The Worst Pre-Built We've Ever Reviewed: Alienware R13 $5000 Gaming PC Benchmarks
Vložit
- čas přidán 11. 05. 2024
- The Alienware R13 is easily the worst pre-built gaming PC we've ever reviewed. Dell manages to downclock an i9 to equal an i7 performance instead, yet charges $5000 for the PC.
Sponsor: Buy Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut paste on Amazon (geni.us/JMVNtOE) or Hydronaut paste for water cooling (Amazon - geni.us/Fsray)
Unfortunately, even spending $5K does not get a good pre-built gaming PC. You'd think it'd get you the best pre-built PC of 2022, but it doesn't even get you the best pre-built gaming PC of 2015. This thing is built to decades-old standards and manages to throttle just about every component in the system through either power or thermals, and the noise produced is that of a mid-2000s Gateway.
Watch our tear-down of the same Alienware R13! • Crazy Bad $5000 Alienw...
Get our pre-built playlist here: • Crazy Bad $5000 Alienw...
Get a GN 'Volt' Anti-Static Modmat, our best-selling item for 4 years now and featuring a high-quality work surface with reference diagrams: store.gamersnexus.net/product...
You can also grab a GN Red & Black HUD Desk-Sized Mouse Mat! store.gamersnexus.net/product...
Grab the GN Drink Coaster Pack, featuring 3D component designs on high-quality rubber coasters. We spent a lot of time designing these to represent computer hardware in a way that not only enthusiasts can appreciate, but everyone else who uses the coasters: store.gamersnexus.net/product...
Like our content? Please consider becoming our Patron to support us: / gamersnexus
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Alienware R13 Benchmarks & Review
01:55 - System Specs & Proprietary Components
04:35 - Majestically Ruining the 12900KF
05:26 - Blender Showing the Problems
05:48 - 7-Zip Compression Isn't a Problem
06:03 - CRYO-TECH TM
08:30 - 96 Degrees Celsius Seems Good
09:55 - Power Throttling is Bad
11:12 - Extremely Bad Frequency Throttling
12:41 - GPU Thermals
14:30 - Noise Examples & dBA Levels
15:23 - Gaming Performance
15:43 - Cyberpunk 2077
16:14 - Rainbow Six
16:29 - Power Consumption
18:02 - Perennial BS Warranty Scam
19:52 - BIOS & Software
21:52 - Conclusion
** Please like, comment, and subscribe for more! **
Links to Amazon and Newegg are typically monetized on our channel (affiliate links) and may return a commission of sales to us from the retailer. This is unrelated to the product manufacturer. Any advertisements or sponsorships are disclosed within the video ("this video is brought to you by") and above the fold in the description. We do not ever produce paid content or "sponsored content" (meaning that the content is our idea and is not funded externally aside from whatever ad placement is in the beginning) and we do not ever charge manufacturers for coverage.
Follow us in these locations for more gaming and hardware updates:
t: / gamersnexus
f: / gamersnexus
w: www.gamersnexus.net/
Host, Test Lead: Steve Burke
Testing: Patrick Lathan
Video: Andrew Coleman
Video: Keegan Gallick - Hry
SUPPORT OUR PURCHASES OF PRE-BUILTS TO REVIEW ON THE GN STORE! Get a GN 'Volt' Anti-Static Modmat, our best-selling item for 4 years now: store.gamersnexus.net/products/modmat-volt-large
Watch our tear-down of the same Alienware R13! czcams.com/video/DY1dlVPzUVo/video.html
Get our pre-built playlist here: czcams.com/video/DY1dlVPzUVo/video.html&list=PLsuVSmND84QuM2HKzG7ipbIbE_R5EnCLM
You can also grab a GN Red & Black HUD Desk-Sized Mouse Mat! store.gamersnexus.net/products/gn-red-black-hud-mouse-mat
Nice video. Dell should be sued for misleading advertising.
You could use a good cooler and remove power limits to see if the mainboard can even handle the cpu power draw.
A $5000 PC complete with a home heating system and Formula 1 sound effects, when playing any game, what's not to love?
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review a Bespoke Falcon North West PC. They've been around FOREVER and I've never seen them covered here.
I just built my mom a new RGB candy crush PC this weekend.
i3 10100, B560 mobo, 16 gb ddr4, a gtx 1650, 550w Gold PSU and a 32 " monitor for under $800.
Can you review the Corsair Vengeance i7300 next? Just got one and it’s been pretty good so far but I’m still curious about your thoughts 👍🏽
I feel sorry for the engineers who did all the work to make this pile of junk the best they could with what they were given, but weren't given the freedom to actually make a good PC from the ground up! Maybe Dell will figure it out one day
100% agreed. There is some really good engineering in here that's just applied for all the wrong reasons. Imagine if they were given flexibility to do something good!
It’s the Juicero of gaming PCs!
@@GamersNexus "But if we do the same as everyone else... that's bad!!!"
DELL! Spend all the money you spent on engineering weird boards and the design engineer's work-hours on... _better components than the competition!_ *(AND MAKE IT TO STANDARD!!!)*
@@caramelldansen2204 but but, what if proprietary RAM!
I don't. I used to, but it gets to a point where employees of these big companies need to stand up, being complacent is part of the problem.
Dell noticed that not enough companies were getting the "Better than Dell" award, so they lowered the bar another notch. How thoughtful!
dells new system is "worse than dell" - impressive!
This shows they think about others, admirable
Dell has a monopoly on Dell
This actually makes me sad as my first modern computer was a Dell with a Pentium 200 Mhz chip. It was a beast, lasted forever, and made me a Dell repeat customer for almost a decade. The company is a shell of its former self.
Unfortunately they always used proprietary parts, but the Dell machines of that vintage were quite good. The pentium 2 and 3 slot 1 machines were setup with some very quiet and minimalistic cooling setups... With the power supply fan being the only exhaust and negative pressure pulling cool outside air through a shroud over the CPU heatsink. Some higher wattage systems had a 2nd fan, but the single fan solutions were interesting to me.
@@volvo09 True, perhaps (I don't know as I wasn't building computers back then and can't really remember what I was looking at whenever I did open the case, which was almost never). But most people who buy prebuilts aren't going to start upgrading hardware anyway. They'll buy a new prebuilt. Of course, I realized I was dumping thousands of dollars down the drain doing that, which is what got me into building my own computers.
Honestly the quality and value varies highly from model to model. Avoid their alienware lineup but they make other PCs that are good.
Me too.
I loved my XPS 233 MHz MMX. Used the ATX case for years.
My OptiPlex GX1 went through a series of upgrades from Pentium II 233 MHz to Pentium III 600 MHz, then a motherboard swap from slot to socket to Pentium III 1 GHz.
My GX400 is _still_ rocking along as my old-game PC, because I have legit Windows 98SE, Win2000Pro, and Win XPPro drives in it. Its RAMBUS 800 RAM has the throughput of DDR3-1333, letting it smoke much later computers in games for years. (Upgraded to XFX GeForce 5200 128MB GDDR3 card from 2003)
@@davidgoodnow269 LMAO - MMX. I forgot all about the hype that went with that!
It all makes sense when you factor in that they wanted the desktop to look and sound like a space ship!
I almost spit my coffee reading this
To be fair, they succeed when they're just making cool cases, and nothing else.
legendary comment
I'm not gonna lie, I absolutely love watching these dumpster fire PC's getting the publicity they deserve.
Makes me wonder what they'll say about the Omen.
Yes, it is great entertainment! Even though it's such a terrible thing in actuality. These massive companies push governments around the world to implement policies (like power saving, sustainable manufacturing, recyclability) that force smaller competitors out of the market for large corporate use, and they do the complete opposite by building terrible PC's that are destined for a landfill with near 0 upgradeability.
It almost enrages me to see such a push for sustainability and "being green" (and don't get me wrong, i'm all for meaningful change) and these companies put THIS out there!
Edit for spelling
@@dragontales1999 It runs like hot garbage.
