I am unable to keep in mind what number of iterations of the Alienware Aurora have come by way of our lab with a paltry 120mm watercooler. Clearly, somebody at Alienware has heard our complaints, as a result of the Alienware Aurora R14 ($1,799.99 to begin, $4,929.99 as examined) has lastly moved to a 240mm cooler, with 5 followers complete within the chassis and extra air flow for recent air to come back in.
Our assessment unit is an eye-watering $4,929.99, with an Intel Core i9-13900K, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 and 64GB of DDR5 RAM, and, spoiler alert, it carried out outstandingly nicely in some benchmarks, beating out among the greatest gaming PCs.
Whereas veteran PC builders can have rightful bones to select with a few of Alienware’s proprietary elements (the motherboard, particularly), for many who need to purchase one thing highly effective and are into the Alienware aesthetic, the Aurora R15 is an efficient selection.
Design of the Alienware Aurora R15
The Alienware “Legend” design language hasn’t modified since we noticed final yr’s Aurora R13: a plastic, spaceship impressed design with a contact of robotics. It is a rounded design wrapped round a boxy metal chassis. We examined it in white (Alienware calls it “lunar gentle”), which provides a $30 value premium over the default black “darkish aspect of the moon.”
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The case’s entrance sort of seems like a futuristic Dyson vacuum cleaner. It has loads of ports on the entrance, partially due to Dell’s continued use of a proprietary motherboard that juts out to the entrance of the case. These ports are helpful — I did not must dig round to the again of the chassis to plug in some peripherals — however this reduces upgradeability (extra on that shortly).
The largest distinction is that on the Aurora R15, Alienware has added a vent to its aspect panel to permit extra cool air in. It is in a hexagonal form, similar to on a lot of Alienware’s laptops.
Moreover, Alienware has lastly improved its all-in-one water coolers. It is gone as much as a 240mm radiator, quite than the earlier 120mm unit , which did not make sense for high-end processors, each in gaming and productiveness duties. There are 5 120mm followers complete within the system: two on the entrance, one on the rear, and the 2 hooked up on the radiator. This Aurora R15 is cooler than earlier variations of the desktop I reviewed, even when put by way of our stress exams. I am not going to let you know that it is pin drop quiet, nevertheless it’s an enchancment.
There’s RGB lighting across the entrance of the PC, and you may also modify colours inside utilizing Alienware Command Middle.
Alienware Aurora R15 Specs
| Processor | Intel Core i9-13900KF |
| Motherboard | Proprietary Alienware (Z690) |
| Reminiscence | 64GB DDR5-5200 Kingston Fury Beast (2x 32GB) |
| Graphics | OEM Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 (24GB GDDR6X, 2,520 MHz enhance clock) |
| Storage | SK Hynix PC801 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD, Toshiba 1TB, 7,200 rpm- HDD DT01ACA100 |
| Networking | Intel Killer Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2 |
| Entrance Ports | 3.5 mm headphone jack, 3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Sort-A, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Sort-C |
| Rear Ports (Motherboard) | Rear audio, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Sort-C (10GBps and 20GBps), 2x USB 2.0 Sort-A, Ethernet |
| Energy Provide | 1,350-watt 80 Plus Platinum |
| Cooling | CryoTech Liquid Cooling with 240 mm radiator, 5 120 mm followers complete. |
| Working System | Home windows 11 Professional |
| Dimensions | 20.8 x 20.1 x 8.86 inches (529 x 510 x 225 mm) |
| Worth as Configured | $4,929.99 |
Ports and Upgradeability on the Alienware Aurora R15
With Alienware’s proprietary motherboard, there is a protrusion that nets three USB 3.2 Gen 1 Sort-A ports, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Sort-C port and a 3.5 mm headphone jack on the entrance of the system. That is extraordinarily helpful for many who are sometimes attaching storage gadgets or peripherals for non permanent use, nevertheless it additionally prevents main motherboard updates down the road. When you want extra, easily-accessible ports you’ll be able to all the time go for one of many greatest USB hubs.
Whereas I think about that most individuals who purchase a prebuilt Alienware do not intend on upgrading the motherboard, it must be an possibility. When you get into the pastime, with the ability to improve with out constructing a complete new PC could be a large value-add. That being mentioned, Alienware has made some motherboard upgrades right here, together with 12-phase CPU voltage regulation and transferring the PCI slot to accommodate three-slot graphics playing cards.
