Customers are satisfied with the Aurora R11's performance and graphics capabilities, frequently praising its speed and ability to run games smoothly at high frame rates. Many also appreciate the ease of setup and use, while some users noted the system runs hot and suggested improvements to the cooling system. Positive feedback also highlights the value for the price and the system's VR performance. However, a few customers reported issues with the hard drive.
This summary was generated by AI based on customer reviews.
The vast majority of our reviews come from verified purchases. Reviews from customers may include My Best Buy members, employees, and Tech Insider Network members (as tagged). Select reviewers may receive discounted products, promotional considerations or entries into drawings for honest, helpful reviews.
Page 1 Showing 1-20 of 186 reviews
Pros mentioned:
Graphics, Performance
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
My Christmas savior!
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Well well well!
I tried to buy a budget cyberpowerpc for my daughter’s Christmas and got burned badly! That thing was a DOA brick! RAM, CPU, and motherboard issues out of the box. Retuned it the next day.
The associate told me they wouldn’t get any Alienware in stock until March! Turned out not to be true as they got some new stock in about two weeks later.
But I was able to find a geek squad certified one on the 27th and pulled the trigger.
This PC is everything I could have asked for and then some!
Sure, could I have built one for cheaper, I trust my abilities, but I just don’t have the time or patience.
For an all in one with a 8GB graphics card, intel i7 processor, a 1000 watt gold power supply, this is as good as your going to get for under $1800. I would have loved for it have a 1TB solid state and 32gb, but that'd be asking too much.
This thing runs like a champ! The Alienware firmware and customization is top notch! Zero issues so far!
It can run doom 2016 and GTA V in its sleep! I’m also running Cyberpunk 2077 and Half Life Alyx on Steam VR on high settings with no issues!
Great purchase and I’m very happy.
My ONLY gripe was that the left side of the case was not flush. IDK if it could Have happened during shipping or the geek squad guys couldn’t get it back In, but it honestly took 25-30 mins for me to get it back in! Such a headache! They should have done a better job inspecting it!
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Graphics, Ram
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Very good gaming pc
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Bought this pc since I couldn’t find parts to build one & as well lots of other companies where out of stock. I really like it has a good cpu i7 10700F & RTX 2080 Super. It came with 16GB of ram I upgraded it to 32GB of 3200mhz works very good. & also added a second SSD of 2TB. & now this pc is perfect on call of duty Cold War I get avg frames of 170-248 which is super nice just depends on the map. Valorant I get around 300-400fps. Warzone I get from 125-180fps. It’s a great computer for high end gaming & for the price it is a great computer.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Speed
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Very good and stylish PC
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I’ve been playing VR games mostly on high quality settings and it’s doing a great job handling the games. Very fast. I added 4 TB of SSD. The options to change the lights and the design of this PC is very appealing.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Performance
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Sick stuff
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Posted . Owned for more than 2 years when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Love this baby, still base setup and runs amazing after 2 years. I've got steam, battle net, two Minecraft launchers, a chrome full of.tabs, and hella games on all aforementioned gaming platforms. Def recommend if you're not huge on fixing up PCs or even I'd you are. Its customizable.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Performance, Ram, Speed
Cons mentioned:
Cooling
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
What I learned as first game pc, but this a winner
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Posted . Owned for 2 months when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I am a newbie. I feel that my computer has been through a bit. Sudden power outages. Placing the incompatible ram but still bypassing BIOS. Removing. Restarting it. Loading. Unloading games. The vents get hot and the fans get going. I have a $50 3 setting fan facing it. Cools it quick. Air intake is great! So despite restarting it like 3 times because of EXPERIMENTAL whoops dont press that button or load that again... This computer survived all of it!!!! Runs 99 fps for 1080 easy. Runs up to 90 fps in Virtual Destop for VR. Runs up to 70 fps in VR with link. This is a great MID RANGE computer for serious VR sim race and flying gamers. For standard screen games, I would say very very very good. You want to shovel more cash to the burner than save for an i9 rtx3090 and wait... you wont regret the drop of funds. But for all who made it this far. Make the jump. Its a very very very friendly and solid prebuild. Last thing, GET A GOOD MONITOR. I have 100hz 34 ultrawide at 2560x1080 something like that... this computer can still look better on higher spec monitor, it can handle it! Last. I did manage to put 32 gb in it. Very FAST AND PUSHED GAMES TO ALMOST 300 FPS and VR had same MORE EASE running not better fps just better time game flow. But make sure its compatible and I think buy in kit. Like 32 gb kit, not add crosshair 16 additional (it did work! But the computer doesnt like it on second bypass so you have to bypass once and dont restart your pc, very bad, dont recommend, but works) Id say 32 kit of hyper fury maybe try. I felt better gaming experience at 32 but 16gb works just fine. Dont push luck too far. Yes it can get better but this is a solid mid range.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Graphics, Performance, Ram
Cons mentioned:
Cooling
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Very nice machine-but needs liquid CPU cooler.
