Dell and Alienware Bet on AMD with Area-51 Threadripper Edition

[HockeyJon]

As much as I want AMD to succeed with Ryzen, why would you use this as the headline chip for a gaming machine? I honestly don't see much point in going past a high-end i5, aside from marketing taking advantage of bigger numbers and jacking the price.

 

[Mchart]

I get your point on the costs...if you can stack enough discounts, it might be worth it. The standard prices though are what drives me away.

I'm old too, but I'm not tired of building machines yet. Unless you're watercooling, it only takes a couple hours to put a new rig together from scratch. And at least half of that time will spent just taking parts out of boxes and cleaning up all the packing materials. And if you're already going to upgrade your RAM, storage and GPU on your own, what are you saving in terms of time? All that's left is installing a PSU, MB and CPU into the case.

Cable management. Really that's it. Also the fact that I've built enough systems that I've dealt with weird ghost like problems that require eventual mobo RMA which is a pain in my ass because I have to tear everything down again.

 

[Ducman69]

Who buys these things anyway? You can build your own for 1/2 the price...or pay a friend to do it for you and STILL save a ton.

Not always, they pop up on slickdeals and stuff now and then, and the prices are pretty crazy. There's often a big difference between Dell MSRP and Dell's sale prices that pop up now and then.

 

[Bandalo]

Cable management. Really that's it. Also the fact that I've built enough systems that I've dealt with weird ghost like problems that require eventual mobo RMA which is a pain in my ass because I have to tear everything down again.

True, there's always some headaches with new hardware, but that doesn't change if you buy a pre-built machine. There's less "teardown" for the RMA or service, but you're still down until it's fixed.

Not always, they pop up on slickdeals and stuff now and then, and the prices are pretty crazy. There's often a big difference between Dell MSRP and Dell's sale prices that pop up now and then.

Yeah, someone else pointed out you CAN get these systems for a decent price. I haven't compared myself, but I have no reason to argue the point. If you can get them for the same price, they'd have a lot more appeal. I'd personally still go with my own stuff, because I like to have some choice over the motherboard and cooling solutions and such. I can see why people might go pre-built though if they can get similar hardware.

 

[Design1stcode2nd]

It is not a big market but there are people who will buy high-end pre-made.

My wife has a shitty HP all-in-one and its slow as dirt, I've been trying to get her to upgrade and she is thinking about it but I have to fight with her not to buy another POS all-in-one and let me build her one. We have Dell ones at work she says. I had to show her part for part what they charged and what it cost to show her it would be cheaper for me to do it.

As an aside I've been a PC gamer for a long time, 386SX 16mhz, and 2016 was the first year I built a PC. So it happens. Now I couldn't imagine buying a pre-built unit. Some of that is probably remembering all the issues you had with PC's in the past so for younger people it may seem like a no brainer. My son was pestering me to build one to save money saying it was easy and he was 12-13 at the time.

Also the financing is a draw, yes you can do it via Amazon but you need to buy everything at once on Amazon to get the 6 or 12 month same as cash. Ideally it's best to get each component from whatever vendor has the best price, no tax and free shipping or whatever combination is cheapest if you are building yourself.

Lastly its warranty, if you have any issue at all you contact Dell. If you have an issue with a system you built you need to troubleshoot, identify the part and contact that manufacturer.

 

[Mchart]

True, there's always some headaches with new hardware, but that doesn't change if you buy a pre-built machine. There's less "teardown" for the RMA or service, but you're still down until it's fixed.



Yeah, someone else pointed out you CAN get these systems for a decent price. I haven't compared myself, but I have no reason to argue the point. If you can get them for the same price, they'd have a lot more appeal. I'd personally still go with my own stuff, because I like to have some choice over the motherboard and cooling solutions and such. I can see why people might go pre-built though if they can get similar hardware.

Comes with next-day onsite servicing. The down time is minimal, even when compared to the very few companies that still offer next-day advanced RMA. Most consumer hardware manufacturers don't even offer advanced RMA anymore besides EVGA, and to get advanced RMA you still have to pay an upfront additional cost at time of purchase.

Needless to say after a 15% discount, free next day shipping, and a free next day on-site warranty the Alienware is actually a decent deal. Also - The Alienware is fairly easy to upgrade so it isn't like your typical OEM PC that is locked down. The BIOS is fairly open as well and allows for decent levels of overclocking.

It's worth noting that getting a 15% discount isn't difficult with Dell. As long as you know someone who is military, a student, or works at a company with lots of Dell purchasing you can get a 10% discount code. The additional 5% is the standard discount you get from just ordering through the Dell MPP sub-domain that anyone can access and make an account with. Additionally if you wait for sales these coupons do stack. Right now there is a particular Area 51 model being sold with 10% as it is. So really you can get a total of 25% which really makes it a decent deal.

 

[dvsman]

If you ever want a discount on Dell stuff, all you have to do is phone your order in. I swear the operators will just give a discount to you just for using the phone. If you have coupons, just throw those on top.

I'll deal with someone on the phone in exchange for 10+% off of something I was planning on buying anyway.

 

[JustReason]

As much as I want AMD to succeed with Ryzen, why would you use this as the headline chip for a gaming machine? I honestly don't see much point in going past a high-end i5, aside from marketing taking advantage of bigger numbers and jacking the price.

They make the point that a 4c/8t (sorry but a straight 4 core today is a terrible idea moving forward) is still a good idea for gaming but these machines are for those streaming and encoding gamers.