Prebuilt PCs come in all shapes and sizes, and gamers both new and old are often tempted to buy one. Whatever your precise motivations are for reading this review, then, there is probably one big question on your mind: is it worth buying the Dell Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition R10 Gaming Desktop?
There are various versions of the R10 listed on
Table of Contents
. The cheapest one is currently listed at £1,249 GBP, while the most expensive one is £4,449 at the moment. They're all equipped with AMD Ryzen processors, meaning that any one of these PCs will pack a powerful punch. Some of them come with NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards, while others prefer AMD GPU options.
The most expensive version of the R10 comes with NVIDIA's powerful new 3090 graphics card, but we've been sent a slightly older version to review. The exact specs of our review unit read like so: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, 16GB Dual Channel HyperX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070, 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD (Boot) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s, Windows 10 Home-HE 64bit, UK Keyboard.
So considering that this is a slightly older unit, how did it hold up? Keep reading for our full thoughts on the R10 after two weeks of testing it out...
Design - Score 80
The sheer size of the box that showed up proved immediately that the R10 is a pretty huge machine. One unboxing and a set-up session later, I can confirm that this is a hefty piece of machinery that you'll probably need to clear a special space for.
The official measurements of the latest version look like this: the height is 481.6mm (18.9"); the width is 222.8mm (8.771"); the length is 431.9mm; the volume is 33.8 L; and, if you were wondering, the maximum weight is 17.8 kg (39.2 lb). It's big, basically.
But in terms of how the design looks, the team at Dell have come up with some cool flourishes here. There's something winningly eye-catching about the oval of RGB lighting around the Alienware logo and the USB ports on the front, although it's not
too
showy-offy. It will look great in your gaming nook, but it wouldn't look out of place in an office either.
There are other nice touches, too: the cooling grates on the top and the side are functional without looking too boring, and the sleek black colour scheme looks rad as well. That being said, there are also white versions available.
The only facet of the R10's design which I don't particularly like is the overall shape. It has rounded edges, and the rear of the PC is slightly wider than the front. Call me old fashioned, but personally, I'm a fan of flat edges and proper corners. The R10 looks a bit like a thumb, which is a bit odd in my opinion.
But design is, of course, subjective. Other people will probably love this shape, and at the end of the day, you probably won't spend too much time actually looking at the PC after you've set it up and started playing. And I do love that RGB.
Performance - Score 95
After a painless set-up process, I started downloading and installing a few games to test this machine out. The big next-gen release of the week was Bloober Team's
The Medium
, which, if you didn't have a PC, you'd need an Xbox Series X/S console to play. So that seemed like a great place to start.
Suffice it to say that
The Medium
ran like a dream on the R10, and it looked beautiful up on my
. The R10 had no trouble showcasing the game's high-end graphics, even when
The Medium
's dual-reality gameplay mechanic meant it was rendering two versions of the world at once.
I also played some
Cyberpunk 2077,
chunks of
Halo: The Master Chief Collection,
an hour or so of
Metro: Last Light
, and the entire demo of a brilliant little puzzle game
. All of them looked great and ran perfectly through the R10. In fact, even when I went online and played a few random emulators with a friend, I literally could not find a game that didn't play flawlessly on this PC.
Sure, a more modern version of the machine could make the graphics look even better, boosted by the power of a 3090, but I was far from disappointed by this older iteration of the R10. For my needs, the 2070 was just right, and the R10 harnessed its power comfortably. I should probably also mention the audio, which was always top-notch with
plugged in.
It's also worth mentioning the mechanical keyboard and the mouse that come with the R10. Both of them have that premium feel, and they've both got RGB, which makes the whole package feel consistent and look cool. I'm more of a controller guy myself, but that's not a problem - I plugged in my
and it worked immediately.
All in all, the performance was flawless. For my needs, this machine was just right, and I'll be sorry to see it go when the UPS man picks it up shortly.
Also, in terms of benchmarking, I ran a couple of quick tests, and the R10 defeated my previous review project with ease - the last decent computer I had in the house was the
laptop, but the R10 achieved superior scores in terms of CPU and Compute. It really is hard to fault it.
Price - Score 80
As I mentioned at the start, the cheapest R10 listed on
right now would set you back £1,249. Or, at the top end of the pricing league table, you could spend up to £4,449 on an R10 if you wanted the fanciest version.
Does this represent good value? I'd wager that it does, depending on which one you go for and what your computing needs happen to be. If you want a PC that can run modern games and handle all your work needs, I think the cheapest R10 would be a very solid investment. It's a great all-rounder for the home office and/or gaming den.
If you're more of a hardcore gamer - someone that wants all the extra fidelity that a 3090 can bring - getting a prebuilt R10 with the latest bells and whistles is surely a lot less hassle than building a 3090-worthy PC yourself. It's a big investment, but it'll help you reach that goal of sitting right at the pinnacle of PC gaming.
However, it's worth mentioning that both next-gen consoles are priced at around £500. So if you just want a machine that can play the latest games, and you're not dead-set on that machine being a PC, you might prefer to save yourself a few quid and invest in a PS5 or Xbox Series X instead.
After all, spending thousands of pounds on a single device is rarely an easy thing to justify. If the R10 was significantly cheaper, we'd probably all have one by now. It's a luxury item, though, with a price-point to match. So if you can justify the spend, we doubt you'll regret it.
Our Score
Pros
- Games play great across the board
- It's very easy to plug in and start playing
- The RGB is awesome
Cons
- It's shaped like a thumb
- It doesn't come cheap
- You'll need to clear a big space for it
If you're looking for a prebuilt PC, it's well worth considering the Dell Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition R10 Gaming Desktop. Yes, it is shaped like a thumb, but it gets a big thumbs-up from me.
Given the strong array of price options, you're sure to find a version that matches your needs, whether you're looking for a high-end beast or a cheaper option that will help transform your home office into a dedicated gaming area.
Once you've lugged the big box into your home and plugged everything in, you'll quickly be in an RGB-infused gaming zone, running all of the latest PC games in style. What more could you want?
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