The again of the motherboard boasts a number of rear audio ports, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Sort-C in each 10 Gbps and 20 Gbps speeds, and two USB 2.0 Sort-A ports. You may plug your monitor into the GPU, both HDMI or one of many three DisplayPorts.
The 1,350-watt, 80 Plus Platinum energy provide (750 watts on some fashions) is not the ATX normal you discover in most mid-towers. Alioenware mum or dad firm Dell is utilizing a PSU meant for servers, in order that’s one other space that is not simple to improve (It isn’t not possible – there are some directions printed below the aspect panel). Alienware transferring to the 240mm radiator is an enormous win for avid gamers, however the firm must do what its opponents have performed and undertake totally standardized elements If HP can do it, there is not an excuse for Alienware to not.
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That is to not say there are not any upgrades to make. You possibly can entry the 2 RAM slots, the Wi-Fi playing cards, in addition to the SSD and the HDD. On our assessment unit, there is a slot for a second M.2 SSD, although I want Alienware had crammed that as a substitute of continuous to make use of spinning drives in any respect.
You may additionally change out the GPU and the CPU, although in our assessment mannequin with top-of-the-line specs, there is no want in the meanwhile.
To open the system’s side-panel, you must pull a lever on the highest of the system. It falls open, after which you’ll be able to take away it from the chassis. The primary time you do that, there is a screw to loosen to forestall any motion in transport.
Eradicating the right-side panel entails “knocking” (that is a quote from the service guide (opens in new tab)) on it to knock it off the chassis. Hey, not less than it is tool-free. The rear cable administration is fairly tied up. When you make modifications, you may be chopping some cable ties, however you’d do this in your personal PC, too.
The 16-pin energy cable for the RTX 4090 is not utilizing any adapters. Alienware has a bundle of cables (it might be good in the event that they have been sleeved) that go straight to the PSU.
Gaming and Graphics on the Alienware Aurora R15
Our assessment unit got here decked out with probably the most highly effective parts Alienware affords: an Intel Core i9-13900K and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090. So we anticipated to see some fairly huge will increase over previous-gen desktops.
I figured the RTX 4090 and the Core i9 ought to deal with something I threw at it, so I maxed out Management on its highest settings at 4K, with the best ray tracing choices. The Aurora performed the sport with aplomb, typically working between 70 and 75 frames per second. In a couple of intense battles, it dropped down so far as the 60-fps vary. However top-quality settings above 60 fps at 4K? Yeah, this factor’s a monster.
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On the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark (highest settings), the Aurora R15 ran the sport at 254 fps at 1080p and 129 fps in 4K. The MSI Infinite RS thirteenth, one other high-end prebuilt with the identical CPU and GPU, was inside a body. We’re utilizing the HP Omen 45L, which packs an Intel Core i9-12900K and RTX 3090 to display generational efficiency variations; it hit 163 fps at 1080p and 63 fps at 4K.
The newer elements made much less of a distinction in Grand Theft Auto V (very excessive settings). Each the Alienware and MSI tied at 186 fps at 1080p and 82 fps at 4K. The last-gen Omen hit 176 fps at 1080p and 65 fps in 4K.
Apparently, the newer {hardware} did not run as nicely on Far Cry 6 (extremely). The Alienware Aurora (127 fps at 1080p, 112 fps at 4K) and the MSI Infinite (120 fps at 1080p, 105 fps at 4K), have been each behind the Omen 45L in 1080p exams, although they outperformed in 4K. Maybe this sport is not totally optimized for the most recent {hardware} but?
Along with working Purple Useless Redemption 2 on medium settings, we additionally pumped it as much as extremely to see what the RTX 4090 can do. The Alienware hit 109 fps at FHD and 36 fps on extremely (the MSI was inside a body), and 188 fps at 1080p and 80 fps on medium. These are large will increase over the last-gen Omen at 121 fps on medium at 1080p and 53 fps at 4K.
On Borderlands 3‘s “badass” preset, the Aurora R15 reached 263 fps at 1080p and 128 fps at 4K. It gained by a couple of frames at 1080p, however was successfully tied with the MSI Infinite at 4K. The Omen hit 128 fps at 1080p and 67 fps at 4K, displaying a reasonably large generational leap right here.
To emphasize check programs, we run Metro Exodus on the RTX preset at 1080p for 15 runs, which generally lasts about half an hour. The Aurora lower by way of it like butter, working the sport at a mean of 117.65 fps (down, solely barely, from the preliminary run’s 118 fps). Throughout this check, the CPU’s efficiency cores ran at a mean of 4.94 GHz, whereas the effectivity cores reached 3.83 GHz. The CPU bundle ran at 69.29 levels Celsius. In the meantime, the GPU ran at 2,066.9 MHz and 59.38 levels Celsius.
