so... I couldn't find a RTX 3080....

[ericlp]

I ordered this instead... I normally build out all my computers, I am not really particularly found of Alienware case, as I like a window to see my components.

Anyway, sadly, it has come down to this...

Alienware Aurora R11

32GB Quad Channel HyperX(FM) FURY DDR4 XMP at 3200MHz
1
Dark Side of the Moon chassis with High-Performance CPU Liquid Cooling with and 1000W Power Supply
1
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 10GB GDDR6X
1
10th Gen Intel Core i7 10700F (8-Core, 16MB Cache, 2.9GHz to 4.8GHz w/Turbo Boost Max 3.0)
1
Buy Alienware Aurora with RTX 3080 or 3090, Get Call of Duty and Geforce Now 1-Year Membership
1
Killer(TM) Wi-Fi 6 AX1650 (2x2) 802.11ax Wireless and Bluetooth 5.1
1
Dark Side of the Moon
1
512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD (Boot) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s (Storage)
1
Windows 10 Home 64bit English

So for a 1900 bucks Dell will ship this to me, and pretty much the only reason I'm getting it, is because I can't find a 3080 in stock, unless I want to pay scalpers twice the price...

Anyway... I am not sure where to post this question, but is anyone else doing the same? Better deal, and if you have got an rtx 3080 from dell, what brand do they normally use? I think I got a total of 500 off after credit and coupons. But, I am going to pay it off when it arrives. Normally, I go with AMD, but like I said, I'm only buying it because of lack of availability ... that and I don't have a computer right now to wait it out for Nvidia prices to drop.

Thanks!

 

[anthrax]

Dell uses custom dell specific 3080. Don't expect too far above stock performance in them.

There is a pic of one in Dell's own forum.

Aurora R11, RTX 3080, noise levels? | DELL Technologies

I'm curious as to if anyone that has an Aurora R11 with the OEM Nvidia/MSI RTX 3080 can comment on noise levels for it, since it seems to be a special for Dell/Alienware card with a non standa...

www.dell.com

 

[crashtech]

One has to wonder is this is an expected and encouraged result of the parts shortage. Just buy an entire high-end PC!

 

[ericlp]

One has to wonder is this is an expected and encouraged result of the parts shortage. Just buy an entire high-end PC!

The AMD and Nvidia graphics card shortage could continue until February 2021

A global shortage of GDDR6 memory could be to blame

www.techradar.com

I know, I was thinking, no big deal, I could probably get by with an AMD APU, even those are out of stock. Heck, you can't even buy a 1060 these days. It's really sad. I don't know, probably not everyone is like me, all I have is a low end laptop. Maybe just my luck, but I don't want to wait till April of next year.... Now memory is getting tight, and I hear theft of video cards are happening as well. It's just getting bad. Either wait or buy a new system, then I wonder if even the new systems with high end video cards will start to dry up?? We are in interesting times.

 

[crashtech]

I don't blame you at all. Strange times, indeed. Last time I looked at Alienware they did have Ryzen CPUs as an option, was there something about the R10 that did not work for you?

 

[Leeea]

You just getting scalped by dell then.

 

[ericlp]

You just getting scalped by dell then.

lol, lets see, a rtx 380, is going for twice the price, 1500

so, for 400 bucks, I can get a case, power supply, (all be it cheap), motherboard, hard drives ssd and mechanical, and 64 gigs of ram for 400 bucks more. Doesn't sound too bad to me. oh and windows 10...that's pathetic anyway. lol

But, yeah... I could build my own ...*IF* I could find the parts for retail not twice or more the price. I've purchased a lot of dell servers, and cheap desktop boxes in the past, this will be my first Alienware product. I'll admit tho, this is mostly for playing farcry and cyberpunk as it will be something to do in the winter months when I'm not traveling around in the RV exploring AZ and NM. But will be my main computer for the next 4~5 years. or longer. since I really the thing the rtx380 will be the new 1080ti, and will probably have a good 5 year run.

Edit, the point of this thread was to see if anyone else had a better idea on how to get an highend graphics card, other than waiting it out. Witch I'll only use this machine till probably June sometime, then it's off to spend the summer in Oregon/WA state. Won't be back till mid Oct. for another go of FarCry 7 hopefully! lol

 

[alcoholbob]

This is why I didn't sell my 2080 Ti...but I agree, if you have to have a high end GPU for gaming right now, your best bet is probably a pre-built. Just make sure you are getting an open air card and not a blower...

 

[CP5670]

Some of the OEM boxes I see on newegg/amazon are pretty good deals, much better than paying huge markups for the cards. I would end up just taking the card out and reselling the rest though, in order to keep my existing hard drives and windows/driver configuration. It would be too much work to migrate all that to an entirely new setup.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

This is why I didn't sell my 2080 Ti...but I agree, if you have to have a high end GPU for gaming right now, your best bet is probably a pre-built. Just make sure you are getting an open air card and not a blower...

I hate recommending OEM and S.I., but just like during the mining boom, the market is so crazy, they make sense again.

Hot Hardware reviewed it with the 10900k and 3090, and while it gets loud, it did pretty well.

https://hothardware.com/reviews/alienware-aurora-r11-review?page=1

 

[ultimatebob]

Honestly, we're getting to the point where it might be worthwhile to get a low-end Dell gaming PC with 8 GB of RAM, a Core i3 processor, a tiny hard drive or SSD, and a GeForce 3080 for around $1,000.

