Aurora R8 $882 9900k CPU $50 GPU hike? Z370?

I just placed an order with the 9900k option, glad I came across your post. I might have to cancel my order.

Hoping they see this and respond to you.

I don't know if anyone from Dell marketing will read this.  This forum is primarily for existing users with problems and answered by other users.  There is a Dell forum moderator.

Topic: Old Aurora R7 'hidden $50 price hike' carries over to new R8

RTX 20-Series GRFX Cards launch last September caused me to stay interested in Aurora R7 & now R8 prices, where some funny business caught my eye, so I screen-grabbed prices 7weeks ago, discussed & shown below. My 'investigation' over a small $50 'price hike' is admittedly a minor trifle so feel free to skip over this post, or stay if you're interested; however, $50 does represent that in the face of old ageing end-of-life hardware like Nvidia 10-Series + Intel 8Gen parts, what I thought would be 'discounts' in order to move old stock out to pave way for new was anything but; in fact they found a way to MAKE more money, it's quite clever too in its simplicity

$900 Base Desktop circa Sept 19th: GTX 1050Ti = base GPU

• GTX 1070 = add 250
• 8600k + Liquid AIO = add same 150 + 50 (same as today's cost)
• $1350 total > (900 + 250 + 150 + 50) 

In otherwords, just 7weeks ago, the above hardware cost $1350

Today this same R7 config costs $1400 (as shown in my top post)

Old R7 costs matter because new $1400 R8 base config is its mirror-image

Price on old tech raised $50 on its way out instead of dropped $50 on the way out; because it did, the precedent for the price hike seamlessly carries over to R8 without breaking stride & no one's noticed it

How it happened

1st, they pulled out the better 1050Ti as base GPU, inserted weaker Radeon 560

• $900 price dropped to $850 = pleasing to consumer's eyes
• $100 extra now for same 1050Ti >< ALL GPU PRICES GO UP $100
• $950 now for 1050Ti, not $900
• $50 price 'drop' nets them $50 more
• clever, yes?

Again, what used to cost $1350 (8600k 1070 Liquid) now costs $1400 & because it does the R8 'starts at $1400' (as shown prior)

RTX 20-Series & why any of this 'matters':

In the face of a new GPU launch, new RTX cards 'caused' old GTX products to lose value, lose even more value then the fact they were already a year old & aged

The Aliens managed a way to charge $50 more on all GTX 10-Series Cards at the end of their life-cycle & by doing so, perhaps even raised 20-Series cards by $50 more in relative comparison, perhaps

To this day, so long as they offer aged GTX 10-Series along-side new RTX Series as is the case with this new R8 packing a 1070 as the base GPU, yes, it's $50 more than it was prior. More can be said & member input / opinions may differ on the value of GTX 10-Series cards these days, but I made my point that a $50 hike occurred on old tech

Now, one can argue that so long as the buyer stuck with the Radeon 560 at checkout, there was a '$50 off' value in there somewhere for them; all other buyers who picked better AMD Nvidia GPUs off the sales menu were doing so at $100 across-the-board price hikes = $50 more in the face of a $50 off base price (example $850 cart + 1050Ti = $950, not $900 as in September, and so on for all other GPUs on the menu)

Sooner or later, the Aliens will probably yank 1070 as base GPU, drop $1400 base price & reinsert Radeon 560 as base GPU. New 9600k base price 'could' be mapped out using old R7 prices still in effect today:

850 base price includes R560: +150 8600k +50 Liquid AIO = $1050

• $1150 if adding 1050Ti, for instance (+100 on all other GPUs)
• $1100 for same 1050Ti last September on that old tech

Lastly, if the Aliens get it in mind that - you know what?! - the base price of Aurora has always been 900 ... we would not want to see a 9600k R560 Liquid AIO 'starting at' $1100 because of the $50 in question

_______________________

How base price looks when i5 9400 launches is an unknown:

• either starts at $850 (includes R560) & all other GPUs remain $50 more than prior (til supply lasts)
• Or? Aliens fall in love with Auroras all-but-unchanged 'starting at $900'

If R8 will one day 'start at $900' again with i5 9400 + Radeon 560 as base hardware, & if 10-Series cards are still on the price menu?, why, a 1050Ti config would be what?:

• $1000
• 900 + 100 GPU

That'd be a $100 price hike, lol ... yes, because 1050Ti + 8400's were $900

To make things right on this old tech, R8 would need the original 1050Ti & start at $900

Much-to-do indeed over $50, thanks for reading

Very detailed and informative posts you got here.

