Pop open the right-side door, and you'll have access to the installed 2TB SATA hard drive (the 1TB M.2 SSD boot drive is installed on the motherboard). All four DIMM slots on the motherboard are filled with 32GB of RAM, plenty for the life of the PC. There is a spare PCIe x16 slot and a PCIe x4 slot on the motherboard for future expansion, but I don't think you'll need it for years (if at all). The interior cavity has room for up to three graphics cards. The left case doors open by pulling a top-mounted latch. It was just as quiet as the MSI Aegis Ti3, which automatically shuts down its fans to combat noise. As a result of the efficient airflow, the fans barely speed up to an audible level, even when running our benchmark tests. Read Our Digital Storm Velox (Core i7-7700K) ReviewĬool air flows into the front of the PC, passes over internal coolers for the CPU and GPUs, and hot air exits the back. Thankfully, there's a handle built into each corner of the chassis to help you reposition its 62-pound bulk. The bottom line is: You'll have to make some room for this irregularly shaped monolith.
The gargantuan Asus ROG GT51 is a hair taller, but slightly slimmer and shallower (23.1 by 10.31 by 23), and the blocky HP Omen X is almost twice as wide (20.3 by 19.9 by 16). It measures 22.4 by 10.75 by 25 inches (HWD), dwarfing towers like the Origin Neuron (17.8 by 9 by 15.7 inches) and Velocity Micro Raptor Z95 (17.5 by 7.25 by 20.5) in all dimensions. The domed left- and right-side panels are silver, while the back and front panels are black plastic with slats for cooling. Instead of the classic rectangular box of most desktop PCs, the system is an irregular hexagon, with three short sides and three longer sides. The design is unchanged from its 2015 version. The Area-51 Threadripper Edition's frame is metal, and it's clad in molded plastic panels. Competitors like the Velocity Micro Raptor Z95 and the Origin Neuron are better for multimedia projects and gaming, respectively, and the Neuron is significantly less expensive.
The problem is, it's very pricey as configured, and aside from one very specific test, it's not the fastest PC we've tested. Wrapped in an unconventional triangular tower, it's priced and positioned as a high-end gaming desktop. The Alienware Area-51 Threadripper Edition (starts at $2,399 $5,919 as tested) is so equipped, tackles multimedia tasks quickly, and delivers smooth 4K gameplay.