Alienware's New "ALX"

[CAG]

For those of you with more $ than sense, there's AW's new liquid-cooled ALX desktop http://www.alienware.com/alx_pages/main_alx.aspx For a meager $5.1K (no, a monitor is NOT included), you also get
Each ALX system includes an aluminum briefcase filled with unique ALX accessories including a key chain, executive notepad, personalized ID card, and other surprises.
But that isn't all...
Every ALX system features exclusive accents. There are too many to list here, but you will find them throughout your ALX experience.
You want more, you say? Well...
As an ALX customer, you’ll also receive exclusive access to Alienware’s game servers. Play the latest games against Alienware employees and other ALX customers in a competitive environment. Your ALX password grants you preferential access.
AW's corporate HQ is ~45 miles south of me...this may be worth the trip for no other reason than to marvel at this mecca of marketing chutzpah :)

[TheAngryIntern]

/me drools!!!

[CAG]

Originally posted by TheAngryIntern
/me drools!!!
I know that beauty resides in the eyes of the beholder but I never liked AW's "Darth Vader" case and the ALX case looks like something folks in the fifties must have thought future toasters would look like :D Anyway, case looks aside, you're not getting anything more for $5K in the ALX than you can get at GamePC or Velocity Micro for $3.5K (although I have to admit that the ALX keychain is a nice touch).

[TheAngryIntern]

if i was gonna spend 5K+ on a puter, i'd get one from VoodooPC. They make the best, coolest looking computers in the custom PC market.

[CAG]

Originally posted by TheAngryIntern
if i was gonna spend 5K+ on a puter, i'd get one from VoodooPC. They make the best, coolest looking computers in the custom PC market.
Agreed:D

[firstadopter]

A buddy of mine got an Alienware, he said it was really finicky and crashed a lot.

I always custom build my PCs. My next one will probably be a Shuttle mini cube design.

They look so cute.

[CAG]

Buddy of mine got a Shuttle on ebay ~4 months ago...seller built it for him...its silver with the built-in handle on top (I guess they're all like that) and he's got it hooked up to a Dell 1901FP...sweet rig.

Anyway, my prediction (I know you didn't ask for it but here it is anyway) is that desktops and their progeny (small form factor, etc.) will be dinosaurs shortly. Last year in the US and Japan (the 2 bigest computer markets in the world), pc and notebook sales were 50/50...with wireless and notebook technology getting better and cheaper, I think that w/in 10 (maybe less) yrs, the boxes that sit on or under our desks will become a thing of the past.

[kf_man]

Read in Maximum PC that Alienware's plan for the ALX series is to run dual processors and dual video cards. They have some custom system worked up where they have a custom mobo that has two 8x PCI express slots and put in two graphics cards (ATI or nVidia, doesn't matter). A program made by Alienware that sits between the Graphics interfaces takes the bottom half of the image and sends it to one card while the other half of the screen is taken to the other card. Both signals come out of each card and are put back together by an external box. Supposedly this system will be very fast and have no artifacts that point to it's dual graphics processing.

[CAG]

Originally posted by kf_man
Read in Maximum PC that Alienware's plan for the ALX series is to run dual processors and dual video cards.
Its called "Video Array" and AW has a web page devoted to it here (http://www.alienware.com/alx_pages/main_content.aspx). They're trying to patent it and hope to have it available by the end of this year. If they can get a patent on it, it'll probably cost about as much as a small car.

[firstadopter]

Nvidia is also unveling a dual graphics card solution this year also, probably using old 3dfx engineers and technology.

[kf_man]

Yeah, I have seen information about it. I personally would never buy the ALX ever, but especially not with that feature. I'm sure that it would be quite unstable and very complicated with newer versions of drivers and directx. That's a lot of instability for a machine that costs over $5000. I would rather wait to see what nvidia can cook up, I'm sure it will be reliable.

[firstadopter]

Best way has always been building your own PC with top quality components.

I always buy top of line too... Intel over AMD... ASUS over other motherboards.

I once tried to save money with a Via chipset, ABIT motherboard, and AMD Cpu, biggest mistake ever. Very buggy.

Pay more, build your own, and buy the best.

[kf_man]

That's what I do, but I have to say that my combo of AMD Athlon XP 2800+ Barton, ASUS a7n8x-e deluxe, and nForce chipset has been rock solid stable for quite some time. My old system of Athlon 1900+, Epox EP-8KHA+, and VIA KT-266A was also stable as well. I guess it's all in the experience.