Just got my R7 in July...now it's "old" *tear*

Hi There

I am a mom of a tech savvy son. I am getting him a new computer for Christmas (surprise). I thought I did a ton of research on what would be  considered a "good" computer. I ordered the "New Aurora" i7 9th generation. However, after doing more and more research I came across "chip set" and then this post. From what I understand z390 is supposed to be standard in the 9th gen, but its only saying z370. I don't understand computer stats or even most of your post but is this a Dell misprint or did they not put the new Z390 in the New Aurora R8? I hope someone can explain this to me as if they were talking to a 5 year old child. Thank you

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@orkid2877 wrote:

Hi There

I am a mom of a tech savvy son. I am getting him a new computer for Christmas (surprise). I thought I did a ton of research on what would be  considered a "good" computer. I ordered the "New Aurora" i7 9th generation. However, after doing more and more research I came across "chip set" and then this post. From what I understand z390 is supposed to be standard in the 9th gen, but its only saying z370. I don't understand computer stats or even most of your post but is this a Dell misprint or did they not put the new Z390 in the New Aurora R8? I hope someone can explain this to me as if they were talking to a 5 year old child. Thank you

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Well, 5-year-olds don't buy computers :Smile:

The "chipset" is on the motherboard and will be the proper one so don't worry.

You want something like this (or better):

Aurora-R8
Intel i7-9700
16gb RAM
Liquid Cooler for CPU
850w Power Supply
512gb M.2 PCIe/NVMe SSD (as bootable C: )
A nice Nvidia video card (like GTX-1070 or better)

Are you going to buy a monitor for it now, or later (let him pick it).

Hi, a new PC for Christmas is generous of you indeed

I'll try to keep things simple

The Powers That Be have explained that the only real difference between z370 / z390 Chipsets is new 'native' support (inside the CPU, not a separate controller on the motherboard) for USB 3.1 Gen2 + integrated WiFi in the new CPU

That isn't the whole story

This new Intel 9900k chip 'the Best Gaming CPU Yet Made', the real story is a new batch of z390 gaming motherboards designed to handle its awesome power needs

New chip comes out, manufacturers re-tool to give it a proper platform to run in

We'd say, last year's boards were meant for last year's CPU, & that something gets lost in the translation when running this year's CPU in last year's board (they didnt know or plan for then what they know now / the new z390 boards are the new plan for the new chip)

Not always, but sometimes it's the case (like this time) that these people launch a new product with out so much as a glimpse of it: all images are done online using CGI or studio shots (sometimes recycled stills); all new sales become a type of 'buying sight unseen'; it isn't until later, after new buyers take delivery & do show & tell over several websites that we'll see '**bleep** the Aliens have launched this time', or browse review samples in the TechPress (there are no reviews or testing data as of today)

I'm not sure if the z370 Chipset is a misprint or not; if it's a misprint it carries over into both the sales page & the specs manual which we'd attribute to lazy employees (they do exist); if it isn't a misprint, to me it means they skimped on the mthrbrd (did not devote R&D to a new product but instead 'recycled' the old one in some way shape or form that lends itself to a cost cut)

Mums buying sons a new PC such as you have, I wouldn't obsess over this

Since we don't know yet what they're making, since no one's reviewed or benchmarked one yet, I guess in a worst case scenario, the CPU runs / maxes out at 4.7GHz or so, but when if in a proper or better built system the same chip could've run at 5.0-5.2GHz as the max

It's about how fast can it go vs how fast could it have gone? Intel sells the K chips as overclocking capable, so the question is always how fast can it go before it craps out? Part of that answer is the motherboard & the cooling, so we wanted to see revisions to the new Aurora in both aspects (better power management & better cooling)

We can't judge the desktop until someone takes delivery or gives an online review with data (& opinion) concerning heat performance clock speeds benchmarks noise watts consumed etc -->we or they might then ask how Aurora stacks up against some other pre-built, but right now it's too early for me at least to answer

Generally, we might ask the head Alien F. Azor a question like: 'is this a z370 or z390 - if it's z370 - why isn't the motherboard updated for power hungry 9900k ???'. (I don't tweet, someone else will have to)

What I'd like to say is that one year, my Mom took it upon herself to buy a new LCD TV, a big one & one I'd never heard of: I would've chosen a different brand, but that's ok. In your case, you chose a name brand computer (with a good warranty) so the big box under the tree should work out (=

The i5 9600k / i7 9700k are probably competent in Aurora (if this is last year's board recycled) --> it is the top dawg 9900k (@$882) where enthusiasts will get passionate about details, like, this is a mainstream chip designed to go 5GHz so does it? If not why not, what holds it back? Mthrbrd & cooling ... these aren't things we tend to bicker over when it's a gift from dear old Mum

This was by far so educational! Thank you so very much for explaining all of that to me. I makes total sense now and I truly appreciate it. I think my biggest concern was just making sure I am getting what I think I am buying. My son is a bit obsessed with computers and I just was hoping that I could educate myself enough to be as enthusiastic about his passion. Again, many thanks!!

Thank you for taking time to let me know. Much appreciated

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@orkid2877 wrote:

I think my biggest concern was just making sure I am getting what I think I am buying. 

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And that's why I answered the way I did.

If you want .... After you find an acceptable and affordable config, you can type it here (in the short format I used) and we can look-over it for you before you order.

Just for the record, a i5-9600k CPU did not work in Alienware Aurora R7 with latest bios 1.0.17

I was able to use it in a Dell XPS 8930 with the most recent bios update for that computer.

Yes they us R7 owners. No bios update for our Z370 motherboards to allow i9 chipsets... but various dell platforms with the exact motherboard have received bios updates for i9 chipsets