The Alienware Aurora has always been the go to brand of avid gamer and players. I can clearly recall how the Aurora R9 sparked excitement in games from all walks of life. With the range of components you can fill it with, it checks the items in the list of most gamers. Especially if you want all the power you can get your hands on.
And now, there is a more interesting, if not better Alienware Aurora gaming PC, the R10. And it has been tapped by most gamers as probably the best gaming PC you can ever get your hands on. I am going to do a little digging on my own, and I’ll let you know my answer later.
Specs and features
Before I could comment on anything, let me list down some of the specs of the Alienware Aurora R10.
| CPU options | Ryzen 5 (3500, 3600, 3600X), Ryzen 7 (3700X, 3800X) and Ryzen 9 (3900, 3900X, 3950X) |
| Hard drive | Up to 1 TB M.2 PCle NVMe SSD |
| Operating system | Windows 10 Home or PRO |
| Storage | single 1TB, 7,200-rpm SATA drive and go up to a 2TB SSD with a 2TB SATA drive. |
| Graphics card options | Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1650 to dual Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti cards |
| Networking | Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX 1650X, Bluetooth 5.0, Ethernet jack |
R10 may be the very first pc gaming system to use the new Ryzen 9 3950X. This 16 core processor. This gives the R10 amazon gaming prowess. Looking from the specs above, the R101 seems to include mostly the latest chips and specs.
Graphics and images
You can get great frame rate options ranging from 60 FPS at 4K to 150 FPS at 1080p. Looking at this, there is no question that the R10 is superior when it comes to performance. You can even play a couple of your favorite games in ultra high 4K.
Performance
So it’s time to put this baby to the test. I tried playing it with Fire Strike, Time Spy, and CineBench. The system worked well with 1080 P, so you can play games in this resolution and won’t come across any problems. It even exceeded my expectations.
But when I turned it up to 1440 p, it did dip a bit slightly. But that’s to be expected since the brand did not advertise the R10 to perform very well at this resolution. But it still performs better than most.
Interesting exteriors
The design of the R10 is also something that would intrigue players and gamers. It looks spaceship worthy. It consists of a concave font panel with some sort of vent that makes it look similar to a small spaceship. It veers easy from the traditional structure of other PC units. And it’s a breath of fresh air , to say the least.
Some may say that it kind of resembles an air purifier, but that can be a cool thing too. I am loving the mysterious Dark Side Of the Moon model, it reminds me of the galaxy. but you an als bet one in Lunar White. And I think the overall look of the R10 matches its capacity rather well. Alien technology ( not the brand) is tantamount to a more crisp and superior performance. It matches the exterior quite well and I think that’s what the brand is aiming for.
The RGB LED lights on the sides can also amp up your gaming experience. If you have a gaming setups station file with red and blue LED lights, you’d be happy to have this unit on your gaming desk.
More ports
And the chassis has a lot of ports, that’s a lot of room for your peripherals and more room to connect to an external storage. And the entire unit itself is compact. So you can pretty much squeeze it on a small spot on your gaming desk. Take note though that it can have a substantial weight.
And you won’t instantly see how the internals of the PC, compared to other units,, and this can be an advantage since it looks clutter free. And if you open the side panels, you’ll see how all the internal components were housed. It’s arranged in a very practical and industrial way. So it’s not an eyesore. It’s also easy to remove the side panel, just unscrew the back and there’s a lever there that you pull. And it will instantly dislodge the side panel. Even in opening the chassis, there seems to be a system involved here.
Cons
With power comes great responsibility. So I am going to borrow that line to reiterate some of the cons of the Aurora R10. Yes, it’s a great overall performer. It’s powerful and can produce clear images. And it also gives you a lot of options for the frames. But it comes with a lot of noise too. You can be hearing loud beeps eerie now and then.
If you’ll ask me about the temps, it can get hot, I mean really hot. The GPU and the CPU can get too hot for your liking, or for what you’re used to. Even if you have fans on the side and at the top, it would not be able to keep the temperature down to a decent level.
And some users also experienced their PC overheating, primarily due to the GPU. So, a replacement was warranted in those situations. Though the manufacturer was quick to offer one, it seems like the GPU of the system cannot keep up with the prowess of the entire PC.
I also experienced some random freezing when I was playing later in the game. It didn’t take too long for it to function normally but it happened maybe once or twice during one gaming session.
The final verdict
It’s an understatement to say that the R10 is one of the best performing gaming PCs I have ever come across. Why not? It’s the only OEM that has the third generation 16 Ryzen processor.
But if you’re solely going to use it for gaming, it can be too much. Well not too much if you have the budget for it, because the price can be steep. The 16 core processor is more of a workstation chip.meaning, you can get the most benefit if you’re going to use it for other things aside from gaming.
And I think that the R10 could have used a better GPU than what it was using. It could have matched the overall performance of this gaming PC. For the sudden freezing, updating the drivers could alleviate it.
Overall. It’s a great performing PC but a tad bit expensive. So, if it fits the bill, you can opt to go for it and you’ll be happy with the graphics overall performance. You just have to deal with the noise at too high temperature. Because the CPU, especially the GPU can get really hot all the time.
But if you’re not too keen with the price tag that it bears, the brand’s previous model, the R9, though not as powerful can also serve your gaming needs well.