@@scottcraig5394 i'm sure it's better than this.
that's not saying much, but it should get the coveted "it's better than dell!" award from steve
@@dragontales1999 I made the mistake several years ago of purchasing one. 2080ti, 9900k, etc. The parts list ticked all of the boxes I wanted ticked, so it seemed like the right move.
I have legitimately never been able to play a game with the side panel on. I have to crank the fan speed through afterburner to 100% and leave it there before starting anything even remotely taxing. The video card has an absolutely horrendous blower style fan on it, and the CPU water-cooling system has a radiator that you almost need a magnifying glass to find.
Added to that, to this day I have not been able to remove a couple pieces of the bloatware. It is installed via the bios, with no option to skip that process. At the time I didn't have the knowledge or time to assemble a PC myself, and the sum of the parts collected actually would have been significantly (over 500 dollars) higher had I purchased them separately. Never again.
I can already see the quote
"Brilliant mechanical engineering" - Gamers Nexus
on the case's website.
21:16 “This is actually awesome, good job Dell. You did this one right”.
Another future marketing angle maybe: if Dell's going to use so much excessive plastic to overengineer their cases around old tooling, at least make it from 100% recycled plastic and call it carbon-capture or something. Haahahha.
@@ai4one0 they currently offer that as a option for laptops now.
🤣😅😂😆
Of course without linking to the original review
The margins on this prebuilt are insane. There are no excuses for why the quality is what I'd expect from a $500 mass produced office PC from Dell.
There are also no excuses for the overkill amount of paste he is adding. You dont need that much paste
Modern cpu is much more bigger than before
@@slamp3844too much is better than too little.
In 2024 you can buy a mini PC like a beelink for $699 that can play games in 1080.
@@Apple_Beshy Only some of them like threadrippers. Ryzens and i3/5/7/9 are pretty much the same.
A HUGE thanks to the team at Gamers Nexus. The R13 has been the pre-built I had been eyeing for some time and, without this review, I would have been stuck with a very poorly designed, proprietary PC that literally would have gone up in smoke after extended use. I have since decided to build one myself, ultimately it will save me well over $1000 in costs plus allowing me to gain some knowledge on the inner workings of my own PC.
so you had a 5000 dollar budget and Dell was your go to? Just... go to a retailer and have them build the pc for you. Any Microcenter, Scorptec or any other I.T retail worker would be drooling over the idea of putting together something so high-end. I know I would and they'd give you much better advice on what works and doesn't work than you'll ever get from large corps like Dell or HP.
I mean it’s a fine computer but you don’t need to spend that much to get good specs on it. Would just be wasting money at that point lol
I have to slow clap for you taking the first steps to building your own. If it's your first build, welcome! And if you're a veteran builder... How's the cable management look :p
But seriously, happy to see another join the field, and for a very similar reason to my own. Alienware, a leading contributor to the pc building/modding community. Mostly out of frustration toward Alienware (and Dell.... And Dell "tech support")
@Matthew first build, and cable management is a high priority, so taking my time to get it nice and clean
@@sevensyns7732 Very nice, and that's a very underrated skill that most people gloss over for their first build... Myself included in those early days. Messy cables isn't the end of the world, but it certainly doesn't do future you any favors when it's time to do upgrades. So good on you for being proactive about it from the start!
To be fair, this PC is reasonably priced for being an oven.
Unfortunately, it can’t hit the 180 degrees required to be good at that either
Despite attempts otherwise
@@randombrit13 I can't stop laughing...
yay a new way to heat up a small pizza!
More like an autoclave.
Pretty sure a kfc console is a better buy if/when it’s released
Imagine being an engineer on this project and feeling so vindicated when GN is saying all the same things you've been saying to marketing and management since the beginning and continually falling on deaf ears.
Honestly, a senior executive simply doesn't give a damn if the product they were in charge of doesn't work well. Or doesn't work at all. They did their job, overseeing a project that made the company loads of money, and that's where their interest ends.
Honestly, I don't think a lot of top executives can possibly be decent people, with those objectives in mind.
Dell shovels out so many different skus each year it really doesn't matter. They are more focused on the basic aesthetic of the box and the specs sheet. Everything else is always an afterthought.
should also mention the custom PSU, Cooler, and Motherboard are absolutely done out of malicious intent to lock users into parts they need to get directly from Dell. Oh yeah and even in a $5000 dollar PC that only used the cheapest possible components so their a good chance it's probably going to fail right outside of warranty even though we know any decent PCs should last at LEAST 5-10 years before things start going wonky.
Anyone who designs this kind of bullcrap should never be considered an engineer and should feel ashamed to call themselves that.
@@infernaldaedra True on most counts. To the last point, I'd argue that the engineers at Dell, much like many companies that are too big to listen, aren't really in control of any of the important details of their products.
@@danielharvison7510 I understand the point entirely. But in my opinion if you aren't in control of even small details I would argue you aren't an engineer. Or at least not a very good one. but it's entirely obvious this issue comes from the top brass arguing about profit margins and pushing extended warranties while the brands image and product quality nosedives. Some of these things notably the front I/O are done to save the cost of a what a few pennies on a 5000$ system where you have thousands of dollars of high end gear being held together by just hopes and dreams lmao.
@@danielharvison7510 in short certainly the disappointment pc 2022 could be a Dell prebuilt lmao. Which is sad considering the bar was already pretty low compared to other pre-built PCs
When I knew nothing about computers I wanted an Alienware for years. Only because it looked good and they knew how to market it. It really felt like state of the art, almost alien, technology. Last year I built my own computer with a 3060 ti. It cost me the same as if I would have bought an alienware with a 3060 ti. But it has a better case with better cooling, more powerful and modular psu, more storage, no proprietary bs. Really shows you the power of branding. Especially when people dont have that much knowledge about whats being sold.
I built my last two myself, gotta be careful with these prebuilts. If I recall correctly, I also envied Alienware, but as I got older I learned that they are overpriced and poorly built.
I few years back I bought an Aurora R9 and it was the worst tech purchase of my life. I wanted to take the "easy way out" and avoid DIY. Long story short, I was met with red flags and problems from the onset. The fan ramping was comically loud and so persistent that I thought my unit was defective. I spent three days on the phone with their terrible tech support for them to pretty much tell me "that's just the way the computer cools itself." Wow, thanks guys. Then, I discovered that the system was idling at 41% RAM usage. 41% RAM usage due to all of the bloatware and antivirus software that comes prepackaged. Gaming and software performance was laughable, and it honestly felt like any time I turned the system on could be the last. I felt like I'd just been scammed out of $2,500. Luckily, I was able to return the system and get a full refund. I used that to buy components and build my own system like I should have done in the first place. There are some decent pre-builts out there, but take it from me -- just do it yourself. And if you really want to go pre-built -- stay the hell away from DELL.
Dell = "We can't afford to contract a 3rd party case manufacturer"
Also Dell = "Lets spend huge amounts of money designing and manufacturing complex engineering solutions to make the computer fit our 30 year old case"
This is classic big bureaucracy decision making: "spend a pound, save a penny."
This case likely has a lot of design elements from dells much higher volume business line. This is the advantage a tier 1 system builder has. The volume they deal with is so enormous it actually makes sense for them (not for consumers) to put in the engineering and design work to build a computer like this.
It allows for reduced manufacturing labor and reduced skill required for labor. And it allows parts to be delivered more in module form to final assembly and reduce the number of fatteners that need to be installed. I image on the line where this is build very few screw drivers will be found.
@@garmack12 no no no that makes too much sense. clearly, as others have said, dell is 100% idiots and would make the PC this way just because it's much more expensive. save a penny spend a kilogram or however that phrase goes
also "lets spend a lot of time on complex laptop design"
Sounds like a formula 1 race car, except it's made like a golf cart.
You know, it’s reassuring that companies like Dell always blow our expectations right out of the water.
Just when you think “there’s no possible way it can get worse”, they almost break their necks trying to prove you wrong.
