Intel recently tackled the high-end of the CPU market with its monstrous 18-core Core i9 CPU, and now Dell's gaming branch, Alienware, is looking to harness that power in its flagship Area-51 desktop. Dell has announced that the Intel Core i9-7980XE (Extreme Edition) will soon be added as a configuration option, but, as you might expect, it won't come cheap.
The Core i9-7980XE packs a total of 18 cores and 36 threads, with a clock speed of up to 4.4GHz. That represents the very top-end of what Intel currently offers, and Alienware is hoping it'll appeal to gamers looking to eke out the most performance possible in a desktop. Otherwise, the Area-51's configuration options remain the same, including up to 64GB of RAM, up to 1TB of SSD storage, along with dual and triple graphics cards options from AMD and NVIDIA.
Of course, all of this comes at quite the cost. Dell says that configurations with the new Intel Core i9-7980XE will start at $3,999. You'll also have to wait to get your hands on one; Dell says the configuration will be available starting on September 27. However, if you're not quite up for dropping that much cash, there are plenty of other configuration options available now that come with a much more affordable price tag.
