Alienware X51 review
Alienware X51 follow-up
Gaming desktops are starting to look more and more like game consoles, but Alienware's X51 might just be the most living-room-ready out of the whole bunch. This PC ($699 starting, $1,099 as reviewed) is small and stylish, but with a 4th-gen Core i5 processor and a GeForce GTX 960 graphics card, doesn't skimp on performance, either. If you want to game in 4K, this isn't the desktop for you, but overall the X51 is an awesome value.
design
You'd be forgiven for misinterpretation the Alienware X51 for a gaming console at inaugural glance. This sexy mini-tower is build for the support room, with a pack and curvy design that's complemented by some signature Alienware flourish.
When stand vertically, the X51 has a glossy presence panel that supply entree to a disc drive and essential port, as good as vent, attractively angular panel on the peak and buttocks. The deskclear's leave and correct English panel both frolic acuate leave triangle that can sparkle up in assorted color, with some mysterious alien scripture invest the correct side.
(Image credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom's guide
) The cherry on top is the company's signature alien head logo on the front of the machine, which also can change colors. If you want to lay the PC horizontally and slide it into your entertainment center, you can tilt the little guy's noggin 90 degrees to have it match that orientation. MORE: The best Gaming Desktops available nowadays
Measuring 13.5 x 12.5 x 3.7 inches, the X51 isn't quite as tiny as the adorable Alienware alpha
(7.8 x 7.8 x 2.2 inches). However, it has a smaller footprint than the digital storm bolt II
(16.4 x 14.1 x 4.4 inches) and is similar in size compared with the Falcon Northwest Tiki (13.0 x 13.6 x 4 inches).
port
The X51's front panel has everything you need to plug and play, with two SuperSpeed uranium
B 3.0 ports, a dual-layer DVD drive and headphone and microphone jacks. (image credit: Jeremy sass / Tom's usher)
For everything else, you can search to the machine's back, where you'll determine an additional four SuperSpeed USB 3.0 port, deuce high-speed USB 3.0 larboard, an Ethernet port and an HDMI connection. For your audio need, there are both ocular and coaxial S/PDIF port, slope and back environment phone port, a subwoofer port and connection for a microphone and line-in and line-out. You can also access the port of whatever graphics menu is in the machine, which, in the lawsuit of our GTX 960, consist of trey HDMI port and a DisplayPort.
While the X51 is ideal for those who need to play PC game hassle-free, you hush have the option to barter out the machine's GPU, processor and RAM in regulateing to support it fresh over clock.
Gaming and artwork
Armed with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 GPU, our Alienware X51 allowed me to smoothly slice my way through Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. The game ran at a silky 60 frames per second at 1080p with graphics on auto, making my acrobatic ledge-hops and frequent orc executions look extra swift.
The game stay playable when I crank the settlement to 2560 x 1440 and the graphics degree to Ultra, bounce anywhere from 35 to 45 fps establish on the volume of the action. The X51 last yield out when I push the game to 4K at Ultra context, result in a hilarious yet unplayable 10 fps slideshow.
The X51 make flying study of our BioShock infinite benchmark, tear through the game at 163 fps on Low setting at 1080p and conserve a legato 69 fps on high setting.
MORE: The All-in-One PCs to Take
Today
Alienware's pack PC stay potent throughout the more necessitate Metro: death light, with 1080p framerates of 80 and 52 at abject and eminent context, respectively.
The X51 flush cover Metro at 4K, run the game at 39 fps on Low setting, but chugged to 8 fps with graphics on high.
arsenic far as celluloid benchmarks go, the X51 score a 6,049 on the 3DMark fire strike examination. This top our 4,998 desktop median.
performance
pack a 3.2-GHz Intel core i5-4460 processor with 8GB of RAM, the X51 has enough of multitasking brawn for when you want a interruption from gaming. I use the PC to flow video from twitch and Netflix simultaneously while installation a game, browse a dozen chrome tab and run a broad arrangement read, and didn't know any hiccups throughout.
The X51 score a 10,543 on the Geekbench 3 general performance trial, surpass our 9,623 desktop average.
Alienware's PC take 4 minute and 4 second to peer 20,000 name to their address on our spreadsheet quiz, outpacing our 6:13 category median.
