Gamers Nexus R15 reviews - Dell, give us our Intel i9 performance

If they would just stop capping off the power limits especially the gpu’s limited to 100 it would be great and what we pay for. But I must say my 2 year old R11 - 10900KF and the 3090 is a great performer for what I’m using for and that is DCS with a Varjo Aero VR headset runs like a champ. I would like  to upgrade in the next year or 2 with another Alienware but man give us all that power or at least make it optional. 

I use mine for DCS World too, getting about 90FPS all over the place with my Quest Pro.  (My HP Reverb G1 died recently so I chose the Pro to replace it)

I wish we had a venue to ask Dell/Alienware to unlock our CPU performance.

They call it design decisions. I have said ever since the R10, that the design choices of the motherboard are the main reason why the potential of the hardware components cannot be reached.

A $150 motherboard, ATX standard, and everything would work the way you would expect. Gone would be the power limits, the poor BIOS settings, the OEM controllers, the OEM wiring, and the design decisions that cause performance loss.

Considering the pricing for these systems, that should not even be something that should be needing discussion.

Only purchased an Alienware desktop once, which was an R10 version 1, and I will not consider any future purchases. I went back to putting together my own and I am very happy with the results.

Your plea I fear will fall on deaf ears and it is far from the first post questioning Dell's strategy on the performance parameters of there high end machines.

The locking of CPU'S in the BIOS to the generation of CPU your PC came with, as well as being fussy about the memory they accept has been an accepted practice for many model versions.

As you say there being sold with high end specs at high end prices, for that you would have thought they would have wanted to keep the high end performance.

On both the R13 and R15, Dell disagree and have deemed it acceptable to deliberately slow down the CPU.

Does not matter by how much, or how much performance your still getting, the fact remains your not getting what you paid for.

I can understand Dell putting out a conservatively engineered, lower risk product. They just need to inform their marketing department that is what they are selling. There is a disconnect between the marketing hype and the product performance. If they want to put out a lower risk product, market that as a feature, don't surprise users with a bug.

When a PC company configures gaming rigs with single channel memory and price them at $3000, that should tell anyone that they are not selling performance systems. It is better to build your own. It is better to purchase an Alienware system with a 13700F CPU because OC and the heat generated inside these tightly fit plastic cases are not good for performance. At least you know what you are getting.

If I were looking at another prebuilt, I would only consider an HP Omen 45L or a Corsair gaming rig and those two would at least come with industry standard parts, not like the new Aurora's which have proprietary, everything. That means if you don't factor in an extended warranty, you are risking a lot because things do break and assuming Dell will provide replacement parts is also risky.

I think they know very well how to market products. If I am not mistaken, I think it was Stalin who once commented that if you repeat something enough times, it becomes truth.

Just wish they would advertise them as plug and play, with limited upgradability. It's the upgradability marketing that get's me on the R15. I don't see it being their most upgradable Aurora ever.

I fully agree, but it is not, sadly, just the R15.

Dell have always with each model of there Alienware desktop range heavily emphasised there upgradability, when truth be told there anything but.

Other than the a limited choice of GPU because you will struggle to find one that will fit and accept Dell's proprietary power supply, little if anything is easily upgradable, and for the same reasons problematic should something need replacing.

Where I am from, Dell as an example,  won't sell you, a replacement motherboard or a PSU etc, and nobody else makes those parts.

I have read on here people should read the Specification sheet before purchase. Fair comment, but maybe move that black and white information onto the actual sales pages and make it visible in amongst all the glossy coloured photos and the promises of "customisation" and "upgradability"

Dell do not produce an Alienware Desktop that is upgradable or one that is easily repairable outside of warranty.

The proprietary nonsense did not become substantial until the Aurora R13, which has the proprietary motherboard and PSU. For the Area-51 and Aurora models prior to R13 all components were ATX format. There was some proprietary wiring for the front I/O, but that pinout has long been deciphered. The Area-51 models were big inside and out and easy to upgrade or modify. The Aurora models were smaller with the air flow stifling design and had the added constriction of the PSU swing-out contraption. Nonetheless, the components were ATX format and could be modified within the size limitations. Sometimes even the size limitations could be modified