Thanks for the 40% discount code Frank, can't believe I got this for £150!

Everyone PM Frank30uk for the code.

Please don`t PM me asking for codes. It`s an old joke from another thread. I have no codes... ta

No codes Frank? :confused:

Super deal, heat added! :laughing:

I have put together a 'Guide/Write Up' of hints & tips as well as my experience from last night. Should be a good point for resource if you need anything.

Reddit -
Guide: Convert SteamOS to Alpha + RAM/SSD Upgrade self.AlienwareAlpha

No codes Frank? :confused:

Super deal, heat added! :laughing:

No codes, sorry :laughing:

what gpu does it have, heat btw looks good

Depending on the graphics card and If the ram is upgradeable, then could be a decent little gaming machine / media center

860 which is twice a powerful as the custom 7700 in a PS4/Xbox One! Good for 1080p gaming at medium to high settings.

Must say that this is an incredible price.

Good find, heat added :smiley:

Would this do 4k gaming .?

Nope for decent 4K gameing you need to x2 980s munimum so about £600 on GPUs alone.

Can the graphics card be upgraded in these?

I dispute the games collection info. From my Steam library in the 100s, I was looking at about 70 playable games as they have to be Linux/Steam OS. The ones they haven't bothered to convert won't play. There are some very teccie people on this site who will tell you how to run your game library under Windows, but that was beyond me.

It's a 860m nvidia, not bad for this kind of money, have a read of the review on Amazon, very insightful

If you're okay with low settings and low fps, then yes? I believe the geforce 860 only supports 4K @ 30hz anyway with its HDMI output.

This is a good price for an entry level gaming PC, but it's really only suitable for medium 1080p gaming if you want a smooth experience with it

No this is a 1080p machine really.

I have alienware alpha and It's awesome. I recommend anyone getting the steam machine to install windows 10 else you are very limited to what you can do.

​Thanks for that. was going to buy but my laptop has a 960m. no point buying pretty much the same gpu

good price

Really want to get a Steam OS machine but already allocated my wages on other people. Hopefully it will be this price after xmas.

Nah not upgradeable... still a cracking price. Steam games are mega cheap as well.

My brother in law has the i5 version, they really are amazing little boxes. It's worth pointing out that they are very small, like Wii sized so they are also very portable. Take it along to makes TV and plug it in and your away.

Thanks for the 40% discount code Frank, can't believe I got this for £150!

Everyone PM Frank30uk for the code.

It's a T variant of the i3 meaning lower performance. And the GPU is apparently an 860M which is a quite old mobile GPU.

Value for money is fine ...just don't expect it to be super powerful. Someone said it'll be twice the power of a PS4 but in practical terms that's simply not true.

Great deal! Thanks OP.

Please don`t PM me asking for codes. It`s an old joke from another thread. I have no codes... ta

What sort of life span would this machine have before it would not cope with new release games.thanks.

Noob question but is it possible to run Microsoft word?

A reasonably priced Alienware product? I never thought I'd see that! :laughing:

Steam? Does this use smokeless coal? How long does it take to get up to working pressure?

It's already underpowered for the latest games.

The thing about gaming on a PC is you can dial the settings down so there's not a hard limit. You can play the latest games on an old-ish PC if you can tolerate reduced resolution, effects, framerate etc.

Also don't forget this has SteamOS which is a Linux based OS. You'll need to install Windows for most games.

I've got a load of games on steam/windows, will I have to buy them all again on SteamOS or will my current library just appear when I log into this (on Steam OS)?

Games that are Steam OS compatible will appear. You are best installing Windows 10 then you will be able to access the all and other service like Origin.

You would need to install Windows for that I think.

If you install Win10 on it becomes a """normal"" pc, otherwise it has a linux/unix version called steam OS, so you'll have to stick with openOffice or another one.

​can you do this? from what I've read it's pretty locked down. you need an alienware alpha for windows 10 support. also I assume you can upgrade the hdd?

Your library is tied to your account on whichever device you log into so yes, all your games will be there.

Amazon review , worth a read !

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars1080p/30fps console killer and a 720p/60fps dream machine!
By MR T. on 17 Oct. 2016
Platform for Display: i3Edition: 500 GB Hard Drive
Firstly, I bought this machine for £299.99 in September 2016. I chose this machine primarily because of its price, plus the fact I wanted to try SteamOS on a dedicated TV gaming machine. At this moment in time, you cannot buy the individual parts of this machine for cheaper than this (or find a case as small, neat and quiet as this).

After around 2 hours playing with SteamOS and benchmarking games, I quickly found that most of my steam library was unavailable in SteamOS. Shortly afterwards I installed Windows 10 on this machine, downloaded the Alpha drivers from Dell and converted it from a Steam machine into an Alienware Alpha. The overall experience is much better and my fps increased in most games running under Windows by 5 or so fps. Add to the fact that I can now run Origin and Uplay and access all of my games, this is by far better than SteamOS.

