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Is this gaming computer worth $8000? (Also is it worth buying or can you get similar performance cheaper?)

So I ran across this insanely priced Alienware desktop that's $8000 which is crazy. However the claim is this machine has specs that are far ahead on top and with the shell, cooling and other components that this is apparently a "deal" so support says.

Here is the listing.

Now here are the specs:

CPU: AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ 2950X (16-Core/32-Thread, 40MB cache, up to 4.4GHz Boost Frequency)

OS: Win10 Home.

GPU: Dual NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 2080 Ti 11GB GDDR6 each (NVIDIA NVLink SLI® Enabled) (OC Ready)

Memory: 64GB Dual Channel HyperX™ DDR4 XMP at 3200MHz

Dual SSD: 2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD (Boot) + 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s (Storage)

Build: Alienware™ 1500 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply with modular cabling [80 Plus Gold Efficiency]

Drive: Dell External USB Slim DVD +/- RW Optical Drive (Blu Ray safe certified ;))

Wifi: Killer 1535 802.11ac 2x2 WiFi and Bluetooth 4.2

Additional Software: Additional Software

Also for some reason dell things things that aren't included are included:

ALSO INCLUDED IN THIS SYSTEM
The following options and default selections """are included with your order."""
No Keyboard Included
No Resource DVD
No OS Recovery Disc Included

Anyway those are the specs and Dell thinks this is worth $8000.

First question is, is this actually WORTH $8000 or are they ripping people off overpricing it?

Second Question is can I get a similar performance build for significantly cheaper than $8000?
 

Vlaphor

Member
Never try to future proof on a PC, especially these days, when overall progress has been stagnant in terms of advancements. I have a four-year-old CPU in my computer that can easily max out virtually any game coming out today or in the next couple years. Mix that with a fairly powerful video card, the 1080ti, and you're left with a PC that, while not as powerful as what you specced, can still do very well at anything at that gets thrown at it.

Is that PC worth $8,000? Hard to say. The 2000 series of video cards have been kind of garbage in the high-end, especially considering their value against the 1080ti. What I would say, is that even if it was worth it, still don't buy it
 

Redneckerz

Those long posts don't cover that red neck boy
Its bigger than a Chronos or a Tiki, the latter being the ultimate small room console spec PC. So atleast in that department, you can improve. It can't house SLI RTX though, but at the same time, SLI is on its way out.

Its similar to the Quad SLI setups of the day. It is possible... its just hardly useable.
 

Iorv3th

Member
It's a rip off. Most of the time with something like alienware you are paying a premium for the brand name.

Those 2 x 2080ti's are going to be about 2500$ of that cost though.

But if you are someone that is considering dropping 8k on a gaming PC, than 8k is probably nothing to you anyways.
 
If the only very demanding task you do is gaming... Get some machine with a top of the line intel core i9 cpu.

Otherwise, this is a great machine, and if you have the money... Well, you won't regret having a threadripper based system anytime soon (these are very fast workstation CPUs, video editing, 3d graphics, etc. but they're not the best for gaming).
 

Ovek

7Member7
You don't need a Threadripper for gaming, if you want to go AMD you would be better served with a Ryzen 7 2000 series.

SLI 2080Ti's are mostly pointless nowadays as well, you only get people doing it for the dick measuring contests online.

You don't need 64Gb of ram for gaming either.

And it has a shit case with inadequate cooling for the gear inside so will be loud as fuck at the slightest hint of CPU/GPU load.

And you can fuck right off with shitty spinning disks in a $8,000 pc.

So to sum up no it isn't worth it, the components inside might be but (I bet the psu/mobo are crap) not this Dell travesty.
 
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TacosNSalsa

Member
I didn't go super indepth with this so I don't know if it's1-1 comparison I just pretty much selected the highest priced stuff I could find for almost everything and it still came out to about $3000 less. But yess.. that seems like a ripoff and you can definitely get better performance for less
 
The hardware in this rig is about $6500 and this is assuming they're using quality brands (which they prolly don't... besides the fact that Dell is known for using proprietary shit for their motherboards). So you're better off building that yourself, but as has been said already Threadripper isn't great for gaming, the same goes for that SLI setup. SLI sucks most of the time and is in most cases not even supported.