Kudos, Dell!
And they are always striving to improve the crappiness.Pro's.
From watching the review I'm guessing that this entire system was designed around lower power hardware. An i5 and 3060 for example, or possibly an older generation of hardware. The design would be able to handle them acceptably
Then some manager decided that, we'll do the bare minimum to shoehorn ridiculously powerful components into an outdated system. And tick all the malicious options on buying options
Dell makes great monitor $/quality, we better stick to it and stay away from PCs.
Whats worse is i just did a PC part picker list to make this with proper and premium components (360 AIO, Be quet silent base, 64Gb 4800 DDR5..ect) and the closest i could get was £3,824 with UK pricing ... the R13 of an inferior spec is £4,999 in uk. Its almost £1200 more expensive for a thermal throttling piece of crap.
#Dellmakeitbetter
When gpu prices were insane i was seriously considering a prebuild and was ready to pull the tigger on one of these alienware desktops but i decided to not. After seeing this im so glad i didnt buy that thing
That's the trouble with pre-builts. It's so damn hard to be sure whether the components will actually performs the way they do on paper due to issues like thermals, cut corners on some components, and so many stats you might not fully understand to keep track of. It's why I was glad to just go with an M1 Mac recently, now that I'm out of the PC gaming scene. It's more locked down and you're screwed with upgrades, but I at least know I'm getting quality that should last for a good while with Apple. Which is pretty important as someone who simply can't afford to fuck up on such a big purchase.
That’s what I did wanted a 3090 ddr5 and the new i9 building one would’ve cost me more with all the markups. So ordered a pre built… yeah it’s ok lol should’ve been a lot better. First chance I get on gettting a new case and motherboard and I’m swapping the good stuff over and getting rid of this thing.
I bought a R6 long ago and had the same problems this one had. I junked that PC except for the CPU and GPU. Transfered them to a brand new build, motherboard, SSD, PSU and been happy since.
One of my coworkers did and I couldn't really blame him because he essentially bought an RTX 3080 and got the rest of the PC for $200 CAD. He's dumb as rocks as well so I shudder to think of what he'd screw up if he built one.
@@xfozzypx115 Well damn, why did you get Dell? They're like, one of the few prebuilts that DON'T use standard ATX motherboards. Oh wait... Alienware is Dell. That's why it sucks so bad.
This reminds me of PC designs out of the late 1990's. The same overly complicated oddball cases, proprietary mobos, cutrate components, and massive amounts of plastic. Cooling consisted of a marking a checkbox. Likely more effort went to the marketing than the consideration of the actual product.
Yup. All that plastic is just mind boggling.
Funnily enough, that’s because it is a PC design out of the late 90’s
"Infinity is a long time; 56 seconds is not a long time" had me in stitches.
I appreciate how you guys always manage to make Dell's critical failures still entertaining despite the fact that the core of your reviews of their products have been effectively the same for literal decades.
The graph had me howling.
Calm down
It sounds like Dell treats the "Alienware" concept too literally by making their components alien to basic ATX PC standards.
Nice NWN profile pic
@@setcheck67 Thanks. It's not too often someone comments on it.
There is no such thing as an "extended warranty." Warranties are often included with a product as part of the seller's liability to deliver a quality product. You are _purchasing_ a service contract. Calling it a "warranty" is exactly the kind of obfuscation that they want.
We have been trying to reach you about your car’s extended warranty.
And this kind of marketing stunts can get legal quickly.
This is true but what they are "selling/offering" you with warranties is better support and no questions asked returns. Warranties can be an awful and painful experience, companies aren't incentivised to offer a pleasurable return experience for free. They up sell that experience.
@@oliverpls Living with these garbage consumer protection laws in the US/Canada must be tough.
This is the same with majority of purchases within the USA. Autos, RVs for example. They're just service contracts one pays for monthly. Usually not worth it.
I decided 3 months ago that I wanted to get a PC and I originally looked at the R10, but decided I was going to build my own-my first PC. So I decided to learn everything possible about every part, how they compared, what was inportant, etc. Once I settled on my core components, I went back and looked at the R10 in the price range I was looking at and found I had packed about $1000 worth of more quality and performance based on their components into a package that was ~$1000 cheaper. They had put a 12700k on a b-series chipset, had a 3070ti, and 500GB SSD on a 500 or 600W power supply. Def made the right decision.
I was terrified to build my first pc, 5 years later and I just upgraded a bunch of parts.
I don't know why anyone would buy this dog shit.
Saw an ad on Twitter by Alienware for this PC a day ago, it was instantly slammed for its poor case design and 120mm AIO. I was LMAO
Only f-WITs use twitter
Yeah I've seen a few streamers I watch running these PC's in sponsored spots, and I'm tempted to post these GN videos in the comments just in case any of their viewers were tempted to buy one.
@@MorkaiAU I did lol
@@whackaify haha like a hero saving people from getting scammed
@@gamamew not the hero they want but the hero they need! 😂
Steve, you saved me at least 5K. I have a number of older Dell systems that I have kept usable with upgrades. I was going to treat myself to a new Alienware system for gaming and 3D modeling. Thanks to you I didn't get scammed by Dell as a loyal customer. Those days are gone forever. Once prices get more realistic, I'll just build my own system, using your recommendations. Keep up the great work! The 5k includes a curved 4k monitor
Prices are as realistic as they are going to get right now.
“Treat” yourself with an Alienware is a funny statement. I’m glad you snapped out of it lol. GN has reviewed some good pre-builts
It blows my mind that anyone would want a PC that looks like that.
im shocked ANYONE in 2022 would ACTUALLY consider buying an alienware pc after all the shit they delivered over the last decade or two let alone saying you going to "treat" yourself with one at a price point of 5000 (!!!) $.
If you have $5K to spend on this, then you have $4K to spend on buying your own components...
You know when the batmobile fired up the jet engine during the Penguin chase in The Batman, @14:55 sounds a lot like that
GOOD GOD! The close case sounds like a friggin' air raid siren!
This is a case where "cool" looking marketing driven design has completely overwhelmed sensible engineering.
"Cool" in the most ironic sense of course.
@@ZenDeividdo what’s so cool about plastic case. U mean hot lol one 120mm aio.
@@lalisameo4677 That's exactly my point though.
You should be new to “Apple”
It isn't even about trying to make a cool looking case. They literally wanted to sell through stock of old cases, with a facelift, before building systems in a new, more efficient, case.
it's insane to think that while the only real reason you'd ever buy this is to get your hands on a 12900K and a 3090, you could quite literally buy that pair of components *new* on amazon right now for nearly half that, and then just build the rest of the system and *still* be under the price of the r13.
That's the case with a lot of prebuilts though.
So you're saying someone could buy the parts individually and then build their own PC for cheaper? I never that about it that way.
But then you can't get that sick case
Well no shit.. buying components and building yourself has ALWAYS been cheaper than a prebuilt... that isnt news
@@notlNSIGHT you need to update your sarcasm detector drivers...
Hahahahahaha that graph of infinite seconds vs. 56 seconds killed me XD
"It's not proprietary, it's custom. It's not our fault our competitors won't adopt our designs." - Dell
Why not just get an X box?
@@HOLLASOUNDS drop the xbox thing already bro what are you a microsoft representative?
@@Willie6785 Play station 5 then, all the games I'd want are on the X Box or PS5. Call of Duty, Grand theft auto and so on.
@@HOLLASOUNDS All of those are also on PC, so what is the argument?
@@HOLLASOUNDS Enjoy your 60 fps
I went to a microcenter for the first time a few days ago and saw a whole table of these things. I was telling my brother about "the funny youtubers who you can't watch who did a video on these" when one of the employees spawned in behind me and asked if I was interested. I swiveled around and said "I already know how awful these are, I'm just looking at stuff I could buy if I had money." to which he froze, and then said "yeah, they're not the best. Just ask me if you have any questions" and walked off. Massive respect to the guy for not trying to sell me junk.
