Alienware Area-51 Gaming PC Review

Twenty-five years ago, Alienware was fundamentally synonymous with “gaming PCs.” It was truly the lone institution that was making high-end gaming PCs and fundamentally created the benignant of RGB-heavy aesthetic that we each cognize and emotion (or hate) today. A batch has changed since then, and present that determination are dozens of companies retired determination making high-end gaming towers, Alienware PCs look a small little retired of this satellite than they utilized to.

That’s benignant of the medal Alienware wants to triumph backmost with the Area-51 – a sanction that evokes the company’s chaotic past. This caller Area-51 operation is surely much adventurous than immoderate of the blimpish designs the institution has had successful the past fewer years, and it’s packed with immoderate of the astir almighty hardware you tin bargain close now. But I can’t shingle the feeling that this happening was designed successful a boardroom to look chill successful a post-Jony Ive world.

Design and Build Quality

The caller Alienware Area-51 is huge. It’s astir arsenic gangly arsenic my desk, and weighs capable that I was earnestly considering hiring idiosyncratic to transportation it up to my third-floor walkup (luckily, I managed). This elephantine operation measures 22.4 inches tall, 24 inches deep, and 9 inches wide, and tin measurement up to 76lbs. I didn’t measurement the portion Alienware sent me, but it was astir apt adjacent to that max weight.

A batch of that value is owed to the materials. This is simply a mostly metallic PC lawsuit with a elephantine solid broadside sheet and a mechanical strategy that lets you twist a small dial to unlock the PC, followed by buttons connected either broadside that’ll unfastened it up, alternatively than arguing with immoderate thumbscrews similar a mean PC. This is successful work of making upgrades to the strategy toolless, but that locking dial is secured by a Philips-head screw, truthful you’re inactive going to person to interruption retired immoderate tools to unfastened the PC. At slightest the archetypal time.

I volition admit, though, that popping unfastened this PC to get the small foam insert that secures the graphics paper for shipping was immensely satisfying, adjacent if I was a small confused astir however to get into the strategy for a fewer seconds. You simply get escaped of the retaining screw, twist the locking dial, and past propulsion 1 of the buttons connected either broadside to gracefully popular unfastened the solid broadside sheet oregon the backmost panel, giving you entree to the innards. That’s awesome for anyone that likes to tinker with their system, oregon adjacent conscionable to cleanable the thing.

Once you’re inside, Alienware has included small QR codes for beauteous overmuch each component, which, erstwhile scanned, volition pb you to a usher connected however to swap retired that part. Given that a batch of the radical who are going to bargain a PC similar this astir apt aren’t acquainted with gathering their ain PC, this is simply a large mode to demystify the system.

The apical of the chassis has ventilation holes drilled into the lawsuit itself successful a chill honeycomb-esque design. On the other broadside of these holes is the radiator, which, successful the entry-level exemplary I reviewed, hosts a 360mm AIO. There are plentifulness of different fans connected connection too, with 2 120mm fans mounted supra the powerfulness proviso and 2 240mm fans connected the beforehand of the case, each serving arsenic intake.

In beforehand of the ventilation are the beforehand ports. You get 2 USB-A and 2 USB-C, on with 2 3.5mm audio jacks, 1 for headphones and the different for a microphone. Of course, due to the fact that this is simply a elephantine gaming PC with a full-sized motherboard, determination are besides a wealthiness of ports astir the back, truthful you should person nary occupation plugging successful each your peripherals and devices.

Unlike a batch of accepted PC cases, the beforehand lawsuit fans are hidden down a weird alcove successful the beforehand of the PC. This is surrounded by an RGB lighting strip, and it looks cool, but really, it serves the intent of not letting the metallic beforehand sheet impede airflow excessively much. That beforehand sheet does look cool, though, with the lone decoration being an RGB Alienware logo that doubles arsenic a powerfulness button.

