Acer Veriton M6690g vs. Alienware X51

Differences between Acer Veriton M6690g and Alienware X51

If you are looking for a more modern desktop, then you should go with the Acer Veriton M6690g which was released in 2022. The Alienware X51 is older and entered production in 2011.

If you are looking for the smaller form factor the Alienware X51 is the right one for you. It is smaller than the Acer Veriton M6690g and will fit more easily under your desk.

Processor

Usually the newer the generation of the CPU, the better the performance and efficiency is. If your budget allows it, you should go with the Acer Veriton M6690g as it is running a newer generation CPU. This is not to say that Alienware X51 is bad - it can still run some powerful CPUs, albeit being an older generation.

Memory

The Acer Veriton M6690g has 4 RAM slots while the Alienware X51 has only 2 slot(s). This is not something to worry about. Just make sure you take it into consideration when planning how much RAM you are going to use.

The Acer Veriton M6690g is using the faster 3200 MT/s RAM. The Alienware X51 is slower by supporting RAM speeds of up to 1333 MT/s. Additionally, if you will be needing a lot of RAM, better go for the Acer Veriton M6690g as it has the ability to run 128 GB of RAM. The Alienware X51 can do a bit less at max 8 GB. Most of the times, this should be sufficient for the majority of users.

Ports

Both models have the same amount of USB ports for total count of 8. If this is not enough, using a USB hub is always a viable option. What is nice about the Acer Veriton M6690g, is that it has 2 USB 3.1 port(s) which allows transfer of up to 10Gb/s. Unfortunately, the Alienware X51 has no such port, thus restricting your transfer speeds significantly. For people who want to use external drives on regular basis, this might be an issue.

Unfortunately, only the Acer Veriton M6690g has a DisplayPort. The Alienware X51 does not have one? Don't worry though, nowadays video adapters are cheap and you can get almost any combination of conversion types.

In case your monitor supports HDMI only, you will be happy to hear that both models come with an HDMI port.

SATA ports are placed on the system board and it is where you connect your HDD, SSD and Optical Disk Drives. More SATA slots will allow you to have more drives running at the same time. In this regard the Acer Veriton M6690g is better equipped as it comes with 5 SATA slot(s), while the Alienware X51 has 4 slot(s).

If you want the fastest transfer speeds for your SSD, an M.2 interface is crucial. Thus, if the M.2 SSD slot is a mandatory requirement for you, go with the Acer Veriton M6690g. Sadly, the Alienware X51 has no such slot, and you will be forced to use the SATA interface instead.

Make sure that the available M.2 slot supports the PCIe (also called NVMe) interface. This is important as there are M.2 slots which support only the inferior SATA III interface. For comparison, the SATA III interface has max speeds of 6Gb/s, while the PCIe 3.0 x4 will support speeds up to 32Gb/s!

Power Supply

Having a Power Supply Unit with high power rating is important, if you are going to use components which require extra power. The Alienware X51 comes with a decent 330 Watt PSU, but the Acer Veriton M6690g has a more powerful one rated at 500 Watts. Choosing either one depends on your specific requirements and use case. Also don't forget that some models might have more than one PSU option - try to always get the most powerful one, especially if you plan to upgrade to a powerful GPU.

Motherboard