Dell locks Ryzen 9 9950X3D in Alienware Area 51 to its own motherboard

An Alienware Area 51 owner found that Dell vendor-locked the Ryzen 9 9950X3D to the pre-built's motherboard via Platform Secure Boot, so the chip is not recognized in other boards. Dell and Lenovo have faced similar criticism over CPU locking before.

• Ryzen 9 9950X3D fails to work outside the Alienware Area 51 motherboard
• The lock uses Platform Secure Boot with a vendor BIOS signing key fused in
• The owner calls the Area 51 board mediocre with little upgrade headroom
• Dell and Lenovo have been criticized for similar CPU locking before