A decent high end gaming rig should cost you between $2500-3000, assuming you get a 2080ti and an i9 9900k.
 
I didn't go super indepth with this so I don't know if it's1-1 comparison I just pretty much selected the highest priced stuff I could find for almost everything and it still came out to about $3000 less. But yess.. that seems like a ripoff and you can definitely get better performance for less

Says shopping cart is empty.
 
So what I'm seeing in this thread, is that dell is selling a $8000 gaming PC, but with a processor that's not goof for gaming?

That's...impressive. impressively dumb but impressive.
 

TacosNSalsa

Member
Says shopping cart is empty.
Opps ..dodon't know why that happened

  • CABLE: None
  • CAS: DEEPCOOL MATREXX 55 RGB Mid Tower ATX Gaming Case w/ Tempered Glass Front and Side
  • CASUPGRADE: None
  • CC: None
  • CD: None
  • CPU: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X 3.4GHz [4.0GHz Turbo] Sixteen-Core 32MB L3 Cache 180W Processor
  • CS_FAN: Default case fans
  • ENGRAVING: None
  • EVGA_POWER: None
  • FA_HDD: None
  • FAN: Asetek 570LC 120mm (Fatboy) Liquid CPU Cooling System w/ Copper Cold Plate (Single Standard 120MM Fan)
  • FREEBIE_SSD: 512GB Intel® 660P SERIES PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD - Seq R/W: Up to 1500/1000 MB/s, Rnd R/W up to 90/220k
  • HDD: 2TB Intel® 660P SERIES PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD - Seq R/W: Up to 1800/1800 MB/s, Rnd R/W up to 220/220k [+226] (Single Drive)
  • HDD2: 3TB (3TBx1) SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Drive)
  • HEADSET: None
  • IUSB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
  • KEYBOARD: CyberPowerPC Multimedia USB Gaming Keyboard
  • MEMORY: 64GB (8GBx8) RGB Lighting DDR4/3200MHz Quad Channel Memory [+840] (GSKILL Trident Z RGB)
  • MICROPHONE: None
  • MONITOR: None
  • MOPAD: None
  • MOTHERBOARD: ASRock X399 Phantom Gaming 6 ATX w/ RGB, Intel 2.5 GB/s LAN, USB 3.1, 3 PCIe x16, 8 SATA3, 3 M.2 SATA/PCIe
  • MOUSE: CyberPowerPC Standard 4000 DPI with Weight System Optical Gaming Mouse
  • NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
  • OS: Windows 10 Home (64-bit Edition)
  • OVERCLOCK: No Overclocking
  • POWERSUPPLY: 1600 Watts - Rosewill HERCULES Series 1600W 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Power Supply [+80]
  • PRO_WIRING: None
  • PROJECTOR: None
  • RUSH: Standard processing time: ship within 5 to 10 Business Days
  • SERVICE: 3 Years FREE Service Plan (INCLUDES LABOR AND LIFETIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT)
  • SLI_BRIDGE: EVGA GeForce RTX NVLink SLI Bridge [+91]
  • SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
  • SPEAKERS: None
  • USBHD: None
  • USBX: None
  • VIDEO: EVGA GeForce® RTX 2080 Ti XC GAMING 11GB GDDR6 (Turing) [VR Ready] [+895] (Dual Card (SLI) [+1445])
  • WARRANTY: STANDARD WARRANTY: 1 Year Parts WARRANTY
  • WNC: Killer Wireless-AC 1550 WiFi 802.11ac Dual Band 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz Upto 1.73Gbps + BT 5.0 w/ PCI-E Adapter & Dual Antennas [+34]
  • WTV: None
  • _PRICE: (+5766)



[/QUOTE]
So what I'm seeing in this thread, is that dell is selling a $8000 gaming PC, but with a processor that's not goof for gaming?

