Should i ditch my Gaming Desktop?

[adamsgame62]

I have an Alienware x51 desktop. i installed an 128gb SSD to run my windows 10 os. i also have a 2tb external hd as well as the internal 1tb drive. i do most of my gaming and web browsing at home but i want to declutter my desk and possibly upgrade to a newer system. Do you think i should ditch my desktop (what should i do with it?) and go with maybe one of the new dell g7 gaming laoptops or stick with what i got?

 

[xandros9]

What specs does it have? I'm reluctant to automatically recommend that it be kept, replaced, etc. without much information. Because if it works fine, keeping it would probably be best.

 

[adamsgame62]

intel i7 3770-cpu 3.40ghz
16gb ram

 

[beman39]

intel i7 3770-cpu 3.40ghz
16gb ram

need a little more info.. what video card is inside? what I would do is upgrade your video card if its an old one... that could make it like new again... also try updating your screen... try getting a 4K version and you will be more than happy I'm sure. your games are gonna POP!

 

[xandros9]

intel i7 3770-cpu 3.40ghz
16gb ram

I concur with adamsgame62, that is still very competent by today's standards. I have a 2nd gen i5 in a desktop and the 2012-era graphics card is still the bottleneck for many games. (e.g. the latest Deus Ex game)

 

[adamsgame62]

Nvidia GTX 660

 

[adamsgame62]

Also whats a good upgrade for the video card that would actually fit in my machine?

 

[Golfdriver97]

If the goal is to declutter the desk, can the work area be rearranged so that the unit can go closer to the floor?

 

[midnightfrolic]

if desktop is over 4years, might want to save up money to build new gaming rig imo. or prebuilt system.

having a clutter free computing area is a must. I'd put the desktop on a separate small stand or the floor. tie up those cables with Velcro cable organizers. get standing verticle trays to organize your paperwork. filing cabinet helps.

 

[ochhanz]

Gaming laptops can be bought at good value these days but their real advantages are unused if you just leave them always at the desk. If you only want to declutter your desktop, I suggest to either:
1) just upgrade the gpu and if needed the psu (if the current psu is to weak or if you get power failures, often good psu's gold or above certified have a lifetime of 7 or more years and factory assurance of 5-7 years) and place the desktop somewhere on the ground.
2) buy a mini-itx case (around ~30-75 bucks) and either find a motherboard that supports your current cpu or buy also a new cpu & motherboard (AMD newest Ryzen cpu's are good bang for buck now) and buy a new gpu (e.g. rx 570 / 580 or 1060 / 1070 gtx) and possible psu (see first point).

Gaming laptops main disadvantage in my opinion is that with most (gaming) laptops when one part breaks or if you want to upgrade, you sometimes have to replace other parts too or even buy a whole new laptop. While mini-itx desktops are a good middle approach (with almost all the advantages of a full desktop tower) and can be more budget friendly too.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Gaming laptops can be bought at good value these days but their real advantages are unused if you just leave them always at the desk. If you only want to declutter your desktop, I suggest to either:
1) just upgrade the gpu and if needed the psu (if the current psu is to weak or if you get power failures, often good psu's gold or above certified have a lifetime of 7 or more years and factory assurance of 5-7 years) and place the desktop somewhere on the ground.
2) buy a mini-itx case (around ~30-75 bucks) and either find a motherboard that supports your current cpu or buy also a new cpu & motherboard (AMD newest Ryzen cpu's are good bang for buck now) and buy a new gpu (e.g. rx 570 / 580 or 1060 / 1070 gtx) and possible psu (see first point).

Gaming laptops main disadvantage in my opinion is that with most (gaming) laptops when one part breaks or if you want to upgrade, you sometimes have to replace other parts too or even buy a whole new laptop. While mini-itx desktops are a good middle approach (with almost all the advantages of a full desktop tower) and can be more budget friendly too.

Slimming the footprint of the case is a good idea, however, from my recent shopping of PC parts, while the case is relatively inexpensive, the boards can get very expensive and quite quickly.

Mini ITX cases can also have some breathing issues, depending on the case.

 

[ochhanz]

Slimming the footprint of the case is a good idea, however, from my recent shopping of PC parts, while the case is relatively inexpensive, the boards can get very expensive and quite quickly.

Mini ITX cases can also have some breathing issues, depending on the case.

, micro-atx/mini-itx tower like cases don't have those issues, since they most often are big enough to support an normal/atx psu and big gpu's.

Only with the smaller cases the psu can get expensive and only if you really need a lot of power (>500 Watt). I bought my mini-itx gaming mobo with wifi for 100 euro (including taxes) and for the psu I choose a ~450 Watt gold & modular corsair (80 euro including taxes). All the other parts are similar to atx form factor in price, except for possible the gpu if you choose low profile (which I personally did for the 1050 Ti though it was only 10 bucks more expensive so not to bad ). Concerning heat, it really depends on the case. If it is more htpc or console sized like (/not tower like), I would suggest to stick to good mid-end gpu's (1050Ti, 1060, rx460/470/480, etc) so they don't generate to much heat, and not e.g. put a 1080Ti in it (though most likely that won't fit than anyway ).

 

[Golfdriver97]

micro-atx/mini-itx tower like cases don't have those issues

Some do, since there is little to no front ventilation. Almost all of those cases would be fine for an average PC user, i.e. browsing the net, emails, etc. But once you want to introduce a GPU and a resource intensive game, you would want all the airflow you can get.

Overall, shifting from a desktop PC to a laptop would be counter productive. In order to get the same components in a laptop, they usually suffer in performance.

As for the Alienware....I think I found it on Dell's site. It looks like there is a mobile processor in one of the motherboards (there are 2, with a very small CPU fan, making me think it's a mobile CPU). I think almost any kind of micro ATX PC case would be a better investment than getting a laptop.