The tenacity of the bloat ware is honestly impressive.

Common sense: "Malware is easy to avoid" OEM: "Fine, I'll do it myself"

TWO stick of rams?! Gotta tell Dawid about this

Its nice to see pre-builts that don't try to look like gaming PCs and just keep it simple but not ugly.

The bloatware resurfacing was probably down to a hidden recovery partition added during manufacture. DBAN the disk and install fresh to stop the malware coming back.

I thought at first Steve at Gamers Nexus had sent you their computer they had reviewed!! 😂

Vetroo V5 cooler (about $25) works with this computer "out of the box". No special brackets or screws needed. all you need is $25 to buy it, a screwdriver and about 10-15 minutes to install it. Temperatures were much better afterwards.

7:11 It's awesome that those just screw right in there, that is a great option. The Noctua U9S can also mount without a huge amount of effort, which helps the temps a lot. Great video, and good luck with the bloatware exorcism. :)

Forget the GPU and all that crap, that computer has a disc drive in the front!

Great video as always. Was also nice hearing Aussie pricing and options for once to get a better understanding of how bad things are for us

You deserve more subs and exposure. I watch other yt build channels, but whenever i need advice, i only consult your channel because of your logical selection of gear and practical information on setups. You have a clean and appealing way of showcasing your builds and really put effort into your work. i commend you. Well done!

A separate video on installing that cooler would be invaluable for prospective 8940 buyers. Applaud your tenacity and ingenuity in that solution!

You can tell how bad the market is when many KZfaqrs benchmarking prebuilt systems.

Love the videos, keep it up. Huge inspiration! Do you script out your videos by the way?

I have this exact pre-build and I am so excited to get the set up going. Thank you for increasing my hype!

Been following you for a year or so now, but only now have I realised your based in Australia. Now Im even more tuned in than ever

Just finished installing the liquid cooler you mentioned in the video. Thanks a bunch for the recommendation. You’re the man!

Was about to update a similar machine, great notice on the 92mm cooler part rather than the common 120mm ones.

+1 on a separate video about mounting the liquid cooler itself, there are some links missing for all the parts you used to mount the Asetek 645LT like the retention kit, low noise adapters, etc. That would be super helpful, thx!

Hey Ali, as a software engineer, my best guess about the Realtek Audio Server process chewing up all the RAM is that it's leaking memory. A "memory leak" in the programming world occurs when we write code that allocates memory, but never frees it again. In practice this means that if part of the program keeps requesting small chunks (e.g. 4MB) of memory from the OS but never tells the OS when it's done with this memory, the OS can only assume ALL of the small chunks of memory are still being used, adding up to obscene amounts like we saw in the video. TL;DR - That audio driver is very poorly engineered and I wouldn't trust having it running on my system or anyone else's. Uninstalling is the correct thing to do :)

Good video bro. I do think that Dell and HP should start putting 120mm fan support in the rear of all these style PreBuilts

damn, we need more of that type of content

don't forget to add heatsinks onto the MOSFET

Not surprised by the findings. I know it's tough to get a newer machine now a days and that's helping the OEM builders. Are you going to purchase more of these sir?

Super helpful! Thanks!

Great vid! I'd love if you could also review a Alienware desktop like the Aurora R10 or R12

Glad I ordered the high performance cooling solution with my new Dell. Keeps everything really cool.

I used TRAX screws 25 mm which then can be used with noctua Coolers and the standard thumb screws that come with the cooler i used 9s. I agree this was my first pre-built due to price and availability in Aus market . just in case someone wants to use Air cooler . have been following your channel for a while and love your content , keep up the good work MATE!

Bought one of these a while back, replaced the case fan with a noctua 80mm fan, which could run at a much faster speed while being quieter.

Awesome analysis.

Dells audio driver is what probably makes consumers use dell support and upgrade thru dell for outrageously marked prices. Wouldn't surprise me.

3:40 R.I.P.

If you remove the front hard drive cage, you can fit an intake fan. Ventroo V5 air cooler will also fit.

The only way to remove all the bloat is to use a w10 USB install drive and run diskpart when installing - it will still pull the w10 license but no bloat.

I wonder if the VRMs need a heat sink if there is no active cooling from the CPU fan anymore. Just a thought.

Do you have a list of songs you use on your videos? I'm really liking the Synthwave type of music and you always use great songs!

Look forward to your XPS 8950 review to see if the cooling system has improved

I manage to pick up a 3060TI in Feb when it launched for about $487usd. Had to get up a 5am and stay in line for about 3 ish hours till Mircocenter opened.

Wouldn’t creating a bootable widows install drive be easier? The media creation tool is brilliant and would remove all of that bloat ware from the get go.

The fact that a clean windows installation still has bloat is beyond amazing

9:24 that clicking noise test is GENIUS for fan noise levels.

Dope you managed to find a liquid cooler which fit on it, and the case isn't complete trash, A complete contrast from GN's Dell-branded machine they showed.

