Editor's take: Considering the chaotic launch of the Nvidia 3080 and 3090 GPUs, it only seems a matter of time until Alienware runs out of its updated Aurora R11 prebuilt gaming PCs. It's apparently one of the very few available options on the market right now that lets players experience the latest and greatest from Nvidia and AMD. Alienware has even gone for a custom GPU design for the Aurora R11/R10 that can be specced with up to a 10C/20T 10th-gen Intel i9-10900KF CPU or a 12C/24T AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT and also includes a chunky 1,000W PSU for those power-hungry internals.
Dell's latest revision for its Alienware gaming lineup includes the new Aurora R11 gaming desktop, which now features a custom GeForce RTX 3080 and 3090 built by Dell. These GPUs pack quad 10mm copper heat pipes with integrated vapor chambers that Alienware calls its largest diameter heat pipe design to date. They also have a dual-axial fan design that ensures optimum airflow through the case vents.
Dell says that these GPUs have a reduced footprint with a max length of 267mm, which covers 2.5x slots on the motherboard, with the cards using dual 6-pin/8-pin connectors for power. It's offering these GPUs with either Intel chips in the Aurora R11 or AMD Ryzen CPUs in the Aurora Ryzen Edition R10 model.
The base-spec Aurora R11 offers an i5-10400F, an AMD Radeon RX 5300 GPU, 8GB RAM, and a 1TB 7,400 SATA HDD. Further up are two Intel i7s (10700F and KF) alongside beefier GPUs and other components, including an i7-10700KF/RTX 3080 combo for $2,429.99. The top-end model, meanwhile, comes with an i9-10900F, a GeForce RTX 3090, 32GB RAM, 1TB of m.2 PCIe boot drive, and a 1TB SATA HDD. This beastly config starts at an eye-watering $3,649, though not all that bad considering you'll finally end up with a 3000 series GPU.
Prices, however, are even higher on AMD's side, where the base model of the Aurora Ryzen Edition R10 starts at a cool $1000+. This pairs an AMD Ryzen 5 3500 with an RX 5300 GPU, 8GB RAM, 128 GB of m.2 PCIe storage, and a 1TB SATA HDD. An RTX 3080 GPU is offered here with a Ryzen 7 3700X, 16GB RAM, and a 512GB m.2 PCIe SSD, which ups the price to $2,179. The flagship model starts at over $4,000 and packs a Ryzen 9 3900XT, an RTX 3090, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB m.2 PCIe SSD.
Additionally, Dell has revised its Area 51m R2 gaming laptop with a 360Hz FHD display and 12-phase "HyperEfficent Voltage Regulation," a feature that's said to be a first on laptops. There's no word yet on the CPU/GPU options, I/O connectivity, and price, but these details are expected to be revealed later this month.
There's also a new trio of Alienware gaming monitors, which include the Alienware 25 (AW2521H), Alienware 27 (AW2721D), and Alienware 38 (AW3821DW). The 25" model supports Nvidia Reflex Latency Analyzer tech, packs a 360Hz FHD IPS G-Sync display with 400 nits of brightness, and costs $899.
The 27" model costs $1,099 and comes with a 240Hz QHD IPS G-Sync panel and Display HDR 600 certification. Finally, there's the flagship 38" model that has a 21:9 curved IPS display with a 3,840 x 1,600 resolution. It refreshes at 144Hz, supports G-Sync Ultimate, and costs $1,899.
In terms of I/O, all three monitors will come with 2 x HDMI 2.0 ports, 1 x DisplayPort 1.4, multiple USB 3.2 ports, and an ambient light sensor when they launch next month.