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frontpage Posted by 9594 • Feb 27, 2025
frontpage Posted by 9594 • Feb 27, 2025

Dell Alienware Aurora Desktop: Ultra 7 265F, RTX 5080, 16GB DDR5, 1TB SSD

+ Free Shipping

$2300 or less

Dell Technologies
498 Comments 247,095 Views
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Deal Details
Update: This very popular deal is still available.

Dell Technologies has Dell Alienware Aurora Desktop (ACT1250) on sale for $2299.99 when you follow directions below. Shipping is free.

Thanks community member 9594 for sharing this deal

Note: New customers may receive an additional 10% off via email sign up; this email sign up offer is only good for new Dell customers.

Deal Instructions:
  1. Click here for Dell Alienware Aurora Desktop
  2. Under Customize, select the following upgrades
  3. Under Graphics, select NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 16GB GDDR7 (+$750)
  4. Under Chassis, select 1000W Platinum Rated PSU, Air-Cooled CPU & Clear Side Panel (+$200)
  5. Add to cart.
  6. Your total will be $2299.99 + Free Shipping
    • Note: New customers may receive an additional 10% off via email sign up; this email sign up offer is only good for new Dell customers.
Specs:
  • Intel Core Ultra 7 processor 265F (20-Core, 66MB Total Cache, 1.8GHz to 5.3GHz)
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 16GB GDDR7
  • 16GB Dual Channel DDR5 Memory (2x 8GB - Green) 5200 MT/s
  • 1TB NVMe M.2 PCIe Solid State Drive
  • 1000W Platinum Rated PSU, Air-Cooled CPU & Clear Side Panel
  • Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 (2x2) 802.11ax Wireless LAN and Bluetooth
  • Dell Wired Keyboard (KB216, Black) + Dell Wired Mouse (MS116, Black)
  • Inputs:
    • Front:
      • 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) ports
      • 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) port with PowerShare technology
      • 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type-C port with PowerShare technology
    • Rear:
      • 1x USB4 (20 Gbps) Type-C port with Power Delivery
      • 2x 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) ports
      • 2x USB 2.0 (480 Mbps) ports with SmartPower
      • 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type-C port
      • RJ45 Ethernet port

Editor's Notes

Written by SubZero5 | Staff

Original Post

Written by 9594
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Community Notes
About the Poster
Update: This very popular deal is still available.

Dell Technologies has Dell Alienware Aurora Desktop (ACT1250) on sale for $2299.99 when you follow directions below. Shipping is free.

Thanks community member 9594 for sharing this deal

Note: New customers may receive an additional 10% off via email sign up; this email sign up offer is only good for new Dell customers.

Deal Instructions:
  1. Click here for Dell Alienware Aurora Desktop
  2. Under Customize, select the following upgrades
  3. Under Graphics, select NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 16GB GDDR7 (+$750)
  4. Under Chassis, select 1000W Platinum Rated PSU, Air-Cooled CPU & Clear Side Panel (+$200)
  5. Add to cart.
  6. Your total will be $2299.99 + Free Shipping
    • Note: New customers may receive an additional 10% off via email sign up; this email sign up offer is only good for new Dell customers.
Specs:
  • Intel Core Ultra 7 processor 265F (20-Core, 66MB Total Cache, 1.8GHz to 5.3GHz)
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 16GB GDDR7
  • 16GB Dual Channel DDR5 Memory (2x 8GB - Green) 5200 MT/s
  • 1TB NVMe M.2 PCIe Solid State Drive
  • 1000W Platinum Rated PSU, Air-Cooled CPU & Clear Side Panel
  • Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 (2x2) 802.11ax Wireless LAN and Bluetooth
  • Dell Wired Keyboard (KB216, Black) + Dell Wired Mouse (MS116, Black)
  • Inputs:
    • Front:
      • 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) ports
      • 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) port with PowerShare technology
      • 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type-C port with PowerShare technology
    • Rear:
      • 1x USB4 (20 Gbps) Type-C port with Power Delivery
      • 2x 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) ports
      • 2x USB 2.0 (480 Mbps) ports with SmartPower
      • 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type-C port
      • RJ45 Ethernet port