Microcenter are quite good place. Especially that one store Steve went (the same one Jayztwocents and Austin also frequent )
I feel bad for Microcenter salespeople because portions of their commissions are tied to upselling the garbage extra stuff (antivirus, warranty (i get the warranty is good in certain cases) etc) so they have to peddle stuff that they know is garbage
Spawn point at the Alienware table at microcenter? Noted!
If there's anything that the PC community has taught me years ago and everyone can agree on, it's that Alienware is terrible and Dell is especially terrible.
Mainly in the private business sector. Their business stuff ist mostly good and the service beats any other OEM. So i wonder why the company is like a polar opposite in the private sector.
@@fabianfeilcke7220 They try to use the same formula in both spaces. In the consumer space, the modular approach just doesn't work like it does in the corporate world.
@@DB-mq4so What? Modular is exactly what it would be if any of this stuff was the least bit to standard spec. I think you mean proprietary, which is the typical formula for enterprise-grade gear.
Alienware WAS good, but after Dell got their hands on it...well, it went to shit
Alienware monitors can be decent. I've owned many over the years including 2 from Alienware and they are very solid. To be fair I've not used Acer/ASUS for example so can't compare them. Did use multiple BenQs though and Alienware clearly came out on top. Maybe I just picked some good models, that's also possible.
I just watched your 2022 PC cases review, which helped me choosing the best option for an air cooled PC. Now that I see this alienware prebuild I just cry for the poor heat management
Many thanks for the great content. Could you plz share your thought on Corsair Vengeance 7300 as well?
If rumors about next gen GPU power consumption is true I’m curious what the plastic lovers at Dell will do lol
New ASBESTOS plastic?
They will have to slap some server fans on it, because god forbid abandoning the 90s office PC case.
"Yeah the GPU and CPU both run at 100w because the system's thermal throttling hard because of the utter lack of airflow provided by the plastic covering everything, but it has an RTX 4090 and i9-13900KF!"
"How much was it?"
"Well, I could make it myself and actually have it perform well for $5000, but I bought this for $10,000 plus 15.99 a month for premium support!"
"...why does it sound like a blender?"
"Oh yeah, that's normal. There's 5 server fans in there screaming at 10000 RPM, plus a leaf blower style intake fan, which draw 350w by itself."
You could play games and prepare a hotpocket all at once
@@makatron LMAO ,,, love it.
It's crazy because they could EASILY have lower build costs, lower weight and shipping costs, better performance, fewer RMAs and a vastly improved brand by replacing whoever is responsible for this with one consultation with someone like GN. Then all Dell has to do is build it.
I'd buy an X Box
@@HOLLASOUNDS Ok. No one asked. This is about a PC with poor build quality.
@@12Music72 Right but why buy one of these or any gaming PC costing £5.000 to do play the same games as a X box or PS5? For £600 If someone wants a gaming machine?
@@HOLLASOUNDS Because a PC isn't just a gaming machine. And if you use it as just a gaming machine it's more versatile than a console. Way more games and you can incrementally upgrade over the years.
Edit: A console isn't just the $600, you pay more for every game and you have to pay for online as well which definitely adds up over time.
Great strawman argument by the way. Barely any PC gamer has a system that's $5000 or close to that.
That's just the enthusiasts and it's basically a hobby at that point.
@@HOLLASOUNDS Its just not the same. I'm writing this on my 2nd monitor while finding a match in a game on the primary, for instance. However, there came a point where PC gaming hardware was priced out of meaning and people just had to make do with whatever they had, or a console for double MSRP. So I get it.
oh my god, that second audio sample... "get ready for lift-off!"
Dell found a stride, then started taking really sketchy shortcuts and greedy moves in the mid 2000's. then after 2012 or so they hit a wall and can't stop doing the same sheisty stuff
actually, good to know
dell had their saul goodman arc
The fact that they charge $5,000 for this monstrosity is just criminal and incredibly anti-consumer. How hard would it have been for them to use a normal mobo and include a decent 240 AIO or a solid $70-80 air cooler? And this ridiculous case, I feel bad for anyone who buys an Alienware PC because they don't watch things like GN and blindly trust something expensive will be of good quality. I can't believe I used to think Alienware PCs were cool - granted that was like 10-15yrs ago when I didn't know anything about PCs...but I'm still embarrassed lol
Alienware used to be good. Then dell bought Alienware, made some awesome laptops (M13x, M15x) and the first Aurora desktops and then turned into shit.
They have crazy margin in this way, and everyone let them along with it
I can't tell anymore if it's the companies that are anti-consumer or the consumers paying moronic prices for hardware that perpetuates everything that is wrong. If someone pays $1500 for a $500 GPU, that is anti-consumer towards me because it says it's okay.
Agreed Dell bought the rights to the name and then butchered it like cold cuts at a Jersey Mike's. Alienware made great products when they first started. Including alot of industry first ideas. They became competition for prebuilts like Dell and HP. Dell just figured out away to turn a fast profit and shut them down at the same time.
I'm actually so sad about this because there is a grandma or grandpa out there somewhere, very happy that they bought their grandkid a cool pc and spent 5k from their retirement money, only to potentially disappoint the grandkid, at least the main components are salvageable.
Years ago I was getting ready to build a new PC but didn't have the money yet... My dad surprised me with a new dell. I was thankful, but so disappointed because (back before pci x was around) Dell removed the agp graphics card header from the motherboard (you could see where it would have gone!) And it totally limited the abity to put any decent graphics card in it because the good cards were all made for the real graphics port... The agp port Dell removed!
That started my hatred for Dell. It also had a hard drive with a super loud bearing, so I couldn't really sleep with it on to download stuff overnight.
D:
@@volvo09 Let me guess, Dimension 2350? Mine was the same - solder pads on the board, a slot in the back of the case, just no actual slot. Regardless the machine otherwise was fine and served me well for 6 years, and I later ended up adding a PCI Radeon 7000 to it. Not great but a big step up from the onboard "Intel Extreme".
@@volvo09 PCIe. PCI-X is a different thing that existed alongside AGP and PCI. It was never relevant in the home market, but server boards had weird PCI slots that were extra-long.
@@hollyc5417 Of course, when a movie or game makes you sad it's also a fake scenario made up in someone's mind and then transferred to yours. Virtual empathy is a weird concept but hardly uncommon.
I have an old dell OptiPlex proprietary psu that I use for testing components that might be shorted out. I've made quick disconnects with different connectors for both the 12v and 5v rails. but its great because its small and wont let itself die, I tried to burn it up and that's how I figured out its really difficult lol. but in my opinion its about all dell is good for.
It’s amazing that after all these years Dell can still be so inept, but still exist. Those engineers should all go work for other companies so they are not controlled by such bad leadership.
They're probably getting ready for retirement
Dell's bread-and-butter is servers, office PCs, laptops and to a smaller degree gaming laptops. That's how they make their money. Anyone buying a Dell or Alienware "gaming" desktop is basically overpaying for a Dell Optiplex in different packaging.
thats exactly what i thought when i saw this and the Dell G5 video. they just look like Dell Optiplex PCs with a GPU slapped inside and a couple of gimmicks and a different case shroud to make it look cool.@@user-yg4kj2mf1p
I work as a game artist, and at my prior employer we spent a couple years talking the IT department into letting us have $2500 gaming PCs instead of $12,000 dual-socket Xeon workstations, because most of our tools required a few fast cores, not 24 cores at 2.2 Ghz. The catch was that they had to come from Dell, because we were a huge corporation and we got a discount if we only bought from them. We ended up getting XPS machines with 64 gigs of RAM, an 8700k, and a GTX 1080 (corporate wheels turning slowly, the 9th gen and Turing were already out by the time we took delivery). While they did work better as game-dev machines, I was SHOCKED at how poor the thermal management was. The instant you did anything that pegged the CPU to 100%, the weedy little fans started making a sound like a coffee grinder. You could literally tell when somebody 6 desks away from you started a CPU render. I don't understand why they're still not using better cooling. It makes the machines sound like garbage (disposals) and leaves a pretty poor impression of the brand, even on non-techy users.
