Alienware - Aurora R7 Gaming Desktop - Intel Core i7-8700 - 16GB Memory - NVIDIA GTX 1070 - 1TB HDD + Intel Optane Memory
Model: AWAUR7-7999SLV-PUS
SKU: 6155310
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I've always wanted an AlienWare PC but the price always put them out of my reach, and it seemed like you were paying extra for the name. I already owned a decent gaming rig that I purchased while I worked at BBY. The only weak link it had was the graphics card that it came with... so here lately I'd been shopping around for a graphics card! LOL, talk about bad timing! with the crypto coin mining craze going on at the moment it was a losing battle. I was on the verge of giving up on PC gaming for a while and just get an XBOX-1X with the 12GB on board graphics card. So days away from totally giving up on gaming PC's for the foreseeable future, I found this gem, and it was on a good sale! (This PC is worth it on sale or not) When I initially found it I was in class attempting to buy one while I was supposed to be paying attention to the lecture. I was literally watching them sell out of every BBY... I was finally able to get my transaction to go through for a store pickup in Chicago (about 2 hrs away). Regardless I was happy that I'd reserved a unit, and was eager to make the drive to get it. The graphics card alone in this rig is selling for around 600 at the moment, I made a quick list of what I'd need to build an equivalent rig... and based on what the prices are on everything right now, this was at least 400 cheaper than a custom build! Even discounting the GPU to what it's supposed to sell for, and you still save at least 250 over building your own rig. And that's not taking into consideration that ANY rig you could build would not have an enclosure that is anywhere near as cool as the AlienWare R7 build. This PC just looks AWESOME, and not in an overstated way. BTW: when I was unsure of the availability and whether I'd get one or not, I went to their site on DELL to see if the manufacturer would pricematch? Dell wouldn't pricematch, which I thought was odd. But what was even odder... The price they had for the same model R7 was 200 more than BBY's regular price. BEST BUY ROCKS!!!!
Posted by BBlack300
I have had this Alienware Aurora R7 for a grand total of about 36 hours now and I have put this thing through an extensive battery of tests and I must say, I am pretty happy with this system overall. There are a few things that knock it down from 5-stars to something like 4-4.5 that I'll go into a bit later in the review but on the whole, the majority of gamers that want a performance beast right out of the box will be pretty happy with the Aurora R7. First off, there are a ton of features to the Aurora R7 that more than justify the price even when it is not on sale and if you are in the market for a new gaming rig (as I assume you are if you are reading this), you should pick this up if you can find it in stock. If it happens to be on sale (which I've seen a few times over the last month), you would be stupid not to jump on that deal. One of the features that I really appreciate about the R7 is it's ease of upgradability, not that you will need to upgrade it any time soon, but this is a friendly beast when it comes to tune-ups and tweaks. Remove one screw on the back, throw a couple of switches an the side pops right off. Swing the power unit out and you have access to pretty much everything. You can see the two pictures I have attached to appreciate the nice cabling and access to RAM, HD bays, and PCIe slot. About the only thing that is not as easy to access is the M.2 slot where the Optane memory drive is located, though that is more of a function of the video card getting in the way and even with that there, you still have room to slide it out of its slot. I have already thrown in a pretty speedy SSD into one of the additional slots for game/application installs and it couldn't have been easier. I'm debating about whether or not I want an SSD in the M.2 slot as well but so far the Optane has been doing it's job and has been running the 7200rpm hard drive pretty darn well. The Aurora boots up, shuts down, and opens virtually every program I've thrown at it faster than both my iMac and my Samsung laptop, both of which are completely solid state and are pretty snappy in their own right. The new Intel Optane system is doing exactly what they promised it would, giving SSD like speed to old style spinning hard drives. Another feature I appreciate about this computer is the wealth of connection. I don't see how anyone could run out of USB slots and if you do, you are doing something wrong my friend. In addition to the four on top of the computer (one being USB-C) you have like seven more on the back (including another USB-C). I also appreciate how