We haven’t covered Dell XPS Desktop PC for a while, but the new XPS Desktop looks pretty interesting as it gets (up to) Intel’s new 125W 12th-gen Intel Core i9-12900K Alder Lake CPU along with a GeForce RTX 3090 or Radeon RX 6900 XT. These days, buying a whole system might be your best chance to get one of these RTX 3090 at a “good price” (ouch).
Users can add up to 128GB of DDR5 RAM (4×32), which is insanely cool if you work with massive datasets. That’s probably not for games, but Creative users would appreciate 128GB of RAM and the built-in full-size SD card reader in the front. Storage-wise, there’s up to 2TB of SSD and 2TB of HDD (4TB total) available at order time.
The new chassis design is the most apparent change from the outside, and this 2021 XPS desktop is slightly raised for better airflow, which may also alleviate floor dust from getting sucked in. If you plan on pushing the computing limits (or want a quieter PC), there’s even a (CPU) liquid cooling option for sustained performance.
The components are neatly arranged, and based on the pictures, the internal airflow should be pretty good, without cables getting in the way. With up to three 120mm fans, you should be able to get a lot of air moving around while keeping things relatively quiet at the same time.
There isn’t much room for additional PCI cards, so you might want to consider that if you plan on expanding your horizon in the future. I’m not 100% sure the motherboard is a standard ATX as there seems to be a daughterboard in the front of the chassis.
The New Alienware Legend 2.0 chassis quality is higher (check the Aurora R13), but I bet the XPS Desktop will end up having a better performance/price ratio if you’re going to tuck the computer under the desk anyway. Before you ask, we haven’t heard of a Ryzen SKU yet and the official product page isn’t up yet.