I believe something happened to Dell and now they sell themselves out. Into oblivion possibly.
My first laptop somewhere in 2004/05/06 was a Dell. And I was very happy with it, also in retrospect. Recently I bought a Dell again, it is night and day. Back then everything was perfect. Today I don't know where to start the complains list.
I wonder how much time do companies truly save because despite dell offering the discounts you lose so much time on RMA's and slow processing time that it probably accumulates to some genuine high numbers.
Honestly, I can't shake the feeling that these "gaming" PC's are quick&dirty designs by the engineers of dell's server branch.
This starts with the pictograms you showed in the teardown being practically 1:1 copies of what you would find on their servers.
It continues in the level of (unnecessary) mechanical engineering going into the case, and ends with what seems to be a philosophy of "when component gets hot, fan go brrrrrr" (and damn the noise levels, which is ok when your machine is in a completely separate building and you are mandated to wear hearing protection when entering the server rooms, not so much for a PC standing 50cm next to you...)
I honestly believe this as well. I think dells gaming PC division is mostly likely their b or c team tier engineers since the gaming market accounts for
@@DeSadGuy yeah the "toolless" design if the case and failure prone components (like fans, power supply) are very familiar to me since I used to service Dell machines in a large corporate office for 12 years.
They keep everything the same so your average low skill tech or traveling dell contracted tech can service most any computer... they're all so similar. A fan on an Alienware is the same as a fan on an optiplex, is the same as a fan on a server (but the servers are even easier as they are truly plug and play... with integrated connector in the slide bracket).
@@DeSadGuy I'd suspect it was less about the engineers, than marketing saying, "We need you to do this. Here is your design budget. We don't care if you think it won't work properly, just do it."
I could forgive it being loud if you at least got some performance uplift out of the deal. Like put 3000 RPM deltas throughout, let it scream, and chomp up another 10% performance edge over stock. Alienware has never been known for quiet computers, so, may as well lean into the fast-n-loud thing.
In fact, it'd be interesting to see what those insane fans could do for this case. I'd bet it's still poorly designed enough that it wouldn't really help much.
My first "gaming" computer was an Alienware M11X, they have sure gone downhill a lot since them days, I adored that little laptop.
I look forward to seeing another $5000 range computer and if it’s built half way competent. Based on an origin build a friend got I’m not so sure it had a custom water loop and arrived without the pump plugged in and based on what I heard icue not installed to manage the cooling loop or profiles. Craziest part is when I finally helped him trace it back for setup as I’ve worked using a Corsair loop and commander pro config before it wasn’t even hooked up in the default config where it will detect coolant temp by default and adjust fan and pump speeds accordingly
Well, it's ALIENWARE. They went for and really nailed the feel of how an alien would assemble a PC without any prior knowledge about how terran computers are usually built.
I mean, you cool it with what, atmosphere??
Alienware was solid before Dell bought them out.
@@jabroni6199 All of their ex engineers went to work for Origin PC if I recall.
Dell/Alienware have managed to implement a laptop's noise, throttling & limited performance on a desktop.
please make more videos like this when the new models R14 etc come up! very helpful!
In 2020 I bought an Alienware R11 with i7 10700, 16 GB ram, and a 2070 super with the fire-breathing leaf blower attached to it. I hooked up the Valve Index to this thing as well. It roasted two display cables, one was the Valve Index cable. Long story short, I gave it a mean Frankenstein upgrade tearing the plastic side off and placing a little Vornado fan for extra cooling support. I chucked the old weird ass 2666/3200 ram? and installed 3200 32 GB ram (4 sticks of 8GB). The flamethrower of death came out and a sleazy Ebay open box buy, 1080 ti founders edition, went in for the win. My Frankenstein Alienware is pretty decent system now.
So glad I cancelled my order on one of these (forgive me, friends, I was ignorant and desperate for an upgrade from my 2013 PC). While mine was going to be a nearly $3K unit with a 12700KF and 3080, I saved nearly a grand (and unquantifiable headaches) by building my own rig. All standard parts, no throttle issues, and a sense of pride for my amateur-ish build sounding thrashing this far more expensive machine. And my machine doesn’t sound like a jet engine taking off on workloads longer than 1 minute.
Dude you don't have to ask for forgiveness! We've all started at some beginning point in our gaming / IT career and the fact that you are even here watching these videos already is a good sign that you care about the art and that you will grow in knowledge quickly.
Good luck!
And I bet it looks better too :)
Not sure why your first choice would be dell anyways....
@@Moon_Presence A great question that I think might be helpful for others to hear the answer to-Dell wasn’t my first choice. I did some hunting across other pre-builts and system integrators, and a several months ago when I started looking (before pricing started coming back down on GPUs), just by looking at other reviews online (both professional rags and actual owners), the Aurora R13 appeared to be a bang-up deal. Nobody else in the pre-built market seemed able to match the specs on paper. DDR5 RAM, liquid cooling, a neat looking chassis, and a top tier GPU included for what the scalpers were charging for the GPU alone. And for a lot of consumers who don’t know any better, it’s easy to fall for the hype. These kinds of reviews-the ones that really only Gamer’s Nexus is doing-are what tell all sides of the story. We learn about the limitations around the RAM and cooling, how the components are still good on paper but not good in Dell’s application of design around them. Honestly, I have to wonder if my config would have fared quite as poorly as this one, as I wasn’t going for the $5K version. The 12700 and 3080 might have managed better in the Alienware chassis, but it still ran around $3K, all told. Around the past holiday season, you would have been hard pressed to get that combination of specs on paper at the price. But when I (thankfully) ran into customer service issues with Dell, I checked again on my own build rather than pre-builts. I got my GPU at MSRP, and everything else was a breeze with PC Part Picker, and again about a grand cheaper than what Dell wanted. Like I said, not proud of where I started, but I am proud of where I ended up. For those in a similar position as I was, this kind of review is intensely gratifying and also instructional.
@@BrianJones-wk8cx I was in exactly the same boat but ultimately not as smart as you. Ended up spending about $2800 on an R13 late last year. Honestly, I'm not unhappy with it - but I'm new to PC gaming so I didn't really know what to expect. Now I'm just thankful I kept the build relatively modest and didn't spend more. Yikes.
consumer: "I needed a super high end pc so i got myself an alienware"
normal person : "Ow damn, that's sick brah"
pc person: "why would you do that to yourself???"
I was an idiot, I didn't know anything about pc's and I bought an r12 here I am less than a year later and the only thing left from the r12 is the gpu cpu
For those that would love to play flight simulator with a jet engine sound
@@makatron Cessna 152 with a jet engine, what a cool concept! :D
@@makatron Just get some cheap high RPM fans, and save a lot of money.
@@Django45 it'd be a wild thing for sure
You sound somewhat like jason segal in 'I Love You Man.' I watched the whole video for that reason. Learned a lot though
Aw man, I bought my R13 Last March. where were you then? I needed to see this!.
1:29 thanks for that Steve, a lot of people need to learn that there is no shame in buying a pre built and not going through any hassle (as long as its not Falienware).
Prebuilts are fine, as long as they aren't HP, Dell, Lenovo...
@@Ficii1 A good way to know if a pre built is worth your time is if it has a mesh front. There are some good ones without them, but mesh fronts are pretty much always a good sign.
@@Ficii1 yup, if it's all proprietary parts (the major stuff) then it's trash.
At least you have a base to work with if you get any other prebuilt. Can only re use the memory, storage, and graphics card in these large OEM prebuilds when it comes time to upgrade... Gotta ditch the whole thing just about.
Its more difficult to buy a prebuilt than to do it yourself
It wins the “worse then dell” award. Cause it’s “Alienware” and that’s worse then dell proper at this point.
