I don’t want my next PC to be a Dell Alienware, which can’t be upgraded apart from memory woo, just so I get some of the components I want. But that’s what I’m looking at if market rates on cards don’t return to normal.
GPU Prices 2022 (and beyond)
- Thread starter UnderOpenSky
- Start date
I don’t want my next PC to be a Dell Alienware, which can’t be upgraded apart from memory woo, just so I get some of the components I want. But that’s what I’m looking at if market rates on cards don’t return to normal.
Callum91
Let them eat cock
Oh Jesus yeah, Dell/Alienware are the Kings of proprietary hardware that you're fucking stuck with for life. Motherboards with the I/O attached, power supplies the shape of bricks, cases with zero air supply... ugh. They DO look pretty though
Oh Jesus yeah, Dell/Alienware are the Kings of proprietary hardware that you're fucking stuck with for life. Motherboards with the I/O attached, power supplies the shape of bricks, cases with zero air supply... ugh. They DO look pretty though
I’ve got one!
I bought it before realising they couldn’t be upgraded. Silly me. But it’s one of the few ways you can get a top end GPU not at silly prices (that wasn’t the reason I bought it but now I wish I’d spent a grand more lol).
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
I'm not sure they did sadly.
Still. Maybe a the war in Ukraine and spiralling energy costs will have one benefit.
Callum91
Let them eat cock
Don't you end up with some Dell Chimera-esque GPU though? They don't use normal, off the shelf retail GPUs do they?I’ve got one!
Nvidia make specific ones for them which is why you can’t upgrade.
It wouldn’t be immediate.
NoXion
his soul is marching on
I dunno if Alienware were always crap or not, I think they got bought by Dell before I properly got into PC gaming as a hobby.
But their recent output is over-engineered in stupid ways, because of their insistence on using proprietary Dell components. Sure, they can make some good-looking machines. But the way they design their cases mean those looks come at a hefty price.
The use of proprietary Dell components extends to the chassis; instead of designing a new case from scratch, or using someone else's cases and slapping their own livery on them, they stick a big fancy plastic shell over the same ancient metal chassis that Dell have been pumping out for years. This significantly impacts the thermals and the airflow of the entire system.
In the comments of this hardware tear-down of a $5000 Alienware system, someone had this to say:
"So I was somewhat involved in developing this system (can’t say specifically for reasons) and want to clear something up. Everyone, and I mean everyone designing the r13 wanted a new chassis. It was a constant point of contention among the engineers and designers, led to a small loss of staff and proved to be a major hurdle.
Management refused to listen and doubled down, it was either make it work or get out. For many of us, the r13 was meant to be an industry redemption story, a system worth every penny. While management refused new chassis designs, they simultaneously demanded we shove as much tech (mechanically and otherwise) into it.
As GN said, all the fancy shmancy additions were implemented to fit a ridiculous number of high-performance components into a chassis designed for Office workers of yesteryear. It wasn’t necessary, but at the same time, it was.
“Bloat” is an understatement, half the development cycle was spent on making this work. Management gave us a reason, we were told that our chassis were over-produced in previous quarters and that all previous stock needed to be sold off before building in others.
We were incredibly disappointed with the company, we felt as if we failed our fans and there was absolutely nothing we could do about it. Our lead quit after the r13 shipped, an incredibly talented individual that fought with management for years over stuff this channel regularly points out.
My main point in all of this is, please don’t blame the engineers and designers at Dell. we’re definitely not idiots, rather, we’re chained to Dell’s inherent greed and backwards managerial style. We don’t have any say, and if we did, things would be a hell of a lot different. Sorry everyone, just about every colleague of mine watches this channel, hoping to get more of a voice in upcoming products.
If you have a minute, contact Dell and encourage them to “listen to the engineers!”, maybe that’ll make a difference!"
I would strongly recommend anyone who wants to buy a decent gaming rig, without assembling one for themselves, to instead acquire their PC from a system integrator such as pcspecialist.co.uk, overclockers.co.uk, or by investigating the options discussed in threads like Which Gaming PC?
But their recent output is over-engineered in stupid ways, because of their insistence on using proprietary Dell components. Sure, they can make some good-looking machines. But the way they design their cases mean those looks come at a hefty price.
The use of proprietary Dell components extends to the chassis; instead of designing a new case from scratch, or using someone else's cases and slapping their own livery on them, they stick a big fancy plastic shell over the same ancient metal chassis that Dell have been pumping out for years. This significantly impacts the thermals and the airflow of the entire system.
In the comments of this hardware tear-down of a $5000 Alienware system, someone had this to say:
"So I was somewhat involved in developing this system (can’t say specifically for reasons) and want to clear something up. Everyone, and I mean everyone designing the r13 wanted a new chassis. It was a constant point of contention among the engineers and designers, led to a small loss of staff and proved to be a major hurdle.
Management refused to listen and doubled down, it was either make it work or get out. For many of us, the r13 was meant to be an industry redemption story, a system worth every penny. While management refused new chassis designs, they simultaneously demanded we shove as much tech (mechanically and otherwise) into it.
As GN said, all the fancy shmancy additions were implemented to fit a ridiculous number of high-performance components into a chassis designed for Office workers of yesteryear. It wasn’t necessary, but at the same time, it was.