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Posted . Owned for 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
This version of the Aurora R11 comes well-equipped-with a powerful 8-core/16-thread i7 processor, 16GB of DDR4 RAM (with two available slots for upgrades), a still high-end graphics card (GTX 2080 Super) and a decently large SSD.
It's snappy, with fast boot times and rapid application response.
The only negative points are the air-cooled CPU. When under load, the fans spool up and the machine is pretty loud. Other versions of this machine are built with a liquid cooler for the CPU, and for good reason. I have an older Area 51 R2 with the liquid cooler, and even when slamming it with a rendering project, it's dead silent (only hearing the GPU fans). That said, I wouldn't let this scare you away from the R11. The fans can be replaced with quieter models, or you can upgrade to a liquid CPU cooler.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Graphics, Performance
Cons mentioned:
Cooling
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
LIGHTNING FAST DESKTOP AND QUICK SHIPPING
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
This machine is a beast. You are getting a top of the line Alienware PC with a top 5 processor and graphics card for under $2,000. Not sure what else you could want. Sure you could build your own with relative ease but 90% of the time it won't look as nice and will take substantially more planning. I'm an instant gratification type of person and this machine was purchased and delivered in something like 36 hours lol (go try that at Alienware's site). Last I checked custom built Alienwares were taking a month or more and the pre-built ones direct from dell were taking like 10 days to arrive.
A few people here where whining about this not being liquid cooled. First off it doesn't need it. The case design keeps the chips in the optimal heat range even at the highest settings for hours of play on AAA gaming titles. You will hear the fan there is no question about that but generally thats only when gaming or editing videos and most of the time I have a headset on for that anyways. If the liquid cooling is a huge deal to you then you can always hope on the alienware forums to get the exact model # of the one they use and slap it in yourself. When I priced the same machine with liquid cooling at the site when I ordered it was something like $2450 with my Best Buy 10% off birthday discount I paid $1700 for this machine. The liquid cooling is plug and play for the most part and it's a $300 part ($200 used) but for 98% of the people out there the fan will work just fine (even with overclocking the chip).
The machine is set up so the chips can be easily accessed and should keep you gaming for the next 3-5 years (with mild upgrades down the line of course).
Since I play first person shooters I went ahead and bought corsair gaming keyboard (K95 Platinum XT w/ metal finishes) and mouse as well as the 27in 240hz Alienware screen during primeday for $200 and have had zero complaints thus far.
Great PC, Great Support, Quick Shipping!
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Performance, Ram
Cons mentioned:
Cooling
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Gamer's Delight
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Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
If you are looking @ reviews on this AlienWare R11 you're a Gamer !
this machine is not liquid cooled however you can easily install an 120mm corsair h60...this machine is made to be liquid cooled!
the r11 is very capable and can handle all AAA titles no problemo!
also easily add more storage and ram if you need too.
THe computer is very quiet after H60 install and looks Great!
Idle temps around 34-42...while gaming 57-74 ! Nice!
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Performance
Cons mentioned:
Cooling
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Good Value...Not Great
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Posted . Owned for 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Overall this is a very good computer. This is my second Alienware computer, my previous being an Aurora R7, and you certainly get value from what you pay for. Below are a few pros and cons to consider.
Pros
-Pre built high end gaming computer. You know what you get out of the box, optimized performance and peace of mind. Don’t need to worry about building yourself.
-2080 super is a fantastic card and easily plays any game you want at top settings and FPS. It is not an nockoff card but actual first party card.
Cons
-The biggest issue, and what keeps it from not being 5 stars for me, is the lack of a water cooled CPU. Obviously it’s cost saving, but the R7 had it, and i would expect the R11 would have the same for the Best Buy option. You can get one water cooled via the Alienware website, however it is weird that Best Buy did not go this route for theirs. Since the CPU is not water cooled, the fan is extremely loud when playing games. Not the end of the world, just a little thing.