I genuinely enjoy your roasting. It's quite hilarious
6:26 that flex wasn't needed but highly appreciated 🤣🤣
I think that 56 seconds can feel like infinity if, say, you're locked in a room with someone from Dell's marketing division. Since I'm sure this happens to Dell's engineers on a regular basis I think it's more understandable that they mistook one for the other.
The "Cryo-TechTM" is the part that fascinates me the most about this Dell train wreck. Having formerly worked at a company that had a legit cryo device, they had to spell Cryo as Kryo to get their trademark, because cryo was too generic to TM. (And it kind of made sense to do not just to get the TM, but because the standard unit for temp readout was in Kelvin, being a legitimately cryogenic device.) So to see Cryo (a generic term) and Tech (a generic term) glued together with a hyphen, not even to glom it together into one word, it is legitimately the most generic trademark I have ever seen pass. And it's not even a cryogenic device! I cannot help to wonder how much money changed hands (probably under a table) to get that TM! Sheesh!
However, besides the alleged quasi-legal questionability of "Cryo-Tech" as a trademark, I have to marvel at Dell's intentional shortening of the water lines, thereby reducing thermal mass. Meaning that when it does overheat, it will overheat even faster than a typical 120mm AIO. Huzzah! Thanks Dell! Good job!
No money needed to change hands, because you can use the TM symbol without even applying for a trademark. Indeed, the symbol is often used to signal that you intend to apply for one. It's the ®symbol that has legal meaning. That said, maybe the fact that it's not a cryogenic device helps them trademarks-wise, because it's non-descriptive and thus maybe non-generic in their application?
lmao did you just speak in html for that last part?
TM isn't a trademark. It's just a claim to the thing by Dell that costs $0, and needs to meet none of the trademark criteria. R is a registered trademark that's been paid and applied for, assessed on criteria (not derivative, not already in common use, sufficiently distinguished, not misleading ["cryo" lol] all things OTOH I can see it failing on) need to be satisfied.
The validity of a unregistered trademark would be something argued if an alleged infringement by Dell got to court. They'd have to argue the mark is valid to proceed in the case, and on the same point the respondent can argue lack of validity as a defence to infringement. So in all likelihood it's just a tactic to try and ward off anyone using the same/similar terms relating to cooling computers. Competent legal advice would conclude there's zero weight to a cease & desist alleging infringement of a mark like this, but since defending pointless legal cases still costs you money it's just easier to not poke jerk corporations like Dell on stuff like this.
The laughable irony is that with it being this bad, who on earth would WANT to infringe upon their claim of exclusivity by using the term.
@@triliner254 the man is creating is own tags on the go
Crazy… So one can just TM anything pretty much… Sheesh(TM)
Dude, I just got an R14 with a 3080ti and Ryzen 9 5900X and 32 gigs of ram brand new for $1900 2 days ago. I understand that it’s not the best pre-built in the world but I’ve never had a computer with such high-specs in my life and at the price I got it in, I think I got an amazing deal.
Yeah that's a decent price fr 👌🏿
it's called alienware because when you turn it on the fans ramp up so much it sounds like you're going into outer space
It's like Dell is trying to make the "It's Better Than Dell" award worth even less with every system they put out.
I have been refreshing CZcams for a week waiting for this video: the sequel. Your Micro Center video got me so into your channel, Steve. You're a genuine, stand-up guy and you and your team pump out great content all the time. You deserve every recognition you get!!
Hey Steve! Hope you see this. Was that you that installed Visual Studio 2019? Seems odd given that Vscode is the opensource/free version.
dang, thank god i didnt have the credit at dell to purchase this at the time. it was literally my next gaming pc, i didnt want to build, i wanted a prebuilt with a 3090 and a new top end processor. You guys are awesome, saved me 5k for an underpowered pc.
Bro I was just saying the same thing 😂😂😂 crazy how something so cool looking and so expensive Is shit 😂 I'm like okay thank God for my bad credit 😂😂😂
Find a local shop and talk with them. Almost guaranteed it will be better.
dam yall ppl out here rlly be getting $5k pcs, i’d rather just get a 3080 one that isnt expensive when it’s available for msrp and sell it next generation for 50-80% of its price and buy a 4080. I dont see why anyone would want a 3090-ti for gaming (assuming that cuz u wanna buy alienware stuff which are for gaming). A 3070-3080 is plenty power for gaming
20:00 Absolute is often used in a corporate environment to track assets but is also used by end users to locate stolen computers (usually laptops and is available on all dell machines and most other manufacturers. It is an additional yearly charge through Absolute. It is disabled by default and there is a drop down to permanently disable it if desired (can never be enabled on that motherboard again). This is on most prebuilt machines and even some off the shelf motherboards.
that is creepy
Well, Dell engineers definitely managed to replicate the beauty of a console in a PC form factor. Namely the sound of a jet taking off when playing demanding games on PS4 Pro.
It sounds like what I imagine a spaceship would. Perfect.
at least the PS4 Pro is much more compact and consumes less power
I love the hypocrisy of tech companies like Dell saying they're trying to reduce their carbon footprint and trying to be more green or whatever, while they are one of the LARGEST contributors to E-Waste, with how much programmed obsolescence they build into their products. Makes me livid.
Once when I worked I had to figure out why a brand new Dell computer with an i5-12600 was shutting down on it's own. Guess what, the thing was overheating because it had NOWHERE NEAR enough cooling. Dell even made a largely open underside for cooling and then BLOCKED LIKE 95% OF IT WITH SOME PLASTIC I had to remove. The only solution I had for that computer was to turn off the Turbo clock feature...
You should review the HP Omen 40/45L. It's always cool to see a video on something that people are likely to run into at their local Best Buy. Not to mention It's essentially a 2 for 1 review since they sell the case separately, but I've rarely seen it covered in the media. I bought the 40L 5800x 3070 prebuilt for my wife, and was genuinely impressed enough by the case engineering to return the Corsair case that I had just bought for my flagship AMD build. You can tell HP finally listened to the critiques of GN and LTT and the engineers did the best that they could with the restrictions they were given. The case has proven to be excellent with thermals (when setup properly), and definitely deserves a second look from people looking for an alternative to the dynamic evo or a BS prebuilt with proprietary parts
14:54 That's INSANE!!! I haven't even heard a computer that loud before... at least they can be proud they have the loudest prebuilts on the market.
It's transmitting signals to the aliens. Dummy.
The Harley Davidson of prebuilt PCs 😎
Next thing you know, your wearing hearing protection while gaming lol.
@@ViperPilot16 I think a good headset is enough, with extra padding in this case, though! :D
My PC gets a little louder when gaming but with a headset I have no idea. And even without a headset it is barely noticable.
I have one it's not that loud.
Wow, Dell has BINNED the watercooler pumps to get the faster ones. That's dedication
So sad to see what Alienware is nowadays. I remember when I was a young boy, 20 years ago. We were watching Alienware PCs like the holy grail. Now it's just trash at best. What a sad ending...
just a couple weeks ago my i7 8700, 1080ti Aurora R7 was spiking to 90 Celsius after doin anything..even just opening a few tabs or loading up WoW...its 4years old..just cleaned the liquid cooler radiator extremely well and replaced the thermal paste on the cpu..under load temps with streams/game open/and multiple tabs run about 65-70 now. Is this ok or should i look for a better cooling solution? The R7 has the same size fan and rad. and also the short tubes. Of course the case is the limiting thing here..but is there a better 120 fan liquid cooler that would be plug and play? If my temps dont go over 70 cel then i might not stress over it tbh
This makes me legitimately mad. Dell is despicable for trying to shove this junk out for $5K. I really, REALLY hope these videos have saved at least a few people from making the mistake of buying a Dell desktop.
Cmon I mean a CPU running at 200 degrees Fahrenheit isn't a problem it's a feature haven't you ever wanted to cook a steak on your cpu? Well now you can!
As far as I'm concerned Alienware have always been a status symbol buy, like an Apple device. Maybe there was a time when they actually offered some good price/performance but their wild case designs and name probably didn't leave much room for that to happen.
