Advice on Dell Alienware Refurb vs new G Series Desktop

franman

Hi Guys,

Been out of the game for a long time so just looking for some advice whether I should go for an Alienware Refurb or new G Series desktop for gaming. Anyone of any experience with the refurbs from Dell? I see the warranty is the same as buying new so should be no issues.

Which of the below would be better for gaming? I need to have the PC under €1000 excluding VAT. I am willing to update the graphics card to an RTX 3070 later so thinking maybe I should go for the newer processor or is there much of a difference? Prices are the same on all 3.

Alienware Aurora R11
PROCESSOR: Intel Core 10th Generation i5 10600KF Processor
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti 6GB GDDR6 GRAPHICS

Alienware Aurora R9
PROCESSOR: Intel Core 9th Generation i7 9700 Processor
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 6GB GDDR6 (OC Ready) GRAPHICS

New G5 Gaming Desktop
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10700F processor
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1660 Ti 6GB GDDR6

Also can anyone recommend a 27" monitor to go with the above? Have a budget of €600 - €700 for the monitor but no point in buying a great monitor if the machine can't make use of it.

Thanks

K.O.Kiki

The R9 has the best GPU of the lot.

With regards to future updates, an RTX 3070 requires a 550W PSU at the minimum, as well as adequate space to install.

Can't really look into it as I'm on mobile & boards is blocked in work.

franman

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

The R9 has the best GPU of the lot.

With regards to future updates, an RTX 3070 requires a 550W PSU at the minimum, as well as adequate space to install.

Can't really look into it as I'm on mobile & boards is blocked in work.

Thanks for the feedback K.O.Kiki. I had a quick google and it seems people have gotten the RTX 3070 to fit in the R9 but some conflicting reports.

There is a version of the G5 with a 3070 so it will definitely fit in there. Im torn now as it seems the R9 has the best processor and graphics cards but might be more awkward to upgrade when compared to the G5. I will contact dell and ask what PSU comes with the R9.

I would much prefer to build (I built my last PC with parts from Scan) but the current PC is crashing all the time now so need a new one ASAP.

ShadowHearth

franman wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback K.O.Kiki. I had a quick google and it seems people have gotten the RTX 3070 to fit in the R9 but some conflicting reports.

There is a version of the G5 with a 3070 so it will definitely fit in there. Im torn now as it seems the R9 has the best processor and graphics cards but might be more awkward to upgrade when compared to the G5. I will contact dell and ask what PSU comes with the R9.

I would much prefer to build (I built my last PC with parts from Scan) but the current PC is crashing all the time now so need a new one ASAP.

With prebuilts my advice would be get the one with best cpu and power supply. Those two things in pcs like dell/Allienware are pretty much for life. Stuff like gpu, ram and storage can always be upgraded.

If you tight on budget I would almost recommend getting new Alienware with speced in 5800x and 1kw power supply, but with cheaper gpu if your budget can't stretch it.

franman

ShadowHearth wrote: »

With prebuilts my advice wupud be get the one with best cpu and power supply. Those to things in pcs like dell/Allienware are pretty much for life. Stuff like gpu, ram and storage can always be upgraded.

If you tight on budget I would almost recommend getting new Alienware with speced in 5800x and 1kw power supply, but with cheaper gpu if your budget can't stretch it.

Unfortunately it has to be max €1000 excluding tax as the business is paying so that rules out any new Alienware desktop. If I had any old graphics card I would look at buying the parts separately but I cant find any graphics cards for sell at a reasonable price so thats why im going the prebuilt route.

franman

Dell CS has said the R9 is now gone. They say the stock will refresh at 3pm today i'll wait and see what appears.

It looks like it will have to be a new G5.

Homelander

The G5 is fine but two things. One is that as standard it comes with 8GB of single channel RAM. You really want 16GB, but more than that, you want your RAM in dual-channel. Single channel hurts performance and it infuriates me that a lot of companies do the single stick thing regularly.

Secondly double check what the power supply is with the G5 with the 1660ti, it may not be the same as the G5 with the 3070. It's not uncommon for different tiers of the same model to have different supplies, across all manufacturers, not just Dell.

Though from a quick Google it does appear that a lot of those G machines can accommodate standard PSU's you an buy, just not normal ATX ones.

holly_johnson

Just to be aware Dell are SUPER slow at the moment. I ordered an Alienware pc worth €1,700 on Feb 3rd and it still hasn't gone into production yet! Although if you're looking at one from the outlet I suppose they're already built.

Cuddlesworth

holly_johnson wrote: »

Just to be aware Dell are SUPER slow at the moment. I ordered an Alienware pc worth €1,700 on Feb 3rd and it still hasn't gone into production yet! Although if you're looking at one from the outlet I suppose they're already built.

Yeah outlet is built already. Most of them are brand new and just returned orders.

Blazer

does anyone know if we order from the UK outlet would be be caught for extra fees such as excise duty etc?
I've looking at getting one end of the month.