Acer Veriton X4620g vs. Alienware Area 51 R5
Comparison and Differences
Differences between Acer Veriton X4620g and Alienware Area 51 R5
If you are looking for a more modern desktop, then you should go with the Alienware Area 51 R5 which was released in 2015. The Acer Veriton X4620g is older and entered production in 2013.
If you are looking for the smaller form factor the Acer Veriton X4620g is the right one for you. It is smaller than the Alienware Area 51 R5 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 Alienware Area 51 R5 as it is running a newer generation CPU. This is not to say that Acer Veriton X4620g is bad - it can still run some powerful CPUs, albeit being an older generation.
Memory
The Alienware Area 51 R5 has 4 RAM slots while the Acer Veriton X4620g 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 Alienware Area 51 R5 is using the faster 3200 MT/s RAM. The Acer Veriton X4620g 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 Alienware Area 51 R5 as it has the ability to run 64 GB of RAM. The Acer Veriton X4620g can do a bit less at max 16 GB. Most of the times, this should be sufficient for the majority of users.
Ports
In total the Alienware Area 51 R5 has 13 USB ports. The Acer Veriton X4620g is inferior in this regard and packs 8 USB ports. In any case, if you miss USB ports, you can always purchase a USB hub. What is nice about the Alienware Area 51 R5, is that it has 2 USB 3.1 port(s) which allows transfer of up to 10Gb/s. Unfortunately, the Acer Veriton X4620g 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 X4620g has a DisplayPort. The Alienware Area 51 R5 does not have one? Don't worry though, nowadays video adapters are cheap and you can get almost any combination of conversion types.
None of the models has an HDMI port. If your monitor supports only the HDMI interface, you will need to buy an adapter. Such adapters are cheap so nothing to worry about.
SATA slots are located on the motherboard and it is where SSD, HDD and Optical Disk Drives are connected. Each of the two models being compared have 4 SATA slot(s). Keep in mind that having too few SATA slots might limit your options for connecting additional memory drives.
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 Alienware Area 51 R5. Sadly, the Acer Veriton X4620g 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 Acer Veriton X4620g comes with a decent 220 Watt PSU, but the Alienware Area 51 R5 has a more powerful one rated at 1500 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
