Alienware Alpha Review: Aliens Invaded My Living Room

Recently someone told me that the Steam Machine concept isn't worth the coin, that you lot can go a much amend PC for your dollar if you either build something yourself or buy something else entirely. I got curious as to why he'd call back that.

I'd also like to claiming that by reviewing the Alienware Blastoff, i of the ameliorate examples, and hopefully show that for the money, the concept has the potential to offer fantastic value and a class-factor that yous tin't readily build yourself. It almost certainly isn't a useless concept by any means.

Aliens accept invaded my living room.

The perfect PC is not the aforementioned for everyone. We all take different budgets, expectations, requirements and dreams of what our PC volition be used for. A lot of idea tin can end up going into the cosmos of our fascinating hobby. Fifty-fifty though the base of operations components are similar, the brand, differences in more than specific features and supposed reliability variances are all elements to accept into consideration. Sometimes, though a pre-congenital might really be suitable.

The pre-built scene is sometimes chastised by the hardware community every bit beingness an easy out, or certainly a waste of money. And I can certainly run across the logic in that if one is looking for something that they tin can indeed build themselves, but what nigh something a bit more unique? Something you lot can't necessarily build yourself?

Upgrading has become a routine ritual that occupies a special place in our hearts. We spend countless hours researching and reading about diverse components nosotros want to add and upgrade. The hobby itself is building and going through these processes It's a kind of meditation, and then, to scour the Cyberspace to the respond to our questions.

So why would one limit themselves to such a small and limited box? Certainly information technology's limited in what information technology can practise, and it surely can't provide us with a good gaming experience, tin it?

The Alienware Alpha is a peculiar picayune lighted box that but might exist the answer to your question. Then again, information technology also might be so far off the course as to be the direct reverse of what you're looking for.

Certainly it'south at odds with the extreme PC enthusiasts mantra. But that doesn't mean it should be overlooked entirely. This small shiny black box is far more useful than it may at first seem. Indeed it can provide a gaming experience that rivals that of consoles in addition to providing a full PC feel in a compact footprint using negligible amounts of power. And some $.25 are even able to exist upgraded, similar the CPU, RAM and the HDD.

No, this isn't the bees knees, and it isn't for everyone. Only I practise call up information technology answers a question that someone has been asking. It's a natural evolution of a gaming platform into a smaller, lower power package that'south more attainable and familiar to those that are used to the console world. It provides that console like form-cistron for a price that rivals that of the modern consoles. Plus, it can practise far more than.

What the heck would you utilise this for anyway?

Quite frankly the Alienware Alpha is great as a secondary companion in the living room, just equally it's marketed. Hook it up to your Goggle box with the one HDMI out and plug in the wireless Xbox 360 controller and you'll exist gaming in no time. It likewise makes a groovy media streaming box besides with external or network storage.

It's a capable gaming platform on its own, or when using Steam's streaming characteristic to use your more than powerful primary PC to push the games at their maximum settings. Oh yeah, and it makes for a great low-power and repose office PC. I've started compartmentalizing and using the Alpha purely for office piece of work, and playing the occasional game.

This model is of the entry level diverseness, and even these meager specs provides better raw performance than the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4.

CPU	Intel Cadre i3-4130T @ii.9GHz
Video Card	GeForce GTX 860M+ west/ 2GB GDDR5
Memory	4GB DDR3L 1600MHz
Hard Drive	500GB SATA HDD (WD Blue)
Wireless	Intel 3160AC + Bluetooth 4.0
OS	Windows 8.one west/ AlphaUI

In addition to that we also take a Z97 based motherboard that allows for overclocking and a 130W PicoPSU with AC adapter. The Alpha besides has a multifariousness of useful ports, though it does lack USB ports compared to MiniITX motherboards that are available. Everything except the motherboard and the video card are replaceable. It's unfortunate that they didn't apply an MXM module for the video bill of fare. That would have made for a very compelling little box.

External Chassis Connections

2x USB 2.0 (Forepart)
2x USB iii.0 (Back)
1x RJ45 GbE
1x HDMI-Out 1.4a
1x HDMI-In
1x optical sound out (Toslink)
1x DC in
1x USB 2.0 – Tool-less access via lesser door

So the specs are a little light, definitely. That doesn't necessarily interpret into poor gaming operation, however. And all of that tin can be had for $499.99. Lets compare that to a similarly specced PC. For the purpose of this we'll utilise parts found on Newegg and try to match the size as closely as possible. I'll fifty-fifty throw in a PicoPSU for giggles as well. (Exist advised that those prices have probably inverse and can modify at whatsoever moment since publishing).

