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Customer reviews

Rating 4.4 out of 5 stars with 224 reviews

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88%
would recommend
to a friend

Customers are saying

Customers express satisfaction with the Aurora R5 Desktop's gaming capabilities, praising its performance and suitability for virtual reality experiences. They also appreciate the quiet operation, easy setup, and the inclusion of a solid-state drive. However, some customers have concerns about the fan noise, limited storage space, and the quality of the included mouse.

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 11 Showing 201-220 of 224 reviews
  • Pros mentioned:
    Performance
    Cons mentioned:
    Psu

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Alienware Aurora R5...quite a nice computer!

    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Got this computer a couple days ago...and I also wished to have the Liquid cooled cpu but it's just a fan. However, the computer is VERY QUIET! I know there were others that said that the PS was making too much noise with the 460watt PS but mine is very quiet. I did play BF1 for a little bit and it played flawlessly, very fast and I think the fan ramped up slightly but other than that, it's MUCH quieter than my previous computer. So far, I am very happy with this computer...

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Rated 2 out of 5 stars

    1 year Old and Dead!

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    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Uhg!!!!! Uhg!!!! Uhg!!!!! Worst time to die ever! Sad!

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
    • Brand response from YourDellTeam
      Posted .

      Hi SpearMan,

      Thanks for your review and we're sorry to hear that your Alienware computer is having trouble. We'd encourage you to reach out to our Alienware team via Email - [email protected]. Please use your username from this review in the subject line of your Email.

      If you'd like to check out our Product Support Page for your computer you can view it here - https://dell.to/2HDy4jl.

      Best,
      Bryan
      1-800-254-3692 Dell

  • Pros mentioned:
    Speed
    Cons mentioned:
    Psu

    Rated 4 out of 5 stars

    Solid PC.

    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Hi everyone. The Alienware Aurora R5 with the GTX1070, where to start. I bought this PC for my son on a whim, he's been using a Alienware alpha I3 model for a little longer than a year. Recently all of his buddies got new pc's for xmas and such and I could tell he was a little jealous but wouldn't bring himself to tell me. His Buddies like to stream on twitch and capture gameplay for youtube and with the new pc's they got they could do so with very high resolution, high quality streams and captures. While his old alienware alpha got the job done It was starting to get a little dated. So a little about me, Well I'll be 45 this year and for the last 25 years have built every pc I've owned in that time. We are talking all the way back to 486 DX4 processors. I'm a hard core gamer myself so i've learned a few things over the years. My most recent build was a I7-4790 with a GTX970 that I can compare this Aurora R5 to. So setting up the Alienware was a breeze. Everything went smooth with no crashes. Although that is not to say we didn’t experience any issues. The first problem we encountered was a odd vibration in the case. It was loud and annoying but being a experienced builder I've seen this before. We isolated the issue to the power supply hinge and since taking out the screw for the release it seems to have stopped making the noise. The second issue we seem to be having is a odd one. We have a xbox 360 controller wireless receiver that came with his old Alienware alpha and for some reason it keeps losing it’s drivers on the Aurora R5. We will plug it in and it will work fine but then a while later after it wakes from a sleep state it will have forgotten the drivers and have the device unrecognized. Simply unplugging and plugging it back in fixes it but why does it do it. The next time i catch it i plan to force install the xbox 360 receiver driver and hopefully that will fix it for good. The first few things we did was install a few steam games and update the video drivers because they were pretty old. We also ran the windows update which needed quite a few. Overall the speed of the pc was very fast but not quite as responsive as my I7-4790 which has dual channel memory and a Samsung EVO SSD. The M.2 boots windows pretty fast but the overall windows experience while not slow by any means, felt like something was off considering the specs. I did find that the memory module was a single dimm so I'm doubting it has any sort of dual channel speed boost. Aside from that the computer played all games very impressively except one and I can't figure out why. The game Rust was suffering horrible framerates on this pc where my older GTX970 pc was getting 100fps this one would only get 60-70. I'd have to guess it's something to do with the poor coding for the game with a GTX1070 because every other game we've tried the Alienware outperfromed my old pc by 20-50FPS. Overall we like the pc, we wished it had a watercooled CPU, a larger secondary drive, Bluray drive, and a larger better powersupply so we could easily add a second video card for SLI. The power supply seemed very quiet even under a heavy load. I've read people complaining that it was super loud but we have not experienced that yet. Even while playing Ark it was pretty quiet, so much so that we did not even notice it. So overall the pc is a solid performer. If you can build your own I think you can still make a better performance pc even with similar parts but overall this saved me the huge pain of doing countless hours of research online and it works perfect for him. We were considering waiting for Ryzen to launch. But after a trip to best buy I decided i couldn’t wait anymore. Overall I think the average person will be very happy with this pc with only a few hardcore guys criticizing certain parts on it.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Rated 1 out of 5 stars

