Want an Alienware Area-51 PC with a 12-core CPU? It won't use Intel X-Series

We already know that the Alienware Area-51 Threadripper Edition is out for your purchasing pleasure. Now Dell is reporting that the Intel X-Series version of its gaming desktop is available for a $1,900 starting price, which is cheaper than the Threadripper model’s $2,700 starting price. Unfortunately, the Intel-based model doesn’t provide a processor option of more than 10 cores, so you’ll have to make a separate purchase and install the Core i9-7920X 12-core chip or higher yourself if you want more performance.

Here’s the full list of hardware options:

The heavy list of hardware should speak for itself. There are plenty of options to meet your budget, but we’re honestly a little disappointed that Dell didn’t wait a few more weeks to include Intel’s 12-core X-Series processor option. That chip alone costs $1,200, and the prices only get steeper from there until you reach the ceiling with Intel’s upcoming 18-core i9-7980XE, which costs a hefty $2,000. That’s more than the Area-51 starting price, which is why you’ll probably never see Intel processors with more than 10 cores in the desktop anytime soon.

Notice that the dual graphics card option only includes Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 10 series, whereas the triple graphics card setup only uses Radeon RX 500 Series cards. While cramming in two Geforce GTX 1080 Ti cards will be your most powerful graphics option, it’s also the most expensive given the cards cost $700 each. Having the three Radeon RX 580 cards installed will likely surpass a single GTX 1080 Ti card’s performance for $13 less. To help in your purchasing decision, here’s a little chart to show the cards for the SLI and Crossfire options, their prices, and Fire Strike results pulled from 3DMark:

Honestly, for a desktop with a starting price of $1,900, the Area-51 is an attractive product you’ll have no trouble showing off to friends. And it’s ready for virtual reality no matter what CPU or graphics card you choose. Dell’s current $1,900 starting configuration includes the six-core Intel Core i7-7800X, 8GB of system memory, and Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics card.

Of course, if you have money to burn, Dell provides three additional starting points for $2,200, $2,800, and $3,800 right here. For the record, Dell isn’t calling this version the “X-Series Edition” as previously thought, but merely the “New” Alienware Area-51 as seen listed within the site’s Products > Desktops > Alienware menu. Happy shopping!