CPU	Intel Core i3-4130T	$119.99
Motherboard	ASRock Z97M-ITX/AC	$117.99
Retention	Crucial 4GB DDR3L 1600	$25.99
Hard Drive	WD Blue 500GB	$49.99
Video Card	MSI GeForce GTX 750Ti	$149.99
Power Supply	HDPLEX 160W PicoPSU	$48.00
Air-conditioning Adapter	Generic xix.5V 130W	$22.99
Case	Libation Chief Elite 110	$39.99
		$574.93

Hmmm. Interesting. And then a pre-built is actually cheaper than edifice your ain? That's a new phenomenon.The Alpha also has smaller dimensions than the Cooler Master case option, making for a better alternative if size is indeed an consequence. That still doesn't mean it meets all your ain personal requirements. Sometimes building your own tin can exist fun in its ain correct. I get that, trust me.

Granted, you have actress power to upgrade in building your own with fifty-fifty a slightly larger case, and you ever have the option of having a custom fabricated (though more expensive) mini-ITX instance similar the Ncase or several others that tin can be found on forums around the Net. But I digress, the Alienware Alpha is actually the cheaper alternative if all things are considered equally.

Alpha UI

The AlphaUI interface that it ships with is configured as a split up user business relationship and is mainly only an interface for starting Steam Big Pic. It does precisely what it's designed to practice and does it well actually. I have no complaints whatever and think information technology's a nice stopgap earlier the total SteamOS arrives. At that place were no crashes

Benchmarks, benchmarks and benchmarks

Now this is what everyone has been waiting for. Benchmarks. First we'll run a few novel tests to run across how the diminutive Alienware Alpha does in OpenCL and CUDA tests, and so we'll transition over to games. Remember, I don't just test the common slew of game benchmarks, merely I record the performance for a pregnant number in order to meliorate portray how it really performs.

First up is ViennaCL. This criterion I introduced in the Titan X review as a means to start using different benchmarks than the usual to testify mathematical and compute functioning.

And now for double precision performance.

Considering the difference in number of compute cores between the ii, the results aren't surprising. But information technology does and so at a significantly lower power envelope likewise.

Can it play Crysis?

Oh it can, it can indeed. And even on High Quality the Alienware Alpha is at least able to maintain it's composure and provide a shine, admitting excruciatingly slow, play-through.

In accolade of The Witcher Iii: Wild Hunt being released very shortly and including some incredible graphical enhancements, I've included a comparison of how the Alienware Blastoff performs in The Witcher 2.The following was a play through of the competitive arena, which is surprisingly enervating give the effects, background and characters present.

As you tin can meet,The Witcher 2 is still a demanding game, though one that provides a playable feel even at High settings. I was a taken aback with simply how greatThe Witcher II looks fifty-fifty today compared to it's newest iteration.

Now let's take a look at how the Alienware Blastoff handles a wide range of games that are likely nevertheless played today and represent what buyers might play on their organization. All of these were played at 1080P with graphics presets used in game to set the quality unless noted next to the proper noun. As well, proceed in mind thatStar Denizen is still non complete so it isn't representative of last performance.

I call up information technology'southward pretty articulate that for a broad range of games, it the Alpha virtually certainly isn't useless. But what virtually the temperatures while playing? The following temperatures were taken during the run through Battlefield Hardline. Data was recorded using HWiNFO64.

And so the CPU definitely does get hot, but that isn't above the thermal design limit, then there is no impairment being done. The noise it generates isn't terribly annoying, either. Information technology's a soft "woosh" sound that gets more intense equally the fan-speed increases. Compared to the PS4, it sounds both quieter and of a better frequency.

Now the GPU temps. Once more, these were obtained during the run throughBattleground Hardline and all info gathered using HWiNFO64.

Over again, these temperatures are certainly up there, only not truly annihilation to worry nearly. The decision to apply Maxwell hither early on actually pays off. But are these temperatures low plenty to not effect the clock-speed? The listed clock-speed for the 860M is 1029MHz, so are we sacrificing that speed in lodge to keep inside a lower temperature threshold?

It looks like we aren't at all. It'southward even reaching a boosted clock-speed of 1097 and is able to maintain it through the unabridged play-through. That'south not too shabby indeed!

Conclusions

I know what you're probably doing right now, scoffing at the utilize of medium graphics settings. Well, to be perfectly honest, coming from a console you lot'd exist hard pressed to discover a difference in quality lone. In fact, unless y'all pause and stare at a screen specifically to find flaws and differences, then the graphics quality is downright great.

In fact, this little magical black box can put out frame-rates that I didn't think were wholly possible. Information technology defied my ain expectations and helped define what "play-power" truly means. For some it's nearly more than so graphics, but even when it is, the Alienware Alpha can actually perform great.

But this isn't for you, the hardcore PC enthusiast, either. This represents an introduction to the PC world that is lite on the wallet, depression on ability utilize and works rather nicely with a wide variety of games.

I remember that if you're in the marketplace for this blazon of system, or if yous want to brand the move from a console into a gaming PC for the first time, so this fiddling magical box is perfect.

It's capable, information technology can play games better than you might think and best of all? Y'all can upgrade some components. RAM and HDD upgrade guide volition be coming shortly!