Alienware Aurora R11 Review: Perfect Pre-Built Gaming PC

Alienware Aurora R11 Specifications

• CPU: Intel Core i9-10900KF
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super
• Memory: 32GB DDR4
• Storage: 512GB SSD + 1TB HDD
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 64-bit

 

Alienware Aurora R11 Design: Unique And Filled With RGB

The Alienware Aurora R11 is a unique-looking desktop PCs with a certain character that makes it look sleek. The device has a dual-tone panda-like design with a mix of black and white plastic panels, which feel sturdy. The bottom portion has rubber feet, which helps the PC stay stable and reduces wobbling.

On the right-side panel, we have the Alienware logo with RGB treatment. While the left side has vents for cooling, featuring a grilled honeycomb-like pattern. At the back, we have most of the I/O, including various display outputs from the GPU, multiple USB-A ports, a USB Type-C thunderbolt port, an S-PDIF port, and a couple of optical audio out ports.

At the front, we have a tube-like design with a couple of USB ports, a headphone jack, a microphone jack, and the power button with a skull design, embracing the logo of the brand in a subtle way. When compared to the Aurora R8, the Aurora R11 looks both modern and futuristic.

Though the Aurora R11 has plenty of RGB lighting, it does look stealth and an RGB enthusiast might have to build his own PC, especially if you want to show off the components with RGB lighting. I would have loved the next-gen Aurora if it came with a transparent side panel.

Alienware Aurora R11 Storage Performance

As said before, the Alienware Aurora R11 comes with a hybrid storage solution with a 512GB PICe SSD and a 1TB HDD. The SSD on the Aurora R11 did offer a peak read speed of 3415 MB/s and a write speed of 1400MB/s, which confirms that the PC comes with a PICe Gen3 SSD. These speeds are pretty good and should offer great OS booting and app loading times.

Then there is a typical 1TB HDD with an average read and write speeds of 200MB/s. Though it might not slow you down when it comes to actual gaming, it will make the games load a bit slower and for a PC that costs over Rs. 3,00,000 the company should have gone with an all SSD storage solution instead of going with this hybrid SSD + HDD combination.

Alienware Aurora R11 CPU Performance

The Alienware Aurora R11 is powered by the 10th Gen Intel Core i9-10900KF CPU, which is a 10-core, 20-thread CPU and is also one of the most powerful consumer CPUs that Intel launched in 2020, which is now replaced by the Core i9-11900KF. When compared to the normal K version of the KF, the KF version does not feature a GPU and entirely depends on the external GPU.

Generally, most high-end PCs will have a dedicated graphics card, hence, the KF CPUs are mostly seen on the pre-built gaming PCs, which costs a bit less than the K variant. Though the Intel Core i9-10900KF is already a generation old, it does have the same base frequency and a boost frequency of 3.5GHz and 5.3GHz, respectively.

One advantage that the Intel Core i9-10900KF has over the Intel Core i9-11900KF despite being the fact it being a year old is that it has more cores (10) and threads (20), while the latest model only has eight cores and sixteen threads. One major difference between the two is that the Intel Core i9-10900KF that powers the Aurora R11 comes with PCIe Gen3 lanes while the Intel Core i9-11900KF comes with PCIe Gen 4 lanes.

Coming to the performance, on Cinebench R23, the Alienware Aurora R11 with the Intel Core i9-10900KF posted 1265 and 13009 points on single-core and multi-core CPU rendering tests, respectively. Similarly, on Geekbench 5, the computer posts 1293 and 9764 points on single-core and multi-core CPU tests. Lastly, on CPU-Z, the PC posts 545.7 and 6927.9 points on multi-thread CPU performance.

Though the Intel Core-i9 11900KF has fewer cores than the Core-i9 10900KF, it does outperform the CPU on the Aurora R11 in every benchmark. However, the performance between the two models isn't that great, which means the Alienware Aurora R11 with the Core i9-10900KF does perform as well as a new PC with the latest high-end Intel CPU.

Alienware Aurora R11 Gaming Performance

The Alienware Aurora R11 also packs a top-tier RTX 2080 Super GPU. Again, it is not as powerful as the current RTX 3080. However, it is more than enough to handle even titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Control, Shadow Of The Tomb Raider at 1440p without any issue.

We paired the Alienware Aurora R11 with the LG UltraGear-27GL850, which is a 27-inch 1440p monitor with a 1ms response time, 144Hz refresh rate, and HDR10 support. The monitor is also NVIDIA G-Sync certified, which goes well with the RTX 2080 GPU, helping to reduce screen tearing.

We connected with Alienware Aurora R11 with the LG UltraGear-27GL850 monitor using a DisplayPort cable, hence, we were able to run at 1440p with 144Hz refresh rate without any issue and we were also able to utilize the HDR capabilities of the monitor while playing games like the Shadow of The Tomb Raider with ease.

We tested games like Shadow Of The Tomb Raider, GTA: V, Control, and CS: Go, and the PC easily offered over 80fps on every title that we tested, that too at 1440p resolution. On CS: Go, we were actually able to hit over 120fps at 1440p resolution, which felt pretty smooth and I was able to kill a few bots with ease.

Verdict: Well-Made Pre-Built Gaming-PC

The Alienware Aurora R11 is a testament to how a pre-built gaming PC should look. When doing regular office works, the PC would be pretty silent, while the fans would kick in while playing games or doing intensive tasks. Even in terms of looks, the PC does look modern and the whole design makes sure that the PC gets plenty of air to cool the high-performance CPU and GPU components with ease.

Given there is a global shortage of CPUs and GPUs, it is almost difficult to build a PC, which makes this product a lot more appealing, as it is just a plug-and-play product. The product does seem a bit expensive for the specs sheet it offers. However, pre-built PCs have always been that way and it is the premium that we have to pay for the brands.

If you are looking for a high-performance PC, especially from an established brand, the Alienware Aurora R11 might just offer everything you might need and this PC should be able to handle most games along with creative tasks like 3D rendering, photo editing, and video editing without any issue.