Hey all,
I used to build my own gaming PCs way back in the 90s/early 2000s but I fell out of the habit when I realised I’d rather kick back on the sofa with something that “just works” than constantly chasing framerates etc, and I switched to exclusively console based gaming. Now that I own a Steam Deck, and with Xbox going down the shitter, and my kids becoming of the age where having a static family PC makes a lot of sense, I’ve decided to move back into PC gaming.
I started looking at self builds again but everything’s moved on so much since I last dipped my toes into that space that I struggle to know where to start. Then I saw an Alienware A51 in the refurb store with a decent early Black Friday discount code and very-nearly top-end specs so I pulled the trigger yesterday:
£2525
- Core Ultra 9 285K
- Geforce RTX 5080
- 64GB RAM
- 2TB Gen5 SSD
- 1500W platinum PSU
Retail, this spec is currently going for £3600 so it’s a sizeable saving, but now I’m getting cold feet on the basis of the Intel chip not being the best choice for gaming (and will possibly never see the BIOS fix that Intel rolled out to address this), the odd PSU that’ll likely need swapping out at some point in the future, and the sheer size and weight of the thing.
On the plus side, the reviews I’ve seen say that it’s very cool and quiet, which is pretty important to me, and I do like the case design itself - it’s very understated compared to most of the off-the-shelf options out there. On the downside what looks like a huge discount on the surface is mostly just wiping out the Dell premium, and similarly specced AMD options are available elsewhere for similar prices - albeit with the aforementioned off-the-shelf cases and a big question mark over noise levels.
All of which is to say: Help this former DIY builder feel a bit better about dropping this much money on a Dell of all things! Odd CPU choice aside, this is still a decent system at a decent price, right?
@TedZanzibar
Heh. My story is basically the opposite of yours.
I was thinking I’d get a pre-built so it’d just work, but I couldn’t find anything pre-built whose price and components I considered acceptable except one builder that had been widely panned for shipping broken computers.
So, over a couple of days, I gradually became resigned to having to build it myself.
I did not end up regretting my decision. The machine came together without a hitch and works great.
10/10 would build again.
@TedZanzibar
I do have one regret: I wanted a more retro-style case, both for fashion reasons and because they’re easier to work on.
Sadly I couldn’t find one that would ship in a reasonable time, including a nice-looking one from Antec. (I used their cases for my builds back in the '90s. Fond memories!)
So I went with a fairly standard glass-sided case from Corsair.
@TedZanzibar
It just occurred to me that, if I had not thrown away my old '90s Antec cases, I probably could have used one of them for this build.
But the airflow would have been atrocious. PC components didn’t dissipate a thousand watts in the '90s. I’d have had to drill a bunch of vent holes and somehow attach fans and a dust screen. Would’ve been a major pain.
On the other hand, it would have had an optical drive bay—several, in fact—which I really wanted for this build…
Silverstone made two retro-like cases recently, with space for optical drives, here’s the vertical one with three 5.25" bays: https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/info/computer-chassis/flp02/
The other one is horizontal and only has space for one optical drive: https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/info/computer-chassis/flp01/
I think they look nice.
OMG the tower even has a lock and a turbo button! My first (self-built) media PC was in a Silverstone case with a VFD display. They make some good stuff.
Yeah I’ve recently got back into buying and ripping physical CDs so an internal optical drive would’ve been great, but it seems the fronts of modern PCs are dedicated to massive RGB fans. Gonna have to make do with something external.