Editor's Notes

Written by SubZero5 | Staff

Original Post

Written by 9594

Community Voting

Deal Score
+138
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Top Comments

I was able to get this down to $1820 with the 10% coupon and a c b site. YMMV
Awesome deal, Im still running my Alienware Aurora R7 with liquid cooling from like 2018. Upgraded from a GTX1080 to a RTX3070. Not a single issue with this PC. I run it for about 8+ hours a day and often max out the CPU and GPU from gaming yet ive never had an issue with overheating even when my office was 90+ degrees
16GB? Really?

497 Comments

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Mar 26, 2025
6 Posts
Joined Jan 2010
Mar 26, 2025
mike_05
Mar 26, 2025
6 Posts
Quote from xKaoSx :
I got a Legion 7i Gen 8 for 2160 plus tax. is this better? Processor 14th Generation Intel® Core™ i9-14900KF Processor (E-cores up to 4.40 GHz P-cores up to 5.60 GHz) Operating System Windows 11 Home 64 Graphic Card NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4080 SUPER 16GB GDDR6X Memory 32 GB DDR5-4000MHz (UDIMM) - (2 x 16 GB) Storage 1 TB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 Performance TLC AC Adapter / Power Supply 850W Cooling System 250W 360mm Liquid Cooling + 1 x Rear + 2 x Top with ARGB + 3 x Front attached to Liquid Cooler Radiator aRGB
xKaoSx Where did you buy your system?
my 2 cents the 5080 is better for sure. According to benchmarks the i9-14900KF is WAY better than the Ultra 7.
1
Mar 26, 2025
6 Posts
Joined Jan 2010
Mar 26, 2025
mike_05
Mar 26, 2025
6 Posts
dell is trying to sell lesser CPU(cores are stronger than ultras) machines for a better GPU than last year for the same pricing they were offering months before for i9-14900KF/4080 SUPER combos.

in my eyes, this isnt slick. just a deal if you need one now. Now an i9 with a 5080 @ this price point... thats slick.
2
Mar 27, 2025
9 Posts
Joined Jul 2020
Mar 27, 2025
Electron12
Mar 27, 2025
9 Posts
I purchased one of these and it just came in. Overall, I thought the quality was good. I get between 150-200fps with COD in the highest setting. It is dead silent. By far the quietest pc I have purchased or built. It runs about 40C at while I am doing email/web pages. While gaming it get to 60C and the GPU runs in the 70-mid 80C. I did replace the ram and the SSD with 32gig of ram and 2 Samsung 990 EVO pluses. I purchased the ultra 7KF and I can't say I understand the overclocking at all. I can't get mine to go above 5.2Ghz no matter what setting I select. Even if I manually oc and tell it to run at 5.6 in the command center. When I use the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility, I can get it to run up the 5.5 but because it doesn't support watchdog as far as I can tell you would have to manually set the OC each time you start the computer or make sure the Alienware system doesn't reset the settings on bootup. I can say steel nomad and Cinebench does not show much if any performance gain by OCing the system with Intel Extreme Tuning. Nor does it show much or any difference if you select the quiet/balanced/performance/custom in the command center when I benchmark Timespy , steel nomad or Cinebench. I am not overly concerned but if anyone else has purchased the ultra 7KF I would love to know if you are getting better than 5.2 boost. I will say I am happy with the purchase for the $$. I see there are more choices out there today, but I can't say I unhappy with this computer for the price paid. Hope this helps.
Mar 27, 2025
55 Posts
Joined Jul 2017
Mar 27, 2025
stevenash2005
Mar 27, 2025
55 Posts
I have done some more testings on all the CPU coolers for both R16 and ACT1250 in this deal. The BIOS setting especially the PL1 power limit is all over the place depending on which cooler is installed initially and which CPU comes with it, and is set by Dell. The power throttle is more aggressive with R16 than ACT1250 which is understandable given the voltage and stability issues with the 13/14th gen CPUs. To get around it I used Intel XTU or ThrottleStop 10.7.2. to reset the PL1 limit.

