My usual responses to prebuilds can be found below, if you don't like what I'm about to say then stop reading here.

What I find hilarious is that the Amazon page doesn't even list what GPU this has or what actual i3 model is used, that might actually tell you something about the sort of company Alienware/Dell are. I had to search the internet for details, when doing so I find they refer to the CPU this machine has (a i3-4170T) as "quad core" when it bloody isn't.

I will try and demonstrate the poor value of this machine, yes it's cheap for the parts but for gaming you'll be disappointed. Firstly starting with my version of this type of setup for comparison:

PCPartPicker part list: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/xKhWJV
Price breakdown by merchant: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/xKhWJV/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 845 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£56.00 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: ASRock A68M-ITX Mini ITX FM2+ Motherboard (£56.20 @ More Computers)
Memory: G.Skill NS Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£33.68 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Toshiba 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB GAMING X 4G Video Card (£87.99 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Silverstone Sugo SG13WB Mini ITX Tower Case (£39.95 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Power Supply: EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (£34.79 @ Aria PC)
Total: £344.55
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-23 08:09 GMT+0000

Okay, so it's £44.55 more. But what do you get for your extra cash?

1) More powerful CPU

Around 22% increase in performance there.
2) Upgradable
Unlike the Alienware system, this build can be upgraded. Want a more powerful GPU or CPU in a couple of years? No problem. Want to rebuild the whole system? You can keep the case and PSU and save some money when upgrading. With this Alienware system you have to throw the whole thing away. You can also add more hard drives/SSDs if you wish down the line.
3) More powerful GPU
The GPU in this system is based on a mobile part designed for laptops, not only does that mean it's not as powerful but it also means it cannot be replaced. It is around the performance of the old GTX 750 Ti. Performance is very low compared to the GTX 1050 Ti spec'd in my build. In some cases the 1050 Ti is more than twice as fast.

So for 15% more cash you have a machine that is around 50% faster for gaming.


If you want help specing and building a PC please PM me, I will help you. As I've helped many other HUKD members.

You're not going to get much out of that and it won't be particularly future proof at this point either.

I did not get the steam wireless controler adapter in my box (either that I can't find it). Did anyone else?

It was probably a refurb. The HDD is a 'pull', pulled from a server with a lot of use on it, waste of money.


That £418 price also misses out the steam controller so £25 more needed and the hdd adds another £20. Means his £344 is actually closer to £463 in reality.

What I am still wondering is how he plans to squash the mini itx down into something that fits below the tv...or make it light enough to carry round to your mates...or half the electricity the part picker build uses compared to this deal.

Ollie - My 15 year old plays Steam and would like a desktop (and screen) just for gaming - and PS3 and Xbox use. He has a budget of £500 for all. What might you recommend? He plays Kerbal Space Programme, Cities: Skylines and a few others mostly via Steam. All a bit laggy on a laptop with a 2gb video card. Look forward to hearing from you.

Comes out as £418.62 now.

If that unbelievable price of £87.99 1050ti ever existed it's gone now, should have posted it as a deal, probably a glitch.

It's about performance per £, at this end of the market AMD kicks the **** out of Intel.

I am not a fan of AMD personally but I would say that your spec there would be the better buy.

For an extra 44 pound 55 pence the above would be a no brainer.

My usual responses to prebuilds can be found below, if you don't like what I'm about to say then stop reading here.

What I find hilarious is that the Amazon page doesn't even list what GPU this has or what actual i3 model is used, that might actually tell you something about the sort of company Alienware/Dell are. I had to search the internet for details, when doing so I find they refer to the CPU this machine has (a i3-4170T) as "quad core" when it bloody isn't.

I will try and demonstrate the poor value of this machine, yes it's cheap for the parts but for gaming you'll be disappointed. Firstly starting with my version of this type of setup for comparison:

PCPartPicker part list: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/xKhWJV
Price breakdown by merchant: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/xKhWJV/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 845 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£56.00 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: ASRock A68M-ITX Mini ITX FM2+ Motherboard (£56.20 @ More Computers)
Memory: G.Skill NS Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£33.68 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Toshiba 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB GAMING X 4G Video Card (£87.99 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Silverstone Sugo SG13WB Mini ITX Tower Case (£39.95 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Power Supply: EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (£34.79 @ Aria PC)
Total: £344.55
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-23 08:09 GMT+0000

Okay, so it's £44.55 more. But what do you get for your extra cash?