Asetek 645 massively underrated. Thank Dan for originally finding this gem for SFF cases 👌 (thanks for pointing out my error Chris)

thanks for the info!

Just ordered one of these with a 11700k and a rtx 3070 so this video was perfectly timed.

You can do a fresh install from a windows iso on a USB. It doesn't allow you to run the newer drivers, you're still tied to the one that the OEM approves which are usually several months old unless you want to do some serious work but at least no bloatware is good

Excellent job!

4:20 isn't that the Dell stresstest? :D seems effective!

I ordered one with a tiny main drive m.2 then I just switched that out with what would be my 1TB main drive with No bloatware. Fun little system, but yeah it's a heat box, I switched out the tempered glass for perforated steel that I put fans on.

4:56 - I disagree. Any HP, Dell, or Lenovo gets a fresh win10pro install from a usb drive. Bonus points for setting a local gpo to disable cortana and telemetry.

Would love to see your opinion on the digital storm bolt (itx liquid cooled prebuilt) I’ve thought about selling my custom built system at a premium and then buying something like that!

Beside the liquid cooling, did you add any additional fan(s) in the bottom for the GPU? Where all the holes are...

Great video for those who cant get parts for their own build!

Thank you! What about Dell liquid cooler which can cost additional $50 ?

Just bought an xps special edition. Hopefully it doesn't have the same issues but even if it does I eventually plan to gut the more important components and throw them into another more custom rig. Hopefully that issue with the system forcing a Dell version of windows gets resolved when I do that but idk if that's something the bios forces or the storage device.

Cool idea Ali!

Could you make a video on what exactly you should delete from a dell PC? Like Bloatware etc because im assuming its the same programs for most if not all Dell PCs

I actually got myself this exact prebuilt to get the 3060ti. I took that one out of it to put it in my own pc and then I sold the remaining system to my mom since she needed an upgrade for her home desktop. Since she'd only need a way to store, modify and work on documents and a browser the 11700 is already waaayyy overkill for her, but as a result she'd have no need for the 3060ti. So during this apocalypse of scalper pricing and a complete lack of stock, I managed to get this prebuilt for the price of what at that moment would've been less then a retail 3060ti + a retail 11700 on their own. EDIT: to alleviate some confusion, it'd be more accurate to say that my mother felt bad receiving a free pc from me, so she paid me the cost of the system minus the cost of the GPU because she wanted to, rather then saying I sold it to her. But from my perspective I'd say that it counts as it being sold as it's no longer mine and I got money in return, which is why I stated it that way previously.

Do you think 500w is enough for the build? If I add the liquid cooler, some ram, etc.. would I need to upgrade the power supply?

While I agree with the general conclusion (prebuilts are a viable option given the complete unavailability of GPUs) I strongly disagree with the passing grade on Dell. For starters, people should have a look at Gamer's Nexus analyses of their Dell prebuilt to really understand how f'd up Dell parts are: nothing is standard, mobo ports, PSU sizes and wiring, front panels, and mounting points for CPU heatsinks... it's all custom made to make it impossible to replace. It's really nice to be able to swap in an AIO, but it's NOT by design and anyone that wants an AIO shouldn't buy this and compromise. I recently teared down a friends Alienware (Dell) prebuilt from 2016 in order to help him decide how to upgrade it. He mostly wanted a different case and an SSD. It was basically impossible to change anything but storage without buying half the parts again... The mobo power wiring is not standard, the front panel wiring is not standard AND the mobo won't power up without that specific wiring. Changing mobos means buying windows again, replacing the CPU cooler and PSU... In the end, he decided to just repaint the case and live with it a few more years, luckily he paid for the Dell AIO back in 2016 so cooling wasn't an issue, and he has a GTX 1080, so he's good for a bit. But the truth is Dell is a horrible anti-consumer mess of a company for individual customers. If you want a prebuild, chose one that uses standard parts that you can replace or reuse later. Avoid Dell. Check Gamer's Nexus for in depth analysis of multiple prebuilt systems.

The audio driver eating memory might be that it isn’t releasing memory addresses that it has used, as opposed to really needing that much.

Hi I have one question! The front IO looks interesting. Can we buy a spare and plug it into a retail motherboard? I am trying to make a 3D printed SFF, so looking for a decent front IO.

Hey Ali! Regarding that bloatware automatically installing after 'fresh win10 install'. When you install Windows, you have to choose Advanced when at the partitioning section, then DELETE each and every partition until all disks show 'unallocated space' and nothing else. Then create your boot partition and go on installing Windows. My guess is you just deleted and recreated the "C:/" partition (or just formatted it) and left the other small, apparently harmless "recovery partition" or "OEM reserved" partitions. Those are the ones with the bloatware and OEM drivers.

My S9 gives the choice for either 16:9 4k or 21:9 1080p. What should I choose?

