I have 6+ year old Dell XPS 8700 with a Processer that is a Intel(R) Core™ i7-4790 CPU @ 3.60GHz 3.60 GHz and 8 GB of RAM
The game is playable, but clearly my current system strains with the fan running almost nonstop.
I’m looking to upgrade to the Aurora R12 listed below. I’m not going to build from scratch, I’m going to buy something in stock and I belong to an organization that earns me a pretty good discount.
I’m not looking for an ultra gaming box, but what are my realistic expectations for improved performance?
Processor
11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 11700F (8-Core, 16MB Cache, 2.5GHz to 4.9GHz w/Intel® Turbo Boost Max)
Operating System
Windows 10 Home English
Video Card
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3060 Ti 8GB GDDR6
Memory
16GB Dual Channel DDR4 XMP at 3200MHz; up to 128GB (additional memory sold separately)
Hard Drive
512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
Chassis Options
Lunar Light chassis with Low-Profile Smart Cooling CPU Heatsink and 550W Power Supply
Color Choice
Lunar Light
Wireless
Dell Wireless DW1810 (1x1) 802.11ac with Wi-Fi, Wireless LAN, Bluetooth 5.0
Keyboard
Multi-Media Keyboard
Mouse
Optical Mouse MS116AW
I’d skip Alienware anything. Get a different builder.
I wouldn’t buy one even with a discount. But if you’re insistent, watch this:
It’s not exactly the same model, but gives you an idea.
Then watch this:
Performance-wise, if you had to-spec parts as listed, the improvement would be pretty huge based on CPU alone. Depending on what your existing GPU is, it’s likely huge too.
But know that the Alienware implementations of these same parts will perform worse than they are supposed to without user intervention.
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I guess a follow-up would then be, what would be some recommended brands for a pre-built?
If budget isn’t an issue, I’d go with NZXT or OriginPC or maybe.
If you have Microcenter locally, you can get them to build you a PowerspecPC that will be pretty good too with your choice of components and at a reasonable price.
If budget is an issue, then CyberpowerPC and iBuyPower are okay…but you’ll likely have to fiddle with them and upgrade a part here or there to get them in optimal operation.
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What if I went with the option above, but switched the chassis to a liquid cooling option?
Pre-builts always skimp on CPUs, RAM and storage. I’d rather have an 11700K, 32GB of RAM and 1TB M.2.
The actual specs are fine if they were implemented properly. You can bet that has one of those dinky coolers that are worse than the Intel stock cooler because the case design won’t allow for much better.
Changes to the Alienware:
- Non stupid case. Switch to a generic box with holes in the front and top. Hell even a cardboard box is probably better.
- Since we ditched the tiny proprietary box that needs a swinging PSU hinge, we can use a real cooler. Pick your poison, but the cheap Sycthe Fuma 2 works great for the price.
- Back to point 1, now that we don’t have a goofy case, we can get a real PSU.
- Since we fixed our container, use a real motherboard.
That’s it. Problems 99% solved.
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