To be fair if I was a CPU trapped in an Alienware - I would also escape.

Dawid just finding out it didn't have a CPU after hours of testing is the equivalent of a surgeon operating on a person without noticing that it came into the operating room headless.

Not having a CPU at all in the system is the biggest plot twist of all time because it's quite smart considering people assume there is one due to the cooler.

I legit was in shock when you found out there was no CPU. At least the 3080 was working fine 🤣

I'm old enough to remember when an Alienware system was well designed, well specced and was considered beastly, but then Dell happened and that was the end of that.

To think there used to be time when Alienware was every aspiring gamer kids dream pre-built to buy... and then Dell entered the equation xD

My theory is, the seller was not tech savvy, a """freind""" of theirs stole the CPU knowing they wouldn't know how to check for it and just covered it back up with the water block. So when it wouldn't work, all they would see is a normal system that just didn't work and wouldn't know what to do and instead of getting it fixed they just strait up sold it.

Anything else and it's just weird that they sent you a working thiddy80.

The most gripping episode of Fix or Flop yet

As soon as I saw it fail to boot with the 3600, my immediate thought was "I bet the BIOS is 5000 series locked." I rebuilt an old HP Omen that originally shipped with a 3000 series Ryzen, and the only thing that would boot in it, was another 3000 series chip. Anything else would fail to POST. Glad to see you tried a 5000 series and got it up and running!

Fun fact. The SpP and the LPN labels mean this was purchased used from amazon before Dawid got it off eBay. The SpP labels are how Amazon keeps track of shipments within their own warehouses, and the LPN label is used when a product is returned and deemed worthy of reselling as "Used" or "As is."

i laughed so hard when dawid took off the cooler and there was nothing under the thermal paste.
I was salty because i was thinking "Why he doesn't test those components in another motherboard?" lmaooo

You can always look up the Dell Alienware service tag number on the case and it will show you the entire spec list it was built with.

9:38 “We are potentially sacrificing this CPU to the gods of Alienware”

Hahaha there are no gods of Alienware only devils and demons

So it was basically a scammer ordering an Alienware, removing the CPU, returning the system, then someone bought it and didnt know any better that it doesnt have a CPU so listed it as broken

Ive fixed pcs for many many years and this is likely the first time I've ever come across a "broken" pc basically being broken because someone removed the CPU for some reason. As looking at the CPU cooler the thermal paste seems to have made contact with a CPU by the looks of it.

I remember grabbing an Alienware pre-built back in 2020 during a sale and got a 5800x, 6800xt, 1tb nvme for around $1970. Immediately pulled the parts out and put them in a better PC and have been having a blast since.

And when you'd thought the CPU would be pulled out of the socket! Damn, nobody was ready for that plot twist!

This thing's more cramped on the inside than a mall two days before Christmas.

I remember early Alienware, when they had metallic green, and purple cases. The cases were based on the beautiful Antec/Chieftec chassis' that I still love.

An RTX 3080 is not "not bad". It's astonishingly good.