quiet it is for a gaming computer. It is not as quiet as my iMac or laptop but then again, neither can run games in full HD with all the settings maxed like the Aurora. I can remember when the fans and hard drives of just regular computers, let alone gaming computers, sounded like small jets taking off right next to you. It does this all while still keeping everything relatively frosty for a computer. Even when I was pushing this computer pretty hard with Elite: Dangerous and X-Plane 11, this thing never pushed past 41 C at the CPU or 63 C at the GPU. I've also had this on top of my desk right near me and it didn't fry me out with the waste heat blowing on me. I've had computers before that turned my office into a sauna in no time flat. I used to have to open up my window in Wyoming during winter when I was doing some serious MechWarrior 2 gaming in the mid-90s (yeah, I'm old, so what). I've played several hours of both Elite: Dangerous, X-Plane 11, Everspace, Arma 3, and Pillars of Eternity and the Aurora hasn't even blinked at any of them. It just ate them up and spit out all the pretty pixels on the screen. That being said, it is only ever driving like 2K resolution on my monitor but I think it still looks lovely. So what don't I like about the Aurora? First-off, the bloatware is pretty bad. I'm buying a serious gaming rig and you are throwing on silly programs to play Facebook style games? Come-on, that is just silly. You may want to throw in the Alienware software in the category of bloatware but that would be a mistake. On many computers the 'utilities' they throw in are anything but useful but the tools that they give you here are actually pretty darn good. Still too much other junk though. I'm also not so crazy about how dusty this thing gets inside so quickly. I'm a neat freak and my house is spotless but it took no time at all for this thing to suck in a lot of dust already. Now that means it is moving a lot of air and keeping things nice and cool but I may have to see about finding some filters for this thing if I don't want to be cleaning it out every week. That being said, since it is so easy to crack open, it would not be a hard thing to do every week. The thing that really shaved off the fraction of the star on this thing was the fact that I seemed to have a problem with the installation of virtually every game I loaded on here. Every installation had to either be repaired or deleted and retried. I still have not nailed down what the problem is, but if I figure it out I'll add it in the comments section. Right now it is just one of those things that left a slightly sour taste in my mouth. I'm not going to blame it all on the computer though because there are a lot of things that could be to blame. Finally, I was less than impressed with the keyboard and mouse that ships with the computer. Granted, most gamers are probably going to go for some serious peripherals to go along with this beast but the keyboard and mouse were just sad. Again, they are probably only intended for you to plug in and get things set up before you get the chance to load up the drivers/software for some high-end mouse/keyboard combo. While it may have four stars above it is probably more like 4.25/4.5 stars, I just couldn't bring myself to give it the full 5. Those I tend to reserve for things that really blow my socks off, and while I am VERY happy with the Aurora, nothing blew my socks off. Perhaps that is because I'm expecting this thing to be a beast and it is while a lot of other products I have reviewed here on Best Buy have been more of a surprise. If you are looking for a well-priced and high performing gaming computer, look no further than the Alienware Aurora R7. Despite a few quibbles with it, I have been very pleased so far in its performance and have zero hesitation in recommending it to others.
Posted by Wraith
Very good computer. Easy to upgrade. Fast, comes VR ready and is liquid cooled. Computer Updates are easier and much faster than any other computer I've owned. Graphics are phenomenal. But I do plan on buying one of the new RTX 2080 ti graphics cards. In the near future. The processor is very fast. But I plan on upgrading to an Intel i-9900k. Just personal preference. Can't go wrong with Alienware. Dreamed of owning an Alienware since I was a kid.
Posted by KillerKilo47
Customers admire the Aurora R7's impressive performance and high-quality graphics, frequently praising its speed and visual capabilities. Many appreciate the quiet operation and the system's excellent cooling, even during demanding tasks. While some users noted concerns about the hard drive and power supply, the overall positive feedback highlights the machine's value and build quality. Positive comments also frequently mentioned the included Optane memory and customizable lighting.