Congratz! The RTX 3080 should be a beast.

I do have a few questions from people who know more about these machines. With ryzen 5000 series just released. I'm curious if dell will offer a bios update to use them. I'm not sure they will, and apparently the mobo in these is the b550a, which AFAIK isn't compatible for updated bios on ryzen 5000. [...]

A third question, is the case compatible with switching out the motherboard for a ryzen 5000 compatible one? I assume the size is mitx. I'm just worried about non standard stand off positions. 

I hate to say it, but if I were you in this situation, I would order an AMD Zen3 with an entire computer build around it: An Alienware Aurora R12(?) with Ryzen7 5800X (or whatever other model that meets your need) next year.

It is not easy to install a newer-gen CPU on an mobo that's not built for it. The Aurora mobo and case are also proprietary and are designed to work together.

An alternative would be to buy in the consumer market a new case and a new mobo for your AMD Zen3. That, however, is usually not as reliable as Alienware prebuild.

Also, for owners, how does dells 3080 stack up versus founders. It's a 2 fan design, so I am a little worried it may be choked. 

My understanding is that you can only overheat the 2-fan Alienware 3080 with some serious monitor (or serious mis-configuration), like a 240-Hz BFGD or a 360-Hz BFGD. You can turn on V-sync to prevent the GPU from producing more frames than the monitor can display.

The 3080 should stay cool if you cap FPS at 60. It should stay warm if you cap FPS at 120 with reasonable graphic settings per recommendation of the GeForce Experience app.

@AuroraHasManyFans I mean I wouldn't call off the shelf motherboards/components more unreliable than a prebuilt when the standard warranties for even the most basic components tend to be 3-5 years compared to 1 from Dell, and you don't have to worry about compatibility with CPUs after AMD announces all Ryzen 5000 CPUs will work with all 500 series motherboards but Dell doesn't provide a clear answer whether that includes the proprietary one in your pc.

I just ordered one as well and am seriously considering whether or not I should cancel. Even reading about basic things like the absolute worst ram compatibility I've ever seen in a Ryzen Mobo is making me sweat. Seriously I have a cheap first gen Ryzen motherboard and even that seemed more reliable than this in terms of memory. If this 320W GPU chokes on my UWQHD 144hz monitor what the heck am I paying for?

Ordered an intel R11 w 3090 the other day.. I too usually build my own but between the deal and not being able to find any RTX cards in stock, this made sense.

I've heard that my system might suffer from 8x PCIe 3 and AMD might not - can anyone explain that?  Thanks!
Jeff

Even reading about basic things like the absolute worst ram compatibility I've ever seen in a Ryzen Mobo is making me sweat.

So the Ryzen version of Aurora mobo has bad compatibility with RAM? Good to know. I will look for more information about this. The Intel version of Aurora mobo seems to be compatible with both 2933 MHz and 3200 MHz XMP RAMs.

@DoingCarThings 

"I've heard that my system might suffer from 8x PCIe 3 and AMD might not"

Yes and no.  x8 PCiE 4.0 on the top (blue) GPU slot.  The remaining three pcie slots are PCiE 3.0, including the bottom x8 slot (only 8 lanes are powered but physically you see all 16). 

"- can anyone explain that?" 

B550A ... aka B450 chipset which as no pcie 4.0 chipset lanes, plus AGESA unlocked PCiE 4.0 on the CPU lanes. 

I read that as well during my research .

Got mixed info. I'm going into this feeling the propiatory gpu shrouds they are using will be o  the cheaper end. It is a 2 fan design vs most arr 3 fan. They had to shrink it down to fit the case.

From what I can find so far. It seems to perform within 2 to 10% of other more premium offerings of the same gpu. For example one bench i found gave it a timespy gpu score of about 14k  vs 15.5k low average. And some are reporting as high as 18.5k with higher end models and tweaking.

When I get my system I'm going to fine tune it as best I could. I used to do it competitively so ill see what I can pull off. So many variables though for scores and one setting can cost you 10% . If this comes within 5% of average FE model scores i think that's fair  im just hoping the card don't choke.

Just want to add having cpu liquid cooling will also help the gpu since the cpu won't be dumping as much heat into the case .everything g I can find on these is that the cpu low profile cooling solutions  is bad and should not even be an option. There seems to be as much as a 50 degree difference between the two.