As far as gaming performance goes, the i3 processor generally doesn't cause any issues and is up to the task but does give the occasional stutter when things get busy on screen at 1080p. The GPU goes hand in hand with the CPU and is fit for purpose. You can run most current games comfortably at 1080p/30fps on High-Ultra settings and 720p/60fps on Medium-High settings. Personally, frame rate is more important to me so I run most things at 720p. Because this machine is sat under my TV (which I sit 2-3 metres away from) the downgraded 720p graphics can hardly be noticed and I'm quite happy to be getting the performance I do from this machine.

If you can get this machine for a good price and are willing to put a little work in (or pay the extra for an Alpha), get it and enjoy! In my opionion, this machine is better than both the original PS4 and XBox One due to the customisable graphics settings which can often be set higher than the console equivalents. A beautiful 1080p/30fps console killer and a 720p/60fps dream machine!

Does anyone know if this can be hooked up to an iMac monitor?

anyone know what gpu the other machines have, i5/i7 models, can't seem to see this using link

More info on these models from the Dell website here

Depends if your iMac supports Target Display Mode, bizarrely the newer models don't.

If you have a decent PC I would recommend getting a Steam Link instead (or Shield TV). On high settings (assuming you use Ethernet) looks great.

anyone know if this can run the dolphin GameCube emulator ?

Is this out of stock ?

Yep I think it has just sold out.

1TB is still in stock at £299.99

bought this about 6 months ago for a similar price. things to note are it's a 860m graphics so basically games look between a ps3 and ps4 (slightly closer to 4) but run quite smoothly. As was said you can adjust the game settings easily enough. I upgraded to 16gb ram and an 1tb sshd, and it flies. Wrt steam OS it's not very good, simple to use I'd admit but severely limited in what games you can download. I have a library of around 300 games approx 30% are steam compatible, I gave up after a month or so and installed windows 10 and runs perfectly as does 7. Worth noting that despite what most sites is read in release there are various types of CPU from each range as the i3 in mine is slightly better than my mates. there's no point in going above the i3 though, maybe the i5 at a push as you won't notice any difference in games between the i5 and i7 and you're better spending on the upgrades. In summary I think it's great value, runs quiet, is very easy to conceal, and is very easy to upgrade all bar the graphics I'd definitely recommend it.

sorry about the essay. I completely agree with the Amazon review and keep an eye out in cex as well. I've bought a couple for friends around the 200 mark (between 185 and 206 and it comes with 2 yrs warranty)

Anyone recommend a good wireless keyboard and mouse for this (as I will be installing Windows 10 on to it).

ps4 pro would trounce this, does all the media stuff and has uncharted/tlou etc. no compatibilty issues or general pc bull****.

Would this have supported vr? Vive?

Graphics equivalent to a desktop GTX750ti which sells for about £70 second hand, so not too bad.

can you play things like feed the beast?

​What if you're bill no makes?

Don't do it. It's not as simple or as slick as a console and it's nothing like as good as having your own custom PC/HTPC build. This machine is slow and outdated and you can't change the core components to improve it. It'll be useless within 2 years for new games.

It hasn't really got the best features of either system. It doesn't have the games library of consoles, it doesn't have the power or upgradeability and flexibility of a proper PC.

Don't waste your money. Either stick with your consoles for this price (because they are better than this, and that's coming from a PC gaming advocate!) Or go all in, put the money towards a proper PC for games and reap the benefits of that platform.

OOS damn :disappointed:

can you not run the online Office365 with this?

None left at this price, nor the 1TB

This is a very good compact and powerful computer that is suitable for a console. I bought it recently at £300 (for corei3 500GB) just like the amazon reviewer "used as new" but they accidentally sent me a Corei7 1TB model, I didn't complain ofcourse. I removed the HDD and replaced with 500GB SSD I had, not being used and it works superb. I use it for occasional gaming with my 5year old using steam Big picture mode with two steam controllers. I also use it mostly as a media centre PC as its connected to my UHD tv (connected in UHD 60Hz refresh), to watch UHD movies. I tried several codecs (shark, Klite, VLC, etc) and finally settled with a suitable suite. When I watch UHD movies, the CPU stays at 60% occasional to 98%, this is for the corei7 turbo boost on. I wouldnt think i3 or even i5 is up to speed for 4K viewing or gaming. I have played GTA5 in UHD 60Hz with reduced settings and it was just about playable at 28fps (never fell below this). We can play Lego Marvel avengers in UHD 60Hz without any issues. What I am trying to say is dont have high expectations with the i3 or i7 model when it comes to CPU intensive gaming, etc.