That's...impressive. impressively dumb but impressive.
That processor is not good for STRICTLY gaming . Now if your gaming and streaming and encoding 4k video and watching netfilx 4k video and shopping on amazon and ..well you get the idea. It's good for multitasking , you can do a bunch of stuff without your gaming taking too much of a hit or any hit really
 
Last edited:

TacosNSalsa

Member
I just realized something ..it doesn't even give windows 10 pro without buying it ....can it even use the 64gigs of ram it comes with?
 
Last edited:
Opps ..dodon't know why that happened

  • CABLE: None
  • CAS: DEEPCOOL MATREXX 55 RGB Mid Tower ATX Gaming Case w/ Tempered Glass Front and Side
  • CASUPGRADE: None
  • CC: None
  • CD: None
  • CPU: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X 3.4GHz [4.0GHz Turbo] Sixteen-Core 32MB L3 Cache 180W Processor
  • CS_FAN: Default case fans
  • ENGRAVING: None
  • EVGA_POWER: None
  • FA_HDD: None
  • FAN: Asetek 570LC 120mm (Fatboy) Liquid CPU Cooling System w/ Copper Cold Plate (Single Standard 120MM Fan)
  • FREEBIE_SSD: 512GB Intel® 660P SERIES PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD - Seq R/W: Up to 1500/1000 MB/s, Rnd R/W up to 90/220k
  • HDD: 2TB Intel® 660P SERIES PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD - Seq R/W: Up to 1800/1800 MB/s, Rnd R/W up to 220/220k [+226] (Single Drive)
  • HDD2: 3TB (3TBx1) SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Drive)
  • HEADSET: None
  • IUSB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
  • KEYBOARD: CyberPowerPC Multimedia USB Gaming Keyboard
  • MEMORY: 64GB (8GBx8) RGB Lighting DDR4/3200MHz Quad Channel Memory [+840] (GSKILL Trident Z RGB)
  • MICROPHONE: None
  • MONITOR: None
  • MOPAD: None
  • MOTHERBOARD: ASRock X399 Phantom Gaming 6 ATX w/ RGB, Intel 2.5 GB/s LAN, USB 3.1, 3 PCIe x16, 8 SATA3, 3 M.2 SATA/PCIe
  • MOUSE: CyberPowerPC Standard 4000 DPI with Weight System Optical Gaming Mouse
  • NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
  • OS: Windows 10 Home (64-bit Edition)
  • OVERCLOCK: No Overclocking
  • POWERSUPPLY: 1600 Watts - Rosewill HERCULES Series 1600W 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Power Supply [+80]
  • PRO_WIRING: None
  • PROJECTOR: None
  • RUSH: Standard processing time: ship within 5 to 10 Business Days
  • SERVICE: 3 Years FREE Service Plan (INCLUDES LABOR AND LIFETIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT)
  • SLI_BRIDGE: EVGA GeForce RTX NVLink SLI Bridge [+91]
  • SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
  • SPEAKERS: None
  • USBHD: None
  • USBX: None
  • VIDEO: EVGA GeForce® RTX 2080 Ti XC GAMING 11GB GDDR6 (Turing) [VR Ready] [+895] (Dual Card (SLI) [+1445])
  • WARRANTY: STANDARD WARRANTY: 1 Year Parts WARRANTY
  • WNC: Killer Wireless-AC 1550 WiFi 802.11ac Dual Band 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz Upto 1.73Gbps + BT 5.0 w/ PCI-E Adapter & Dual Antennas [+34]
  • WTV: None
  • _PRICE: (+5766)

That processor is not good for STRICTLY gaming . Now if your gaming and streaming and encoding 4k video and watching netfilx 4k video and shopping on amazon and ..well you get the idea. It's good for multitasking , you can do a bunch of stuff without your gaming taking too much of a hit or any hit really
[/QUOTE]

Uh? I though you said it was around $3000 not over 5.
 

TacosNSalsa

Member
That processor is not good for STRICTLY gaming . Now if your gaming and streaming and encoding 4k video and watching netfilx 4k video and shopping on amazon and ..well you get the idea. It's good for multitasking , you can do a bunch of stuff without your gaming taking too much of a hit or any hit really


Uh? I though you said it was around $3000 not over 5.
I said about 3000 less sshiieeeittt if that was $3000 I woulda bought one ..
 
