this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2024
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Alienware are widely considered bad, if not actively dangerous due to major ventilation issues.
Third the motion. Alienare is notorious overpriced, too.
How is Asus these days? They also tend to me expensive but have a better rep.
Gamers Nexus also took a look at an alienware a while ago and found that the front panel IO was built onto the weird non-rectangular motherboard. He called it "The Worst Pre-Built We've Ever Reviewed"
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Somewhere between "dog shit" and "fire hazard." Their enthusiast-grade boards have been burning holes in CPU dies at "safe" default settings, and they released a string of faulty BIOS updates that made the issue worse. Gigabyte had some similar problems last year.
Strangely enough, Asrock Taichi [including Taichi-lite] boards are probably the best you can get for AM5 right now. I have a pair of older Asrock Velocita boards that I used for AM4 builds for my family last year, and those worked out pretty well as a budget-ish option. Either way, "Asrock" and "reliable" in the same sentence is still a little jarring when I think back to stuff I built in the 00s.
Ventilation/Cooling is a major problem with a lot of these prebuilt gaming pcs from the bigger brands. But if you can get them for a good price on sale, it's worth it and then swap the case and add more fans. I bought an Acer gaming pc on sale a few years ago, swapping the case wasn't difficult since motherboards are pretty standard size. I'm happy with my purchase, I'm not a big gamer but it runs all the games I've tried smoothly.
meanwhile at Alienware:
Premades from the big companies absolutely don't tend to use standard parts. They often don't even use standard cables
I love the smell of molten plastic in the morning.