Sad to have missed this one. Looking for an upgrade for the hp sff pc I'm using as a media player and this would have been ideal.

​if u install windows 10 it will. I have the same spec alpha and dolphin runs perfect.

Shame they have stopped the 20% off warehouse deals, as the i7 would work out very cheap!

A couple of the 1tb's back in stock, probably people's baskets expiring.

CPU and ram are both upgradable.

Are you sure? If you are, what sort of price is the i7 processor for these?

Have just added one in the basket so reply real quick. :P

The 1tb 8gb ram model at £300 can still be added to basket using the side panel btw and is still saying in stock even though, for me, the main page does not show it.

One of the 500gb ones back in stock.

It can take i7 4770t low power 4 core ones.

No idea without windows, does that thing run in Linux? (if it does, you probably can)

It is running a modified Linux

Yey, managed to nab a 500G i3.

What kind of UHD movies are you watching to get such high CPU usage?

Available to order for me, ordered an i3 / 500GB. Cheers OP that's my Christmas present to myself sorted :smiley:

...will get here before chrimbo.

It could be hevc.

I have a gaming brix, a8apu with r9 m275x, and it plays normal 4k stuff with ease. The brix one is rubbish compared to the specs of this so I dont expect this to be worse at playing 4k.

Hmmm, was about to push the button on this but 4th Gen i3 + 4GB ram + older GfX doesn't make me think this is going to be worth it as any more than a cheap PC 'console' alternative. I was thinking about using this as a stop-gap until GTX1070's come down in price but I might as well continue using my 6yr old i7 laptop with 16GB ram until it dies...

1 TB in stock
500GB available 9/12

Just grabbed a 500gb one as this will be my first steam machine.

Now just need a deal for a 60gb or 120gb m2 msata ssd in the next day or so. :smiley:

​yeah it's just £100 dearer

​you're right it doesn't have the catalogue of consoles, it has more.

Aye - and good luck to anyone wanting to play something like Civ 6, Pillars of Eternity... or their 2000 game PC back catalogue on their PS4.

I have a gaming PC and a PS4. Unless all you want is twitchy action games then both have their place.

What is the highest end games this could run?

It's an i3, 4GB RAM and a 750Ti basically. So you are probably going to be able to "run" any game you like, you will just have to turn the graphics or resolution down on some of the newer titles.

tfx

Hate to bump, but any idea if this would drive a vive or rift?

Yeah.

Nope.

They're quite some way behind a comfortable level of power for either. Minimum spec is a GTX970 or, realistically more like a 1070. Bear in mind that for VR gaming your rig has to render 2 x 1080p (one for each eye) at a high frame rate consistently.

I don't why but i just bought one

Bit unfair to go comparing this to custom built PCs really. This thing is tiny; 20x20x5.5cm. That's considerably smaller than an Xbox One or PS4, never mind a gaming PC.

Here's a challenge for the naysayers; build the cheapest possible competitor to the Steam Machine using a compact SFF case (like the Fractal Node 202 or Silverstone Raven). How close can you get to £250?

This really isn't bad value at all for what you get.

1 available

I am looking for a decent machine that would run hyperspin and play games up to a ps2/gamecube.

Would this be good for that?

Thanks

Yes. Might want to install Windows though.

Hope it run Heroes of the Storm and Diablo 3 ok. Bought one for my partner because she plays HotS on lowest settings and gets 10-15fps
How much better it be if i spent £250 to buy parts and build a computer myself?
I need it to be as small like this one or a max size of 2-3 times bigger than this one
(I already have a Windows 10 key and keyboard/mouse)

Probably better off just going for a PC then i guess.

Is this upgradeable to 32GB RAM? I can't see it on the Dell site.
I suspect max is 16GB.

I think this is a great shout, definitely worth putting Windows 10 on and enjoying games typically cheaper than consoles through steam.

Also good if you can't keep up with your mates who have come away from consoles and are running 1080 classifieds... :man:

True, plus if you put Windows 10 on it, you get access to PCs most popular/played games like LoL/Dota2/HotS/CSGO/Hearthstone/WoW/Starcraft 2

does the i3 500gb 4gb ram come with 1x4gb ram or 2x2gb ram? I am asking because if i decide to upgrade to 8gb ram I want to know if I will need to buy 2x4gb ram or 1x4gb to add to the old one. Is really worse value to go for the i3 1tb 8gb ram version for £300?

take it if you put windows on it it still won't run dayz (apologies sire console pheasant)

According to all reliable sources it is 1x4gb. Some individuals report 2x2gb.

I went for the £300 one. The hdd and ram upgrade are actually worth it for me, close to worth it in direct price difference alone (depends on the makes, looking like £20+ for 1x4gb ram and £20+ for 500gb to 1tb hdd, but if I was getting the smaller 4gb 500gb it would only be because I was dumping them for 16gb and massive ssd.

