Centerfold
50 MAXIMUMPC MAR 2020 maximumpc.com
DELL’S ALIENWARE BRAND has improved incrementally
from its early days as super-expensive gaming hardware
bedecked with RGB lighting. The Alienware Aurora
desktops have been successful for Dell, and the newest—
the R9, with a ninth-gen Intel CPU—is the greatest yet.
The R9 was designed with esports in mind, utilizing a
smart design for maximum cooling. Air is drawn in at the
front and ejected from the rear, side, and top, with a PSU
swing-arm mount that allows for both a relatively compact
chassis and improved airflow for the GPU (or GPUs, as the
R9 supports the installation of a second card).
The Aurora is prepped for maximum connectivity, with
three USB 3.1 ports, a USB Type-C port, plus audio inputand output all on the front I/O. Most models of the R9 come
VR-ready, and all are equipped with Killer E2500 LAN for
high-speed connectivity when gaming. In fact, the Aurora
R9 is the rig of choice for esports maestros Team Liquid.
The internal design is impressively compact, fitting
in a full AIO cooler with radiator, keeping the CPU (up to
an Intel Core i9-9900K, depending on the configuration)
perfectly cooled. There’s up to 4TB of storage, combining
7,200 rpm hard drives and high-speed NVMe M.2 SSDs.
The Z390 motherboard has space for upgrades, whether
it’s raising your memory capacity or installing a new GPU.
Memory speed likely won’t need a boost, though, as the R9
comes with 2,933Hz RAM as standard. –CHRISTIAN GUYTONAlienware Aurora R9
1
LIGHT IT UP
The front features
rounded lighting zones that
use Dell’s AlienFX RGB lighting,
with up to 16.8 million colors
accessible via the Alienware
Command Center software. The
app also allows for component
thermal monitoring, audio
control, and in-OS hardware
overclocking—a powerful piece
of gaming-oriented software.2
DOUBLE DOWN
There are five different
configurations of the Aurora
R9 available, ranging from an
$800 model, equipped with
an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650,
all the way up to a $4,500
powerhouse, packing 64GB
of RAM, along with twin
RTX 2080 Super GPUs, with
NVLink SLI enabled for
maximum graphical power.3
LUNAR LANDER
The new Aurora is
available in two colors, and
naturally both of them are
space-themed: Lunar Light,
the model pictured here, and
Dark Side of the Moon, also
known to laymen as “black.”
For no discernible reason,
the latter version has one
fewer AlienFX lighting
zones to customize.