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<?null /* I remember one fine day in the late-nineties, while reading a newspaper, opening up to a full-page advert from Intel sporting that familiar hourglass cursor embedded inside a circle-slash. Below it stated something about the 450MHz Pentium II. I grinned with mischevious delight. In those days, it really paid to build your own systems. Large manufacturers such as Dell, Compaq, Gateway, and HP would base a PC configuration around the CPU and then skimp the quality on everything else. Sub-par components commonly found their way into OEM systems. PC-100 SDRAM instead of PC-133, half-cocked onboard video & audio, and an impenetrable mess of IDE cables and power connectors making the insides a nightmare. Time went on, specs became larger, and the big boys still misconfigured their boxes, albeit to scale. Smaller PC manufacturers, likely spawned from avid DIY PC builders, became cropping up. They didn't yeild a noticeable dent in the marketshare of their massive competitors, but they tried. One of these really caught my eye: Alienware. No plain, beige, mini-ATX cases in sight and component configurations that gave my stomach butterflies. I couldn't afford these systems, but the ads always gave me a nice curve to my smile. Eventually, my focus shifted and I stopped paying attention... until recently. As the first issue of a new Computer Shopper subscription came in, I sifted for an Alienware review. Low and behold, grinning madly, I found it. I was surprised. The configurations were great, yet deeply shadowed by a new name: Overdrive. Overdrive's Torque system was mighty impressive. Computer Shopper proclaimed the it as the fastest, most robust PC they've ever reviewed. The review of Alienware's submission had plenty of cons. What was going on? Had Alienware, recently assimilated by Dell, gone to hell? Maybe... So now, after two long-winded paragraphs, I come to my Alienware review. While I have neither the clout to be shipped a free test system, nor the finances to purchase one, I can definitely configure a system online and compare it with an Overdrive configuration and pricing. The Alienware box is an Aurora ALX-SLI, while its opponent is an Overdrive Gemini-SLI. Here's the play-by-play. Overdrive base-price: $5870 Alienware base-price: $4229 Overdrive case: Lian-Li Silver Mid-tower (-$5.00) Alienware case: Alienware Space Black Full-tower (*) Overdrive cooling: AMD factory heat-pipe copper cooler & SureCool system (*) Alienware cooling: AMD Cool'n'Quietâ (*, only option) Overdrive PSU: 600w SST-ST60F Silverstone (*) Alienware PSU: 700w Alienware Approved Multi-GPU Power Supply (*, only option) Overdrive motherboard: ASUS Deluxe nForce 590 SLI (*) Alienware motherboard: NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI (*, only option) Overdrive RAM: 1gb DDR/DDR2 (-$96.00) Alienware RAM: 1gb (2x512mb) DDR2 (*) Overdrive OS opt 1: WindowsXP Pro (*) Alienware OS opt 1: WindowsXP Pro (+$99.00) Overdrive OS opt 2: WindowsXP Media Center w/remote & twin-tuner (+$172.00) Alienware OS opt 2: WindowsXP Media Center w/remote (+$70.00) Overdrive CPU: AMD Athlon64 FX-62 4600+ dual-core 2600MHz-2700MHz (-$586.00) Alienware CPU: AMD Athlon64 FX-62 dual-core 2.8GHz (*, only option) Overdrive graphics: Dual 256MB NVIDIA GeForceâ 7900 GT (-$528.00) Alienware graphics: Dual 256MB NVIDIA GeForceâ 7900 GT (*) Overdrive sound: Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS 7.1 (*) Alienware sound: Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi High Def 7.1 XRAM (+$185.00) Overdrive NIC: Netgear 108mbps MIMO-G Wireless (+$90.00) Alienware NIC: Integrated Dual High Performance Gigabit Ethernet (*, only option) Overdrive optical: 16x Dual Layer DVDÂR/W Drive (*) Alienware optical: 16x Dual Layer DVDÂR/W Drive w/LightScribe (*) Overdrive HDD: single SATA 250gb 7200 rpm (-$751.00) Alienware HDD: single SATA 250gb 7200 rpm (*) Overdrive removeable: 13-in-1 floppy & flash card reader (*) Alienware removeable: no options or details (*) Overdrive keyboard: Logitech Media Elite (+$27.00) Alienware keyboard: Alienware Multimedia Keyboard (*) Overdrive mouse: Logitech MX 518 mouse (+$58.00) Alienware mouse: Razer Diamondback Pro Gaming Mouse (*) Overdrive misc.: no hotswap trays (-$123.00) Alienware misc.: no details provided (*) Overdrive End Price (XP Pro option): $3,954.00 Alienware End Price (XP Pro option): $4,443.00 As you can see, the Overdrive end price went significantly down while the Alienware end price slightly raised. While I did my best to configure comparable systems, infinite other factors can come into play. In the end, though, the Overdrive Gemini-SLI, as configured by me, came out the best value by nearly half a grand. I still give much props to Alienware for their systems, but Overdrive seems to be doing a better job these days. * no discernable price change */ ?> -- Posted by sku11fukkr to ...Come The Wolves at 6/25/2006 01:45:00 PM |