I think 8gb and 1tb will be a good amount for me. Add in a cheap small ssd for the os and I will be happy. I have about 400gb of games I want to install so the 1tb will give me a lot more breathing room than the 500gb.

I dont want to spend big on a massive ssd and 16gb ram. Grab a 60gb to 250gb msata for your OS and the 1tb for data and this should be a great little cheap system with enough internal storage space.

I didnt realise the 1TB had 8GB RAM. Quite tempted by that now. It was the RAM putting me off - I sold my gaming PC 18 months back. It wasn't high end; a GTX460 and an i5-2400. Upgrading to 8GB made a significant difference to performance.

Neither of which matter that much when it comes to games. The part that matters is the one you can't change and it's not very fast.

It's one thing saying build a PC of this spec and this size for this price, but that's actually besides the point if you want to play top modern games on it for very much longer.

If you are using it primarily as a HTPC box under the TV with limited gaming functions, it's a good deal. If you're buying it with the idea you're going to play anything but basic low end games, it's a bad idea.

Stop the BS hyperboles. It can handle well above "basic, low end games".

Assuming we're talking modern games and you install windows:

Watchdogs 2 came out last month and 860M doesn't meet MINIMUM requirements for it, which is a GTX660 and faster than the GPU in this. Infinite Warfare. Quantum Break- Doesn't meet minimum. Dishonored II Ditto. Deus Ex Mankind divided came out in the summer. Ditto. Gears 4- it's the bare minimum. Forza Horizon 3, ditto bare minimum.

I could go on and name more, but you get the point. These are all games that are already out right now in 2016, many for some months, that this machine barely meets MINIMUM for or doesn't at all. Now go 12 months into the future, or 18.

You are not playing new, modern, high end triple A games on this. You're playing older or lower end titles.

I mean it should be obvious from the price but I'm only making it clear, because obviously you're no help at all and fail to grasp a simple warning I am expressing.

Starting to think I should cancel my order and get the 1tb 8gb one.

So by "modern games" you mean "console ports" :laughing:

Fine, I'll just play that bloatware on my PS4 where it's meant to be played, and play the vast majority of future PC games on this by turning down the settings a bit.

I pointed out what the minimum is for many of those games on PC in 2016, and minimum usually really is that, pared to the bone. Not a problem if you can swap out the GPU. You can't. So good luck on those 'future PC games' i.e within the next 12 months with minimum GPU requirements well above this. :stuck_out_tongue:

Much of the time minimum settings and resolutions being below that of say PS4 anyway, which is not a £250 machine anymore. The base machine will do better than this, and at least they will actually work and be optimised for it.

Fair warning is what this is. If you plan on playing old games all the time or with minimum settings choppy framerate and lack of VRAM induced stutter for games from this year, then go nuts.:smirk:

You listed a bunch of console games with lazy PC ports, which have high minimum requirements because devs can't be bothered optimising them. Games designed with PC in mind from the outset are more forgiving on lower end systems.

If you were able to list games that are PC-only that won't run on this then you might have a point.

I dont think it can take 2 hdds unless you want to make the 1tb external?

Just to weigh in on the min specs argument, I have a brix gaming (a8apu, r9 m275x) which is far less powerful than this yet plays games well. Of the recent games the only one I have is No Mans Sky which plays brilliantly on it (cost me £9 btw as I never pre-ordered it, still sucks but is not as awful as it was before recent patch).

I dont think anyone in this thread has unrealistic expectations. People here will have known about the alienware r2 and will be thinking more than double the price of this for not that much gain.

Price to performance this is a great deal...and with the massive savings in electricity from using this compared to a desktop pc you are looking at this paying for itself in under three years in savings alone.

Am thinking you are right and it would need to be a normal ssd and buy a caddy for the 1tb hdd. At least the normal size ssd's are cheaper than the msata slot I thought i could use, still sucks that it does not have two internal ssd/hdd slots.

Nonsense. Gears of War is considered rather well optimised among others named. You just threw all those games into one little pigeon hole because it suits your poor argument. You can't just rule out massive titles on PC millions play, whether they are well optimised or not. Do you even have a gaming PC?

These games are mentioned because this is PC gaming in 2016, big titles. You entirely miss the point if you think this machine is supposed to be for games only on PC and on no other platform.

Steam machines are an attempt to make the PC platform closer to a CONSOLE, not for you to play 'proper' PC only games on it.

Would you really want to play something like Planet coaster on a pad which you might say is a 'proper' PC game as an example. Of course not, and it won't run that well on this either!

You argument is moot. It's not designed for most genres particularly associated with the PC mouse and keyboard platform like strategy and the likes.

