With the trend full-on toward lightweight notebook and netbook
computing, it’s amazing to watch the occasional desktop PC climb back up
(or would that be down?) the evolutionary ladder to re-emerge as a
huge, hulking, expensive beast with as big an appetite for desktop real
estate as electrical power. Alienware’s Aurora ALX, tipping the
scales at 80 pounds in its shipping box, is one of these increasingly
rare beings.
Bundle
The Alienware
bundle is always something to admire with the large graphics and well
packaged contents. An installation manual, Windows 7 backup DVD, Driver
CD, DVI-HDMI adapter, Alienware badges were neatly packed together in a
separate box for the accessories. An alienware TactX headphone set and a
21.5” monitor are also included in the package but were not present in
our review bundle. The installation manual bears special mention as the
faux leather binding and the metallic spiral rings combined with the
glossy pages make you want to look inside at stuff which you would
probably know anyway but still feels really good.
Looks and Build
Unpacking
the Alienware was a feat in itself. Taking the 20 odd kilo beast out of
the box and setting it up on our labs test area took quite an effort
but in the end it was worth it. Sitting there, in all its glory in
between the normal and mundane cabinets was the Aurora ready to tackle
anything we'd throw at it. The jet black cabinet with the shiny and all
too familiar alienware logo on the front panel had another surprise
waiting for us. The logo interestingly doubles up as a button which
unlocks the front panel sliding down to reveal the BluRay drive and
all-in-one card reader. What really sets it apart (as if it wasn't
already different enough) is the neon lighting housed around the various
nooks and crannies.
Mouse: The
TactX keyboard and mouse are among the best bundled input devices we
have received in a long time. The hyper scroll toggle and profile
changer along with the position of the laser might remind you of the
Logitech G9X and rightfully so since the hardware is the same minus the
customizable grips and weight system. The LCD display shows the current
DPI setting which can easily be changed with the small keys present
under the left mouse button. The non slip surface and rubberized grips
on the side made gaming sessions a breeze and there were no cramps even
after hours of usage. The mouse would have been perfect if not for the
navigation keys on the left which were a bit too slim and the
positioning might take time to get used to. One thing to remember is the
teflon feet under the mouse aren't replaceable so they should be
cleaned weekly.
Keyboard: They
keyboard has really been designed very well. The smooth finish coupled
with the right amount of resistance provided by the keys propelled it
leagues ahead of the spongy keys of the Logitech G15/G110. Gaming
keyboards are generally a nightmare for typing but the TactX keyboard is
comfortable enough for some typing after a tiring stretch of hardcore
gaming. The backlighting was really good and was visible even in a
brightly lit environment although there was no toggle to adjust the
brightness levels. All this this comes at the cost of the keyboard using
up 2 USB slots but with the ample amount of slots present, it shouldn't
be a problem.
Performance and Benchmarking
Simply
put, there was nothing that was too big for the Aurora ALX as it blew
through all our benchmarks with ease. Scoring an insane 22199 in 3DMark,
11809 in Geekbench and 2415 in Passmark, scores which are usually
associated with 3D workstations should give you an idea of just how much
sheer raw processing power is available. In games, the scores were
equally amazing. We ran all the games at a resolution of
1920x1080/4xAA/8xAF starting with Lost Planet: Colonies Edition at DX10,
garnering a score of 93FPS. We wanted to run Lost Planet 2 but there
are some compatibility issues with crossfire X. We used the Far Cry 2
DX10 benchmark, setting all the features to ultra high and ran the long
ranch demo which scored 100FPS. The recently released Final Fantasy XIV
benchmark resulted in a score of 14,585 which equals to lag-free
performance no matter what is present on the screen. Crysis: Warhead, a
relatively old game which at the time brought even the highest end Pc to
its knees was very playable with a constant 57FPS. Mafia 2, a DX11 game
ran at 68FPS although we couldn’t turn on the PhysX settings since it
is exclusive to Nvidia cards. Lastly, we ran Dark Void which delivered
an amazing 165 FPS. To make a long story short, everything was blown out
of the water in terms of playability. To say this system is powerful is
an understatement. As of right now, most games use a 32 bit
architecture and don’t use more than 4GB RAM. But memory intensive tasks
like video editing, graphic designing, multitasking, file extraction
will greatly benefit from the 24GB RAM.
Special Features
The
Aurora ALX has an active thermal venting system which automatically
dissipates the heat when it crosses a particular threshold situated at
the top in the shape of louvered fins. Some games with a “plays best on
alienware” in their intro like Dark Void make creative usage of the neon
lighting system by constantly tweaking and changing the colours. The
effects really set the mood, especially in a dark room and is not just a
gimmick. The ever present alienware command center software can be used
to change the lighting, change power settings and even set macros for
the keyboard. Taking this a step further, the lighting can be customized
for each of the the 7 individual regions on the cabinet by changing,
merging or even make the colours pulsate. The most interesting feature
was when we opened up the cabinet and the lighting kicked in making it
incredibly convenient to check out the system and as such should be made
mandatory in all cabinets. The fact that these were rechargeable lights
made it even better and they will work without any power.
Bottom line
Alienware has done away with the garish and overly loud systems of yore and come up with a design that is both stylish and cool without sacrificing their distinct “Alienware” look and in the process have evolved. Definitely recommended for people with a lot of cold, hard cash to throw away on a very powerful PC that will last them for years.
Specifications:
Motherboard: Intel® X58 mATX Motherboard
Processor: Intel® Core i7X 980x (3.33GHz/12MB cache)
Operating System: Windows® 7 Ultimate x64
Main Memory: 24GB Tri-Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333Mhz (9-9-9-24 timing)
Display: Alienware 21.5” monitor
Video Graphics & Memory: Dual AMD 5870 Radeon CrossfireX @ 2GB DDR5
Hard Drive: 2x 320GB @ 10,000rpm
Optical Drive: DVD Super Multi Double Layer
Front I/O Ports: (2x) High-Speed USB 2.0, Firewire IEEE 1394, Microphone In, Headphone/Speaker Out
Rear I/O Ports: eSATA, RJ-45 Gigabit Ethernet, (6x) High-Speed USB 2.0, Firewire IEEE 1394, Microphone In, Line-In, 7.1/5.1/2.1 Speaker input, SPDIF Digital Output (TOSLINK), SPDIF Digital Output (Coax)
Weight: 21 kg
Processor: Intel® Core i7X 980x (3.33GHz/12MB cache)
Operating System: Windows® 7 Ultimate x64
Main Memory: 24GB Tri-Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333Mhz (9-9-9-24 timing)
Display: Alienware 21.5” monitor
Video Graphics & Memory: Dual AMD 5870 Radeon CrossfireX @ 2GB DDR5
Hard Drive: 2x 320GB @ 10,000rpm
Optical Drive: DVD Super Multi Double Layer
Front I/O Ports: (2x) High-Speed USB 2.0, Firewire IEEE 1394, Microphone In, Headphone/Speaker Out
Rear I/O Ports: eSATA, RJ-45 Gigabit Ethernet, (6x) High-Speed USB 2.0, Firewire IEEE 1394, Microphone In, Line-In, 7.1/5.1/2.1 Speaker input, SPDIF Digital Output (TOSLINK), SPDIF Digital Output (Coax)
Weight: 21 kg
Price $4,249
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