Why did they pick the Ryzen 3500 for Alianware. They should have picked the 2600 or 3600 at least. I'm sure they are both much faster.
These entry-mid level chips will go in their entry level gaming rigs. For these rigs, the money saved is FAR better spent on a faster GPU. I'm sure they'll have
options for higher-end CPUs, so you can buy it with whatever you want. But if Alienware/Dell takes the base model and sticks a 3600 in it, they either have to raise the base model price, or skimp elsewhere. This 3500 will still be largely GPU-bound at reasonable resolutions and settings, so I think it's a good base choice.
For that matter it will probably beat a 2600, not that they can really release a new model with a 2000 series chip since they're in sell-down.
My only real annoyance with the 3500 is that it isn't clear if/when it will hit the retail market in NA.