Even the latest ones that are PC specific this barely meets the requirements now, let alone in 12 months as was the original observation. It doesn't run most modern big name triple A games even today never mind tomorrow and it isn't suited to a raft of PC specific titles you seem to think are the only ones that matter. Incorrectly.

Think harder.

That APU and GPU combo isn't really going to be massively slower than this.

This would run no man's sky OK, but there wouldn't be a huge point buying one for games like that. A base PS4 would do better as it would on most games you run between them.

And it probably wouldn't cost £250.

I'm also not sure how much you think electricity costs but you would have to run a really power hungry machine 24/7 to impact a bill by more than a few quid over a year. You certainly aren't saving £hundreds a year by moving from like 250 watts to 50 for a couple hours a day on average.

You're missing my point entirely. I have a PS4. I can easily buy an Xbox one, in fact intend to when Project Scorpio is released. I can play those games.

You've failed to list a game I cannot play if I buy this. Valve's intentions for Steam machines are irrelevant, I only care about what I will do with this machine. How much would you have me spend? Even a GTX 1050-based PC would cost more than the price of this and a PS4 combined.

Comes with 1x4GB Stick from what I have read online.

I'm going to look at sticking one of these 4GB sticks in (£21.99) as it seems decent enough to boost it to 8GB. Then I'll be looking at a cheap 120GB SSD to stick in there to start with (£40) so for £320 all in for the unit and the 2 upgrades I'll be happy with that.

Do you have a link to the extra ram please?

Yes. But then this isn't the right machine for that person.

It pretty much comes down to budget and need. An up-to-date ITX machine is going to cost double this. Minimum. This Alienware won't play all new releases over the next 2 years, but it's capable of running every game released to date, a vast back catalogue of PC games, an ever growing catalogue of indie titles, and it'll fill HTPC duties nicely. It isn't bad value, and I cannot agree that a comparison to vastly more expensive custom builds is fair.

Am trying to resist but the SFF and value for money might make nice for a second pc which i can use for emulators and older games.

ahhh I have the 1tb version in the basket I do not have a PC. I have a Xbox one and ps4, I dont use the ps4 anymore is this justifiable?!!

New games on lower settings u may need to play 720p or possibility of not working at all. All older PC games pre 2015 should work fine from what I've read. Also worth buying windows 10

No, you have failed to list the major PC only games that are so well optimised this would run them all great.

I can think of 3 of those 'better optimised' 2016 PC only games immediately off the top of my head I have personally played in the past month and would either not run them at all or run them terribly- Planet Coaster needs more RAM and it would be terribly slow even with it. Civilization 6 which has horrific stutter even on low setting with dual core CPUs such as this and Warhammer which turns a faster machine than this into a slideshow even at 1280 x 720....Not to mention you wouldn't want to play games like this with a pad anyway.

I COULD go on and make even more of a point about how you dismiss games people want to play on PC as poor console points and how many 2016 PC only games aren't actually any better optimised, but that would just embarrass you more and I'm not like that.

The intention of SteamOS and this hardware is clear, which is why you can't dismiss the console ports as you called them. Indeed, my original observations stand, you are better off with a console for most games than this, and you're much better off with a proper PC for modern titles unless you're only up for older/low end games.

I'm not interested in how much you can spend on a proper PC, it's not my problem. But I can say you can build a machine with a superior GPU or even pick one up second hand much better for not much more.

My comment was fair warning that it doesn't even meet minimum spec of countless 2016 titles and cannot run them smoothly. It doesn't.

Whether you consider that value and refuse to consider spending somewhat more to get a much better experience is of personal choice. I don't know about others but I would rather spend £400 on something second hand and decent than £250 on something new but mostly crippled for modern games.

There is a minimum entry price for most anything worthwhile after all. :smile:

Thanks, is this the same one that is in the computer? does it have to be exactly the same to work better?

Stumbled upon the service manual Service Manual

Looks like that is for the Alienware Alpha. Is that the same as the Steam machine but with Windows?

You're right. This isn't a great machine for 2016/2017 titles. Don't think I ever tried to claim it was? It'll play them (see YouTube), but it would be silly to buy one for this purpose.

That doesn't make it bad value - it's pretty stonking for £250. But buying one with playing Forza/Gears as the main purpose would be a bit silly - anyone wanting to do that would be better served with an Xbox, or a PC that's double this price.

As a machine for older titles (going as far as 2015 releases, and a number of less demanding 2016 titles), indie games, emulators, and general HTPC duties, you're getting a lot for £250.

I've had a look around and most people have mixed the RAMs up and had no issues. Most have stated that their RAM in their Alienware's have the same spec as the one I linked to.

Is this 4k ready?

Got mine today and oh boy did Amazon drop the ball ordered the i3 4gb 500gb sent me the i5 8gb 1tb happy happy says did anyone else get a different one????

Lucky sod! :P

Mine is due on Thursday will let you know...meanwhile I will just be very :jealous: of you.