Strip out the GeForce 3080, and then put it in your "real" gaming rig. Or, better yet, sell the card on eBay for a profit, and you basically got a free PC that you can give to family or donate

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Honestly, we're getting to the point where it might be worthwhile to get a low-end Dell gaming PC with 8 GB of RAM, a Core i3 processor, a tiny hard drive or SSD, and a GeForce 3080 for around $1,000.

Strip out the GeForce 3080, and then put it in your "real" gaming rig. Or, better yet, sell the card on eBay for a profit, and you basically got free PC that you can give to family or donate

With a Dell it might be better to use the card until you can buy one, then sell the whole system. If you get a pretty hot deal like the OP, and given that Dell allows you to transfer the warranty, you could potentially make a profit. While enjoying the Dell version of the card in the meantime.

 

[Furious_Styles]

I've heard alienware is pretty crappy these days since Dell has thrown in lots of lower quality parts, can anyone confirm this?

 

[UsandThem]

I've heard alienware is pretty crappy these days since Dell has thrown in lots of lower quality parts, can anyone confirm this?

Dell doesn't use low quality parts. They use OEM motherboards made for them, and things like reference video cards. Companies like Dell and HP are large and are big enough to do this as they are not like the much smaller "boutique" builders who use retail channel parts off of the shelf.

They do however, use a number of proprietary parts again (which they stopped doing in the early 2000s, but began doing it again a few years ago beginning with their XPS towers).

 

[Furious_Styles]

Dell doesn't use low quality parts. They use OEM motherboards made for them, and things like reference video cards. Companies like Dell and HP are large and are big enough to do this as they are not like the much smaller "boutique" builders who use retail channel parts off of the shelf.

They do however, use a number of proprietary parts again (which they stopped doing in the early 2000s, but began doing it again a few years ago beginning with their XPS towers).

Yes some of the OEM boards I've seen from them seem very bare-bones. That's more what I meant by low quality.

 

[UsandThem]

Yes some of the OEM boards I've seen from them seem very bare-bones. That's more what I meant by low quality.

Yeah, they are locked down compared to retail boards (and don't have all the RGB / plastic bling), but they are still are "OEM" quality and should last just as long compared to any other motherboard out there.

 

[Furious_Styles]

I'm looking at the link punisher posted and it was as I thought. 6x usb 2.0 ports and really weak vrm cooling. Inside the case looks like some stuff from 10 years ago.

That said their target demo isn't ever going to open up that case so not really a problem.

 

[blckgrffn]

I see on sites like Slickdeals a *lot* people doing this.

Since the only real GPU I see going in and out of stock in any sane manner is the 1660 Super, if you want anything juicier you gotta buy a whole rig or become a MC tent city dweller

Common to see people speccing out random SI with AMD Ryzen 3 CPUs and the 3xxxx series GPUs.

 

[UsandThem]

I'm looking at the link punisher posted and it was as I thought. 6x usb 2.0 ports and really weak vrm cooling. Inside the case looks like some stuff from 10 years ago.

That said their target demo isn't ever going to open up that case so not really a problem.

Mos Dell/HP/Acer/Asus desktops still all come with the "green goblin" motherboards. They usually have less expensive onboard sound, limited storage expansion, and "satisfactory" VRM configurations. They don't compete with retail channel boards in that regard, but fall under the OEM category.

Just like buying OEM brakes for your car. They aren't flashy, but they do their job reliably and stop the car.

 

[CP5670]

Most people don't really care about that stuff though. They just want to play the latest games or make videos/content, and already have a phone/laptop for work. I tend to recommend OEM builds to people who are just getting into games now. They cost a bit more (even that's not true anymore with the ridiculous video card prices) but are usually hassle-free and do what people want.

 

[Leeea]

Problem with DELL is you will never get a BIOS update or a mainboard driver update.

SAM is never coming, and when a person goes to upgrade odds are something like an additional NVMe drive not working will pop up and be unfixable.

The custom non-standard case design can also sometimes be an issue with standard form factor replacement parts 3+ years from now.

 

[UsandThem]

Problem with DELL is you will never get a BIOS update or a mainboard driver update.

I have several Dell laptops, and they get regular BIOS updates for security/bug/performance issues. I've had 4-5 updates alone for the laptop I'm typing on right now.

And they also provide driver updates for the things like chipset, audio, LAN, etc.

 

[Leeea]

I have several Dell laptops, and they get regular BIOS updates for security/bug/performance issues. I've had 4-5 updates alone for the laptop I'm typing on right now.

And they also provide driver updates for the things like chipset, audio, LAN, etc.

glad to be wrong about that!

 

[ericlp]

When working for the military, we installed probably 3000+ different dell and gateway computer systems. Filled an entire 10 story building full of them. From servers to desktops and laptops. Their drivers are the best... Yes, they use generic hardware, but, they also warrant this stuff for years and years.... so, they know it has to work or they will lose money sending out techs to people home to replace boards and what not. When dell bought out Alienware in 2006, it was a high end stuff. To me it's a step above the crap they put in the average desktop. It's meant to be customized with higher speed RAM, where the bios can be tweaked to run the CPU and RAM at higher clocks. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to play it up, as it's not a high end system by any stretch.... But it will get the job done and normally they get decent reviews as the equipment does pump out the FPS.

---That being said---

If a 3080 were available tomorrow from EVGA retail price, we would be having a different converversation. lol