New Alienware's

[Boxy Brown]

As many of you probably know Alienware recently released a new chassis for their high end pc's. I'm going to buy a new Area-51 7500, and they feature the new Intel core 2 duo processors. The problem is that I can't upgarde the processor because it's going out of my price range. So I have to stick with the E6400 2.13 Ghz, I know it's going to be a pretty fast processor, I just would like to know if anybody read anything about the E6400 in terms of performance with high end gaming. Thanks.

 

[Sharkfood]

Hi Boxy Brown,
The Core 2 Duo's, even in their lowest incarnations, are absurdly high performing CPU's and more than enough for most gamers given the current videogames out there. A good review of the Core2's CPU power by comparison can be found at:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/07/14/core2_duo_knocks_out_athlon_64/

One point that should also be made- so many of today's games really stress the current GPU/videocards so even with a super powerful CPU, you wont see a huge performance increase *today* at higher game settings. HardOCP kind of emphasized the "here and how" with this comparison:
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTEwOCwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

Keep in mind, HardOCP is testing the hardware on severely GPU bound conditions. This basically absorbs a ton of what the CPU has to offer but shows how GPU's are holding back what powerful CPU's can manage at current.

Having more CPU power in reserve is the wisest choice as games in the next 2 years may tax CPU's more heavily, or ATI & NV may come out with more power GPU's to move the bottleneck down the road. But for now, I'd be very pleased with your purchase- given it's the most practical Core2 Duo price-wise, and chances are- you wouldn't see a huge difference *today* if you plan on playing your games at high-resolution with all the videocard eye-candy ramped up. Now, next year or two- yeah, DX10 cards may have more power.. at which point more powerful Core2 Duos will likely be 1/2 the price they are at launch/today.

Hope this helps!

 

[taylub]

I would really advise you not to buy a Alienware. They are not what they seem. I know 7 people with them and they totaly regret it not to metion i own a ALX desktop myself and i regret buying it. I have only had it in a working state for about 20 days and iv owned it for about 4 months :\ but w/e its your money i just dont want you to beat your self up if it dosent work.

 

[Boxy Brown]

Yeah I know that most of it relies on the GPU I just wanted to know because of their slow speeds, 2.13Ghz, my current processor is faster than that, a pentium 4 HT 3.20Ghz.

And about the Alienware, they are just such powerful computers, do you know why yours stopped working? Because I won't buy it if its goona break down in such a short while.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

If u can, building one urself will cost u much lesser than what AlienWare charges you. Try getting together a wish list with the same parts as the AlienWare PC at www.newegg.com and check out the price. You'll surely find a difference in price. And regarding the "slow speeds", 2.13 GHz is the frequency of one core and the Core 2 Duo is dual core so u have an effective frequency of 4.26 GHz which trounces the HT processor by a very wide margin.

 

[sllewe]

Yeah I know that most of it relies on the GPU I just wanted to know because of their slow speeds, 2.13Ghz, my current processor is faster than that, a pentium 4 HT 3.20Ghz.

Just because the clock speed is higher on the P4, does not mean that it is a better performer. Not by a long shot. The high clock speed netburst CPUs are a thing of hte past with the new core 2 duos. The 6400 would tear up your currect CPU (and most others on the market today)

I always encourage building your own system, but if you are more comfortable with buying a premade then I encourage you to do so.

 

[THERAP1ST]

And regarding the "slow speeds", 2.13 GHz is the frequency of one core and the Core 2 Duo is dual core so u have an effective frequency of 4.26 GHz which trounces the HT processor by a very wide margin.

Quick question wich I believe I know the answer to, regarding the quoted AMD's X2 work the same way do they not? For example a 2.4ghz X2 would be a 4.8ghz , right?

 

[taylub]

Well they still have not told me whats wroung with it becuase their tech support sucks. I have sent it back to get a new video card becuase mine fried :\ and upon return they broke a part in the door so now alienware is sending a tech guy to come fix it. There is no dought about it that they are very powerfull they are just know to break down. Mine isnt even hooked up right now its out on my living room table. O and another thing the PSU IS LOUD!!! especially in the 850 watt version i am currently shopping for a new one but i gotta make shur it fits a PhyX card ( in case you care about the noise factor)

 

[Boxy Brown]

Yeah I am more comfortable buying a premade computer over buying everything my self. But it's not just that I like the Alienware style, and there computers are pretty powerful, but I've been reading a lot of reviews about them and 2/3 are good but the other 1/3 are saying things like taylub said. Like the customer service sucks. But those same people also are saying that once they finally get their problem fixed they absolutely love their Alienware systems. I just don't if I should buy one if it might be that much trouble for me.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

It's not that they are bad, but if u have the expertise then u can build a system that equals the specs of the AlienWare one and save some money in the process. U can get almost everything in the AlienWare PC on the net nowadays. Quad SLI is not too far too, since the 7950 GX2 was released.
@THERAP1ST, yes the X2 also works the same way, as does the Pentium D.

 

[BrownPaper]

Quick question wich I believe I know the answer to, regarding the quoted AMD's X2 work the same way do they not? For example a 2.4ghz X2 would be a 4.8ghz , right?

That is not how it works. Dual core processors working at 2.4 GHz does not mean 4.8 GHz clock speed. The same goes for Intel dual core processors. The dual core cpu operates at the same speed for both cores. Don't look more into that than there is. There are not many applications that utilize both cores to its potential atm, so dual cores are not as useful as it can be.

Yeah I know that most of it relies on the GPU I just wanted to know because of their slow speeds, 2.13Ghz, my current processor is faster than that, a pentium 4 HT 3.20Ghz.

The clockspeed of CPU (a.k.a. GHz) is not the only determining factor of how well a CPU performs. AMD for years have run at lower clockspeeds than Intel but perform about the same. At times, AMD's lower clocked CPUs actually outperformed Intel higher GHz CPUs. Don't be fooled into thinking GHz is all that matters. If it is hard to understand why this is the case, why are 2.8 GHz Intel Pentium 4's faster than a 2.8 GHz Intel Celeron? The Pentium 4 is just better designed and more functional chip than the Celeron.

Intel used to market their performance solely on GHz and clockspeed. Since they had trouble increasing clockspeed without heat issues, they had to redesign their CPUs to run at lower GHz but perform better. In a way, they were victims of their own marketing, so they also redid the naming for their CPUs with model numbers instead of shouting the GHz.

The newest Intel Core Duo 2 CPUs are the fastest right now. Even the lower end Core Duo 2 CPUs smokes most (if not all) of last generation's Intel and AMD CPUs. Your E6400 would be in the upper echelon of CPUs atm.