Dell Alienware Aurora R16 Gaming Desktop - Review

Alienware, the gaming branch of computing hardware company Dell released the latest iteration of its Aurora R series of gaming desktops back in August 2023 on the global stage. This particular version in question is called the Alienware Aurora R16 which comes with a drastically revised design than past Aurora R series products. Beyond the redesign, the desktop comes with the latest, 14th-Gen Intel Core CPUs and the existing Nvidia GeForce RTX 4000 Series GPUs. Interested gamers can either choose the 13th-Gen Intel Core CPUs to save some money or go with the latest that Team Blue has to offer.

Just months after the global launch, Dell India finally brought the R16 to the market. However, the Indian edition only feature the 13th-Gen Intel Core CPUs with RTX 4000 Series GPUs. As part of this release, we got a chance to test-drive the Aurora R16 and see how it performs. Does it just come with the external, "cosmetic" changes or do they actually work in practice? Is it worth it? Check all of this and more in this review for the Dell Alienware Aurora R16 gaming desktop here.

Specifications

Our review unit of the Aurora R16 gaming desktop came with 13th-Gen Intel Core i9 13900F and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU. Here are rest of the specifications for the desktop:

Dell Alienware Aurora R16 gaming desktop review unit

Variants, price in India, and availability

Currently, Dell India is offering two variants of its Alienware Aurora gaming desktop on its website. The first one is the base model with 13th-Gen Intel Core i7 13700F along with Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060Ti and 16GB RAM (5,600 MT/s). This one is priced at INR 1,62,589.97 including taxes. Beyond this, we have the second, top-of-the-line option with 13th-Gen Intel Core i9 13900F with GeForce RTX 4070 and 32GB DDR5 RAM (5,600 MT/s). This option is priced at INR 2,33,989.98 (What is INR .02 savings, Dell?).

As you may have figured by this point, we got the top-end variant for our review. However, it is interesting to note that unlike the launch announcement, 14th Gen Intel Core CPU and/or RTX 4090-powered variants are absent. Like the R15, it is likely that variants with the latest generation Intel CPUs and RTX 4090 GPU will make their way to the market in coming months, if not weeks.

Aurora R16 gaming desktop performance

Gaming performance

It is difficult to measure the difference in performance between the Aurora R16 and the outgoing R15 given the different CPU and GPU combinations that we tested. Regardless, at the very least, the Alienware Aurora R16 gaming desktop manages to offer good thermal performance while offering good performance. As with R15, I did not find much to complain about when it came to both gaming and synthetic benchmarks.

As standard with other gaming hardware tests at IGN India, we ran a number of AAA games at maximum graphics settings at 1080p resolution. During the test runs, we made sure to not enable DLSS, dynamic render resolution, dynamic render quality, and motion blur. Gaming performance in FHD resolution at maximum graphics quality is enough to give you some sense of how these games will perform at QHD (2K) or UHD (4K) resolutions.

The RTX 4070 and Core i9 13900F combination manages to offer enough power to run almost all AAA games over 100 FPS. From the list of 13 games that we tested, only one game, Cyberpunk 2077, arguably the most graphically intensive game from the list gave us 74fps on average. A large part of games ran above 140 FPS at 1080p resolution. This means they can easily run above 90 FPS at 2K resolution when set to maximum graphics quality.

Looking back at the benchmark results we got with other high-end GPUs like the RX 7900XTX and RTX 4090, some of the games likely hit their engine limits or bottle-necks at 1080p. Meanwhile, games like Doom Eternal with extremely scalable and capable engine hit an average FPS of 411.

Synthetic benchmarks

Looking at the synthetic benchmarks, Core i9 13900F was in spitting distance of all the other CPUs we have tested in the past. However, AMD offerings topped the charts when it came to multi-core workloads. In single-core workloads, the 13900F is much closer to other 13th-Gen Core i9 CPUs and beats the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D. You can check benchmark results across a range of programs including 3DMark, PCMark 10, Geekbench 5, 6, Intel Xtreme Tuning Utility, and Cinebench R23. However, such synthetic benchmarks are largely indicative and real-world apps aren't impacted that much by single digit percentage differences in scores.

Thermal performance

On the cooling hardware side, we get a similar 240mm All-In-One (AIO) liquid cooler for the CPU. R16 comes with just one 120mm fan in the front for intake while three 120mm fans (two on the top as part of the AIO and one in the back) are for exhaust. Like the R15, the R16 also comes with hexagonal vents on the side to increase the airflow.

While one can't trust the marketing claims made my a company, the results speak for themselves. After a range of gaming and synthetic tests, we do observe that thermal performance is likely one of the most improved aspects of the Aurora R16. Even though we don't have a RTX 4090 variant as we did with the R15, at least the CPU side does offer some sort of comparison. During our testing, the CPU package hit a maximum temperature of 84 degrees Celsius while maintaining an average of 42 degrees Celsius.

Talking about the GPU, the hot spot temperatures reached 88.2 degrees Celsius with an average of 43.7 degrees Celsius. It is worth noting that neither the CPU nor the GPU thermal throttled during the most intensive of our benchmarks. We should also mention that we reviewed the Aurora R16 right at the starting of the winter season in New Delhi (November) so the temperatures may be higher during the Summer season.

Aurora R16: Design, features, and software

As I mentioned before, the design of the Aurora R16 is the most strikingly visible change in the latest pre-built desktop from Alienware. While just by itself, I like the change and prefer this more manageable look instead of the R15, I won't be surprised that not everyone would be a fan of this change. Yes, it comes at the cost of individuality of Alienware in the pre-built gaming desktop space and I liked how different R15 was. But, it wasn't as manageable especially in a limited space.

At the same time, I much prefer the improved thermal performance that comes along with the aesthetic change instead of just a mere design revision. The fact that it has an intention that works is more important to me than something done for the sake of it. However, I would have liked it more if Alienware tweaked the hexagonal cutouts on the side to make them easier to clean after eventual dust build-out after months of use.

Besides the case design, most other things remain the same including plentiful RGB lighting inside. As with the R15, R16 offers robust software options in Alienware Command Center to customize the looks of the RGB lights including effects and colors.

Like with Alienware hardware in the past, the situation around pre-installed software remains unchanged. The R16 features Windows 11 Home with "My Alienware", "Alienware Command Center", "SupportAssist", "Alienware Update", and "Dolby Access". The functionality of all these apps remains unchanged where "My Alienware" is about device registration and warranty status and "Alienware Command Center" allows you to control the built-in RGB, performance presets, and overclocking. "Alienware Update" is for updating system drivers and apps, "SupportAssist" allows troubleshooting and OS recovery and "Dolby Access" allows you to experience and control "Dolby Atmos" content and supported hardware respectively.

Upgradability for the Aurora R16

Upgradability of the Dell Alienware Aurora R16 largely remains the same with proprietary motherboard and Power Supply Unit (PSU). You can upgrade the PSU but you will need to hunt down the ones meant for R15 as they will be compatible with the R16. Otherwise, upgrades are limited to the CPU, GPU, RAM and SSD on the device. Here CPU upgrade is only possible if the included motherboard chipset and socket are compatible with the new CPU you want to use. I am not sure you can upgrade the CPU beyond the 14th gen which makes the system one and done in terms of long term use. GPU upgrade will be one of the more challenging aspect as you may struggle with size clearance and an ideal GPU support bracket.