Top products from r/AlienwareAlpha

Sure, the Alpha should be able to handle those, it's roughly the same performance as a PS4 for the R1 or R2 AMD, and about double the performance for the R2 Nvidia model. I'd highly suggest just getting an Alpha R1 (previous generation) though instead of the R2 with AMD graphics. Gaming performance of the R1 is just about the same as the R2 AMD, so save some bucks and get the old one. If the CPU model number is 4xxx it's an R1, 6xxx is R2.

IMHO prob the best deal right now is this open box from Gamestop: http://www.gamestop.com/pc/consoles/alienware-steam-machine-i3-500gb-open-box/130496

Note that is the Steam Machine version (Steam OS instead of Windows, Steam controller instead of kb/m). $225 for the system, but you'll need to get a copy of Windows ($20-$30 on sites like kinguin if you are ok with grey market), and I highly suggest $25 for another 4 GB of RAM (super easy to install): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009RBN6I6/

That gets you the same performance as the $550 config for $275.

Also check the Dell Outlet daily if you are not in a rush. They have one i5 R2 Nvidia model for $629 right now, only $80 more for a step up on the CPU and GPU, and it has a SSD + HDD. Stock and prices vary there.

Edit: OK looks like they may no longer offer the R2 AMD version. Thought that is what you meant by the $550 version (didn't look at your link, silly me). The $550 version at that link is an R1, and at that price a ripoff. I'd say pick between the gamestop R1 or the outlet R2.

Thanks man, I've been slowly upgrading as I find deals. I did a decent amount of looking for a laptop cooler, and I ended up with this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003ZUXXWO/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It is incredibly sturdy, made of metal "heavy mesh" has a nice "lift" off the ground and the fan moves more air than I would expect from a laptop cooler. It just feels like a quality product, and there is are buttons to turn the fan and LEDs off independently. The things I don't like are no usb passthrough (I just have it plugged into a hub, so that doesn't bother me) and the fan pulls air down, not push it up which id imagine would allow for better cooling. You might be able to do better, but this looks nice, it's $25ish, good quality, good looks, and I think it's going to last for quite a while. I'd buy it again in a second.

One of the best things about the monitor outside of its speakers and refresh rate is that there is 2 HDMI ports as well. If you ever need help with hooking up an external capture card to the Alpha or something let me know. And if you want to use a PC headset that has the mic and audio jacks separate you can use This although fiber optic utilizing headsets (Astros are great my opinion), sound the best.

Glad i could share, while your here i could use some help. Do you think this stick would work with my alpha? it looks right I just wanted to double check. Im excited to upgrade from 8 Gb to 16 https://www.amazon.com/Certified-SNP47J5JC-A8650534-260-Pin-Memory/dp/B07J199N7D

I have 12gb in mine, amazon bud. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006YG8X9Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Played gta 5 overclocked and completely maxed out and it handled it while hanging around 50fps which is honestly good enough for me for only paying 224. The graphics card is extemely overclockable too

FYI your post was removed because you didnt remove the ref part of the amazon url.

This is an acceptable version of your link https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015YPB6HQ

Feel free to resubmit if you still need answers

> https://www.amazon.com/MSI-Trident-001BUS-Intel-Pentiuml-Celeron/dp/B01N0VEAOD/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1484071900&sr=8-5&keywords=MSI+Trident+3

Oh wow thank you!

Only for have the max RAM.
This RAM Crucial: https://www.amazon.it/Crucial-CT16G4SFD8213-Memoria-PC4-17000-260-Pin/dp/B015YPB6HQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467898481&sr=8-1&keywords=16GB+DDR4+notebook

and this Hyper X: https://www.amazon.it/HX424S14IB-16-Memoria-Notebook-260-pin/dp/B01BNJL8K2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1467898481&sr=8-2&keywords=16GB+DDR4+notebook

are the same? Work perfectly with Alpha 2? Next week i receive Alpha 2 with 8GB ram. I Europe dell store we don't have the 16 GB options.

good point, thanks for your input! Do you run an external soundcard?

*edit

I was thinking of buying something like this, since the alpha doesn't have an aux headphone or mic input. No problems here, right?

You need to find out if its the R1 or R2 you have!

If it's the R2, then it only has 1 x SODIMM slot, so you cant add another 4GB, you will have to buy a 8 or 16GB stick to replace your 4GB one completely.
Its DDR4 also.

I put this in my R2:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01BNJL8K2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

But you can go for the cheaper 2133MHz version as that's the max speed the Alpha uses. My 2400MHz works but only runs at 2400MHz.

Hope this helps

I threw this one in. Works great. http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Technology-1600MHz-PC3-12800-KVR16LS11/dp/B00CQ35GYE

You can with an HDMI-CEC adapter like this (assuming your TV supports CEC, which it should if your xbox is able to do it)

https://www.amazon.com/Pulse-Eight-P8-USBCECv1-USB-CEC-Adapter/dp/B005JU6LWM

I go through crucial a decent amount, they may not always have the best prices but their stuff is guaranteed compatible. I actually went through Amazon for the RAM for my alpha: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B006YG8X9Y/ref=sxts1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482850371&sr=1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65

You don't give your specs, but it sounds like you need to up your memory from 4GB to 8GB. For $30 at Amazon. Also, an SSD is a wonder on load times.

