Wanted to share my experience building my first PC in one of these old cases to help anyone trying to do the same in the future. If you have one of these cases post it below!

I purchased two P2 cases on fb marketplace after a year of searching. One was incomplete and the other was disgusting. I used parts from both. One is an Alienware Area 51 x58 and the other an Alienware Area 51 750i or 7501.

Sorry for the long post. I'm making a YouTube video for a better visual guide but I haven't put it together yet. Feel free to message me and I'll help where I can. I will add my YouTube link when it's finished.

Disassembly is straightforward but take lots of pictures. All leds are labeled and there are only 3 or 4 screw types. If you want to remove the bays you will need to drill the rivets. Keep the power supply bracket. Most cases came with the dip switch led board that can be used with any MB. (Look for 3 small switches). If yours has the software controlled led board then you will probably want to solder the led wires to a modern led controller (I will link a video showing how it's done). The side panel logos and front io light tubes are welded in. Drill just the top of the mounting points off and super glue later.

Picking parts should be easy. Everything is standard atx. Make sure there is enough room for your gpu with the side panel and fan installed. You will probably want to mock it up. (I was able to fit an msi 5080 oc without modification). Power supply has plenty of room as long as you aren't planning a top mount aio.

CPU cooling will be the hardest part. I've heard many tower coolers are too tall to fit. If you want to go with an aio you will have to decide where to mount it. Top mount 240mm is possible if you remove both drive bays, cut a hole for it in the top of the frame and then remove the plastic supports inside the top plastic to create an air channel. Front mount 240 (pictured) will require removing the lower bay, cutting a hole for it and trimming some of the front plastic support. (I used a paper template I made for the mounting holes). A 360mm radiator should fit if you remove all drive bays. I believe a bottom mounted radiator is possible but generally not recommended.

I decided to cut the metal frame of the case to make the side grills functional. This gave me enough room to mount a 140mm intake fan on the back side. I secured the fan to the case with zip ties. Added bonus of being able to see into the case when the panels are on. I left enough of the mounting points for the original front side panel fan so I could still attach a 120mm intake.

Temps are good. I did a 1 hour full system stress test. Gpu temps peaked at 70⁰. CPU temps peaked at 86⁰ but in game at 4k ultra settings it stays around 58-72⁰. Might try to undervolt the cpu eventually.

Parts list: MSI 5080 oc, Ryzen 7 9850x35, x870e tomahawk, 32gb ddr5 trident z5, be quiet 1200w pure power, Samsung 990 pro nvme, be quiet fans.

Build showcase link: r/PCbuild post

My YT video: (coming soon)

YT video showing led wiring and other build tips: YouTube

More pics: imgur

I'm due for an upgrade. I'm still using my Alienware Area-51m laptop with an i9-9900K (stable OC at 4.6 GHz), RTX 2080, and 64 GB of RAM as my primary machine for work (V-Ray, Rhino, Blender, SolidWorks, Adobe apps). Since I got it in 2019 I’ve had no issues, but I did redo all the thermal pads on the GPU and repasted the CPU.

Looking at the 18" Area-51 from Micro Center, all maxed out under $4k. How are they as far as reliability goes? I remember before buying the 51m in 2019 there were so many negative reviews about this model, but after some repasting, undervolting, and new pads it truly is a reliable machine. I can run V-Ray renders for hours with no crashing, all cores locked at 4.2–4.5 GHz. Can I expect the same reliability from the current line of Alienware laptops?

Hey, u/Alienware here. We haven't been at SDCC since 2018. That changes this week. 

If you're in San Diego for Comic Con, find us on the 2nd floor of the Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina in the Alienware Gaming Lounge. Hands-on time with the latest hardware, competitions, exclusive swag, and a shot at winning premium gear. 

Here's what's in the lounge: 

• The Area-51 Gaming Desktop 
• The Alienware 15 Gaming Laptop 
• Pro Series Peripherals built with Team Liquid 
• The new Alienware monitor lineup — more on that below 

It's a big year for Alienware displays, and SDCC 2026 attendees are getting a first look. The Alienware 27 240Hz QD-OLED (AW2726DM) brings premium OLED to a price point that actually makes sense. The Alienware 34 280Hz QD-OLED (AW3426DW) is our iconic ultrawide, made better. And we're giving attendees an exclusive early look at the world's first 39-inch 5K OLED ultrawide with RGB Stripe technology (AW3926QW). If you've been sitting on an upgrade, seeing these in person will probably settle it. 

CourageJD is streaming live from the lounge on Saturday July 25, 4–6PM PT. Jack "CouRage" Dunlop will be live IRL from the Alienware Gaming Lounge at the Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina. Can't make it to San Diego Comic Con? Tune in on YouTube or Twitch for a chance to win an Alienware monitor during the giveaway. 

Now — about Friday July 24 and Saturday July 25. 

