I agree with Vanadiel. The R13/R14's look really slick and yes Dell addressed the heating issues by creating more room in the chassis but there are some drawbacks. The liquid cooler has had some complaints regarding whining noises from the pump. Someone posted a video sample and tbh, it wouldn't bother me at all as I used to work in data centers with large IBM mainframes so noise is relative to me but it can be an issue for others.
The other thing to consider is that the R13/R14 have leaned more towards proprietary with it's motherboard design to allow for more airflow. The other issue and it can be a big one is the PSU. It is also proprietary as has been noted by others use proprietary connectors so if the PSU fails your options are to send it out to a 3rd party PSU repair facility or have a service contract with Dell. I'm not sure you can buy a PSU from Dell.
With the R10/R12 you can buy a fully modular ATX PSU and replace it. My PSU in my R10 lasted 8 months. But I have to admit that the R13/R14 are quite the eye catcher. If I were to buy one I personally would wait for the next round of CPU's and GPU's later this year when Dell introduces the R15/R16 and you can buy the R13/R14 at a nice discount. They are already in the gaming deals. When I purchased my R10, I got a nicely specc'd rig for $1250 that came with a 3800X, 512GB NVME, a free upgrade to a RTX 2070 Super, Wifi 6, Liquid Cooling w/1000W PSU and the lunar light chassis.
I personally would stay away from the R13 at this moment. The R14 seems to have less issues than the R13. You can find the related threads on this forum about R13 and owner experiences with it.
I would try to find an R10, as that is the better choice in my opinion. Neither the R13 or the R14 appeal to me.
I do not recommend buying R10,11,12 not because of the hardware but because of the poor heat dissipation from the PC case it is cadastral. In contrast, the new R13 and R14 series have this problem solved. The airflow is simply in favor of R13 and R14. I've been looking at your list and it's a great choice. I own R12 but I would rather take R13.
Another thing to note with the R13 is that the DDR5 modules run at 4,400 Mhz by design and XMP profiles higher than that are limited to 4,400 Mhz by design.
There also some issues with the X4 slots not accepting certain cards. It was rectified with a BIOS update, but that update has been removed since then due to other issues that were discovered with that BIOS.
Overall they have designed the R13 to be less serviceable with various items being customized and not following standards. This means if you have an issue further down the road you will be looking at replacement parts that tend to be rather expensive. Also any future upgrades might be limited due to for example the size of the PSU and a PSU that is customized to a point where you have to stick with the OEM PSU if you can find one.
I was rather disappointed by the direction they have taken with the R13/R14.
The R12 I would skip also, since by design it has no gear mode selection. There's a very long thread about that and how it impacts performance under certain circumstances.
That's why I mentioned the R10 if you can find it. It also has drawbacks, cooling being 1, but it is manageable and the case fans can be swapped for more silent ones.
OP, since you or someone else accepted my response as the best answer, you might want to look at the deal I recently scored. It's currently in production. An Aurora R10 with a Ryzen 9 5900 CPU, Liquid Cooling, 16GB (2x8) of 3200 Mhz RAM, 1 TB NVME SSD, Wifi 6, and an RX 6900 XT, for $2006 plus sales tax. It should still be available @ Alienware.com
It's configuration #5 which starts out at $2149, add the RX 6900 XT for $70, add Wifi 6 for $20, remove both the generic kybd and mouse for -$10. At checkout you should see a $750 discount. When your system is in the Cart use coupon code TRAVISSAVE10AW and that will get you a 10% savings bring the total to $2006 then of course there's sales tax.
Configuration #4 starts at $1949 and includes an RX 6800 with a Ryzen 5800. For a couple hundred more I chose config # 5 because the RX 6900 XT is a card that will handle a lot in the next 3-6 yrs especially with 16GB of VRAM. The ONLY downside to Raedeon is they are not very good at Ray Tracing. They can do it but you will notice on average a 40% hit in performance.
RodsterB
2 Intern
•
406 Posts
0
April 5th, 2022 06:00
I agree with Vanadiel. The R13/R14's look really slick and yes Dell addressed the heating issues by creating more room in the chassis but there are some drawbacks. The liquid cooler has had some complaints regarding whining noises from the pump. Someone posted a video sample and tbh, it wouldn't bother me at all as I used to work in data centers with large IBM mainframes so noise is relative to me but it can be an issue for others.
The other thing to consider is that the R13/R14 have leaned more towards proprietary with it's motherboard design to allow for more airflow. The other issue and it can be a big one is the PSU. It is also proprietary as has been noted by others use proprietary connectors so if the PSU fails your options are to send it out to a 3rd party PSU repair facility or have a service contract with Dell. I'm not sure you can buy a PSU from Dell.
