Abducting Skylake
It was three years ago to the day that we posted our review of Dell's Alienware X51 PC game console to the website, which we called "impressively powerful for its size." That was true at the time, though in the fast moving world of technology, the system's Core i5-2320 CPU paired with a GeForce GTX 555 graphics card is nothing to get excited over today.
Of course, there have been updates to the Alienware X51 since then, and as of right now, you can configure one with a Skylake processor inside. It's one of a handful of upgrades Dell announced today.
Along with Skylake comes DDR4 memory options. You also have access to new M.2 PCI-E SSDs, two USB 3.1 ports (paired with two USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 ports), and of course Windows 10, which launched to the public on July 29.
In addition to unlocked 6th Generation Core i5 and Core i7 processor options and an upgraded foundation, you can opt for a custom liquid solution for lower noise and potentially better overclocking performance, Dell says.
There's also support for the Alienware Graphics Amplifier, which might be the most intriguing upgrade option of the bunch. Likely due to its size and thermal restrictions, the Alienware X51's pre-installed graphics card options are rather sparse and uninspiring, topping out at with a GeForce GTX 960. But with the Alienware Graphics Amplifier plugged into the X51, you can use a higher end graphics card like the Titan X, which Dell says will more than double the performance over the highest end X51 configuration.
The Alienware Graphics Amplifier is really intended for laptops, though in this case, the pitch from Dell is that you can use it to open the door to 4K gaming.
Dell's retooled Alienware X51 is available now.
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