1) More powerful CPU

Around 22% increase in performance there.
2) Upgradable
Unlike the Alienware system, this build can be upgraded. Want a more powerful GPU or CPU in a couple of years? No problem. Want to rebuild the whole system? You can keep the case and PSU and save some money when upgrading. With this Alienware system you have to throw the whole thing away. You can also add more hard drives/SSDs if you wish down the line.
3) More powerful GPU
The GPU in this system is based on a mobile part designed for laptops, not only does that mean it's not as powerful but it also means it cannot be replaced. It is around the performance of the old GTX 750 Ti. Performance is very low compared to the GTX 1050 Ti spec'd in my build. In some cases the 1050 Ti is more than twice as fast.

So for 15% more cash you have a machine that is around 50% faster for gaming.


If you want help specing and building a PC please PM me, I will help you. As I've helped many other HUKD members.

oos

I don't wait for deals to buy parts. I buy the parts I need when I need them, waiting for deals would be stupid as by the time you have a complete system it would be outdated and better parts would be available.

Anyone can build a PC using PC Part Picker and Logical Increments. Assembling it is no harder than building a Lego model or some IKEA furniture.

Probably more life in it than many would give it credit for. I have one of those Zoostorm AMD A8 ebuyer £199 PC's with a GTX 550 Ti 2GB and it runs Dirt Rally, Mafia 3, The Evil Within, Ori and the Blind forest, Everybody Gone to The Rapture, Murdered Soul Suspect, CS:GO in high and 1080P. Granted it might struggle with the very latest games in 1080, but steam is full of so many amazing older and well optimised games that I wouldn't worry to much, makes more sense than an Xbox One IMO, and PS4 only just makes sense due to Last Guardian and Shenmue 3. Unless you want to hammer Battlefield 1 online.

Expired now

Very true. For this price it would be a sin not to use it as a windows machine lol. Already looked at USB to hdmi for this which is the likely route I will take.

Top item though.. even the i5 version is a good price

Looks like a good machine. I'd love to purchase one and put windows on it... only downside for me is it has 1 x HDMI out (no dual display as standard which is odd ?

Thanks you just managed to offend me twice there. Have a very Merry Christmas won't you.

Got plenty, probably use my old line 6 ux2

Only for less than £700 each because you're an expert who knows exactly what parts to buy when a good deal comes up.

This is pre-built, with low power consumption, small form factor, for £300. I know this machine offends your sensibilities but can you actually beat it?

FFS, for £300 for the whole system what do you expect?
Gamers seem to be the most myopic and unrealistic group on this forum; after Brexiteers of course. :neutral_face:

ITX gaming rigs exist you know. I have two. One as my main gaming rig, which is also water cooled, and another that is a HTPC. Both are similar sizes to this and both more powerful. For less than £700 each too.

Aye. My toaster is more powerful than this so-called GPU.

Not that you can just bung in a bag and take round a mate's or on holiday you can't.

It's tiny, not much bigger than a Wii, and plays thousands of games perfectly well.

I would say if you want a cutting-edge gaming experience then go all in, but if you're not up for spending at least £700 then you might as well buy this for the portability.

I didn't say that it was useless. I said that it wouldn't be particularly future-proof and probably isn't a good buy. If you shopped around for parts then I'm sure you could build a better machine than this for 300 quid.

This is a great deal, add windows and an SSD for under £70 and you have a great little machine. Can play project cars at 1080p on high settings... that's good! Any RTS, older FPS, honestly this is decent.

Yawn......

AGAIN !!!

this won't run as my latest games above low / medium at best, at 1080p

I do like like how you are saying 'this is useless' yet there is not real usable information from what you quote other than its a Nvidia chip with '2GB' of RAM.

This comes with a 860m which for the price point is respectable. For someone after a entry level gaming machine it will suffice. Although upgrade paths are limited.

If you were to build a PC with an i3 and a 750ti/variant you would end up closer to the £350-400 range.

You can get at least £25-30 selling the controller too and if you need a controller use an existing Xbox/PS4 controller.

Anyone know if these run rocksmith smooth?

a pity the don't have normal audio out.

also why no USB 3 on the front and so few in general considering there is plenty of space

I'd say this is a great machine for people who want respectable PC gaming (roughly PS4 performance, depending on how well the title is optimised) at a decent price, in a quiet small form design.

Big question I had to ask myself was whether or not I was planning to upgrade to a GTX1070 or equivalent in the next year and as the answer was "Yes" I didn't buy this unit in the end.

Graphics card might be low, but dont forget that this is streamlined to work with steam on the steamOS so its very efficient, unlike a standard windows pc.

heh. A "powerful gaming machine" will have a GFX card that costs more than this whole machine.

And a repost too

You're not going to get much out of that and it won't be particularly future proof at this point either.

It's a great deal, let down only for lack of an SSD. Windows 10 keys can be picked up quite cheaply