I use CineBench R23 multi-core 10min test for stress testing, and normalize in two ways. One is with fixed watts and see the peak temp. I use 182 watts which is the turbo power for 265f and 285. For reference i7 14700f and i9 14900f in the previous deal has PL2 of 219w, 14700kf and 14900kf has PL2 of 253w, and 265kf and 285k 250w.

The other is with fixed temp and see how much watts the cooler can handle. My room temp is 20c, and I am using 80c as the recommended load temp. You typically don't want to run it over 80c for long, and ideally no more than 70c. All test are done in default AWCC Performance mode and with Windows Performance power profile. Note that it is not normalized by noise, but I found the noise levels are comparable and the ACT1250 liquid cooler is slightly more quiet under the same load.

Results for four coolers:
1. The stock air cooler cannot handle 182 watts obviously, and at 80c (delta of 60c) it can handle about 80watts load. To be fair, the stock cooler is sufficient for a 65watts TDP cpu such as 265f and 285, unless your ambient temp is really high (e.g. 30c plus) or you want the full performance in turbo.
2. The R16 stock liquid cooler is a much smaller cooler than the ACT1250 liquid cooler. It reaches 94c under 182w load, and can handle around 150w load at 80c.
3.The ACT1250 stock liquid cooler is an upgrade over R16 with a larger chamber and pump. It reaches 80c under 182w load so can handle exactly the turbo power of a 265f at 80c.
4.Peerless Assassin 120 SE reaches 75c under 182w load and is better than both liquid coolers. It can handle around 200w at 80c.

So what does it mean? First, Core Ultra CPUs are significantly more efficient than 14th gen Intel CPUs, and in an OEM build such as Aurora where thermal is the limiting factor, efficiency is key. Even that a 14900kf has a lot more power than a 265f, you won't be able to reach that level as the cooling cannot handle it. A 100w 265f is actually more powerful than a 100w 14900kf, let alone the risk of longevity with the 14th gen CPU.

Second, the stock 240mm liquid cooler in R16 is inferior to the new liquid cooler, which means it cannot handle the same watts as the new Aurora. One should compare a 150w load 14th gen to a 182w load Core Ultra if normalized by thermals, which gives even more edge to the new CPUs.

Third, one should replace the stock air cooler with something like PA120 or PS120 if using this for any CPU heavy tasks. Those can provide similar or slightly better thermals than the stock liquid cooler and is cheaper. One caveat is you will need to use software to bypass the PL1 power limit.
Mar 27, 2025
55 Posts
Joined Jul 2017
Mar 27, 2025
stevenash2005
Mar 27, 2025
55 Posts
Quote from Electron12 :
I purchased one of these and it just came in. Overall, I thought the quality was good. I get between 150-200fps with COD in the highest setting. It is dead silent. By far the quietest pc I have purchased or built. It runs about 40C at while I am doing email/web pages. While gaming it get to 60C and the GPU runs in the 70-mid 80C. I did replace the ram and the SSD with 32gig of ram and 2 Samsung 990 EVO pluses. I purchased the ultra 7KF and I can't say I understand the overclocking at all. I can't get mine to go above 5.2Ghz no matter what setting I select. Even if I manually oc and tell it to run at 5.6 in the command center. When I use the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility, I can get it to run up the 5.5 but because it doesn't support watchdog as far as I can tell you would have to manually set the OC each time you start the computer or make sure the Alienware system doesn't reset the settings on bootup. I can say steel nomad and Cinebench does not show much if any performance gain by OCing the system with Intel Extreme Tuning. Nor does it show much or any difference if you select the quiet/balanced/performance/custom in the command center when I benchmark Timespy , steel nomad or Cinebench. I am not overly concerned but if anyone else has purchased the ultra 7KF I would love to know if you are getting better than 5.2 boost. I will say I am happy with the purchase for the $$. I see there are more choices out there today, but I can't say I unhappy with this computer for the price paid. Hope this helps.
I think it's probably the power limit. Can you check in HWinfo64 your PL1 and PL2 power limit? I doubt Dell will set it at 250w as the cooler cannot handle it but I am curious what they set it at.
Mar 27, 2025
501 Posts
Joined Feb 2023
Mar 27, 2025
IndigoManatee4695
Mar 27, 2025
501 Posts
Quote from gocartone :
That's not even remotely true if you play at high FPS on 4k or 2k. If it's needed obviously isn't the same, but most games other than esports games take advantage of it.

