Alienware Aurora R14 Liquid Cooled Gaming Desktop - AMD Ryzen 9 5900, 32GB 3466MHz RAM, 1TB SDD + 2TB HDD, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 10GB GDDR6X Graphics, VR Ready, USB-C, Windows 11 Home – Black

I got this computer on a sale and that’s really the only way it’s worth it. The BIOS is configured wrong from the factory (make sure XMP and resizable bar are enabled), the thermal paste on the video card is applied incorrectly, and the pre installed software and drivers are not configured properly. As is, this computer is great for parts if you can get it on sale or if you need a learning project. If you can find it on sale and don’t mind extra work, you can fix these issues yourself. I recommend GamersNexus YouTube channel. Search Alienware on their channel. They document most of the issues and show you how to correct them (the ones that can be corrected anyway). Also, they don’t talk about it, but uninstall all pre installed software. Including the Alienware Command Center and Nvidia geforceexperience. The manufacturer does not install it properly and they will not work unless you uninstall and install the latest version from the support site. For Geforce experience, download and install directly from nvidia’s site. The one on Dell/Alienware’s support site does not work. You’re welcome. Correcting the video card takes the most time and effort. You’ll need to disassemble your video card, remove some part stickers, and repaste. Hopefully this post will save you the time I’ll never get back. If you don’t want to put in the time or can’t find this PC on sale, I recommend you move on and filter your search to NOT include Dell or Alienware.

Ive had several gaming laptops from Lenova and Acer and was excited to see the power of a Alienware desktop. Too bad Alienware is partnered with Dell. Beautiful design and the hardware and specs seems high end but a hour after getting set up with steam and game pass, Dell sent a software update. The audio for the games wasnt working so the update was mandatory. Almost immediately after the update, the computer went into a perpetual loop between a blue screen of death restarting itself and the Alienware logo. It was impossible to boot even into safe recovery mode no matter what. I spent a whole day working with Dell techs, who didnt know much more than me, I created several live flashdrive with windows updates and recovery systems on it to no avail. Ive worked around computers for over 15 years and have never seen anything of the sort. Dell literally bricked my desktop with their update.

I bought this R14 box NOT because I wanted it for gaming, although it does that VERY well, but primarily because I needed it for post processing of large photo images. A system I built for myself sometime ago died an ugly death and I decided to buy a system rather than build one, especially since parts arent easy to get. Ive used Linux (OpenSuse) rather than MickySoft for years, and tried to install that replacing the Bloze 11 that was on the R14. OpenSuse didnt like the Ethernet card that is in the R14 so I installed Ubuntu with a bunch of add-ons. Ubuntu doesnt like to play with the Ethernet well either however, I was able to add my wireless modem. The R14 is not only very fast on the Net, but EXTREMELY quick in handling large photos, which I keep in the tiff format using The Gimp. My only complaint is that theres no way to control (read that change) the LEDS on/in the R14 as Dell didnt put that in firmware but software and there isnt a Linux app. to do that.

Amazing pc very powerful WELL worth the money can run any and every game at high setting to ultra is truly a powerfull pc

I have had this PC for four days now and it sits here with the “Blue screen of death” on the screen. A very long sad story, but I will greatly condense. Day one - I followed on screen prompts including doing a system restore where I had to reload all programs. Day two - After about an hour on phone with Amazon tech support, which elevated all the way up to “Check to be sure the USB cables are plugged in”, I was actually connected to a Dell Alienware Aurora Tech who stated that they were well aware of my problem and he knew how to fix it. After several hours of remote access and upgrades, he went away and the Blue Screen came back. Day three - Dell service tech would not respond to my email asking for help. I called the extended warranty group, and after reading him the actual details of the warranty, he connected me to another tech. After several hours of remote access, he went away and the Blue Screen came back. Day four - I email both techs and get no response. I called warranty company and this time the contact person did not want to help me beyond telling me to send it back. After I read the warranty to him two or three times, he transferred me to a medical facility. I called Amazon and asked that a replacement be sent and I would verify it worked before returning the first PC. Delivery is one week. Nothing takes Amazon a week. Tonight I finally get a reply from Dell tech wanting to know what day and time would be good to work on the PC. I replied that I had asked Amazon for a replacement. The extended warranty may be a good thing, but all the help it says they will extend during installation is mostly words on a piece of paper. I will update this review when something happens. I have purchased several Dell computers, never having this much trouble. UPDATE: I received the replacement R14 per Amazon’s promise date. I loaded the same programs I had loaded on the faulty R14 and it has been running over the weekend as a new Dell should.

I e been an Intel user for my entire PC life but couldn’t afford the bump from $3000 to $5000 for the Ryzan 9 box to be an Intel I9 box even with the higher end Nvidia RTx

I’ve had this thing for a few months now. I was skeptical considering I’ve built my own PC’s for the last decade. But I recently moved states and took advantage of the 0 interest 12-month payment plan to make things easier. Currently have it hooked up to a 42” LG C2 4K 120hz G-Sync TV. So far this system has crushed everything I’ve thrown at it without issue. Frame rates are reasonably high for everything being maxed out with Ray Tracing on in 4k. Cyberpunk 2077 runs at an average of 68 FPS Red Dead Redemption 2 is around 75 on average. Resident Evil 4 Remake, maxed, is over 100 FPS. The thing performs solid and hasn’t given me much trouble beyond the Alienware software wanting to slow things down. My one and only gripe is that the liquid cooling system is a single fan. Running a Ryzen 9 5900 for hours with everything maxed puts the temps in the high 80’s C, as expected with this silly mistake. No reason not to run a dual fan to this kind of CPU to truly give the hardware longevity. But overall, for plug-and-play, this thing is crushing it pretty well. If I had the full $2400 lying around, I definitely still would have built my own computer though.

It looks amazing and so far works amazing too! Great upgrade to my 7 year old Dell!

The reason Im giving this one star is that when one buys a $2600 computer, one expects it to work without getting blue screen errors within the first week. I started receiving BSOD errors while I was away from my computer (no games were running) on a regular basis within the first few days of using this computer. I did a fresh install of windows 10 (downgraded from 11). The computer seems a lot more responsive on first reboot with a fresh windows 10. The alienware control center is ABSOLUTE JUNK SOFTWARE. You will experience this yourself. You only need it to control lights, you can still overclock from the BIOS. I recommend never installing any dell/alienware software if you can help it. I will know in a few days if the BSOD issue is resolved with the fresh windows10 install and no dell junk software. If you buy this PC, expect to have to do some work to make it run properly, even though you shouldnt need to do this at this price point. Update: I have not gotten any BSOD in at least a week since installing win10 and removing dell junk Updating this to 3 stars. Minus 2 stars for Dell junk messing up an otherwise great computer

I love this pc! It is so quiet and is a beast for anything you need it for! Would def recommend.