@@silentbravo They do a lot less shitty of a job on their laptops.
Dude that's me thank god IAM saved
We are talking about gaming pc that you can't even change motherboard or do simple upgrade huge junk of waste
@@deftestaphid2026 Previously only available for FX 9590 users! Unfortunately of which I was one up until late last year.
The thought of Dell getting their hands on a 600W Lovelace 4090 scares me.
It'll melt all that plastic within a minute 😂
The system will be on fire in no time
@@theunknown7683 maybe it'd be a great room heater if you live in the artic circle
Fingers crossed Lovelace flops vs RDNA 3 and forces Nvidia to rethink its insane TDP trend. Doubling TDPs in two generations is not healthy.
@@makatron Do remember that all that heat stays in the box, so at best the case works as a foot heater of some sorts rather than a room heater. That is assuming you would rest your feet on the box, and seeing as there are no vents that probably wouldn't disrupt heat flow.
0:28 I highly recommend that glass cleaning product Sprayway! It leaves zero residue on the glass.
I just bought an I3-12100 because I needed to put together a functioning PC real quick. The goal wasn't high-end, but good price/performance while utilizing a lot of parts I already had. Good to know that this 130€ CPU boosts to the same clock speeds as the I9-12900k in Dells hotbox.
I also have an i3-12100, best purchase of my life :D
This design has "marketing trends" written all over it. Somewhere Dell engineers are probably pulling out their trying to design this case not based on hardware specs but based on criteria that someone has decided. "This case needs to be round . . . and made with white plastic with LEDs everywhere. Holes for ventiliation--that is not what the consumer wants"
That's where I don't think you understand. There is a huge difference between designers and engineers. Designers are normally the people in charge for whatever insane reason. Engineers have to try and make their fantasies a reality.
@@riothero313 They are not always different people but good designers consider engineering in mind. For example Apple had their "trash can" Mac Pro. It was terrible for upgrades but it was clearly designed with cooling in mind. Seriously the small amount of work to add proper cooling to this case could not be anywhere close to the effort of Apple to make a cylindrical computer.
Well said. For a fact marketing teams all over the world in all of the big corporations and companies are CANCER for the product. People that are part of MARKETING team should quite literally not exist.
Marketing is least important part of selling a a good product. When someone has huge marketing team that overextends their power to engineering, than you know that the product is half dead. God i hate people who do marketing. I just can't stand them. Feel free to get offended if you are reading this and you work for a marketing team.
That they bragged about the pump spinning 6% faster than usual kinda says it all about their marketing department.
Does this mean the R10 gets the "It's Better Than Other Alienware" reward retroactively?
Question: In your CPU benchmark list at 5:00, you don't list the AMD R7 3800X. Just curious as to why. Is it not commonly used for gaming rigs? I built my first PC starting in 2020 (took over a year to get all the parts due to shortages) and ended up pairing an EVGA RTX 3090 FTW 3 Ultra with a R7 3800X. I wasn't super knowledgeable (and am still learning), and it was spend $$$ on that gpu, or stick with my Vega56 (which was great for 1080p, but I wanted that sweet 4k 60fps life). Great review! When I was much younger I was absolutely enamored with Alienware computers, and wanted one so badly. I almost financed one when I turned 19, but as I was filling out the application, it popped over to the Dell page for the financing and I lost my shit. Could not believe that the hardcore "boutique" computer I was lusting over could be made by freaking Dell. Dude, I'm not getting a Dell, as they used to say.
This thing is like "The Room" of $5000+ PCs as it's humorous with how bad it is... but at the same time I feel GN should start a fundraiser to rescue these 12900KSs and 3090s from these Alienware chassis.
All it's really coming down to is that 120mm AIO. All the problems stem from that. They really need to ditch this case design and fit a 240 or 360, or not spec them with such high TDP CPUs at all.
@@Erdie5 I'd say a 360 minimum (which would still require a mild undervolt with a 12900 in order to stay even in the mid-80s when benchmarking) but of course Dell wouldn't want to do that since it'd make too much sense and they'd have to move away from their beloved Ailenware chassis.
@@ZenDeividdo I'll give them a tiny bit of credit, they are getting close. The system has OK RAM, their GPUs are decent now, there isn't a ton of bloatware, the AV is gone, they're no longer pushing the warranty subscription garbage (at least when I checked, it defaults to just the standard included warranty). The proprietary power supply and motherboard are a non-issue to me. Intel motherboards go obsolete in 2 years anyway, and what's a Corsair RM750x, $115? Who cares. "Upgradability" is a bit of a myth when sockets, RAM and PCI is constantly progressing.
But yeah, don't want to support Dell too much, but they're getting very close.
@@Erdie5
It's 5K
that shouldn't buy an "Ok" computer, it should give you Powerhouse with more lights installed than an 80's German disco
@@Nightdare I don't know. Because what I see is a $1399 PC with a bunch of upgrades. A ton of RAM, storage, a 12900k and a 3090. Sort of like people who buy a $30,000 SUV then add $20k worth of trim packages. It just isn't the same as buying an SUV that starts at 50k. But yeah, in the end it's still a 5k computer and nobody should be buying that spec.
This is such odd behavior by these companies. I can't imagine engineering all of that superfluous garbage inside the chassis actually saved them any money, even with using the obviously warehouse back stock base frame. Realistically, how much extra would it have costed Dell to just do it correctly?
It's certainly easier, and more efficient in just about every way. You'd think positive reviews would affect overall sales numbers in a significant enough way to do their job correctly on a system "worth" 5 grand!
I mean, cyberpower is selling a very similar build for 3400 bucks, so, I'm guessing that the extreme markup covers the poor engineering choices here.
Why they don't just put these same components in a standard case and slap an alienware logo on it, maybe apply an out of box OC and some RGB, call it a day is beyond me. They could probably even keep the price the same and at very least it wouldn't be shit.
Steve explains at the end of the video that getting a new case design EMF certified is prohibitively expensive.
@@BassLiberatorsI find that hard to believe, no name chinese manufacturers are doing it, no way dell can't. Or, they could just use an actually good case because they clearly suck at designing cases
@@jttech44 I absolutely agree with you! There is a well trodden theory about using proprietary parts and how they make upgrades prohibitively difficult. This is commonly cited as loyalty retention based behavior. In reality, there's likely a couple of things probably miscalculated there.
First of all- your average pre build customer isn't anywhere near as likely to buy parts and diy upgrades when compared to more savvy users. The amount of revenue retained in house this way will be negligible. Secondly- they are still having to iterate between generations, so in house engineering and retooling is still necessary!
Seriously, all that's needed is regular parts. Slap that logo on it, make it flash pretty colors, hell throw a fog machine in there somewhere and call it a cryo-aerator if you want. People will be happy it looks l33t, and Dell doesn't have to do all of this random superfluous engineering on a problem long since solved.
I made the mistake a few years ago of buying a Dell G7 gaming laptop. It was a I7 8th gen with a 2060 graphics card. I bought it because I liked the non-descript look. This was a ~1300 dollar machine at the time. By the third press (seriously, the third press) of the power button - the paint literally flaked off, leaving a yellowy plastic illuminated power button. It had audio "popping" issues which were possibly driver related / latency issues from day one - and the support forums were full of owners of these machines complaining with Dell support committing to fixing the issues (they never did - I found my own workaround.) After about a year and a half - the keyboard stopped working reliably. Certain keys wouldn't register randomly or would double/triple type on one key press. Dell said to update the BIOS, which didn't fix the issue. I replaced the Keyboard. The machine always had thermal issues - I ended up taking it apart and applying better thermal paste and thermal pads everywhere I could. All this computer did was sit on a desk, I think it left my desk 2 times in 2-3 years of ownership and it was nothing but problems with it. I should have returned it after the first week of ownership. I was glad when I was able to actually find another laptop to replace it with (Acer Nitro 17" Ryzen 5800 & 3060) which has been flawless - albeit a little cheap in construction. I will never own another Dell Product. I have owned 100s of PCs / Laptops over the years and work in IT - and have never really regretted a purchase till I bought that G7. Garbage PC, garbage support. The funny think is - as I type this I am sitting in my office with approx 200 Dell laptops. They are older ultrabooks (6th gen I7 processors) and these things are absolute tanks. Can't kill them, and trust me - the hospital staff try. Funny how they went from those laptops - to the absolute shit-box that the G7s and similar are.