Has no one noticed that the radiator ports are upside down? That's going to cause increasing pump noise and worse thermals (also potentially damaging the pump or CPU due to a growing air bubble at the high point in the system), as the system permeates coolant.

Didn't know you were aussie. So many great tech channels down under, and before people talk about accents english is not my main language so besides the british everything else sounds the same to me haha.

1:13 Can't help but notice they left holes in the front plastic peels because they KNOW some people will never take those off **but you still need airflow**

I've had the exact same PC for 2 months now and luckily no Realtek driver RAM issue. But what I noticed is that even though I also replaced my cooler and the CPU is no longer overheating, it's still throttling after around 40 seconds of stress test. The reason are the MOSFETs for the power delivery, they lack any cooling at all, the i9 11900k model of this prebuilt comes with one (Part 612F7, you can google it) and a way better CPU cooler. Since the CPU is locked to 65 Watts normally the cooling seems about right, I guess is what they are thinking. I got myself a Z590 board and put that CPU inside with the same cooler I put into the dell, now I get 13900 points in Cinebench R23 which is a huge difference. What surprised me even more is, when you unlock the power with the Intel XTU on the Dell, the 11700 consumes 180+ Watts and on my Z590 board only around 130 Watts, while having a much higher score. The motherboard and chipset is just complete garbage in my opinion and my Dell died 2 days ago. It turns on and off immediately. Luckily their support here in Germany is exceptional compared to their XPS desktops and a technician will swap my motherboard tomorrow.

One thing I would recommend keeping - Dell command update. It comes with the computer but it is helpful in getting hardware updates and you can run it when you want

Can you do an explanation video for Windows 11? Specifically for a TPM 2.0 ( maybe) section?

What other cooler could you use? I can't buy the asetek 92mm cooler in my country right now, it seems.

I wasn’t expecting a video like this, this is great! You gotta do more like this!

My friends recently bought a prebuild and it was just much faster to do a clean windows install from the microsoft site, wiping all the partitions and such as well before installing the OS

I wanta follow-up on this. Is t possible to fit a PCIe RAID card into it and pair with a 2x3 SATA drive bay to turn this into a decent streamer / NAS setup?

Oh shit, I didn’t know you did this video too haha I been following your mouse reviews but remembered seeing this needed video to fix a buddies new XLP Also; review the new G502X with the optical switches. It puts the super light to shame on super fast mouse pads(I use dahle cutting mats for my mouse pads)

I got this exact build in the US a few months ago for 1200. I was mid build already had: cooler (nhd15), case (fractal design focus g), and seasonic 750 psu . So I bought this and a z590 mobo & some noctua fans. Then yanked ram cpu and gpu and bam. I was done 😁

Hello, what retention kit model did you use? I want to upgrade my XPS cooling as well. Thanks.

Keep the OEM rescue partition, download W10 USB installer, install from USB, it'll pickup the license key but you will have a clean W10. Preferably use decrapify in the middle of the installation.

can you increase the performance any further with Throttlestop by any chance?

Which retention kit did you use for the asestek cooler?

Is it even possible to add an intake fan? How about a push fan on the AIO?

Yeah Optimum, is there a ait cooler that is compatible? Looking to get this. In the Uk its currently way cheaper than building a similar spec.

That RealTek audio was probably a program using the cpu to mine or something like U torrent, sneaky sneaky.

Damn, I got the 3070/10700k version last year for 2000 AUD and it had a 92mm dual tower cooler which did quite well. The cutoff must be unlocked CPUs

If possible in your region, I would highly recommend rather going for a pre-build by a computer store, not an OEM. They use off the shelf parts which will make any upgrade or selling of components later on much more possible. Getting an OEM, a lot of the purchase will go down the drain as it won't have an upgrade path / resell value.

It even comes with an built-in cupholder in the front!

Why not wiping the disk and then installing fresh system?

Can you please do a review of HP Omen Prebuilt?

question about connecting the power supply for the Asetek cooler - use a Noctua low noise connector to where exactly? the original power supply? (I have the asetek on order and am about to order the Noctua connector)

I just take out the side panel when I play and I usually get a 5-10% reduction in cpu temps

Did you just hit Reset Windows? Or did you try a fresh ISO and a full HD wipe?

I saw the first clip then thought it was water-cooled out of the box, then saw it when you opened it after the intro

cue in Thanos taking the mind stone from Vision meme

Now what's cooling the motherboard or the Memory? I never had a problem with this PC with cooling and never even heard the fans.

Could you potentially just do a fresh install using a USB? I have found that tends to basically format and get rid of that OEM junk

There is a quad rad sff built from linus... Can you do it too?

Would you be able to change the tower case?

Prebuilts make me ever more glad that I ended up building my own PC.

How hard do you think it would be to modify the case and mount a 120mm aio? Thanks!

I wonder how the VRM temps are doing after replacing the CPU cooler and removing all airflow over them.