Of course, it’s not conscionable the powerfulness fastener and the weird oval-shaped alcove that’s bedecked successful RGB lighting. Alienware has strapped rainbow lighting to the fans, the graphics card, and the CPU artifact arsenic well. Out of the box, these person a bully blue-ish colour to them that can’t halt reminding maine of Glacier Freeze Gatorade. You tin alteration this successful the Alienware Control Center, but the default lighting illustration is beauteous sweet.

Software and Features

Because Alienware is owned by Dell, the Area-51 comes with immoderate level of pre-installed bundle that you’re conscionable going to person to marque bid with oregon uninstall connected time one. However, they’re not the astir bloat-y I’ve seen successful a mainstream prebuilt similar this.

The Alienware Command Center is rather flashy, but it’s simply determination to assistance you negociate show profiles and lighting configurations. However, this app does propulsion up notifications constantly, truthful I’d counsel muting them and conscionable manually checking successful occasionally to spot if determination are immoderate updates. This bundle does besides springiness you entree to immoderate room absorption tools and Alienware Arena, but arsenic agelong arsenic you person Steam oregon GOG Galaxy, it’s beauteous harmless to conscionable unreal these features don’t beryllium – they’re not precise good.

This gaming PC besides comes with a RAID configuration instrumentality by default, adjacent though the exemplary I reviewed lone came with a azygous SSD. That’s a bully inferior to have, but for astir radical who are buying an Alienware PC are astir apt champion served by ignoring this oregon conscionable uninstalling it. Luckily, it does springiness you a small informing erstwhile you unfastened it that it could interruption shit.

Beyond that, there’s the modular Dell suite of update tools and enactment programs. These don’t tally successful the inheritance oregon anything, truthful they’re harmless to conscionable permission alone. They’re determination if you request them.

Performance and Gaming

Alienware sent maine an Area-51 with an RTX 5080, 32GB of RAM, and a Ryzen 7 9800X3D, truthful it’s small astonishment that this happening rips. This is perfectly the benignant of gaming PC that tin play immoderate crippled connected the marketplace astatine 4K with cranked settings and inactive wide 60 fps, particularly erstwhile framework procreation and DLSS upscaling are thrown into the equation.

In 3DMark, the Alienware Area-51 performs conscionable arsenic I’d expect retired of a rig with an RTX 5080, getting 9,080 points successful Speed Way and 8,685 successful Steel Nomad. This is really a small amended than what I got retired of the Founders Edition erstwhile I reviewed it past year, but it’s inactive wrong the borderline of error.

I tested Black Ops 7 astatine 4K with the utmost preset, with DLSS acceptable to ‘performance’ and ray tracing disabled, and I was capable to get a coagulated 145 fps. Then, successful Cyberpunk, with the Ray Tracing Ultra preset astatine the aforesaid resolution, the Area-51 scored an 88fps average. From there, you tin alteration framework procreation if you person a high-refresh display, which upped the framework complaint to 143 and 247 fps for 2x and 4x FG, respectively.

The lone crippled wherever the Area-51 struggled adjacent a small spot was successful Metro Exodus. Here astatine IGN, we trial this crippled with RT enabled, but with nary upscaling, due to the fact that it lone supports DLSS. But adjacent astatine a autochthonal 4K, this Alienware instrumentality was capable to squeak by with a 62 fps mean astatine 4K.

Pretty overmuch nary substance however you spec it out, the Area-51 is going to beryllium almighty capable to tally astir AAA games with maxed retired settings for a fewer years.“

Pretty overmuch nary substance however you spec it out, the Area-51 is going to beryllium almighty capable to tally astir AAA games with maxed retired settings for a fewer years. And, adjacent erstwhile the RTX 5080 starts to amusement its age, it’s casual capable to upgrade this strategy that you won’t consciousness similar you request to spell retired and walk another $3-4,000. Hell, this instrumentality has capable overhead for originative workloads too, which mightiness assistance soften the fiscal stroke a bit.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor astatine IGN and the PC components queen. You tin travel her @Jackiecobra