As part of its 25th-anniversary celebrations last month, Dell’s premium gaming desktop brand Alienware unveiled its latest flagship desktop, the Aurora R13. It is the successor to the Aurora R12 that was launched earlier this year with Intel’s 11th-gen Core processors. The Aurora R13 is also part of Dell’s latest high-end PC lineup that includes the new XPS desktop powered by Intel’s Core i9-12900K Alder Lake processor and NVIDIA’s RTX 3090 graphics card.
Alienware is Dell’s premium gaming PC brand, initially founded by Alex Aguila and Nelson Gonzalez in Miami 25 years ago. It was acquired by Dell in 2006 and has since become one of the most coveted names in PC gaming alongside the likes of Razer, ASUS ROG, etc. The company probably hopes that its latest launch resonates with holiday shoppers looking for powerful pre-built gaming PCs with the fastest processors and the most powerful graphics cards that are almost impossible to buy amidst the ongoing global chip shortage.
Alienware is offering the Aurora R13 gaming desktops with up to a 12th-Gen Intel Core i9-12900KF processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 24GB graphics card. Buyers wanting an AMD GPU option will also be able to select up to a Radeon RX 6900 XT 16GB card. In terms of the case design, the company claims that the new Aurora desktop design, dubbed ‘Legend 2.0,’ takes cues from the first-generation Aurora ALX that debuted in 2004. The company also says that the case comes with several changes to improve airflow, including four vents at the front and three vents each at the top, middle and bottom for optimal cooling.
Buyers Can Opt For Up To 128GB of DDR5 Memory
Other configurable options include up to a 2TB NVMe M.2 PCIe SSD and up to 128GB of dual-channel DDR5 3600MHz RAM or up to 64GB 4400MHz memory. Buyers can also opt for an additional 7200RPM hard drive for a dual-drive setup. The base model of the Aurora R13 will already ship with liquid cooling, but buyers will also be able to opt for Alienware’s Cryo-tech Edition CPU Liquid Cooling technology for even better heat dissipation. Alienware is also offering a range of FreeSync/G-Sync gaming monitors as an optional accessory to go with the new desktop, ranging from a 25-inch model to a curved, 38-inch option.
While Alienware doesn’t mention how much the fully-loaded model will cost, playing around with the available configurations on the company’s website suggest that it will be at least around the $5,400 mark even without any of the optional accessories. The hardware that hits that price-point includes the Core i9-12900KF CPU, the RTX 3090 GPU, 128GB of RAM, dual 2TB (SSD + HDD) storage drives, and the company’s Cryo-tech Edition CPU Liquid Cooling. In addition, buyers can also get gaming keyboards, mice, monitors, headphones, and other accessories, as well as Microsoft 365 subscription, Office, Adobe Acrobat, Photoshop, McAfee antivirus, and other optional software with their PC.