"my system might suffer from 8x PCIe 3" 

If your system is Intel, then I would blame Intel. Current gen Comet Lake CPUs (aka 10th gen) do not support PCiE 4.0.

@LDDiamond "They had to shrink it down to fit the case." 

Yeah they've been using the same internal metal chassis since z170.  Between 8th and 9th gen Intel they gave a plastic "Legend" facelift and added AMD, but retained the same SFF mental chassis.  The ~130W TDP asetek liquid cooler hasn't changed during this timeframe.  But each successive CPU generation dumps more and more heat into the case.  At some point (soon?) they're going to have to do something about that cramped design, like a bigger case or add more water, or people are going to hit a thermal throttle wall pretty early on, especially when using high end components.  

Heya,

I found myself in the same situation as you with a really good deal, so went for it regardless of the shortcomings with upgrades and potential ram issues. I think the only difference on my set us is that I went with a 3900X

Have you seen these links:

https://dl.dell.com/topicspdf/alienware-aurora-r10-desktop_users-guide_en-us.pdf

https://dl.dell.com/topicspdf/alienware-aurora-r10-desktop_service-manual_en-us.pdf

I won't be attempting it any time soon, but maybe with the above, and some Mcgivering, I may attempt a case swap. I am thinking that the open concept of the cougar conquer (V.1) may provide enough flexibility for the Mcguivering lol. Worse case in a couple of years I will upgrade the mobo for an X570 and transfer the card, processor, and RAM.

Regarding the ram, I recently purchased a trident z RGB 32GB 3200Mhz kit. I will let you know if I have any luck with this on the system.

The PC just arrived, but due to external factors I have not had a chance to set up. I hope to have an update on the above soon.

Cheers!

@Ixquin 

Awesome, thanks for taking the time to reply. I'm excited for the update.

Yeah been checking manuals last few days.

my 3080 equipped Aurora R10 is reliably hitting 17000 on TimeSpy.  I can screencap a few runs if you want.

Ensure you buy the water cooled setup, otherwise the processor temps are crazy and the noise is unbearable.

@Milhouse85 

That is awesome to hear. Solid score all.things considering. One I seen benchmarked was 13k ish. But I suspected that wasn't normal

I did get the aio cooler for the cpu. I feel this desktop shouldn't be sold without it.

OK! So I installed the RAM kit!

btw it is the Trident Z F4-3200C16D-32GTZR / CL16-18-18-38

So sorta mixed results, but overall positive!

1. If you ordered the 3200 16GB option, it does run at 3200MHz out of the box; I did not need to go into the BIOS and enable anything. I went ahead and did the usual new computer updates, and installed CPU-Z
2. Once I was comfortable with the above, I changed the RAM. The first boot was not a plug n play moment, but was not expecting it to be. It sent me to the BIOS
   
   
3. XMP was disabled, and I could not enable it (the option was greyed out)
   
   
4. To fix this, on the right hand menu I clicked on both "previous values", and "optimized defaults", and that solved the above issue (enabling XMP)
   
   
5. At this point I decided to do nothing, and just boot. No issues. Unfortunately the RAM speed was soooo slow at 2130MHz lol
   
   
6. Alienware command center allows you to "user friendly" OC the CPU, GPU, and RAM via 2 preset options; I assume tested to be stable. 
   
   
7. Since I just wanted to boost the RAM back to 3200MHz. I created a new profile with just the RAM OC; (since it automatically is supposed to boost to 1.35V (from 1.2) and adjust timings to run at 3200MHz). Unfortunately it did not take, and sent me back to BIOS when I re-started.
   
   
8. Briefly played with manual adjustments - no major issues, but no real gains (in the BIOS)
   
   
9. Finally decided to go to the Alienware command center and select OC2 preset (note, not from BIOS), and re-started. BAM! no issues and RAM is running at 3200MHz

Now just hoping for stability!

May play more with the manual settings in the coming days since OC2 seems to work with the Kit. I will provide an update in a few days.

Cheers!

Last thing-  Why do I have OC ability but the Alienware software does everything but OC.....  This makes no sense.....  I am assuming it was canned software from a prior version, but I can change colors and themes but I cannot change any processors speed....