Anyone have the new Aurora ALX system?

Hi all,   I have a buddy that got his yesterday. I got to see it today and I must say the case change is pretty cool. It looks much better than the old style case.He got the Area 51. Mainly for looks and the size.He got the 2.66 ghz prosessor and planning to OC. Says it will OC to 0ver 3.6 ghz.,in return saved a lot of money.He also got the GTX 285 video card,and will purchase another one from Newegg for about $325 (maybe lower if nvidea comes out with there new cards sooner) saving $200 from dell.He got the memory that came with it (6GB at 1066mhz)but is planning on purchasing 1300 or 1600 mhz ram from newegg for a fraction of the cost.I priced the ram and found 1600mhz ram for as little as $100 FOR 2 gb.tHIS IS A SAVINGS OF HUNDREDS of dollars.He is benchmarking now.His cost was around $2000 or so.Food for thought.

I'm really reluctant to start thinking about overclocking until

A. I see how the machine runs out of the box.

B. I get to take a look inside.

Big props to dell for including the theatre lighting.  I know it's an alienware machine but it's nice they didn't take a feature most people wouldn't care about out.
I'm really thinking my aurora is going to be beast, especialy since i'm using a laptop as a desktop right now (A nice laptop though, also a dell.)

Running out of money isn't a big deal, that setup is fine for everything that is out and everything that will come out in the foreseable future.

Thank you Alexr16. I am still kicking myself now because the area 51 was not even a option when I submited my order. Then it poped out of nowwhere and if I use all the same features and pop it into a area 51 base model it is the same price. But I had not control over this as it was not even exist or was not a option at the time. My Aurora alx system is in production now and  it should be shipping out Nov 3.

I was much more fortunate then you.

I had a XPS 730 system that cost 600 dollars more, but it was delayed over 2 months, so i was able to cancel it.  By the time i did so, the line was no longer offered, and i got the alienware with better specs for less money.

Still, your computer is going to last you for a long time, don't stress about it.

Alienwares are not Overclockable, thats why you have an option for pre overclocked cpus.

I don't know where you pulled that piece of info out of, but Alienwares are definitely overclockable.

The overclock options that they give you when you build are for those that are unsure of overclocking their system and want a professional to do it for them.

But the Alienware BIOS is unlocked. 

Did you overclock yours?

Just to make it perfectly clear to everyone in this thread....the Auroras do NOT overclock. They claim they have an unlocked bios, but that is just to get high end enthusiast to buy them. You can make a few changes in the bios, but if you do the computer will not boot. The models that come pre-overclocked have a preset setting in the bios that allows only that overclock...if you try to change it, once again the computer will not boot. This is Dell's way of making sure nobody fries their processor I guess, but it is very misleading to advertise an unlocked bios and then sell computers that won't boot once you make any changes. I am not a novice...I build custom computers for a living. I have a few customers with more money than brains that wanted the Alienware name and look. So I told them I would order the basic systems and upgrade them myself and save them a few thousand dollars. i7 920s are one of the best overclocking processors ever made, and when paired with a quality MB and Ram they can easily hit 4.0ghz on air at very safe voltages.  In fact I have never had a i7 920 that wouldn't easily  to 4.0ghz out of 100s of systems I have built with them. With the terrible bios and motherboard in these Auroras I can't even get them to overclock to 3.0 and remain stable. Everyone is having the same problem (see the thread I started in the Alienware forum). And this is after I replaced the cheapo samsung value ram it shipped with to OCZ Platinum 1600mhz ram. So it is too late for those of you who have already purchased, but for anyone else considering these I would not recommend them, unless you think the name and case of Alienware is worth wasting $1000s on. And for those of you considering getting the 975 overclocked to 3.6 or 3.8, keep in mind any decent system builder can overclock a 920 to much higher levels than that and save you $1000. The bottom line is Dell has turned Alienware into the xps line with a fancy case. They are NOT using gaming enthusiast hardware other than some of the video cards. The MBs, memory, power supplies, and hard drives are all cheap mainstream level stuff at best. Now I have to try to explain to my customers why their expensive new Alienwares don't perform nearly as well as computers I build for half that price. Thanks a lot, Dell.

Yeah, I ran into the exact same problem as doug.l did.
My old m9700 suddenly did not work anymore, so I decided to order one of that sweet new desktop systems - and that was the Aurora ALX.
I did not even think of waiting some additional days 'til the Area-51 got released...now, I really could kick myself too.
My Aurora is in production for about 3 weeks, and I really can't alter anything now - yet I hope, I'll get a reliable, fast system, though.
That's life :)

About a month ago, I was helping my brother decide beweeen these 4 systems. Seems like a list or chart would be helpful, so I compiled this.

Aurora
Large power supply (option)
Fan cooling
Only 2 PCIe slots (Micro-ATX)
Basic gravity- front drive door

Aurora ALX
Large power supply (standard)
Liquid Cooling (with case-top active louver vents)
Only 2 PCIe slots (Micro-ATX)
Hydraulic effect- front drive door

Area 51
Extra Large (1.1kw) power supply (option)
Liquid Cooling (solid case-top)
More than 2 PCIe slots (ATX)
Basic gravity- front drive door
Basic outer case (steel and/or plastic)

Area 51 – ALX
Extra Large (1.1kw) power supply (standard)
Liquid Cooling (with case-top active louver vents)
More than 2 PCIe slots (ATX)
Hydraulic effect- front drive door
Aluminum outer case

Using the config tool this all made sense. The Aurora ALX was much more expensive than the plain Aurora (with the same options) because it had liquid cooling. The Area51 ALX was more expensive than the plain Area 51 because of the case and it was "loaded" and could not have downgraded options (but both had liquid cooling).

However, as I use the config tool today, it says both Auroras have "High Performance Liquid Cooling" so who knows (true or mis-print)?

Hopefully, someone that has actually seen these machines in person can provide a verified list. I'm basically just trying to nail-down the non-configurable options to help people be able to find the proper base model (and then you can pick your options from there).