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  • coburn_c - Friday, August 29, 2014 - link

    Looks like a lot of wasted space, in the case and on the desk.
  • Iconoclysm - Friday, August 29, 2014 - link

    Agreed. After all the shit Apple gets for their "trash can", it's really funny what passes as case design "innovation" in the traditional desktop world.
  • SleepyFE - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link

    The word innovation is not used in this article. They improved ergonomics and thermal management. No innovation, just improvement. And you can still play with the insides.
  • curtwagner - Monday, December 8, 2014 - link

    There are a number of higher rated desktop, I recommend seeing http://www.topreport.org/desktop/ among others.
  • ddriver - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link

    The layout is actually surprisingly good, apple's trash can requires custom components whereas this works with stock gear. And I can only assume the "wasted space" can actually host several HDDs, so it is all good.
  • akdj - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link

    Mac Pro isn't using 'custom components'. Other than re branded GPUs ...arguably also able to be changed out, RAM, storage and even the CPU is possible to change out. For it's very unique design, the new MP surprisingly at ifixit is well 'customizable' post purchase. 7 or 8/10 the score, when compared the the new OSx laptops or iOS tabs and phones, as well as the latest iMac I think the new MP is about as customizable as we've seen since it's original. m2 storage is becoming more ubiquitous. Thunderbolt kicks ass, and I'm able to do much more with my '13 MP than our '09 $ '10 towers with it's extensive I/O options and the ability to toy with it when those FirePro cards continue to evolve, the CPU is unadapted or faster, higher density storage is necessary. With USB 3 and TBolt 2, hard to see the advantage other than specific to gaming ...and expense wise, I'll bet we get pretty close $/$. Wasted space is more likely due to thermal management. Not filling with HDDs
  • lmcd - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link

    You're telling me the Mac Pro accepts any aftermarket motherboard, or any aftermarket GPU, or any height RAM, or any CPU cooler within tolerance, or...

    See? Custom components.
  • Samus - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link

    It just looks like wasted space because the hard disk cage is removed from behind the video cards. It's actually a very compact case when you consider it can do triple SLI and properly cool all of that. It's also very clever how they designed the front "face" to mount a 360mm radiator behind, excellent if liquid cooling 3 video cards.

    The whole case is reminiscent of the Silverstone FT03 with its angled fans, right-side-up motherboard (although not completely up, this is 30') and liquid-cooling-oriented layout. Even the stock radiator is 38mm thick, not the more common 27mm.

    I don't really get why people are 'trashing' this thing. How would you design it better? In case you all haven't noticed, typical box cases are terrible at cooling. You need positive pressure, baffles, directed airflow, and a "heat rises" design; all simple thermodynamic concepts that about 95% of all PC cases STILL ignore.
  • SleepyFE - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link

    They tried positive pressure in the old days (can't remember where i read that) and it didn't work. Too much hot air remained inside the case. What should be done is an external fan and cooler with only tubes for water cooling piercing the closed case where all the electronics are.
  • Samus - Monday, September 1, 2014 - link

    I tried a "sealed" case once with an old Enlight chassis. Used an external tower radiator and cooled the northbridge, CPU and video card with waterblocks.

    The problem was the VRM's, hard disks, and various other components (such as the passive-cooled 450-watt PSU) still got too hot under load, especially when gaming. The hard disks would easily hit 50c over time.

    There needs to be an air exchange in a performance PC, even if water cooled. I tried everything, even moving the pump outside of the case. I couldn't do anything to get the hard disks cool, and water cooling them was out of the question because there were 3 of them.

    Single-chip PC's like those in kiosks can be passively cooled because of their inherent design (only 1 or 2 components generate heat (CPU and VRM's) since there is no discrete GPU, the PSU is external, and the storage is usually a low power or low RPM SSD/HDD.

    I don't think we'll ever see a reliable passively cooled PC with a powerful GPU.
  • tipoo - Friday, August 29, 2014 - link

    "We need to innovate!"
    "Lets...Uh...Turn the motherboard 45 degrees?"
    "Brilliant! You get a promotion Johnson!"