A select group of fans inside the Alienware Gaming Lounge will be invited into something. We've seen a lot of brand activations at SDCC. This isn't that. We're not saying more. You need to be there. 

Can't make it to SDCC 2026? Follow Alienware on Instagram and TikTok for real-time coverage all weekend. 

What's the wildest thing you've ever seen a brand pull off at Comic-Con? 
 

Quick reminder: please don't share service tags, serial numbers, or other personal info in the comments.

for some reason the LED Alien on the back of my Alienware X14 is red when the screen is fully open, but when you start to close it - it returns to the alienware FX preset

Hello everyone, I purchased an Alienware 16 Area-51 AA16250 in December of last year. It currently has a 1TB SSD and 32GB of DDR5 RAM. I would appreciate some recommendations on how to maximize the RAM and storage capacity. Regarding the RAM, would you recommend maximizing it to 64 GB or potentially exceeding that? For storage, I am considering 10 TB and would appreciate your suggestions.

I am currently running 3200mhz on this PC. But the RAM kit I have can run up to 3600mhz

The XMP profile in the BIOS is 3466, can I run that? Just asking because I do know on Dell website it says “up to 3200mhz”.

Thank you guys in advance.

Having a hard time finding a copy. Wondering if anyone by some miracle had one lying around!

Idk if i could just get a new card and be chill or if i jave to replace the wires as well

im just wondering what it means and if its anything to be concerned about. it starts blinking every so often, but everything seems nominal otherwise. it hasnt been too much of an issue previously, outside of the anxiety it induced the first few times i saw it.

if theres a comprehensive guide for what it means, please send that to me! the official website didnt seem to have the pattern im seeing on its list... :[

unfortunately, i didnt think to take note of the pattern until today. as i type this, it is flashing: 🔴 🔵🔵🔵🔵 (1 red, 4 blue)

The monitor was turned on for a few hours and when I got back home all the screen was covered in all sort of lines like on those old school TV’s I plugged it out and in and now it’s usable but these lines still remain (look at pictures), what could it be and can it be fixed?

I’ve tried changing the DP ports and with a different HDMI cable but it stays the same.

EDIT: Ran the LCD conditioning for half an hour and that seems to have fixed the problem if anyone runs into the same problem as me, try that out.

I am interested in purchasing the aw2726dm, I have read that this monitor accepts a 2160p input from ps5, I just need a clarification that will Netflix show content in 4k (eventually downscaled to 2k by the monitor) or since it is a 1440p monitor, it will just stream on 1080p.

Also, users of this monitor, can you mention your experience so far

Hi! As the title says, my Alienware A51 laptop is having a screen dimming issue. I’ve tried absolutely everything that the Dell website has said, as well as older Reddit posts from people with the same issue. I truly don’t know what’s going on and I am getting extremely frustrated. I just don’t know what’s going on, why it’s going on, and I don’t know what to do. Any help is appreciated.

Hey just bought a new Aurora 16X and the temperatures seem immensely high even though the cpu is at 15% usage/ negligible gpu usage, should i do anything about this or is it normal, I have no reference since this is the first gaming laptop i have bought

Alienware m15 r5

I recently got a alienware m15 r5 and pretty much instantly the screen broken from dropping a tv remote on it, i am wanting to replace the screen but cannot find any of the 360hz 21mm 40 pin connector lcd screens anywhere. If someone knows if i can swap it to maybe a different one i don’t care for frame rate i have a gaming desktop at home this is mainly for just playing story mode games and madden so 360hz isnt a must any help would be great.

My part number needed “9J5P1”

Computer # “p109f”

I'm struggling to find a setup that will work to swap my AW3821DW Alienware monitor between my desktop PC (4808 Super) and my Macbook Pro (Thunderbolt).

My first attempt was this switch - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GX7NZJD7

But, even with brand new DP 1.4 cables (Amazon Basics) I could not get a video signal to pass through it from my PC to the Monitor. Just zero recognition of it.

I realize the input from the Mac is more complex but one thing at a time I think.

Does anyone have any advice on a KVM that will drive the Alienware monitor?

Thanks in advance!

I have the above laptop that I got April of 2021. It is basically only functional when it is plugged in otherwise it shuts off. Otherwise it is fully functional with only one small blemish on the screen.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can get some money back to scrap it or trade in?

Additionally, my only complaint with this laptop was it's limited storage - anyone have any new and improved recommendations?

Hello, i just bought AW3426DWM.
Before that i had a s19dgf27 and ddm2 was working perfectly for years.
No matter what i do ddm2 won't recognise the new monitor.

I downloaded drivers, i downloaded the alienware software, i pluged the usb b, i deleted ddm2 and reinstalled, i deleted it and downloaded dell pripheral manager. Nothing.
There is no way i can reach to the screen menu everytime i want to change a setting.