With the R10/R12 you can buy a fully modular ATX PSU and replace it. My PSU in my R10 lasted 8 months. But I have to admit that the R13/R14 are quite the eye catcher. If I were to buy one I personally would wait for the next round of CPU's and GPU's later this year when Dell introduces the R15/R16 and you can buy the R13/R14 at a nice discount. They are already in the gaming deals. When I purchased my R10, I got a nicely specc'd rig for $1250 that came with a 3800X, 512GB NVME, a free upgrade to a RTX 2070 Super, Wifi 6, Liquid Cooling w/1000W PSU and the lunar light chassis.
Real_Boy85
2 Intern
•
200 Posts
0
April 3rd, 2022 14:00
It includes a PSU 750W and a liquid cooling clear side panel.
EphemeralSeven
4 Posts
0
April 3rd, 2022 16:00
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond!
Vanadiel
6 Professor
•
7K Posts
0
April 4th, 2022 04:00
I personally would stay away from the R13 at this moment. The R14 seems to have less issues than the R13. You can find the related threads on this forum about R13 and owner experiences with it.
I would try to find an R10, as that is the better choice in my opinion. Neither the R13 or the R14 appeal to me.
Vanadiel
6 Professor
•
7K Posts
1
April 4th, 2022 06:00
I would say perform some research on the various models and possible drawbacks prior to putting in an order.
There's some good threads on these forums about the pro and cons of various systems.
That's why I stick with the R10 recommendation if you can still find it, because I had good luck with it.
Vanadiel
6 Professor
•
7K Posts
0
April 4th, 2022 06:00
Very important to add to your choice is liquid cooling. I would personally not recommend ordering a system with air cooling.
EphemeralSeven
4 Posts
0
April 4th, 2022 06:00
Thanks Van, for your kind reply!
EphemeralSeven
4 Posts
0
April 4th, 2022 06:00
This is what I had saved in my cart, but your reply is making me re-think the whole thing....
https://gyazo.com/3271cd8e2f77430b89fd2cf0b3ceab29
Real_Boy85
2 Intern
•
200 Posts
1
April 4th, 2022 14:00
I do not recommend buying R10,11,12 not because of the hardware but because of the poor heat dissipation from the PC case it is cadastral. In contrast, the new R13 and R14 series have this problem solved. The airflow is simply in favor of R13 and R14. I've been looking at your list and it's a great choice. I own R12 but I would rather take R13.
Vanadiel
6 Professor
•
7K Posts
0
April 5th, 2022 06:00
Another thing to note with the R13 is that the DDR5 modules run at 4,400 Mhz by design and XMP profiles higher than that are limited to 4,400 Mhz by design.
There also some issues with the X4 slots not accepting certain cards. It was rectified with a BIOS update, but that update has been removed since then due to other issues that were discovered with that BIOS.
Overall they have designed the R13 to be less serviceable with various items being customized and not following standards. This means if you have an issue further down the road you will be looking at replacement parts that tend to be rather expensive. Also any future upgrades might be limited due to for example the size of the PSU and a PSU that is customized to a point where you have to stick with the OEM PSU if you can find one.
I was rather disappointed by the direction they have taken with the R13/R14.
The R12 I would skip also, since by design it has no gear mode selection. There's a very long thread about that and how it impacts performance under certain circumstances.
That's why I mentioned the R10 if you can find it. It also has drawbacks, cooling being 1, but it is manageable and the case fans can be swapped for more silent ones.
RodsterB
2 Intern
•
406 Posts
0
April 9th, 2022 07:00
OP, since you or someone else accepted my response as the best answer, you might want to look at the deal I recently scored. It's currently in production. An Aurora R10 with a Ryzen 9 5900 CPU, Liquid Cooling, 16GB (2x8) of 3200 Mhz RAM, 1 TB NVME SSD, Wifi 6, and an RX 6900 XT, for $2006 plus sales tax. It should still be available @ Alienware.com
It's configuration #5 which starts out at $2149, add the RX 6900 XT for $70, add Wifi 6 for $20, remove both the generic kybd and mouse for -$10. At checkout you should see a $750 discount. When your system is in the Cart use coupon code TRAVISSAVE10AW and that will get you a 10% savings bring the total to $2006 then of course there's sales tax.
Configuration #4 starts at $1949 and includes an RX 6800 with a Ryzen 5800. For a couple hundred more I chose config # 5 because the RX 6900 XT is a card that will handle a lot in the next 3-6 yrs especially with 16GB of VRAM. The ONLY downside to Raedeon is they are not very good at Ray Tracing. They can do it but you will notice on average a 40% hit in performance.