Alienware Can’t Get It Right – R15 2023 Pre-Built Gaming PC Review
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Dell currently has a sale on its Alienware R15 pre-built gaming PCs, so we decided to take another look. This is using the company's updated and refreshed design, but as far as refreshes go, the changes are relatively focused: It's all about the cooling. We were originally going to look at this when it launched, but killed the content at the last minute because we had already looked at a lot of expensive pre-builts and wanted Alienware to drop its price more first. That's now happened, and at the time of writing, filming, and publishing this, the system is $4430. That's an expensive pre-built, a lot of the cost being baked-in to the RTX 4090 and i9-13900K. Unfortunately, the 13900K ends up performing more like a 13700K, and Dell mostly bolted-on after thoughts to its old chassis design. Our next pre-built review will look at something more affordable, but for now, let's look at what Alienware tried to fix with its current R15 model (as of July 2023) and what it can do better.
Watch our previous Alienware PC review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnvxSkqJ8ic
And our previous Alienware tear-down here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY1dlVPzUVo
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TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Alienware's R15 Arrives
01:58 - Changes for Alienware's Design
02:33 - Ranting About Alienware Marketing
05:08 - Alienware is Listening - Sort of
06:13 - Genuinely Constructive Feedback
07:26 - Tear-Down
13:35 - The Most Positive Aspect is the Video Card
14:16 - Forced BIOS Updates
15:16 - Frequency Validation
17:17 - Thermals & Occasional Throttle Bursts
18:28 - GPU Thermals Are OK
19:10 - Performance vs. DIY Baseline
20:43 - Memory Spec vs. CPU Potential
22:12 - Noise Levels
22:50 - Setup & Software
24:18 - BIOS
25:30 - Alienware is Backwards
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Host, Writing, Test Lead: Steve Burke
Testing, Writing: Patrick Lathan
Video: Vitalii Makhnovets