock solid whenever I've moved it around for better positioning under my desk. In a nutshell, this thing is built to last.

In Conclusion:
With the inception of newer technologies like nVidia's SLI and Liquid Cooling becoming more mainstream, it's no surprise that systems like the machine reviewed here are going to be considered less than cutting edge in many circles (scary huh?). Yet I'd like to stress that the purchase and review of this machine was to get the most cutting edge computer for the least cutting edge amount of money from a reputable builder...and let's face it, Alienware birthed the segment we know as Boutique and currently offers a great value with regards to pricing, components and service. It was to show what the average Enthusiast could do with a budget under $3000 and still not be more than a few percentages off from the performance of the current crop of Liquid Cooled, single CPU/GPU systems. With the mail in rebate for $500 and free shipping promotion that Alienware is offering at the moment, we nailed that goal dead on.

SLI seems to show much more significant gains but comes with the fiscal baggage of knowing everytime you want to upgrade the video processor, you need to buy two video cards. Given that SLI and Liquid Cooled systems from custom builders are mostly above the $4000 price point (and that my wife threatened my very life!) I thought this review would be better served trying to reach the common man, or in this case, the common Enthusiast. A single CPU and 8x AGP solution is more than enough, as you could see from the above benchmarks, to keep up with the current crop of games...and to keep a ridiculous grin on the face of any would-be user of said rig.

Given the budget I had in mind for this review, there is nothing I would recommend more than the Aurora FX-55 equiped PC from Alienware with an nVidia 6800Ultra. Not only for its outright sick performance and incredible value, but also for the excellent support a purchase from Alienware comes with. From ordering, to phase follow-up, to confirming my delivery, to fast and friendly tech support when needed, you may find another custom builder as good, but you will find none better than Alienware.

-Craig



This concludes the review portion of this post...thanks for hanging in there and please feel free to PM or IM me with any questions or comments.




The Editorial - A Rant in B#:
The below portion is a bit of a rant from someone who has seen this industry and community grow into the uncontrolable beast it hath becometh. I can only hope to see things change in the near future to help bring us all back together to that peaceful place we were at, seemingly so long ago, when we were one. When we were True Enthusiasts in a True Community.

Log onto any major forum these days where gear heads and average users alike converse and you will probably be able to find a "Flame" post about one custom machine builder or another pretty quickly. I spend quite a bit of time on message boards, both as a member and as a lurker, in many different industries and can tell you hands down, the most abhorid behavior is found on computer enthusiast boards. I mean when you walk into McDonalds, do you see a huge sign saying "No Flaming, Racist Remarks, Lude Requests, pRon or Goatse Posts, ect, ect..."? Of course not...because without the guise of anonymity, we still act somewhat civilized. But all that changes when we logon doesn't it.

The thing that really upsets me, being 30 years old and into computers since the days of the Odyssey/Atari consoles and Commodore/Amiga/Texas Instruments computers, is that I can remember perusing BBS boards where people truly reached out to help build something more than what we had yesterday. To help bring like-minded people together to share in delights like Programming and Gaming.

I can remember going to meetings at the local firehouse with my father, whom was as big a nerd as I was with this new computer thing, where people shared different programs they had written or been given by other like-minded enthusiasts. I remember the excitement generated as everyone walked around and mingled near the computer stations setup to see what each new program did as a function.

Most of all, I remember the overwhelming feeling of respect everyone had for their fellow man. The fact that we all took time out of our weekday evenings (all of these early meetings happened during the week as we could not afford to rent the firehouse during the weekends) to get together made us something...a unit...a collective...a Community of Enthusiasts.

Yet these days, with our society going through so many changes so quickly and being exposed to so many forms of technology that links us instantly across the globe in utter anonymity, we often forget how hard we had to work and how long it used to take to accomplish the most mundane tasks.

Remember taking pictures of your new haircut to share with your aunt Edna from Idaho in 1985? You had to first buy film, buy the flash bulbs (half of which never worked!) then snap the shots, then get them developed (which used to take a week or more!), go to the post office, buy stamps, lick them (not my favorite past time yuk!), drop them in the slot, wait 7 working days till they arrived, make a long distance phone call (that cost and arm and a leg!), discuss the photos and promise to write more often.

Now you just fire up the webcam, talk to Edna in realtime via IM/video phone and be on your way. How hard was that? Not very...so of course we don't appreciate what it took to make all of that happen. I bet you the average line layer for SBC appreciates broadband a lot more, and abuses it a lot less, than any of us. It's their sweat and the efforts of others that brings us this close together, not anything the average person has done...but I digress.

We've gotten away from the whole Community vibe that was around in the late 80's and early to mid 90's. We've gotten away from the brotherhood of enthusiasts we once were. We've let corporations and companies pit us against each other all in their effort to get our hard earned cash. In the hopes of turning us away from one another to build a loyal following so as to hold onto the business jem of a Repeat Customer. And I for one, am sick of it. Can I get an Amen!? Just trying to keep it somewhat light.

Let us once again remember whether we like one company or another, whether we like to build our own systems or have someone build them for us, whether we like desktops, shuttles or laptops, whether we like our green eggs and ham in a box with a fox, we're all Enthusiasts and share the same love of technology that kept me and my father out late after my cub scouts meetings in a dusty old firehouse in hopes of seeing someone delight in our father/son program creation from the week prior. In the hopes of learning something new from someone we'd never met before. In the hopes of creating something we didn't have yesterday. In the hopes of one day having a community recognized by the world as a whole, not as geeks, but as Enthusiasts!

It was my father's dream to see that group be born and recognized the world over. For us not to be seen as geeks, but as great communicators and builders and engineers...as patient and hard workers.

That time is now and sadly my father is not alive to see it. But the point is...we are.

It's up to us what we do with this gift my fellow Enthusiasts. It's up to us to leave a health legacy for our children to emulate and culivate the way their generation will.

Whatever your brand preference, consider me your fellow man...and your fellow Enthusiast.

~Peace and GG!

Always good to hear from you LJ :-) Thanks for the props everyone!

Ya I'm horrible at CSS. I did much better on my old desktop playing at 640x480 resolution with all low graphics settings @ 15fps :-/

Gotta get used to full resolution I guess. But it looks great while I'm sucking it up!

Go easy on them! They make a great machine...it just takes a bit of time...but well worth the wait!