I agree the engineering quality has gone down.
I also suspect that it's that they only concentrate on some flagship/popular models while most of the others get bare minimum attention.
That's why I'm using an old ThinkPad w520 it's almost 12 years old and everything on it still works.
All I've done to it is bump the memory and install a 1 TB SSD hard drive.
And I still get support from the manufacturer.
The last couple of years a pre-built computer was one of the only ways to get the graphics card at a reasonable price. I purchased one last year and the entire system cost just 5% more than the graphics card in it was selling for on EBay. The performance and lack of cooling in this system is just embarrassing and totally unacceptable for the price of the machine. My systems case is not that impressive but the 280MM AIO cooler is able to manage an 11900K configured to a 250W TDP and the CPU rarely reaches 80 degrees. Dell, it’s not that hard to cool intel chips if you have a large budget to design the cooling system which you do!
What cooling mode was the PC in for the benchmarking?
These pre-builts can really be a headache. My little sister just bought one from ibuypower and been having issues with BSOD's and display driver dropping out since day one. Unfortunately we're just outside the 30 day refund policy and as it turns out her GTX 1650 shit the bed. Assembled from tested components according to them. I tried giving them the opportunity to make things right and make her not regret getting into PC gaming but they aren't willing to do any favors. I even offered to pay the difference for a different GPU and they won't give an inch. Not to mention how much she already overpaid for it at the peak of GPU shortages. I really wish she listened to me from the start! I just hope this doesn't discourage her enough to give up on PC gaming. Talk about a sour first experience.
Who let's a family member buy a pre-built? Shame on you.
@@RYTHMICRIOT Lol it was basically the only option since GPU prices were through the roof. And I told her to let me know before she bought one so I can let her know if it's good which she failed to do for some reason. I guess being young and seeing something shiny made her act on impulse. By the way not all prebuilts are bad and at least hers is made from off the shelf parts. Sure it's low end but has a B550 board and can easily be upgraded down the road with a new CPU/GPU.
@@toddsimone7182 I get it. I have a brother who has been gathering parts for a build for 2yrs. He even got desperate and bought his CPU off of Craigslist about a year ago. Still won't know if it's good until he's able to finish his build. Gotta do what you gotta do. Thanks for sharing your story.
@@RYTHMICRIOT I've already told my brother and like 3 friends that want to get in PC gaming that they picked possibly the worst time ever to decide they want to ditch consoles. This was back in the middle of 2020 and beginning in 2021, when the market was royally fucked as far as CPUs and GPUs. I told my brother I'd build one for him though, once I can actually get ahold of a GPU for MSRP that is. It's getting there though.
Damn. Alienwares bringing the heat. Literally.
Building your own PC and spending time to know a little bit about every component is very satisfying, especially that you become your own technician if you ever needed one.
thank god for your videos over the past few months. I was about to buy this but stopped myself when I saw your reviews
The mechanics on the case are amazing though. Imagine the amazing cases the people who built this could come up with if given the freedom to do so.
I wanted to buy just the case… Dell has crushed the brand from scat it was
Dell’s cases are generally very easy for business/corporate tech support. All the proprietary stuff is a big obstacle for home users.
"Put more fans in it."
"But sir, the fans already in the system are just attached against solid sheets of plastic. How can they move air if..."
"MORE FANS! TRUST ME! DO IT!"
"But sir, we're already thermal throttli....."
"That's fine -- the CPU is designed to handle it. Just put the fans in."
"*Sigh* ok ...."
I pictured a Dilbert comic strip here.
My first gaming computer was an alienware x51.
It was ok for a year until parts became obsolete
I could only upgrade the hard drive to ssd, the cpu one tier and a gpu less than 290mm.
There was major limitations to gpu since pcie cables were limited.
I'll never buy a pre-built again, especially a dell or alienware.
I had a R10 and it sounded like a jet engine. The CPU idle temp was 70 degrees and it couldn't play any game without jittering and thermal throttling. I sent it back and made my own system. Glad I did. I now have a Corsair 5000D AirFlow case, better CPU (30-35 idle temp), and runs like a dream (even with a weak GPU due to shortages, I will get a better GPU soon).
The epitome of corporate design - Spending millions of dollars designing something to solve a problem that everyone else already solved for twelve bucks, and coming up with a solution that's five times worse. It's like trying to design an electric car by building a gas-powered generator that powers the car's electric motors.
... ironically, the Chevy Volt is exactly that _and_ it's generally regarded as an excellent powertrain.
In a similar vein, most diesel trains are actually diesel-electric as well.
@@Fay7666 In the case of trains its because its easier to have an electric powered wheel than powering it mechanically with the diesel engine. Its also common on most mining dump trucks (the huge ones)
@@Fay7666 "and it's generally regarded as an excellent powertrain."
Because it is and the diesel engine can run at the absolute optimum setting for generating electricity when it doesn't need to go through a clutch, transmission, driveshaft and differential just to make the wheels spin, it will probably still be in use in rural areas long after cities are fully electric simply because dinosaur juice is so energy dense compared to batteries.
Thats exactly how diesel trains work.....
Your simile is such a nonsense. You you want your powertrain to be at efficient as possible, and pretty much maintenance free, hybrid is the best way to go! The whole point of hybrid is that your engine will always able to run at most optimal range, without massive stress being put on the engine. If design properly, hybrid car will out last EV or ICE car.
I think the saddest part is too, that Dell actually HAS better cases than this, so they dont even need to recertify if that's really what's holding them back. Some of their older workstation cases were genuinely *decent* for cooling.
I remember when their cases made sense and even had handles so you could carry it around your house instead of Dell insisting they hate Shadow the Hedgehog so much by removing ALL EDGES from their case(s because Dell needs like 3 cases for each PC for some reason)
their server cases are pretty good - almost completely perforated front and back - and has actual proper fans. Still not the greatest in terms of cooling, but they're a ton better than what they use for PCs. Sadly the server division is essentially a completely different company so they can't share parts
As a pc builder who picked the 3900x I'm very happy it's productive performance is still more than relevant next to these newer processors 2 years later
9:28 LMAO Please make some merch of your inity graph. Maybe in the worst products of the year shirt have a reference to it
I'm sitting here thinking, "I wish Steve and the team would drop a new video" I guess dreams do come true unless you buy a pre-built.
I'd be interested to see what happens when you pull out the exact components from that machine (CPU, GPU, Memory), throw them into another case with a mesh front panel, with an appropriate power supply, same fan count (because the included Dell fans have their own special connector), and heck, why not even drop down to a decent air cooler. Re run the tests to see if there are any improvements to be had, just to show how much performance may still be left on the table by using Dell's case, and (choked off) AIO. Make sure you keep the memory running at the same speed for initial tests, then maybe try to apply a slight overclock just for fun.
Would like to see this!!! Build a better system then Dell using same parts except case and cooling. Heck even just a different case and strapping fans to a new case would help.
They already compared with DIY and the 12900K/KS which are GN standardized tests, so it wouldn't add any additional info.
It could, however, be one more content piece to offset the cost of this abomination.
GN did do that in the video. They compared it with a like to like inhouse DIY build. There is absolutely no reason to take the core components out (CPU, GPU, & RAM) and put them in another case. They are not OEM from Dell.
They did that in this video.
@@colorwithkurt they compared a DIFFERENT 12700K to the Dells 12900K. Not the same.
I bought a cyber power pre built Pc one time and the mother board sparked a fire when I first started it up. Returned it right away. Bought all the pc parts I needed online for a build and a local guy built it perfect for me. Best decision I made