Alienware's Area 51 class of gaming PCs is usually huge monsters of performance; dominating towers of shiny color and glowing coolant systems. Not so their Area 51 5300 series. In a small box about eight inches by seven inches and a little over a foot deep, Alienware has managed to pack in excellent gaming performance and make it a budget system as well.

Starting around a grand--a rarity for gaming system manufacturers--you'll be pleased with the baseline components on the 5300. You do have to cut a few corners to get a gaming system's price down that low, and unfortunately, those corners were cut with the power core and graphics.

The low-end processor is an Intel Celeron D running at 2.53GHz. The numbers are good for most applications, but gamers might want a full-fledged Pentium 4 or Athlon processor. You can upgrade to the 2.8GHz P4 with Hyper Threading technology, or bump up to the 3.0GHz P4. For the ultimate in processor power, you can move up to a 3.8GHz Pentium 4, but that will add a hefty $555 to the price tag.

Memory starts out at only 256MB. While it's good 400MHz low-latency RAM, it's not enough for the average gamer. You can double it up to 512MB for $39 or take it up to 1GB for $104.

But the more serious affront to gaming performance is the default graphics board. At baseline, the 5300 has integrated graphics, the bane of 3-D games. However, the compact 5300's frame holds a PCI Express slot, so you can add one of today's fastest graphics boards to the inside. An $86 upgrade will get you the ATI Radeon X300 with 128MB of dedicated video memory. For cutting edge gaming performance, you can also opt for the Nvidia GeForce 6800 GT with 256MB of video memory and a $470 price tag that will add 50 percent to the cost of your system.

Okay, so you'll want to make a few key upgrades to the system core to make it a respectable gaming machine. How do the rest of the components look? Pretty good, actually.

There's an 80GB Seagate Barracuda hard drive that spins at 7,200 rpm and offers a good amount of storage space. If you need even more room, you can double it to 160GB for only $49 or take it up to a whopping 250GB for $96. Or, if you need a faster 10,000 rpm drive, you can opt for a smaller but swifter 36.7GB Western Digital Raptor for $66.

The optical drive is a 52X/32X/52X CD-RW drive that will burn audio and data CDs at the fastest speeds currently available. If you want the capability of creating your own DVDs, a 16X dual layer DVD+/-RW drive can be had for $58 extra.

The optical drive is hidden behind a panel on the seamless front of the tower--pressing a button unveils the drive. There's also a panel at the bottom of the tower front--opening it reveals two USB ports and a Firewire port for connecting high-speed peripherals easily as well as headphone and microphone jacks for hooking up audio equipment. The interior of the small chassis is cooled via liquid convection and a small fan, so the noise level of the 5300 is quite low.

Like the default graphics, audio is integrated on the 5300. Although you can't upgrade it, the integrated sound does offer six-channel output via SPDIF and coaxial. Speakers aren't included with the 5300; you can add on a basic set of Logitech X-530 5.1's for $65 or step up to higher wattage with the Z-5300e's for $160.

A monitor is also not part of the baseline price. If you need one from Alienware, you can opt for a standard black 15-inch CRT from ViewSonic for $127 or a 15-inch BenQ LCD for $205. Your best value is probably the 17-inch BenQ LCD for $240--giving you a large LCD screen that fits with the compact nature of the rest of the 5300.

There's no modem in the 5300 and adding one will bring up the price by $67, but the integrated gigabit Ethernet network interface provides a fast connection to broadband modems or high-speed networks.

The 5300 starts out with a basic Microsoft keyboard and an optical mouse, both black. If you want more at your fingertips, you can upgrade to the Microsoft Multimedia Keyboard for $29 or a Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer for $40.

Alienware includes a one-year warranty on the 5300 line with 24/7 toll-free phone support and on-site service, and you can increase the length for additional fees. Two years of coverage will run you $195, while taking it up to three years adds $265.

The Alienware Area 51 5300 has a great starting price. While most users will want to add a few key components to make it a better gaming performer, it still ends up being nicely priced for such a well-designed and compact system.

Pro: Nice price, compact design
Con: Some upgrades necessary

Warranty
1-year limited