    That's how I imagine this to have been invented. Doesn't seem overly innovative, if at all, seems like it's just taking a bigger desk footprint if anything.
  • tipoo - Friday, August 29, 2014 - link

    That said, the side looks nice, but the front looks like butts. And not good butts.
  • tipoo - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link

    THAT'S what it reminded me of, the foreveralone guys face
  • SleepyFE - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link

    Again innovation is not used in this article. The angle gives you a better view of the front panel if it sits under the desk. The odd look should not be something to complain about when it comes from a company called ALIENWARE!!
  • tipoo - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link

    I didn't imply the article said it, I still don't think it's very innovative.
  • ddriver - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link

    Don't be a troll, the angle actually gives easy access to connectors both in the front and back. All regular cases are big enough to fit the mobo at an angle, so footprint is not increased. The system is actually fairly compact for what it packs.
  • tipoo - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link

    You don't know what the word troll means. I was just giving my opinion.
  • akdj - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link

    I agree with tipoo here. Troll is a definition ddriver ought to look up
  • hojnikb - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link

    Aaaand as usual, alienware will have 2x markup compared to a similar spec'd custom build. Thanks, but no thanks. This is great for uninformed kids with parents, that have deep pocked. Anyone else will either custom build its rig or let someone else do it (for a more reasonable price):
  • SleepyFE - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link

    Let's see you make a triangular case that can fit three GPUs, HDD, SSD and a desktop CPU. And make sure things don't overheat. Requires engineering knowhow. And you expect them not to charge for the work they've done to get it to work?
  • Notmyusualid - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link

    Yes, that is exactly what he expects.
  • Notmyusualid - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link

    I love these types of comments - Alienware, like Crapple, charge more for their systems, please try to get over it. It is no surprise by now.

    It is not just kids that buy Alienware, it is adults like me too. Sometimes we want off-the-shelf, and not having to build it ourselves, is that so bad? Sometimes I do enjoy building a system, sometimes not.

    I actually like the design of this, too bad if you don't.

    Also, you've probably no idea the lengths Alienware support will go to, to see your system working. Though I've had issues with them in the past, they always came through in the end. My current Alienware has Next Business Day, on-site repair, until nearly 2017. How many other boutique brands will come to your house if you call before midday? Please do tell me....

    And not every household is short of money, I can tell you. And I'll even bet it is not 2x the cost too, when you factor in Operating System, lack of decent warranty, and custom case.

    Just my 2c.
  • xype - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link

    Ugh, my eye always starts twitching when someone writes "Crapple". "Craplienware", then?

    Both companies operate on a different level than anyone building their own PCs can, and the "markup", when all is said and done, is not 2x. Not with those cases and hardware design, you can’t get those elsewhere easily, and if you could, Alienware and Apple would likely be cheaper in the end.
  • Notmyusualid - Sunday, August 31, 2014 - link

    My girlfriend's Apple has had no end of issues. It is louder than my Windows laptop too.

    I don't find Macs quite as intuitive either. If I 'discredit' myself using the Crapple word, then fine so be it, but it is based on experience of Macs, not prejudice. But, now explain to me why nearly every Mac I know is running Windows... please do try.
  • akdj - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link

    It's good your 'well off' and can afford a rig specifically built to blow FPS score and best benchmarks in gaming. The MP will also run Windowa if you'd like. And I, with Xype agree. When you start your comment with 'just like Crapple' you discredit yourself significantly. You've got a Dell. Alienware isn't and hasn't been 'boutique' in a ¼ decade at least. Dell has good support that you pay for. Apple's support is as well, second to none.
    And no, I don't understand an adult buying a $7,000 Alienware without a specific reason. If you're an adult gamer Cool! I wish I had the time. If you're actually 'creating' and you're a die hard Windows user, plenty of HP & Dell professional work stations with better RAM, CPU & GPU possibilities are available.
  • Notmyusualid - Sunday, August 31, 2014 - link

    I think it is OK for us to disagee, but I still believe Alienware are great machines.