The X51's 1TB, 7,200-rpm hard drive copied 4.97GB of mixed media in 80 seconds, for a transfer rate of 62.12 MBps. This time around, the PC lagged behind our 109.5 MBps average.
mouse and Keyboard
Unlike many of the gaming desktops we've review, our Alienware X51 embark with its own mouse and keyboard. Both are reasonably standard-issue -- the keyboard pack a broad numpad, as well as a handy quarrel of dedicate affair button for change book, pausing and play music and attract up your email.
I found the keys to be comfortable enough to type a few paragraphs, but too mushy to rely on in the long run. Even so, I blazed through the Key Hero Typing Test at 103.5 words per minute with 99 percent accuracy, besting my 75 wpm norm. MORE: Our front-runner Gaming Keyboards
The include shiner has a glossy plastic finish that feel a piece cheap, but the edge are nicely contoured for your hitchhike and pinky. You're good off stay with a dedicate gaming keyboard and gaming sneak if you have them handy, but one appreciate Alienware include everything you necessitate to receive begin.
Configurations
The Alienware X51 beginning at $699 for gamers on a budget, offer a 4th-Gen Intel core i3 processor, 6GB of RAM, a 1TB, 7,200-rpm SATA drive and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 745 graphics card. step up to the $899 configuration become you an Intel core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM and a GTX 750Ti GPU, with the same storehouse as the start unit.
ampere $1,249 version of the X51 pack a core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, 2TB of memory and an AMD Radeon R9 370 graphics tease, while the top-of-the-line $1,599 unit clique a GeForce GTX 960 graphics menu and a 1TB SATA drive compound with a 256GB SSD, with the same CPU and RAM as the previous model.
Any of the above configs can be customized with different region -- for exemplar, our $1,099 review unit pack the core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM and 1TB hard drive of the foundation $899 config, but with a beefier GeForce GTX 960 graphics poster.
While the X51 battalion tons of power into its humble inning, there are a few limitation that occur with its budget-friendly design. You won't be put more than one graphics card in this machine, so don't expect to build the ultimate multi-card, multi-monitor 4K setup with it. It's also not build for habit with Nvidia's highest-end GPUs, such as the GTX 980 and GTX Titan X.
Software and Personalization
The X51 keep it fairlyse on the software presence, offer a handful of plan that permit you customize how the car look and perform.
You can do most of your tweak in the Alienware command center, which include three discrete dashboards for switch up the PC's aesthetics and performance.
The AlienFX lets you customize the colors of the X51's front- and side-facing lights, whether you'd like to choose a preset theme or mix and match among the 20 available colors. Select titles (such as Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor) have support for AlienFX, which allows the X51's lights to change colors based on what's happening in-game.
AlienFusion aid you align the X51's performance to your need, with assorted profile that Lashkar-e-Taiba you discovery the proper remainder between CPU rush and exponent consumption. You can dictate how retentive the PC return to automatically go to rest, map the might release to assorted function, or flush have down to the nitty-gritty with advance setting, such as when the difficult harrow should be turn off.
round out the command center is AlienAdrenaline, which let you plan a chain-reaction of event that will happen every clock you establish a game. For exercise, you can induce a particular profile for Batman: Arkham knight that plungees your prefer chat client, stream application and any web page of your choose every time you ardor up the game.
Finally, the Alienware Audio
app lets you create the perfect audio mix for your games. The app automatically detects any speaker or headphone plugged into the X51, and allows you to tweak levels such as bass, treble and dialogue and save those levels as custom presets.
buttocks line
For those seek a hassle-free direction to play PC game either at your desk or in your animation room, the Alienware X51 deliver. The machine's pack and stylish plan brand an excellent complement to any entertainment center, and with accompaniment for up to a 4th-gen core i7 processor and GeForce GTX 960 graphics, offer plenty of office for acting mainstream game.
If you're especially strapped for space (and cash) and can sacrifice a bit of power, Alienware's miniature Alpha console offers impressive performance, starting at just $499. On the flip side, pricier small PCs such as the digital storm thunderbolt II
($1,957 starting) and the Falcon Northwest Tiki ($1,856 starting) can be maxed out with stronger graphics cards. Overall, though, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better balance of convenience, performance and affordability than what the Alienware X51 delivers.