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I do use an Alienware, but its a laptop, which should be the only reason you should consider them. For a desktop system, I home built mine and here is its specs
EVGA 780i
Intel Q6600 Quad Core 2.4ghz
EVGA 8800GTS in SLI
4GB PC2-8500 Cruical Ballistic Tracer ram-running at 1066mhz
Creative Labs Xtremegamer soundcard
2 500GB Seagate Hard drives SATA
1 80GB Maxtor Hard drive IDE
Coolermaster 850 Real Power Pro(Plus 80) Power Supply
Antec 900 Gaming Case
This is my dual boxing system and the reason for the 3rd hard drive is due to running a 3rd account in Lotro. Lotro is very texture intensive and when running 2 directories off one hard drive it made for very sluggish video. Using this old drive I had fixed the problem.
I was able to put this together for under 2000 dollars in Dec 2007 and since that time it has served me well. For a unit from Alienware which when you pull the cover will have some maker like Asus you would pay twice what I paid and get the same thing I have. Really. I have a freind who bought a desktop system and that is what he found on the motherboard when he pulled the cover. Save yourself some dough and build your own. Plus there are many here if you run into issues who would be willing to offer advice.
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I know gateway isn't "cool" but for ~$1200 you get this beast:
i7-920, 64-bit Vista(and free W7 when out), NVIDIA GTX 260 graphics, 9GB DDR3 memory, 750GB hd
http://www.gateway.com/systems/product/529668284.php
And it even doesn't look that bad in real - I was about to build my own and this turned out to be barely more expensive and worth the hassle
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I confess - I just ordered alienware. - It is the laptop though.
My reason - the thing is one big heat sink, most of the other brands cram huge specs into a standard laptop case, and that concerns me - my current laptop runs 4 copies fine, but a 5 it overheats - every time!
I only play WoW so I can't comment on other games but WoW really isn't such a big resource hog, my main machine is only a core2 quad with a GTX260, but I can run 5 copies with decent graphics. The graphics card was an upgrade and really made a big difference, but the CPU's are barely taxed. I run 4GB and it never swaps (I left the swap file turned of by accident so I know this).
My conclusion is that most machines you can buy (unless it's a budget box) will be capable of running 5 WoWs as long as they have a decent graphics card.
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im on the alienware bandwagon personally... After 10+ years of building machines, alienware still has decent deals, especially the fact i can trade in my old junk for 100 to 300 discount on newer equipment if i choose so and they provided payments when i originally needed them serveral years ago before dell bought them out.
I would however not recommend buying any of there towers unless they were doing a special on them, becuase there is a huge different in savings when they do deals.
Not to start a war or anything, but i have priced out machines on Buyxg.com, falcon, ibuypower, cyberpowerpc and they are very comparable to what alienware provides. Alienware are for those who want to pay for the name, and i was on the same boat as this gentleman was, i didnt to make payments, and they provided that functionality with out much of a hassle.
So in a few words, Hope you like it, my next machine from them will be a laptop.
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My 2 cents about power supply, unless you plan on running 4x geforce 295's or similar setup I wouldnt push it past 700-750, theres no way your computer will need that much, I run a i7 920(OCed to 3.6 currently and staying there, had it at 4.2ghz but there is abseloutly no point in running that normaly) with a geforce295 on a 650 myself. And still on the same topic, I would recommend you do a bit of research on the supply and actualy buy a good one. Cheaper ones usualy got a larger margin of waste(not so sure how to explain this in english, but hope you catch my meaning).