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Reactions: Isa

PhoenixTank

Member
Pretty tasty game development/compute/rendering workstation... but for gaming that is the PC for someone who doesn't know better and/or wants to waste $6K.

Edit: The fucking balls on Dell - they only pack it with Windows 10 Home and dual-channel RAM?
 
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LOLCats

Banned
Threadrippers aren't for gaming. Honestly that build is shit and will all be bested with new hardware in less than a year.

3d rendering box would be great, but no quad channel ram?, but i really feel this is total shiite because its not aimed at that.

I bet that mobo sucks fucking balls.
 
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You can build a way better one for much cheaper.
Note, I am not against prebuilts, but 98% of them are rip-offs of the highest caliber, including this one.
I got an awesome deal on a prebuilt PC a few years ago, and I'm still getting 60fps at 1440p with new releases.
 
No it's not worth it.

You can pay $2,000 and get similar performance in 99% of tasks.

No. And no matter how much you pay for one they'll be worthless by next year at best.

Yeah I threw out my xbone/ps4 the day I bought them. Literally underspeced and useless before launch.
 

Boss Mog

Member
Why would you want a threadripper when Ryzen 2 coming out in like a month? Also if you want a PC for gaming and can't wait for Ryzen 2, an i7 9900K would be a much better CPU. nVidia barely supports SLi anymore, I wouldn't bother with a second 2080 Ti; it's a waste of money. With only 1 video card a 700-800W power supply would be more than enough. 64GB of RAM is overkill. 32GB is more than enough; I have 16GB and never have any insufficient RAM issues.

You can probably build something just as good performance wise for $2500.
 

Wink

Member
Rule of thumb for me, if I have to ask if something hella expensive is worth it I really don't need it.
 

CJY

Banned
In terms of pure tangible specs, it’s clearly overpriced. I guess there are some aspects, more intangible than raw specs, like expandability, Materials and overall design that might bring up the price, plus of course the allure of the brand for some people.

Having said all that, I’ve still no doubt you can spec a better machine for the money.

Anyway, PC gamers need to stop trying to target Ultra settings 99% of the time. Drop it down to medium or high and you’ll still get the vast majority of the experience. I honestly think games are not supposed to be played in ultra, but more for screenshots.
 

CJY

Banned
Why would you want a threadripper when Ryzen 2 coming out in like a month? Also if you want a PC for gaming and can't wait for Ryzen 2, an i7 9900K would be a much better CPU. nVidia barely supports SLi anymore, I wouldn't bother with a second 2080 Ti; it's a waste of money. With only 1 video card a 700-800W power supply would be more than enough. 64GB of RAM is overkill. 32GB is more than enough; I have 16GB and never have any insufficient RAM issues.

You can probably build something just as good performance wise for $2500.
yeah, I was thinking the same things. 1500W PSU is overkill. And threadripper for gaming is silly, doubly so with Ryzen 2 coming soon.

The build in the OP is just weird overall and seems to be for someone who just really wants an Alienware and almost the best specs. I’m surprised for that price it doesn’t have a 32 core threadripper, and just make it 10k at that point. What’s the difference really if you’re willing to drop 8k on that?
 

Boss Mog

Member
yeah, I was thinking the same things. 1500W PSU is overkill. And threadripper for gaming is silly, doubly so with Ryzen 2 coming soon.

The build in the OP is just weird overall and seems to be for someone who just really wants an Alienware and almost the best specs. I’m surprised for that price it doesn’t have a 32 core threadripper, and just make it 10k at that point. What’s the difference really if you’re willing to drop 8k on that?
Yeah there's definitely some people that will buy overpriced stuff because in their mind if it's really expensive, it must be the best. People who buy Apple products come to mind in that regard.
 

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
If you spend 2500 you pretty much specced out on gaming
I9 9900x best 2080ti and 16gb of wam 1tb ssd 750watt psu water-cooler and case
 
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