    This one crapped out

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    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Yep 14 days in it died went into a boot loop and kept shutting off

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Rated 1 out of 5 stars

    Bad

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    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Too expensive. Needs to be compatible with less expensive system

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Performance

    Rated 4 out of 5 stars

    Fast Gaming Rig

    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Bought this on a whim after going to Best Buy to purchase some parts to repair my failing 6-year-old machine. Decided a new rig would be a better value. I've been a PC gamer since 1993, and this is the first rig I've ever bought where I didn't either build the entire thing myself, or had to upgrade several parts on an off-the-shelf unit. This thing comes fully loaded, with two caveats: First, the SSD is fine, but the hard drive that accompanies it is a fast 7200 rpm drive, but too small considering the relatively high price of the machine. It is only 1 TB, where I think a 2 TB would be much more in line with the overall cost. If you want a bigger drive, there is no space for a second hard drive; you'd need to replace the 1 TB drive with a larger one. There is space however, for two additional SSD's. Secondly, the DVD burner is the flimsy type that you might find in a laptop computer. It looks and feels cheap. Push the button, and it 'pops' out rather than rolls out like it should in a rig of this price. And you cannot replace it with a standard DVD or Blu-Ray drive. There is no standard sized bay. Other than those two things, I've been extremely pleased with this machine. The 1070 video card performs like a wonder, and at very reasonable temps. As others have mentioned, the power supply fan can spin up after a while while gaming heavily, but I don't find it overly loud. In fact, most of the time, this thing is whisper-quiet. Only occasionally while gaming heavily do the fans spin up, and even when they do, they're not very loud at all. I recently installed "Dishonored 2", and that game performs flawlessly with all settings on "Ultra" at a solid 60 fps. And that's at 1440p. So while this is not a budget rig by any means, you also don't get budget performance. You get excellent performance. You plug everything in, and you're ready for any game you would want to play, without having to upgrade anything. Everything worked right out of the box. And it didn't have any crapware installed either. It comes with Windows 10 of course, and while I've been resisting Win10 like the plague, I'm discovering that it really isn't as bad as I've heard. Everything works pretty similarly to the Win7 machine it replaced. Very little trouble adjusting to it. So far, no regrets, and no problems. Recommended if your budget allows it.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Cons mentioned:
    Fan noise, Psu

    Rated 3 out of 5 stars

    Should've been amazing

    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    As a lifelong laptop gamer, this was my first dive into desktop gaming. Initial impressions were positive. Every game I threw at it ran on ultra settings with more frame rate than I can handle. As someone who will be getting into VR gaming, I wanted a computer that was powerful out the gate and easily customizable for future upgrades down the road. This computer is definitely that. The chassis is very upgrade friendly (surprising for a medium sized tower) and I felt that I would be able to keep this desktop for many many years. I've always been reluctant to go with Alienware because let's face it: you're paying a premium for their products than you would if you were to go with another brand. But because I wanted to invest into something that lasted, I felt paying a premium made sense. Unfortunately, the build of this Alienware doesn't match the expectations of premium quality that I expected. As others have noted, the fan noise is way too loud (distracting too, like I'm sitting next to a vacuum) and ramps up at odd times. It seems as though the culprit is the 460W PSU, which to me suggests that Alienware cut corners on some of their components (I wonder what other components they skimped on?). This should've been my toy for the next many years, but unfortunately the fan issue is too unbearable for me to live with so I'll be returning it.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Performance
    Cons mentioned:
    Fan noise

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    I don't understand other reviews...

    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    This is my 3rd Alienware. First time buying thru Best Buy. I do not understand other bad reviews about vacuum sound. Mine is dead quiet and I cannot hear any fan sound what so ever from my desk and the computer is under my desk. I play BF1 max settings Rise of the Tomb Raider as well, SC2 all max setting runs super smooth 60fps no problem at all. Other reviews aren't even verified and mine is. I bought it when it was on sale so $100 cheaper than listed price. U can always upgrade the rams urself to 32gb if needed as well as the SSD. I haven't felt need of upgrading yet. Overall I recommend this product for gamers.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Rated 4 out of 5 stars

    Great performance but not liquid cooled!

