Dell Alienware X51, SFF PC Gaming Refined
Test Setup and SANDRA
Test System Configuration Notes: All of the test systems in this article were factory-built machines that we tested exactly as they were setup from the factory, with a few small exceptions. We ensured that Windows 7 power plans were set to high performance and that system sleep or hibernate settings were turned off, as well as screen savers. Also, systems allowed to pull down any/all Windows updates for the hardware and software enabled on the machines. From there, we installed all benchmark and game software and then hard drives were defragmented. The systems were then rebooted and we commenced with all testing.
**Note: We'll point out that the reference numbers we're comparing the Alienware X51's performance to were taken from full-sized multimedia and gaming desktop systems. Other than the X51, the rest of our test systems are full- or mid-ATX towers.
**Note: We'll point out that the reference numbers we're comparing the Alienware X51's performance to were taken from full-sized multimedia and gaming desktop systems. Other than the X51, the rest of our test systems are full- or mid-ATX towers.
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| Alienware X51: Core i5-2320 3GHz 8GB Dual Channel DDR3-1333 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 555 1TB WD 7200RPM HD 6Gbps 330 Watt PSU Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit |
Dell XPS 8300: Core i7-2600 3.4GHz 8GB Dual Channel DDR3-1333 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6770 2TB Seagate 7200 RPM HD 6Gbps 460W PSU Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit |
iBuyPower BTS11: Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz 8GB Dual Channel DDR3-1333 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti 750GB WD 7200 RPM HD 6Gbps 700W PSU Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit |
HP Pavilion Elite H8 1050: Core i7-2600 3.4GHz 10GB DDR3-1333 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6850 1.5TB WD 5400RPM HD 3Gbps 460W PSU Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit |
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We began our testing with SiSoftware's SANDRA 2011, the System ANalyzer, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant. We ran four of the built-in subsystem tests that partially comprise the SANDRA 2012 suite with our test systems (CPU Arithmetic, Multimedia, Cache and Memory, and Memory Bandwidth). All of the scores reported below were taken with their processors running at its default settings, with Turbo enabled, and with 8GB of RAM running in dual-channel at 1333MHz.
In terms of raw general compute power, the Core i5-2320 quad core CPU in the Alienware X51 is no match for the Core i7 quad-core processors in the HP and Dell XPS systems. Furthermore it doesn't keep pace with the higher clock speed of the 3.3GHz Core i5-2500K in the iBuyPower system either. However, again, the X51 is built as a gaming system first, so we'll see if this translates to a noticeable deficit beyond these pure synthetic measurements that don't take into account other subsystem performance in the X51.
In terms of storage subsystem bandwidth and memory bandwidth, the Alienware X51 keeps pace with these full-sized machines. The Physical Disk benchmark rates the WD Caviar Blue drive in the X51 at about 105MB/sec on average, just a hair behind the WD 750GB and 2TB Seagate drives found in the iBuyPower and Dell XPS systems. Memory Bandwidth is rated at 17.5GB/s for the X51, right in line with the other 8GB installations but just ahead of the 10GB setup in the HP Pavilion H8.