Nice!
I think I read a few posts back that Amazon also sent him the wrong one.
Let us know what you get MeneerSmith. Mine is due 10-13th Dec.

i3 8gb 1tb back in stock at 299.

how is everyine getting this for 150 / 250?

They are not. It was 250 for the 4gb 500gb version, 300 for the 8gb 1tb.

Think the lower price was some sort of 'in joke'.

If I dont get the i5 mine is going back now. :smiley:

Got in to work this morning and mine is here. They delivered the correct one for me, i3/4GB/500GB. Would of been nice if they gave me the better one but oh well, £249.99 for this I can't complain.

Now to wait the whole day at work before going home, sticking more RAM in and installing windows on it.

Had a feeling was just me as was expecting everyone to be posting about getting the better version how are you going to be putting windows on as I set it up last night and it's very limited to what you can play on steam os

Sorted out a Bootable USB of Windows 7. Plenty of video tutorials on YouTube of how to do it, I will be following one of them tonight.

So you can put win7 on there I was going to go with win10 but have a spare product key for win7 excellent will give it a go

Yeah of course you can. I'll just upgrade it to WIN10 through the free upgrade program still running that I saw.

Excellent thanks a lot for the help

Mine has just been delivered, I got the correct i3, 4GB, 500GB version I ordered. Was hoping / wishing for an i5 version after reading the comments above. Still I can't grumble for the price. Really pleased with the size / form factor, it looks smaller in real-life, it's going to be perfect for my needs.

Arrived today. Amazon have really got fast delivery now, even for non-prime members.

back in stock, at 249.99


https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0185R5DDI/ref=dra_a_cs_mr_hn_xx_P1400_1000?tag=dradisplay0bb-21&ascsubtag=50897f864329e870ba404e201b1075d5_S

Got mine today at 1pm, was an i3 8gb 1tb :disappointed: and will stick windows on it tomorrow.

What were the free games with these? Is it worth logging onto steam to get them?

should run Civilisation ii ok lol

just ordered mine! saving off buying the ram incase they give me the wrong one too hopefully!!!.. though the delay in stocking makes me think i wont get any free upgrades :disappointed:.

this looks like a great price, I mean compared to the nvidia shield tv at 170 you'll get a lot more working on this, just a shame it doesn't come with Windows installed

Would this be able to play feed the beast i know power wise but the way you have to load feed the beast can you do it on this device?

I'm having trouble working out if the £369.99 i5/8GB/1TB version feature a quad core CPU - can anyone clarify? From reading around, it seems to feature a 4590T, but I would like to check if my understanding is correct before ordering.

My brother has had this since launch and it is abysmal. Runs on medium to low, gets very hot and simply cannot run modern stuff on 1080p

honestly it has been awful for him, he can run csgo and that is about it, for the money at launch it was a major let down

for this price though, not bad

medium to low on 720/1080, depending on game. its really not very powerful even if on paper it look decent, and the Alienware OS is very bloated and takes up alot of space

Hi.
I do agree with the point made that this wont play any and all games under 'regular' steam (ie Windows) and its an important distinction for anyone unprepared.

Interestingly though, i just did a quick search for exactly how many SteamOS (Linux) games are available. Steam make this data easily searchable.
https://steamdb.info/linux/

Turns out, currently over 2000 and still growing! So there claim is actually kind of true, although i also see your argument.

​you tood him to install windows and uo the ram to 8gb? from youtube this looks more than capable.

so it will only play os games which is only approx 15% of steam store mmmmmmm??????????

​you can install windows on it

Just to give everyone the heads up, I received mine yesterday and did the following:

Installed an extra 4GB RAM (£21.99) & a 240GB SSD (£69.99).

Downloaded Windows 10 ISO and used Rufus to create a bootable USB. Once this was ready I put this in the front USB Port, went in to the Boot Settings (F2) and selected the USB Drive. Restarted and it booted up and went ahead and installed Windows 10.

Downloaded NVidia Geforce Experience and updated the GPU Drivers.
Installed MSI Afterburner (Need to look in to this a bit more about Overclocking the GPU).
Installed Alienware Command Centre.
Then headed over to DELL and updated a few drivers there. It was getting late so didn't install the manual BIOS Update that was available.

Basically left it so it was ready for me to go on tonight and start installing some games!

I never had a legal windows 10 but do have a legal win7 so it was a bit more tricky for me.

Like you used rufus, had to change the bios settings to legacy, installed win7, network drivers were non-functional, used this link to get drivers:
https://eu.alienwarearena.com/ucf/show/225213/boards/technical-support-1/ForumPost/alienware-alpha-and-windows-7
...drivers worked, never bothered installing updates for win7, used this official MS link posted on HUkD to get "free" windows 10. Started win10 upgrade, walked to the shops and back, and it was ready for the final setup parts. Took maybe two hours in total.