Like this? https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-7-1-Channel-Surround-Gaming-Headset/dp/B001O5CCQK

Ram is fairly easy to swap out so is the hard drive. Just requires a lot of screwing.


You can see how to replace the ram here
https://youtu.be/TANTrDdtZY4


Any DDR3l laptop ram would work, like this one -
Crucial 4GB Single 1600MHz (PC3-12800) CL11 204-Pin SODIMM DDR3L-SDRAM Memory (CT51264BF160BJ) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009RBN6I6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_0JwAybTKCDBBG


And hard-drive here -
https://youtu.be/Dr8S2S4XdMM

This is the sshd I recently bought -
Seagate 1TB Firecuda Gaming SATA 6GB/s 64MB Cache 2.5-Inch Internal Hard Drive (ST1000LX015) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LWRTRZU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_YHwAybN8BQPXJ


And regarding windows 10, you can clone that using Alien respawn. Which you need a USB drive, it's shown in the video above.

what's new on the ones amazon has for preorder? http://smile.amazon.com/Alienware-ASM100-3000BLK-Desktop-i3-4170T-Processor/dp/B01F3R9GWC?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=crt_ewc_title_gw_1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

About 80USD more than the price they listed, but if that's still within your range there are some used ones going for 429.99 on Amazon US https://smile.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B015XK1O6K/

This is what I got for my R1 to upgrade it to 8gb total. The 1.35v is important.

Kingston Technology 4GB 1600MHz DDR3L PC3-12800 1.35V Non-ECC CL11 SODIMM Intel Laptop Memory KVR16LS11/4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CQ35GYE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_0dbpzbKHQECVG

My Alpha came with 1 stick of 4GB RAM. I bought an additional RAM module, link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CQ35GYE?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00


The thing is the RAM I bought is working fine when plugged into slot 1.
I contacted the Dell Tech center in my country, and they said since they don't offer this model in my country, they do not have any training or spare parts to repair it for me. Sending to Dell USA means shipping it halfway across the world.

This isn't exactly what you're looking for. But I didn't want to spend a lot of money on speakers, so I bought an optical converter:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005DIRI6I/ref=pd_aw_sim_23_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=31cRxVo0LcL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL130_SR130%2C130_&refRID=9VZEDSQ079HQSV56SX0R

And I plugged in a pair of cheap speakers via the converter's headphone jack. It works well enough for times when I don't feel like wearing headphones.

You need a usb mic splitter, I have this one Sabrent USB External Stereo Sound Adapter for Windows and Mac. Plug and Play No Drivers Needed. (AU-MMSA) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IRVQ0F8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_FpvkDbQVRART1

https://www.amazon.com/Alienware-ASM100-3000BLK-Desktop-i3-4170T-Processor/dp/B01F3R9GWC/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

here is the base model link

what about this one https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015YPB6HQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Here is a barebones w/GPU but w/o CPU for $799:

https://www.amazon.com/MSI-Trident-001BUS-Intel-Pentiuml-Celeron/dp/B01N0VEAOD/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1484071900&sr=8-5&keywords=MSI+Trident+3

That's why I used this with my ATH-M50X:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PYZ2BT4/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Coupled with the USB 3.5mm adapter in the previous comment

USB 3.5 mm adapter :
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001MSS6CS/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1466046980&sr=8-2&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=usb+3.5mm+adapter&dpPl=1&dpID=41AM133RwuL&ref=plSrch

You only need one 4GB stick. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005LDLV6S/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?qid=1451405837&sr=8-5&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70&keywords=crucial+ddr3l&dpPl=1&dpID=51C6-EDu6gL&ref=plSrch

Look at New and used. Also looking at this

Alienware Steam Machine ASM100-6980BLK Desktop Console (Intel Core i7, 8 GB RAM, 1 TB HDD) NVIDIA GeForce GTX GPU https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015XK1O6K/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_XMuJyb11AEJBN

Where do you get them cheap?

As an alternative, I bought this

You need DDR3L memory.

So this?

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-Single-PC4-17000-SODIMM-260-Pin/dp/B015YPB6HQ

Maeline 3.5mm Female to 2 Male Gold Plated Headphone Mic Audio Y Splitter Flat Cable https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PYZ2BT4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_oTuMybHXE13KT

This will split a headset with mic into the two plugs.

Or Logitech g230 will plug right in.

Logitech G230 Stereo Gaming Headset with Mic https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BFOEY4I/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_CVuMybWN2A1RF

I use this myself.
https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External-Adapter-Windows-AU-MMSA/dp/B00IRVQ0F8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487289864&sr=8-1&keywords=external+sound+card

You'll need something that has the 3 required 3.5 jacks for 5.1 audio. The alpha doesn't have those built in, so you'll have to get a USB adapter. Like this.

Also, I've seen weirdly low reviews on Amazon, for multiple consoles. It's like they wee copy pasted. Any thoughts on the 1 star reviews?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01F3R9GWC/ref=dp_ob_neva_mobile

I currently have a Logitech K400, but I don't much care for having a surface without a spot for a mouse. I've used a spare wooden board from some cheap shelves to suffice. What are your thoughts? Useful for your set-up? Or just another Razer flop?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CQ35GYE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I bought the Kinston, shown above. As long is its the same kind of RAM and the same Specs it shouldn't really matter. Although if there is a problem the PC will probably show some kind of error or crash.