“Bloat” is an understatement, half the development cycle was spent on making this work. Management gave us a reason, we were told that our chassis were over-produced in previous quarters and that all previous stock needed to be sold off before building in others.
We were incredibly disappointed with the company, we felt as if we failed our fans and there was absolutely nothing we could do about it. Our lead quit after the r13 shipped, an incredibly talented individual that fought with management for years over stuff this channel regularly points out.
My main point in all of this is, please don’t blame the engineers and designers at Dell. we’re definitely not idiots, rather, we’re chained to Dell’s inherent greed and backwards managerial style. We don’t have any say, and if we did, things would be a hell of a lot different. Sorry everyone, just about every colleague of mine watches this channel, hoping to get more of a voice in upcoming products.
If you have a minute, contact Dell and encourage them to “listen to the engineers!”, maybe that’ll make a difference!"
I would strongly recommend anyone who wants to buy a decent gaming rig, without assembling one for themselves, to instead acquire their PC from a system integrator such as pcspecialist.co.uk, overclockers.co.uk, or by investigating the options discussed in threads like Which Gaming PC?
I completely agree. At the time it was mid pandemic and I needed something for 12 months interest free credit and that was the best I could get. I wouldn’t buy one again (although my point about it being a way of getting hold of a machine with decent GPU when none are available because of mining cunts is correct).
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
I can understand why someone might want a prebuilt PC but for a gaming machine I'd always suggest a small firm who uses of the shelf parts!
NoXion
his soul is marching on
Absolutely, it's been hard times recently for anyone looking to get hold of a decent setup. I got lucky and had saved up enough money to get the machine I wanted just before everything went to shit. I had been watching the price for my targeted GPU falling while I had been saving too.
It really sucks that this has happened to my hobby. The drought of high-end stuff has had a cascading effect into the more budget ranges, making PC gaming as a whole more expensive to get into. That's why I was really pleased to hear about this recent crypto crash. Burn, fuckers.
Me too. But their GPU prices are through the roof (if they can even get the stock) because of mining cunts (and partly the pandemic).
In my next machine I want the best threadripper I can afford and best GPU I can afford. Hopefully next year.
And a Fuck tonne of RAM (although my current one manages on 32GB. At least I was able to upgrade that in the Dell).
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
What do you do other then gaming for to need the extra cores?
4K video editing and rendering of effects etc in that pipeline. I agree it would be OTT for gaming.
Faster renders basically if there’s a fuck tonne of effects added.
NoXion
his soul is marching on
I splurged on 32GB for my setup, which might be more than I need. Although to be fair, Minecraft using 100+ mods with additional content can get pretty RAM-intensive. But if you're doing video editing then even 64GB wouldn't be excessive.
Yeah 64GB I’ll probably head for. But 128 wouldn’t be mad either if I get more into VFX using tonnes of assets (I can’t see it myself but you never know!
)I’m actually rendering something at the moment which is simply a plug-in removing noise from 4K footage and it’s using 75% of my RAM. That means I wouldn’t be able to do another process simultaneously. It all adds up.
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
I did 32gb as figured its easy to do when building then worry about later. Only thing I've done that's used over 16gb so far is Hyper V.
ruffneck23
front left
I've never really looked at getting beyond 16gb personally but then I'm only gaming and some crap music producing.
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
If had a PC that was a few years old, I wouldn't bother, but seems daft not to do it on a new build.
What I find bonkers is the cost of DDR3. If you want server RAM it's cheap as chips, but I've a 3770 I'd like to take to 32gb and it would cost me half as much as I paid for the PC.
NoXion
his soul is marching on
I think that's because it's not manufactured any more. One of my friends had to do some searching in order to find some RAM at a reasonable price for their old machine.
Epona
Radar 2006-2020, Sonic 2006-2022, Jakey 2007-2024
On the whole Dell thing - many years ago now, our (we have on occasion due to finances had to share one) PC blew up - PSU developed a fault and fried everything, so it wasn't a case of replacing x component - we needed to replace it cheaply and quickly and found a reconditioned Dell at a very reasonable price in the local PC repair shop.
Thankfully it was fine for gaming for a couple of years, but when I got it home and opened it up I was basically like "what the fuck am I looking at here?" because everything was proprietary and not even a standard fucking shape! So although it did us for a while, there was no hope of upgrading it.
Thankfully it was fine for gaming for a couple of years, but when I got it home and opened it up I was basically like "what the fuck am I looking at here?" because everything was proprietary and not even a standard fucking shape! So although it did us for a while, there was no hope of upgrading it.
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
Yes basically. Old server RAM on the other hand is really cheap as they had lots of it.
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
Things seem to dropping back to what they should be. Finally. I see you can get a 3070 for just over £500.
Still hanging on for the next gen...
Still hanging on for the next gen...
ruffneck23
front left
Last week you could have got a founders 3070 from the nvidia store for £469...
So it's coming back to normal
So it's coming back to normal
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
It bodes well that's for sure. Hopefully crypto will continue to crash.
Bitcoin collapse. People will be wanting rid now.
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
I know
Second hand cards would have to be a lot cheaper then they are now for me to consider it.
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