Still to install the official drivers but that should be easy. :P

I have not unboxed mine, I am interested in people's opinions once you start using them. What games at what FPS are you getting on what settings ?

It's back on...

I genuinely think this will be an excellent machine and from what I have seen from the videos going round it will be very capable (once you have 8GB RAM and an SSD) as well as some tweaking with MSI Afterburner and the right drivers.

I have been researching myself how to do the above, out of interest what ram / SSD did you go for? Thanks.

Went for these pal.
CORSAIR ValueSelect CMSO4GX3M1C1600C11 DDR3L Laptop Memory - 4 GB SODIMM RAM

- SANDISK Ultra II 2.5" Internal SSD - 240 GB

Is it worth the extra £50 for the 1TB/8GB version? I went for that one given that the extra 4GB is £22 and the extra 500gb should be handy. Not planning to change to SSD at this stage either.

It arrived late yesterday, afraid they sent the correct version. looks a really nice piece of kit and will be installing Win10 after a quick play with the steamOS.

Thank you :smiley: What are you doing with the HDD you took out?

Keeping it to one side at the moment. Will no doubt get an Enclosure for it and can at least dual boot then!

I have put together a 'Guide/Write Up' of hints & tips as well as my experience from last night. Should be a good point for resource if you need anything.

Reddit -
Guide: Convert SteamOS to Alpha + RAM/SSD Upgrade self.AlienwareAlpha

Thank you so much, this is invaluable to a relative rookie like myself. Noob question incoming; could I just put windows 10 (or even 7 or 8.1) on this without the need for the extra RAM or SSD?

You're welcome. I am also a rookie but I like to get the best out of the machine so have spent a lot of time over the last couple days doing some research.

In reply to your question, yes of course you can just put windows 10 on without the extra RAM or SSD. But I have read that the extra RAM & SSD is such a valuable upgrade to performance that I would recommend doing it.

Is there any point dual-booting this? Do any games run significantly better on SteamOS to be worth it?

​Great job, really good of you to do this if your planning on doing some gaming would love to hear how you get on regards to titles, settings, fps and overall experience.

Any reason to get this if you already have a decent gaming rig and steam link that allows you to game on your TV anyway?

What is the best way to make a backup of what is on the HDD? I want to format it and instal Windows 7 on it but I want a 100% backup of what is on it before I format.

Mine was supposed to come Saturday but status changed that it will be delivered today. :smile:

Nope.

I'll be more than happy to report back with some info on the titles, settings, fps and overall experience.

No word of a lie, just swap it out for a SSD. The supplied HD is terrible :disappointed:

back in stock in case somebody wants to go for it.I did.

I ordered, then cancelled for the 2nd time. Love the idea of it, but can't justify the spend when I know that within a year I'll be wanting to upgrade again to a GTX 1070 or above.

No doubt I'll change my mind again in an hour.

I know but I want to use it today and I am going to wait for a good deal on a SSD.

Nice 1 ta op

Had 'fun' this afternoon. Controller worked briefly, then it did an update. Connecting the controller then crashed SteamOS. Even connecting a Xbox 360 controller crashed it. Plugged in a mouse/keyboard and could control it that way, eventually finding an option to opt out of beta participation, which rolled back the client version. After a couple of buggy attempts finally got the controller paired and it's working :smile:

​dude it's an 860m laptop gpu - it's equivalent to a gtx750ti desktop processor which is not 2× a ps4 chip.

​wow you're calling BS yourself. no it can't handle 'well above' gaming quality.

Im not sure what you class a basic games - For example it can easily run most fps, such as:

battlefield1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoGJxe5wUYQ
overwatch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEDLP8qlNUc&t=120s

And other CPU intensive games:
Cities Skylines - https://www.reddit.com/r/AlienwareAlpha/comments/3t3hrs/alpha_to_run_citiesskylines/
PlanetCoaster, though only at low numbers of people in the park - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqMRtOmD-qA

If you mean play at max, in 4k at 60fps, no it cant.

1080p, 30+fps is easily achievable in shooters, higher if you drop settings.

In CPU bound games it might not get as high fps, but they don't need as high fps...

To do this just add windows and 4gb ram...

Cracking deal for those who would get value out of one.

​A Nintendo Wii can run Nintendont. Perfect emulation.

anyone know the answer to this? I dont have a spare hdd and will have to format to install Windows on it so I want to have a backup of whatever is stock, just incase I need it for some reason in the future (returns or whatever).

OR is this pointless and I should just format/install windows over the SteamOS?

These are still selling on ebay for more than the cost right now. I mean selling as in people are actually buying them on auction.

You need to make a new partition and copy the existing partition to it. Or copy a backup of the existing partition to the new partition.

