ALIENWARE AURORA R9 9
Understated power delivers vers where it matters most
WHEN WE FIRST SAW the new Aurora R9, we couldn’t help but be impressed by its styling; but without any sense of scale from those first shots, we envisioned that it was much smaller than it actually is. Knowing it uses a microATX motherboard didn’t help. Essentially, this is a much bigger chassis than you might think. And had it been closer to the likes of the Corsair One in terms of size, we’d be much more eager to reach for our credit cards. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves— there’s still a lot to admire here.
The design is clean and bold, sitting somewhere between an air conditioning unit and a modern console. The light and dark color scheme works well, with the accented lighting loop on the fascia making for a striking-looking PC. The left-hand side panel and top have hexagonal vents cut out to aid airflow, but the Aurora R9 bucks the trend of having glass panels to show off the innards. A brave move, but one that works. This is an understated system. Quite the departure for Alienware. So, it’s a shame the back of the machine is an ugly industrial panel—although, to be fair, you’ll rarely be peering at that once you’ve set it up.
Things get interesting when you open it up. You need a screwdriver to release the single screw holding the catch on the back, but once that’s out the way, the rest is pretty much tool-free. Release two more catches on the back, and the internal side panel that houses the PSU swings out to afford access to the smartly laid-out interior. There are empty bays for drives, space for two more memory sticks, and room for another graphics card. All easily accessible, and with the necessary cables awaiting such upgrades.
Dell has elected to use an all-in-one solution for cooling the CPU, and while it’s only connected to a single-fan radiator, it does a good job of keeping the Core i7-7900K found in our model cool (66 C in testing). A front intake fan maintains good airflow over the GeForce RTX 2070 Super graphics card and hard drive, and it also means that having the PSU over the processor isn’t a problem. Those fans do make a fair amount of noise under load, though, and maybe a twin-fan radiator would have been a better move.
As we’ve mentioned, the model we’re reviewing packs a GeForce RTX 2070 Super, which means that you’ll experience flawless performance at 1080p and 1440p at the top presets. 4K starts to put a strain on its capabilities, but dial down the post-processing a little,
and you should be looking at smooth frame rates. Even so, at ultra settings at 4K, you’re looking at a reasonable 38fps in both TotalWar:WarhammerII and
TomClancy’sTheDivision2, while Metro Exodus managed 41fps at high settings, although this dropped to 18fps at extreme, so it clearly pays to be selective with your effects.
It’s at this point we come to the often thorny subject of value for money. If you were to piece a similar system together yourself, using off-the-shelf parts, you’d be looking at something in the region of $1,750. Which means you’re paying Dell a small premium for the overall look and design of the Aurora R9, plus that tasty warranty, which is pretty impressive on its own. It’s great value, in other words.
Alienware has had some hits and misses over the years, and while we’re not totally smitten with all the design decisions here, overall it still definitely sits in the hit column. It’s powerful where needed, looks good, has plenty of upgrade potential, and represents decent value for money. We’d have preferred the overall footprint to be smaller, and it can be a noisy operator, but if you’re looking for a gaming machine that stands out from the crowd, this is definitely worth considering. –ALAN DEXTER