    Funny you mention the 'time'... seriously, I've just handed away my cable box, and had a family member change my Steam password, so I can get on with my next level of certification. It seems some of us are children for life....

    I'm not so 'well off' either, but I admit to having enough to never needing a mortgage, instead I bought for cash, and I've never had a car loan either despite owning supercars too, though my Mrs is 'well off' by most opinions, which helps, as was the last long-term partner I had. I don't seek out women for money, it just worked out like that, previously I've had a lifetime of broke partners. Cool real life example this week, my W12 Phaeton needs a complete tranmission rebuild, she said, 'just fix it, use the card I gave you'. Saved my @ss that did....
  • flutberf - Wednesday, September 3, 2014 - link

    "I'm not so 'well off' either"

    I'd say you're well off if you've purchased homes and supercars without mortgages/loans.

    Alienware computers are good. Just as good as any home-brewed computer can be. If you have the money and don't want to build your own, I don't see why it would be a bad idea to buy an Alienware.
  • mutantmagnet - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link

    I wish companies wouldn't use an image render. I would like to see how the final product looks in ambient light, though I wouldn't mind them cheating with very bright lights.

    I'm just left wondering if the exterior is all plastic.
  • Phasenoise - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link

    Clearly Vanu Sovereignty technology there.
  • MadMan007 - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link

    Triad-designed? I was not aware that Chinese organized crime was now into designing PCs.
  • Brett Howse - Sunday, August 31, 2014 - link

    It's called diversification :)
  • xype - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link

    While I’m a happy Mac camper (rMBP is pretty much the perfect machine for me and the work I do), and I think that the Mac Pro is more of an extreme design as far as the shape and configuration go, I do like the look of the Area-51.

    For one, "wasted space" is not a concern with gamers or people wanting a powerful 3D/Video workstation. Never enough GPU cards or hard disks in one. Considering that most of the people will have it under their desk, the difference between this case and a more standard PC case is not that big a deal.

    And while I also think that the aestetics will not age very well, the piece looks it’s _powerful_ hardware and also looks much more "designed towards a specfic goal" (cooling, space, etc?) than some of the previous alienware cases, which were more like a slight optical upgrade to the standard PC cases (at least from the outside).

    So, yeah, good on Alienware for being bold with their design. I’m sure a lot of people will be plenty happy with the Area-51.
  • wireframed - Sunday, August 31, 2014 - link

    Haswell-E is a bit of an odd choice for this system. You get a lot of cores, but up you're limited to 32GB of RAM. For games, the 6-8 cores don't seem to be worth it compared to a 4690k, and for content creation where we never have enough cores, 32GB of RAM is the starter kit.

    Seems like you could get a better balanced system for most tasks with a different combination of hardware.
  • Ktracho - Tuesday, September 2, 2014 - link

    I imagine they chose Haswell-E, not because of how many cores it has, but because it has enough PCIe lanes to handle 4 graphics cards. Haswell is not ideal in this scenario, though it is true you can put a PCIe bridge on the motherboard. Also, I would imagine you could install your own memory, in which case you may not be limited to 32 GB of RAM, depending on how many DIMM slots are on the motherboard.
  • falc0ne - Sunday, August 31, 2014 - link

    this design was definitely not meant to sit on the desk but rather underneath or wherever. for those who want a smaller footprint, they have X51 series. At least now they have an excuse to charge premium for this after including a Haswell-E setup:))
  • Wolfpup - Tuesday, September 2, 2014 - link

    Wow, this thing's awesome... I want Haswell-E anyway...

    I wonder how well that streaming stuff actually does... stick this in a bedroom and feed it out to the living room or vice versa...

    Seems like the added weirdness/latency/compression artifacts would bug me though, but I've never actually tried it...

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