Productiveness Efficiency on the Alienware Aurora R15
With a Core i9-13900K and 64GB of DDR5 RAM within the system, I anticipated some sturdy productiveness efficiency, particularly now that Alienware has moved to higher cooling.
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On Geekbench 5, the Aurora earned a single-core rating of two,176 and a multi-core rating of twenty-two,813. The MSI Infinite RS thirteenth, with the identical CPU, however 32GB of RAM, gained by one level in single-core and did even higher in multi-core (23,752). The HP Omen 45L working final gen’s Core i9-12900K reached 1,912 on single-core and 15,924 on multi-core.
The Aurora’s 1TB SSD transferred 25GB of information at a price of two,101.85 MBps, falling behind the Omen (2,522.49 Mbps) however beating out the MSI (1,802.66 MBps).
It took 2 minutes and 56 seconds for the Alienware Aurora R15 to transcode a 4K video to 1080p utilizing Handbrake. Whereas that is quicker than the Omen (3:39), the MSI Infinite RS thirteenth was 11 seconds quicker.
Software program and Guarantee on the Alienware Aurora R15
Alienware has extra preloaded apps on the Aurora R15 than it wants. An important of those is Alienware Command Middle, a catch-all app that permits you to change RGB lighting, modify energy profiles, launch video games and even dabble in overclocking.
My Alienware serves as a little bit of a digital guide, nevertheless it appears superfluous. Essentially the most helpful factor it does is present fast entry to your service tag in case you must contact assist. (This app wants some updates. It nonetheless reveals an Alienware Aurora desktop design from atl least two iterations in the past).
Moreover, mum or dad firm Dell has a chunk of software program, Buyer Join, devoted completely to surveys, which simply seems like bloatware. There are additionally separate applications for downloading software program you could have purchased with buy and for updating your PC.
The corporate’s attain extends into the Edge browser, with bookmarks to McAfee Safety, Alienware’s web site and Alienware Help. It is from the one firm to be reaching into the browser, however at over $4,000, that looks like an overreach.
There’s additionally the same old bloat from Home windows 11. Our Begin menu included Whatsapp, Spotify, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video, TikTok, Amazon Kindle and extra.
Alienware sells the Aurora R15 with a one-year guarantee that may be stretched to 4 years for a further price.
Configurations of the Alienware Aurora R15
We examined the Aurora R15 in an incredibly-expensive $4,929.99 configuration with an Intel Core i9-13900KF, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 , 64GB of DDR5 RAM, a 1TB of PCIe NVMe SSD and 1TB HDD. Dell did not ship alongside the $50 rear cable cowl, and I am tremendous with that, as I feel it will get in the best way. (It is also a ridiculous value for a chunk of plastic). These RTX 4090 configurations begin at $4,499 with 32GB of RAM.
The Aurora R15 line as an entire begins at $1,799.99 with a Core i5-13600KF, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. As of this writing, all the fashions in between our unit and the bottom mannequin use RTX 30-series GPUs, not 40-series. I am instructed extra RTX 40-series choices must be added as they arrive in inventory.
I hope Alienware and Dell begin bumping up the specs for the bottom mannequin, particularly the boot drive. There are video games that take up the bulk, if no more, than 256GB.
Backside Line
The Alienware Aurora R15 is a step ahead, in that it’s lastly selling extra airflow in each further air flow and transferring past a 120mm radiator. That 240mm radiator ought to assist cool top-end fashions in gaming, however particularly in productiveness.
Intel and Nvidia’s newest parts additionally provide a good soar ahead in efficiency — not less than on the high-end mannequin we examined. I think many individuals looking for prebuilt gaming PCs are going to go for a less expensive configuration.
Seeing Alienware improve the cooling is sweet, nevertheless it has a option to go. It ought to comply with within the footsteps of different firms within the house and transfer away from proprietary elements, in order that those that use prebuilts as gateways into PC gaming can totally improve their programs sooner or later. The MSI Infinite RS thirteenth, which now we have on our bench proper now, is all standardized elements. That was additionally the case with the Omen.
However for many who do not need to construct and like Alienware’s look, the Aurora R15 did carry out admirably in our check in comparison with one other system with related specs. With the correct configuration, it ought to final you for some time to come back with highly effective, quiet efficiency.
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