The New Alienware Area 51 Gaming PC Equipped with an RTX 5080 GPU Is Up for Preorder – IGN

Dell just launched its new Alienware Area-51 lineup of gaming PCs today. Currently, it’s available in only two configurations – both paired with an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and GeForce RTX 5080 GPU – starting at a bonkers price of $4,449.99. Don’t expect to get it right away either; Dell estimates this system to arrive at door by March 25.This Alienware Area-51 gaming PC features an Intel Core i9 Ultra 9 285K CPU, GeForce RTX 5080 GPU, 32GB of DDR5-6400MHz RAM, and a 2TB NVMe SSD. The CPU is cooled by a massive 360mm all-in-one liquid cooling solution, and the system is generously powered by a 1,500W 80Plus Platinum rated power supply. There’s no question that this PC will handle any of your gaming needs even at up to 4K.Dell unveiled the new Alienware Area-51 gaming PC at CES 2025. The chassis looks similar to the 2024 R16 system with some minor aesthetic and cooling redesigns and updated components. The I/O panel is positioned at the top of the case instead of the front, and the tempered glass window now spans the entire side panel instead of just a smaller cutout. As a result, the side panel vents are gone, and instead air intakes are located at the bottom as well as the front of the case. Alienware is now pushing a positive airflow design (more intake than exhaust airflow), which usually means a less dusty interior. The internal components have also all been refreshed, with a new motherboard, faster RAM, and more powerful power supply to accommodate the new generation of CPUs and the RTX 50 series GPUs.The Intel Core Ultra 9 is Nvidia’s newest flagship CPU. It’s certainly a very powerful processor, although not quite as much of an uplift as we’d hope from a new generation. In our Intel Core Ultra 9 285K review, Jacqueline Thomas wrote that “It’s hard to look at the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and not scratch my head. It’s a powerful processor, but Intel removed Hyper-Threading and lowered the max Turbo Boost speed, nerfing its potential. This was done in favor of adding an NPU to the chip, but that makes little sense for a desktop processor that’s invariably going to be paired with a dedicated graphics card. This makes the Core Ultra 9 285K a shaky bet on a world where AI is so ubiquitous that it’s worth losing out on traditional compute performance. Whether or not that ends up being true, though, we’re definitely not there yet.The RTX 5080 is one of two new Blackwell graphics cards that are out (and impossible to find). In our Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 FE review, Jackie offers a similar sentiment. “If you already have a high-end graphics card from the last couple of years, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 doesn’t make a lot of sense – it just doesn’t have much of a performance lead over the RTX 4080, though the extra frames from DLSS 4 Multi-Frame Generation do make things look better in games that support it. However, for gamers with an older graphics card who want a significant performance boost, the RTX 5080 absolutely provides – doubly so if you’re comfortable with Nvidia’s AI goodies.”The first wave of Nvidia GeForce RTX 50-series graphics cards went up for preorder this morning and sold out within the first hour. First to be released were the two highest-end GPUs in the stack: the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080. The mid-range RTX 5070 and 5070 Ti cards will be released later in February.Sadly, the same is the case with prebuilt gaming PCs equipped with these new GPUs. We saw a number of systems listed today (with a few even showing up a day early), and at this point these are all out of stock as well.Check out more of the best Dell and Alienware gaming deals of 2025.IGN’s deals team has a combined 30+ years of experience finding the best discounts in gaming, tech, and just about every other category. We don’t try to trick our readers into buying things they don’t need at prices that aren’t worth buying something at. Our ultimate goal is to surface the best possible deals from brands we trust and our editorial team has personal experience with. You can check out our deals standards here for more information on our process, or keep up with the latest deals we find on IGN’s Deals account on Twitter.Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn’t hunting for deals for other people at work, he’s hunting for deals for himself during his free time.

Source: https://www.ign.com/articles/new-alienware-area-51-gaming-pc-with-an-rtx-5080-gpu-up-for-preorder