Alienware X51 gaming PC

I have had mine about a week. While I will not disagree completely with this review, there are a few things that I will speak to.

I have seen a few reviews that mention "some noise". Personally, I think this system has one of the quietest running setups I have heard in a long time. I don't believe I could build anything on my own that was as quiet. This is, at least in part, due to the power supply being external (something I thought was a ridiculous idea to begin with, but more on this later).

The power the system puts out is amazing for it's size and will rival just about any "of the shelf" computer you can buy. My system is running the GeForce GTX 660 with the i5 Quad (no hyperthreading) and 16GB ram. Speed without a lot of heat. (again, think power supply)

This system is roughly the size of a 1st gen Xbox360, but in my mind more powerful and versatile. Again, small size is due to the external power supply.

And since I keep mentioning it, that ridiculous idea of an external power supply for a PC?? Yeah, not as bad as I thought. It helps keep noise down, keeps the heat output down (a 330w ps not in the same box as all other btu producing parts) and being as it is external, will pop long before the power surge gets to the box itself, possibly saving other parts. The only drawback is the size of the PS, but if you are using anything decent of a desk, it will easily hide behind or under it, and therefore, no problem.

THE ONLY real drawback of this system I have found is the lack of ability to put another hard drive in. You simply cannot. USB external is the only way to achieve this. I will likely be doing this, as this thing can be a great media server as well as gaming PC with the power it has.

All in all, if you can't, or don't feel like it building your own mediumhigh to high quality gaming rig, check this baby out. You will probably be glad you did.