Aurora R10, all ship with the VRM heatsink?

VRM heatsink is on the 125W processors with Liquid Cooling. Others its not.

Getting this after the fact is almost impossible.

Ah I see, so since Ryzen 7 5800 (non-x) has the TDP of 65W (correct me if I am wrong), I won't get the VRM heatsink?

Wait... If you look at Dawid Does Tech Stuff's youtube video, he reviews R10 with Ryzen 5 3500 (which also has the TDP of 65W) with an air cooler, but his system has VRM heatsink.

Liquid cooled models require VRM heatsinks because the fan is not there when liquid cooling is involved.  Its not random.

Ya this whole thing is very confusing. Gamer Nexus reviewed the mid-range one with Ryzen 7 5800 (non-x) + air cooler and his system had no VRM heatsink. Dawid Does Tech Stuff reviewed the previous R10 base model with Ryzen 5 3500 + air cooler and had a VRM heatsink. Linus Tech Tip reviewed the top of the line R10 with liquid cooler and had the heatsink.

I also watched a lot of other reviews, and it looks like majority of them do get the VRM heatsink in their system. However, I occasionally see people without one even when they have a pretty good spec'd out ones, so it's really confusing me.

I wonder if it's one of those "if you don't get it, you are shi- out of luck" kind of thing. 

@Howie25247 

It depends, you may get one, you may not, depends. 

For the Aurora R6, it was only the K class CPUs that got the VRM heatsink. 

For Aurora R7-9, it was included on all configs regardless of CPU. 

For Aurora R11 and 12, it is included on any config if you order liquid cooling, regardless of CPU. 

For the R10, that's the tricky one.  There's no rhyme or reason I can tell whether it includes 1 VRM heatsink or 0 VRM heatsinks.  However, the 3950X and 5950X typically include 2 VRM heatsinks.  Also, I've seen base config R10s sold by Amazon which include 1 VRM heatsink.  I think, especially since there are multiple manufacturing revisions, it just depends on what the policy was in effect at the time it was ordered. 

I have definately 100% know of stock air cooled units that shipped with a vrm heatsink.

I remember having this discussion some months ago, and back them I was told that only the liquid cooled units come with VRM heat sinks. The air cooled units do not, because the fan from the air cooler provides the VRM cooling hence no heat sinks are required.

I do remember back then wondering why you would simply not always include heat sinks, since this issue of how/where to buy the heat sinks comes up on a regular basis on these boards...

@Vanadiel 

Not including Heatsinks and Sata Cables and Drive caddy's etc cuts down on cost.  Not installing parts is more than the parts cost its the additional labor to install them plus the shipping weight etc.   I wouldn't mind leaving these things out if it was easy to order the parts later but getting parts after the sale is almost impossible.  I understand how this is done but I don't agree with it. There was also the Covid issue of parts delaying the overall build process.  I don't envy the Dell engineers who had to take orders and ship things out because the industry overall is short on parts.

If it saves $40 per unit over a Million Units thats $40 Millon dollars.

This comes at the cost of Dell's reputation.

The R11 and R12 attach the VRM to the AIO and error out without the continuity pass.  

R10 does not have a built in check.

I have an R10 with the 5900 non X, so it's watercooled and the VRM is in there and it's a good size too.

I understand why it's done, I just question the logic behind it considering these are higher end gaming machines and command a premium price I don't think it makes sense.

I also don't understand why you would want to cool the VRM section down with the hot air exhaust from the CPU air cooler instead of the passive heat sink solution from the liquid cooled systems.

My R10 arrived. Had to get air cooled as that was the only option offered in New Zealand.  H60 ready to install to address that.

Did Not come with the VRM heatsinks.  Have ordered them from Dell directly.  They'll be here in another couple of weeks and only then will I install the H60.

Really should be included no matter what.  Quite a disconnect between the PR of alienware and some of the internal hardware decisions.