14 DAY TRIAL // Since overclocking has now become pretty much mainstream, a lot of system builders have introduced factory overlocked machines in their lineups, but few charge more than Dell for what should actually be a dirt cheap upgrade, the Austin-based company asking $250 for a measly 200MHz CPU frequency increase.
Playing around with Dell's Alienware desktop system configurator, the Legit Reviews website uncovered that overclocking the Core i7 2600K CPU found inside the Aurora-R3 machine by just 200MHz is charged with no less than $250 by the company.
In addition, the upgrade is labeled as an Alienware recommended feature, probably to take advantage of less tech savvy buyers.
This comes as a huge shock to us, since the 2600K is Intel's most overclockable processor in the Sandy Bridge line, the K moniker labeling it as a multiplier unlocked CPU.
What this basically means is that by increasing the processors multiplier, users can raise its operating frequency up to 6GHz if a powerful enough cooling system is used.
To put things into perspective, we recently managed to achieve a 1,453MHz overclock out of our Core i7 2600K CPU, pushing it to 3,853MHz, just by using a regular tower cooler, the Intel DBX-B to be more precise.
More importantly, the whole procedure is extremely easy and doesn't require major computing skills.
Investigating the prices asked by boutique builders for factory overclocks, Legit Review found that Dell is the most expensive of the lot as CyberPower charges $19 for a 10% overclock, $49 for 20% and $99 for 30% while Maingear would max out your system for just $49.
The Dell-built Alienware Aurora 3 uses a Sandy Bridge Core i7 2600K processor, features 8GB of dual channel DDR3 memory at 1333MHz, dual GeForce GTX 460 graphics cards, a 1TB SATA hard drive, a 24X CD/DVD burner as well as a 525W power supply.
Available with a wide array of hardware upgrades, its base price starts at $1,799.00.