I would say go for 40 series deals but there really aren't any. Just helped someone buy a 4070 rig and those are still $1300 and up (one with an I7). The new Intel chips sucking and the new 50 series being a minor step up (performance not performance per dollar) over the 40 series is really hurting the market right now.

Can you do 4k gaming on a 4070 desktop or a 4090 laptop?
Mar 27, 2025
537 Posts
Joined Nov 2009
Mar 27, 2025
gocartone
Mar 27, 2025
537 Posts
Quote from IndigoManatee4695 :
Can you do 4k gaming on a 4070 desktop or a 4090 laptop?
Depends on the game and what you're shooting for. If you don't plan on max settings in the most demanding games it's fine. You can always turn settings down to get better performance on slower cards and the game will still look good.

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Mar 27, 2025
9 Posts
Joined Jul 2020
Mar 27, 2025
Electron12
Mar 27, 2025
9 Posts
Quote from stevenash2005 :
I think it's probably the power limit. Can you check in HWinfo64 your PL1 and PL2 power limit? I doubt Dell will set it at 250w as the cooler cannot handle it but I am curious what they set it at.
Both are set to 250W it does have a 240MM liquid cooler.
Mar 27, 2025
55 Posts
Joined Jul 2017
Mar 27, 2025
stevenash2005
Mar 27, 2025
55 Posts
Quote from Electron12 :
Both are set to 250W it does have a 240MM liquid cooler.
Thanks. It's worth monitoring the voltage and cpu package power during stress testing such as CineBench, and also temps to see if there is thermal throttle. The cooler cannot handle 250w for sure.
Mar 27, 2025
9 Posts
Joined Jul 2020
Mar 27, 2025
Electron12
Mar 27, 2025
9 Posts
Quote from stevenash2005 :
I have done some more testings on all the CPU coolers for both R16 and ACT1250 in this deal. The BIOS setting especially the PL1 power limit is all over the place depending on which cooler is installed initially and which CPU comes with it, and is set by Dell. The power throttle is more aggressive with R16 than ACT1250 which is understandable given the voltage and stability issues with the 13/14th gen CPUs. To get around it I used Intel XTU or ThrottleStop 10.7.2. to reset the PL1 limit.I use CineBench R23 multi-core 10min test for stress testing, and normalize in two ways. One is with fixed watts and see the peak temp. I use 182 watts which is the turbo power for 265f and 285. For reference i7 14700f and i9 14900f in the previous deal has PL2 of 219w, 14700kf and 14900kf has PL2 of 253w, and 265kf and 285k 250w.The other is with fixed temp and see how much watts the cooler can handle. My room temp is 20c, and I am using 80c as the recommended load temp. You typically don't want to run it over 80c for long, and ideally no more than 70c. All test are done in default AWCC Performance mode and with Windows Performance power profile. Note that it is not normalized by noise, but I found the noise levels are comparable and the ACT1250 liquid cooler is slightly more quiet under the same load.Results for four coolers:1. The stock air cooler cannot handle 182 watts obviously, and at 80c (delta of 60c) it can handle about 80watts load. To be fair, the stock cooler is sufficient for a 65watts TDP cpu such as 265f and 285, unless your ambient temp is really high (e.g. 30c plus) or you want the full performance in turbo.2. The R16 stock liquid cooler is a much smaller cooler than the ACT1250 liquid cooler. It reaches 94c under 182w load, and can handle around 150w load at 80c. 3.The ACT1250 stock liquid cooler is an upgrade over R16 with a larger chamber and pump. It reaches 80c under 182w load so can handle exactly the turbo power of a 265f at 80c.4.Peerless Assassin 120 SE reaches 75c under 182w load and is better than both liquid coolers. It can handle around 200w at 80c.So what does it mean? First, Core Ultra CPUs are significantly more efficient than 14th gen Intel CPUs, and in an OEM build such as Aurora where thermal is the limiting factor, efficiency is key. Even that a 14900kf has a lot more power than a 265f, you won't be able to reach that level as the cooling cannot handle it. A 100w 265f is actually more powerful than a 100w 14900kf, let alone the risk of longevity with the 14th gen CPU.Second, the stock 240mm liquid cooler in R16 is inferior to the new liquid cooler, which means it cannot handle the same watts as the new Aurora. One should compare a 150w load 14th gen to a 182w load Core Ultra if normalized by thermals, which gives even more edge to the new CPUs.Third, one should replace the stock air cooler with something like PA120 or PS120 if using this for any CPU heavy tasks. Those can provide similar or slightly better thermals than the stock liquid cooler and is cheaper. One caveat is you will need to use software to bypass the PL1 power limit.
That is super helpful. Thanks a ton for all the information!
1
Mar 28, 2025
1,369 Posts
Joined Apr 2017
Mar 28, 2025
Undefined.null
Mar 28, 2025
1,369 Posts
I got the 4080 super, similar build, for black Friday for about $1400 after 30% cb through msft and extra through chase.