    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    THE BAD: Bought this with no doubt in my mind it was liquid cooled. To my surprise it's fan cooled. Dell does a good job of making it very gray that the liquid cooler is a $100 add on from the factory only. Spoke with dell about it and currently they don't sell the liquid cooler...so unless you buy this from Dell direct and add the cooler as an option, don't plan on liquid cooling it anytime soon. I searched everywhere for an after market cooler and I have yet to find one for the R5! Cooling aside, the other bummer for me, was the 2 hard drive expansion slots, and caddies are for 2.5" sized drives. I can't fit my two 2TB 3.5" SATA's in the expansion slots . My mistake though for assuming the expansion slots would fit 3.5" drives on a new desktop... Oddly enough, the main 3.5" 1TB sata data cable was disconnected from the drive when I got it even though the power cable was connected. Either someone forgot to attach it or it was dropped hard since it doesn't wiggle off easily, and I know it wasn't me. Comes with (1) 16GB stick of memory, so no dual channeling. DVD rom is about the crappiest rom I've ever seen quality wise, but at least it has one and it works. THE GOOD: Aside from the things above, this machine does perform very well, which is what matters most to me. So far I've played, BF1, BF4, Forza H3, GTAV with the gtx1070 ultra maxed out video settings getting 60+ fps in 1080p. I haven't tried 4K yet until I get a new monitor, but it's unbelievably great graphics at 1080p compared to my gtx970. It's so smooth. Even without the liquid cooler, the CPU does stay fairly cool, and I don't find the fans loud at all. CPU averages 35C-60C on a full game load depending on the game. Idling at 25-30C. The GTX1070 does get up to about 82C max, but I read that it's a perfectly normal temp for the 1070., and the system wont allow it to go above 82c. GPU idles at 20-25C. Haven't overclocked anything yet, but there is the option to enable overclocking in the bios under performance settings if that's something you are into. The AlienFX lights are pretty cool, although it doesn't alternate and pulse different color patterns like alienware laptops can, which is kind of odd. You have to choose 3 zone colors, and that is what it will stay. Plenty of usb ports, display ports, and it even comes with an Alienware mouse and keyboard! not great quality and doesn't light up, but I'll take what I can get these days. The case does look awesome at night, and you can see the GTX1070 lit up green beautifully through the side vents. Overall this machine is a power house. I'm very happy with its performance. I will change to 5 stars if Dell starts selling the liquid cooler sometime soon!

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Performance
    Cons mentioned:
    Psu

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Great Product

    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    I was going to do my own build for about the same amount, but I found this to be a deal. The machine runs anything you can imagine. The performance is very impressive when it comes to gaming. I read and read before hand and the problems that people had with the PSU and I have not had this seeing as I ordered mine this year. In no description does it say it's liquid cooled unless it's the 1080. But it's a great performance rig. Cons: even though I don't have the fan noise I can still tell the Power supply is a cheap 460w and the fan on the CPU is cheap easily upgradable though. Like I said great rig

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Performance

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Love this computer!

    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    I play games like World of Warcraft and Sims 3 and this computer owned with flawless performance.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Performance
    Cons mentioned:
    Fan noise

    Rated 3 out of 5 stars

    Nice unit but PSU Fan rediculously loud

    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    I just picked up this game rig today and have been using it for a few hours... Very impressed with its all around performance.... Very nice actually but it has horribly loud fan noise from the power supply fan... it randomly ramps up and sounds like a vacuum cleaner even under a slight load. I have read online many other people have this complaint.... seems that a software update to the fan controlled for the power supply could probably fix it... it seems to crank up way too early and way too fast spinning speed. It is to the point of unbearable and I will probably be returning the unit which sucks because other than that I really like it.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    100% Solid First Time Buy

