Bios

The well known and very capable Award bios (Phoenix), is versatile and a solid choice for overclocking. I'll not delve into the overclocking options right now as i'll be detailing that later in the article. Overall it is a powerful and stable bios and one I wasn't really expecting to find in a Small Form Factor system, it is quite clear that Alienware did research the options before deciding on the base components to build the system.

All options from Hyper Threading to selecting your boot devices are catered for, the award bios also has options to dis/enable system and bios caching, this can sometimes help when troubleshooting.

All hard drive configuration options you could wish for are included with an enhanced SATA mode also being available, Alienware set this up to what I would class as "safe" levels with everything correctly pre-adjusted. You won't find yourself stuck with a non-bootable system when you take it out of the box, someone has actually took the time to set this system up correctly.

 

A nice touch is the use of the "CPU Fan Speed Control System", with this you can let the system automatically adjust fan speed settings with "Smart Fan" (above), or you can manually select, low, medium or full settings if you want to really push it with overclocking. "low" and "medium" are very liveable noise levels, however "full" is aurally quite painful and totally defeats the purpose of an aesthetically pleasing, silent SFF system. You will however appreciate the vast array of options Alienware have left "unlocked" and at your disposal. I found the smart fan setting to be the most proficient, as under 90% of situations fan noise was all but non existent, it was only after gaming in a warm room that fan noise became moderately apparent.

Accessories

For a full range of accessories and additional options with the 5300 model, please visit this page.

When Alienware supplied this system they also bundled in one of their "additional" options, that being a Creative Zen 5GB Mp3/FM Radio player with a very cool Alienware stamp on the rear (above right). Having been an Apple Ipod user for some time I was partially unsure of what to expect, however having used Creative products for many years I knew it would probably sound just as good as the Ipod. Amazing how wrong you can be with preconceptions. Im certainly not an MP3 aficionado however after spending several days with this little gizmo I have given my kid brother the Ipod. It made him very happy and myself equally stunned that even I had fallen foul of Apple's PR machine. So why is it better? Well for a start the sonic ability and headphone quality are just in a different league altogether, whenever I have used an MP3 player I generally disgard the headphones to the top drawer in my computer room. I have actually quite a collection in there now, enough to keep a football team happy on a tour bus. I also didn't need to mess around too much with the EQ settings, wiith "acoustic" giving a great tone for radio and general MP3 playback. Granted the headphones are certainly not the best ive heard but for "in ear" phones they are more than capable of supplying a good listening experience.

The only negative point I will make is the battery, while this is easily charged in a few hours via the USB port of your PC or via a USB style plug socket direct to mains, it only lasts for around 8 hours solid use. Just enough to satisfy my radio needs in work for a day, but for extended trips not really very satisfactory.

For the price conscious amongst you, this will add around £130 to the overall system price.

To round out the system, we also have an Alienware modified Optical Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer USB mouse with proprietary "Alienware" double sided mouse mat. I have detailed this mouse mat in a prior review, but it really is still one of my personal favourites (right up there with the icemat2). Hopefully you can see above (with the aid of flash) the mottled surface of one side, which is complimented by a perfectly smooth counterpart. Its a great addition, works well with all mice I have tried and a professional touch often overlooked by system builders. It is not cordless, but for an additional £40 you can add the MX1000 Laser mouse to the system.

Last, but not least the keyboard of choice is fulfilled by Logitech in the shape of their "Internet Pro" model. No Alienware branding on this, but the sleek black look compliments the overall appearance of the system. There are cordless options available.

 

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