Alienware Aurora R4 Gaming Desktop Review

Over the past few years Alienware have become very well known for producing industry leading laptops. Whether it is the top of the line 17" M17x or the ultra-portable M11x… or maybe something in-between they offer a form factor to suit every mobile gamer.

That doesn’t mean they have lost focus on the desktop market though and as well as announcing the X51 last month they have also recently updated their Aurora range.

Today on our test bench we have the latest performance desktop from Alienware. The Aurora R4 features many of the impressive design aspects from the previous version such as motorised top vents and liquid cooling mixed with an updated X79 chipset and the latest i7 socket 2011 CPUs. We will be taking a detailed look at the system as well as performance in synthetic and real world testing.

The Aurora R4 arrives in what can only be described as a massive container. Measuring well over a meter in length and matching the height of most full tower boxes this opens up to reveal a box inside, surrounded by plastic protectors with a cardboard tray at the base and bundled extras box on top. We slide out the tray, lift off the protective plastic corners and then find that the Alienware branded box has the same unique clips we have seen on their laptops in the past. Remove these and the box lid lifts off to reveal the system held in place by more plastic and wrapped in a fabric bag.

Bundled with the Aurora are Alienware branded accessories such as a keyboard, mouse and pad. These are found in a box alongside the product documentation, cables and support discs.