Intro
Contents
Review of the Alienware Area51 R2
Hey guys, so I am sure in your searches for the perfect gaming PC, you have at one point come across one flavor of an OEM or boutique PC builder and well, this review is about one of them. Now I know there are quite a few different boutiques and OEM builders out there, but this is review is based on one, Alienware.
This review will have full system performance and benchmarks against my own machine. This will include benches from all sorts of benchmarks, games and even power consumption, I know many of you wonder how much power a machine like this will take, and it is so much less than you would think though it is ready to take TON’s if needed.
There is a little story on how I got this machine though and because of it, there was no formal unboxing, but you can check it out here.
It was truly an experience, but I got it just so that I can show you guys those secret’s, and now that it’s out, please feel free to do your own exposition and share it, the people must know.
All joking aside, let me provide the specs of this machine.
Specifications
- Case: Custom Alienware Area51
- Lighting: Alienware Custom Case Lighting
- CPU Cooling: Alienware CPU Liquid Cooling
- Motherboard: Custom Alienware 0XJKKD X99
- Processor: Intel Core i7 5930K
- Memory: 16GB 4 x 4GB DDR4 Quad Channel 2133MHz RAM Hynix HMA451U6MFR8N
- Video Card: 3 x NVIDIA GTX980 Backplate Customized (TRI SLI)
- Power Supply: Custom 1500Watt Fully Modular 1500Watt
- Hard Drive: Samsung SM841N 2.5 256MB SSD (OS Drive)
- Hard Drive: Western Digital WD40EZRX-75SPEB0 4TB Green 5400RPM (Data Drive)
- Optical Drive: Matshita Slot Loading DVDRWBD UJ167AM (Blu-Ray Reader/DVD-RW/CD-RW)
- Intel 7260 802.11AC Wireless card with Bluetooth 4.0
- Ethernet: KillerNic Killer e2200 Gigabit Ethernet Controller
- OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Home
- SD Card Reader
Awesome specs, this is a powerful machine, but just how powerful is powerful and what does it mean to you and your games and everyday task, well…. Let’s find out.
I will be comparing the system with my own, here are the specs
- Processor: Intel Core i7 4790K
- CPU Cooling:Arctic Liquid Freezer 240 Liquid Cooling
- Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth Z87
- Memory:Patriot Viper 3 Series DDR3 16GB 1600MHz
- Power Supply: Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 1200W
- Video Card: Sapphire Radeon NITRO R9 390 8GB GDDR5
- Hard Drive (SSD): Patriot Ignite480GB
- Hard Drive (Mechanical): Hitachi 1TB 7200RPM
- OS: Windows 10 Professional
- Case: Fractal Design Define S Windowed
I know that the configurations are not similar, I personally do not own such a high powered machine, but this comparison is to give you a bit of an example of what you can expect. Maybe also to help you decide what components you want to purchase if you wanted to build your own or potentially justify buying an Alienware if all stacks up well.
The games I will be benching as usual are Metro Last Light, Thief and Tomb Raider and I will be running 3DMark as well. Now these will be mainly running video test, but I will go throughout the entire system so I will be performing more tests, so please continue to check out the review after the initial benchmarks.
By the way, I will also be recording power consumption throughout these test using “P3 International’s” “Kill A Watt”
Ok, let’s get to the benches.
