Help an illiterate dad out (possible buyer's remorse over Christmas gift)

Hi, first post here.  I have posted the below post on another pc forum, but the traffic there appears slow and I'm really seeking confirmation or (some) solace. 

With Christmas coming up and my daughter constantly complaining about how her current (4-year-old Walmart special) computer won't play all her downloaded games on Steam, even some that it did before, I figured I would surprise her by gifting her something "nice" this Christmas. Now I'm starting to develop buyer's remorse and I'm hoping it's not deserved, but I suspect it might partially be (as I know I overpaid).

My 14-year-old daughter has especially expressed interest in the game Starfield and going solely on a coworker/friend's suggestion after looking up the necessary specs needed to play this game, I pulled the trigger. 

So long story short... I bought the latest version of Alienware's R10. This was before I began encountering much hate for Alienware on YouTube. I kick myself as I usually pride myself for thoroughly researching items I plan to purchase, especially the pricier stuff. Again, this was recommended by a trusted friend who admitted Alienware may be overpriced but are considered very solid computers.

Here is the "item description" for this particular unit copy and pasted from the site I purchased it from:


Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 5800 8-Core Processor (32MB Cache, up to 4.60GHz)
Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, features 72 compute units Boost Frequency up to 2250 MHz
Operating system: Windows 11 Home 64-bit
Memory: 32 GB DDR4 RAM
Hard Drive: 1 TB PCIe M.2 SSD + 1TB HDD
Cooling System: Liquid Cooling
Optical Drive: None


Front ports:

• 2x Type-A USB 3.2 Gen 1
• Type-A USB 3.2 Gen 1 Ports with Powershare technology
• Type-C USB 3.2 Gen 1 Ports with Powershare technology
• Headphone/Line Out
• Microphone/Line In

Rear ports:

• 6x Type-A USB 2.0 Ports
• 3x Type-A USB 3.2 Gen 1
• SPDIF Digital Output (TOSLINK)
• RJ-45 Killer E2600 Gigabit Ethernet
• Type-C USB 3.2 Gen 2 with Powershare technology (up to 15W)
• Type-A USB 3.2 Gen 2
• Side Surround Output
• Microphone In
• Line Out
• Rear Surround Output
• Center/Subwoofer Output
• Line in

Connectivity: RJ-45 Killer E2600 Gigabit Ethernet, Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650, ‎Bluetooth 5.1
Media Drive: None
Power Supply: Dell 1000W (Max Power)
Color: Black
Dimensions L x W x H (inches): 17 x 8.77 x 18.9
Weight: 39.2 lbs


So will this unit play Starfield or am I SOL? Along with this, I also purchased with a Samsung 34" Odyssey G5 and HyperX Cloud Flight to replace her equally old smallish monitor and headset.

I understand now that Alienware has lost much of it's shine from before Dell, according to what I've read, but is this considered a junk computer now? I paid $1,400 for this thing. I know I overpaid, but did I get seriously ripped off? It is a capable unit (enough for Starfield)?

Thanks in advance!

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Hi, Welcome to BC.

It's not a bad system but not great.

Starfield minimum requirements is AMD Radeon RX 5700, NVIDIA GeForce 1070 Ti so the RX 6800 XT is fine for it as well a AMD Ryzen 5 2600X is minimum.

Systems should be bought knowing they only have a 5yr minimum life span unless put in a better Video card and chip.

It should do her for 5yrs. If not the above needs to be updated later down the road.

The Alienware's R10 came out in 2021 so hope got a good price on it.

A word of thought from a buyer never answered in the Dell Forum : https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/alienware-desktops/r10-de-bloat-the-bloat/647f9189f4ccf8a8de3168c7

I would agree if want a faster system.

You can find info by searching for decrapify a Alienware's R10

Ya you can run it. But will we se you back in here :=}   No idea on the Motherboard in it as they use different ones at time.  Most stuff is propitiatory to the drivers made for them.

With a ASUS, MSI, Asrock, Gigabyte they would be a better choice for a motherboard.

Just so can see the difference I bought a laptop and had it shipped up here as we really do not customize laptops here but for Systems yes.

So a seller to get a idea off of :: https://xoticpc.com/

"Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 5800 8-Core Processor (32MB Cache, up to 4.60GHz)

Edited by 0lds0d, 15 December 2023 - 07:56 AM.