Black Friday is super far away. But I figured providing this information wouldn't hurt anyone 😆
1
Mar 28, 2025
899 Posts
Joined Apr 2020
Mar 28, 2025
Zankapfel
Mar 28, 2025
899 Posts
Quote from CompassionateVeg :
I was about to say that this seems really overpriced and then I noticed the 5080 in the bundle. Gotcha. That's cool. I think this is the first 5080 deal that I've seen. If you're wanting a 5080, it's like you're getting a whole computer for free based upon the current pricing.
My local microcenter has been getting a handful of 5080 and more 5070/ti the last couple days. I think they are becoming more available. Newegg and Amazon also have some 5070/ti in stock. Still this is a good deal esp if you can get the extra 10%. I also just got a $50 back on $250+ offer on an Amex card. I'd prefer an AMD processor though.
Edit: just checked MC stock again (they are not open yet so a good time to check supply). Across the different models they have 19 5080, 13 5070ti, and 28 5070 including a bunch of the lowest priced ones ($549). The cheapest 5080 is $1379. This is a lot more stock than yesterday morning. Hopefully the lower end models of the 5080 will be available soon, as well as 5090 although I think those will be last to show up in quantities. They had a few 5090 the other day but they were all 3k+ which is ridiculous.
Last edited by Zankapfel March 28, 2025 at 06:22 AM.
Mar 28, 2025
4,960 Posts
Joined Dec 2015
Mar 28, 2025
DeProof
Mar 28, 2025
4,960 Posts
Quote from IndigoManatee4695 :
Can you do 4k gaming on a 4070 desktop or a 4090 laptop?

4070 is a 1440p card, it will def struggle with 4k especially in more recent/AAA games. 4k starts at 4070ti or 4070ti super. The laptop 4090 is basically an underpowered desktop 4080, so it will do 4k. Both of these are unlikely to be able to play at high frames at ultra settings though, especially with any raytracing.
Mar 29, 2025
579 Posts
Joined May 2006
Mar 29, 2025
knlmwq
Mar 29, 2025
579 Posts
Is dell planning to offer any desktops with a 5090? When are yall expecting it to actually be in a stock? By Christmas?

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Pro
Mar 29, 2025
6,363 Posts
Joined Sep 2014
Mar 29, 2025
MostBased
Pro
Mar 29, 2025
6,363 Posts
Any way to transplant this into an aftermarket case like the Lian Li Vision?
1

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