-As with all Alienware computers. The cases are too small to do any major upgrades. You can easily replace the ram and add hard drive space. But the second you want to upgrade a graphics card you are out of luck. Again this doesn’t doc the rating for me, just for some people that are looking to upgrade in the future might not have the space to do so.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Performance
Cons mentioned:
Cooling
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Great performance but needs better/quieter cooling
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Posted . Owned for 2 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Great PC overall. Video card is quite powerful and handles all of my latest games with no issues so far. I also tested out the NVMe SSD with the same games and some large file transfers. It performs quite well for a mid-range drive.
My main issue is that the CPU temperature was getting up to 93 deg.C during some games and tasks. The max temp before throttling/shutdown detected for this processor is 100 deg.C. The Automatic setting for the fans in Alienware Command Center was keeping the fans at pretty low speeds even during the high temps.
I was able to get the temps down to 80 to 85 deg.C in the more demanding games/tasks. I had to switch the fan settings to "Smooth Line" and have the fans set to at least 50% for anything above 50 deg.C. Most of the time, the fans have to run near full speed and get quite loud.
This isn't a huge issue for me, since I always wear a noise cancelling headset, but it's still noticeable while I'm wearing it.
The noise does bother my wife if she's using her PC next to me. She uses a Aurora R7 with an Intel i7 6600k that came with water cooling. When I stress tested hers to compare to this new Aurora R11, I could basically never get hers above 65 deg.C with games or benchmarks.
I would recommend that for these Alienware systems with Intel i7/i9 or Ryzen 7/9 you should opt for the water cooling to reduce the noise and extend the life of the CPUs.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Graphics, Speed
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Great gaming PC
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I haven't used this long enough to give this PC a 5 star review, but I can easily give it 4 stars after using it for a week. The PC is quick, graphics are great and easily powers my Valve Index VR without any glitches or delays. Very satisfied with this purchase.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Graphics, Performance
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Great PC for the price
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
So far so good. It was a breeze to upgrade the ram on this thing. The only downside is the fan noise. It sounds like an jet about to take off when it is running performance heavy games. They really need to think about liquid cooling or adding a bigger less noisy fan. This beast is running Warzone at 1440p 170 FPS no problem and Destiny 2 at 4k 100fps. I intend to upgrade the 2080 super to a 3080 as soon as I can get my hands on one. The 2080 super is over 1000$ so this thing is a great deal when you add up the parts and the fact its impossible to find graphics cards now.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Alienware is awesome!
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Posted . Owned for more than 2 years when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I have had this pc for quite a while now and I have to say this is by far the best gaming PC i have ever had. It runs very well and is very quite. Runs pretty much all newer games at high or ultra settings. The customization of the colors is very cool. I cant really find any reason to complain about this pc. Very good pc if you are starting to get into gaming.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Performance
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Works perfectly for gaming
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
The purchased computer works perfectly, I’ve been using it to play FS2020 and it’s able to run the game perfectly at a high resolution with good FPS.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Graphics, Speed
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Speed and Graphics
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
My R11 runs great. The speed and graphics are amazing. I am running ray tracing with Mechwarrior 5 and it is flawless with graphics and speed. The Alienware Command Center and SupportAssist are very good features to keep the system running at optimum settings, testing hardware, and clearing out files that are no longer needed. The graphics and speed of my other games are better than ever.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Graphics, Performance
Cons mentioned:
Cooling
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Amazing!
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Posted . Owned for 2 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Amazing!! Doesn’t overheat. Runs smoothly and it has a sleek design!
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Performance
Cons mentioned:
Hard drive
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Super fast R11 Aurora
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
My previous 4 year old gamer computer died with a massive hard drive failure. The Aurora R11 desktop wound up on the top of my search list and Best Buy had one in stock so I purchased it. It is really a fast computer and it has really enhanced my workflow from my home consulting activities. No regrets.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Graphics, Price
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Awesome Alienware Aurora
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Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
After much research and debating which computer to purchase, I finally decided on the Alienware Aurora as it offered ample space and an awesome graphics card for a reasonable price. I have only had it a couple days and already love it. I’m very happy with it and definitely would recommend it.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Performance, Ram
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Awesome Gaming PC
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Posted . Owned for 2 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Wow!! What a great machine. I decided to return an Alienware laptop for this mega machine because you can upgrade RAM up to 64 GB for those intense graphics. I purchased an equally awesome monitor and together the gaming experience is out if this world. You can't go wrong. A bit pricey but worth it.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Performance
Cons mentioned:
Cooling
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Great computer! Great service!
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Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
This thing runs ungodly! Great video and incredibly fast. Online gaming using my wireless is not a problem at all being 200 ft.from the router. Had one minor bump with high temperature, took it in to the Geek Squad and they took care of my concern