You need a bootable usb or dvd if you have an external drive that works with it. Use Rufus to make a bootable usb.

You need something to create a new partition and something to copy/backup to that new partition. The new partition should be slightly bigger than the data on the drive for now but you can reduce new partition's size to make it 100% full after you copy/backup the original partition. You can use windows stuff, like arconis true image or paragorn hard disk manager, or a linux no-install live disk to do this partition making and backing up.

The steam os is pretty useless so I just formatted the drive, installed win7, updated the network drivers, upgraded to win 10.

​thats what I did twice buy my second cancellation was too late, it's wrapped up under the tree now.

got mine yesterday supposed to arrive on sat happy days! was looking for the wireless link for the steam controller. thought I didn't get one then realised its inside the main unit and you can access it underneath the console and there is a small door with it connected to a usb! just in case some one else is a total noob like me! :wink:

I have bitten! The reason? I'm trying to learn about CPU and GPU energy usage over the next few months. I see a dual boot of Linux and windows on this machine as a great way to do that because I don't want to use my iMac or gaming PC for that and the small form factor PC I bought from Gearbeast only has internal graphics. This GPU also has CUDA support. So it can be a game machine in windows and a test machine for my PhD in Linux. Even is my testing wipes it then no big deal as most games I play save to the cloud now. I like the fact that with a case it is super portable too and that you can upgrade the RAM, HDD and CPU.

depends if you are going to install windows on it. then RAM upgrade will help a lot both for gaming and productivity.

it is sometimes better to use paired RAM as some systems give you an 5-6% increase. Having said that I have had different combinations in my Mac mini at points and not noticed the difference.

I think so. I have 16GB RAM I can grab from other machines and a 256GB SSD or 1TB SSHD. I say yes to the £50 because the drive here is a 7200 rpm drive which although nowhere near as good as a SSD will give you ok performance and space. I've done the same as my SSHD is 5400 rpm when not using the 8GB SSD. 8GB RAM is plenty for 90% of tasks as well but if you install windows on it 4GB is base requirements.

Thought I would come back with a few updates:

MSI Overclock, had mine at 135/500 and the max temp I had whilst running DayZ was 78 so was happy with that.

In terms of FPS, I had some customer graphic settings with a good mixture (I was happy with the quality) and had it running nicely between 40-50 FPS in small towns. Only experienced 1 moment of FPS drop to about 3-5 FPS but this was whilst playing the experimental 0.61 build.

Over the moon with the machine tbh, like I said the graphics in DayZ are nice, all around Medium Settings and looks good to me! For £370 for the complete set up I bought it's great value for money.

I'm looking for a streaming PC just for the front lounge room, where it does only a few things like watching sports via acestream also would like to have Roseta stone language learning on it as well as storage for films and Itunes library.

Would this do the trick or would it be overkill. The PVR look appeals in a TV atmosphere than a mini tower would IMO.
Thanks in advance anyone giving advice on this.

Not overkill at all. I find that HTPC's are still very relevant for my usage. Personally I'd install Windows on it, have it boot up to Kodi, install Plex or Emby to run in the background for your films/tv shows, then use Kodi to access. Great for gaming too as you can have a shortcut on Kodi that launches Steam Big Picture, Hyperspin, etc.

I have just brought a keyboard. Will any standard xbox 360 or xbox 1 controller work with it? Does it matter which OS I have and the compatability?

Can someone recommend a wireless controller please

Just set mine up with Windows 7 and then upgraded to 10, was a bit of a pain to do because it had no network adapter driver with the Windows 7 installation. The Windows 8 ethernet driver did not work so I had to install the WIFI driver from the Dell website and transfer it via usb key to install on the Alienware. Even with Windows Updates it would not install the Ethernet driver so I found one online that worked. (if anyone needs it let me know and I will send you a link).
Anyway I upgraded to Windows 10 (Windows 10 installed with all necessarily drivers) and installed a bunch of games and it works great. I will add an extra 4gb and SSD to it. (I forgot how slow computers are without SSDs).

For those thinking of using it as a portable PC to take to LAN parties etc, it is quite heavy.
All in all, we are really happy and playing D3 and HotS together and do not have to have 2 desktop sized computers in the house.

Good if you go for the base model and futureproof in terms of 4K streaming. Plus you can use it to game with Steam in big picture mode as well!

Not sure if anyone wants to know but when I was upgrading my RAM I double checked the HDD and 100% is a 7200 rpm drive in the 1TB model anyway. I'm glad about this as conflicting information on the net! Not sure about the 500GB but I hope it is the same. It is also pretty quiet as a system too (whilst I am installing and updating windows anyway).

​it comes with a steam controller. youtube it :smiley:

​Is the ram it comes with dual channel 2x 4gb or just one 8gb stick?