    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    This is a great entry level PC buy. It boots up lightning quick. Its almost always silent, but for the most part it's super quite. The fans never kick on to cool the desktop down, because it never gets hot inside the module. The PC stays bewtween slightly cool to slightly warm at all times. It will get between slighty warm or warm after 8+ hours of gaming, but they designed the air to escape mostly through the top. I've realized that this efficiently keeps a great flow of moving air, coming in through the side and exhaling through the top of the structure. It has a handle feature on top which is super sturdy and more convenient than I expected. .So far I'm really happy with the factory cooling system and design. Now I never realized that the graphics card only has DVGA and HDMI inputs, NOT VGA. I planned on using my TV as a monitor to get me by till I could afford a really nice one. So I ended up buying a nice 27 Inch monitor sooner than I expected. I also had a tough time getting my attachments plugged in such as my headset, racing wheel, camera, microphone, etc. I had to install plugins manually by going to the manufactures website to download them. The computer acted like it had automatically installed them on my hard drive when I plugged it in for the first time. Another thing I realized is if you choose the wrong resolution sizes, there's no way to reset them if your monitor goes black. When I over ride the computer, it has no options to reset the resolutions. You have to get Alienware to fix it because they can access your pc through the internet. The mouse and keyboard chord lengths could be a little bit longer. Keep that in mind if the desktop is not next to you on a table or floor. Over all, this has been a great purchase. I still feel like I just bought it after having it for 2 months now. I use the aqua/teal color set on the LED selection and it looks awesome. I would rate this PC at right around (A) or (95 rating). ~NVidia 1070 graphics card (A-) or (90 rating). ~Memory (A-) or (90 rating). ~Speed (A) or (95 rating) ~ Over All Quality (A+) or (100 rating) ~Power Supply (A-) or (90 rating) The power supply fan keeps the system from being completely silent. It's still a very quite machine. ~Processor- (A-) or (90 Rating) ~Ram (A+) or (100 rating) ~Design (A+) or (100 rating) The system inhales air though a honey comb entry. This causes the air to be slightly heard. But no one wants a silent system either. So that's why I still give this area an A+. ~Value (A-) or (90 rating) For $1499, price is still slightly high. Now keep in mind that a system like this not to long ago cost around $2100. so prices have dropped in our favor. Also the processor without a K hurts resale value. So if you have the extra bucks to get one with a K, do it. Because when new parts over time start running like used parts, it helps to have the K version to bump up speeds when parts start to naturally wear. That way you can get the most bang out of your money well spent. Over all, I still feel like it's a (A) or (95 rating) even with the price being slightly too high. I feel really confident with this build and am really, really happy with my purchase. It has Bluetooth connect, which is extremely helpful. In conclusion, my Alienware PC is a great entry level or lower high end PC. Hope this helps someone! -Zach

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Performance

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Solid PC for Gaming

    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    This PC is working great so far, it only took about 5-10 minutes to set up. I haven't noticed anything wrong with the fans like other reviews have mentioned.For example, I've played Guild Wars 2 on max graphics, 110-120 FPS, with little to no noise from the fans. This is only my first day of having the computer though, so anything could happen.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Powerful and Beautiful PC

    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    I love the fact that this machine runs all current AAA game titles at ultra settings while still maintaining 60+ fps. And for the beauty aspect: the lighting effects change with certain games (for example, in Civilization VI, if I go to war then the lights turn red automatically.) It runs very quietly, too. I have nothing negative to say except that I wish the price was just a bit lower. But then again I am a strong believer of the saying "you get what you pay for", and this is definitely money well spent.

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Rated 3 out of 5 stars

    What's with all the spinning?!!!!!!!!

    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    First I'll start with...I'm an Apple user. This is not an Apple rules PC sucks kind of review. I'm not a PC basher. This is the third PC I've purchased in the last 5 years. All that being said... I've had this R5 for less than 24 hours and I've had to do endless updates with each startup. I just started it up and it says "working on updates... this will take a while, your PC will restart several times." When it says "this may take a while" it means...go have dinner. Maybe visit a friend in another state. I have the fastest internet connection you can get (300mb) and it still takes an INSANE amount of time to download and install all these updates. Did I mention this thing is BRAND NEW... just got it yesterday?!!! In the 20 plus years I've been working with Apple products I've never seen anything like this. It's insane. If it weren't for the fact that I have to use a PC to use the Oculus Rift I would have returned this thing after the 3rd startup and updates. Bootup time—the bootup time is SOOOO SLOW it's maddening! You first have to watch the Alienware logo with spinning dots, then 3 out 5 times I've had to watch update spinning dots, then you have to put in your PIN code and watch MORE spinning dots...all this to land on your desktop and watch spinning blue rings before you can actually use the computer. After all this spinning I thought..."I absolutely have to add an SSD drive to this thing to do SOMETHING to help all this spinning!" I checked my box...oh yeah, this thing has a 256gb SSD already in it!!!!! WTH?! I'm sorry, no Apple computer I have EVER purchased has ever done ANY of this within the first 24 hours of purchase. Not even close. Can anyone recommend a better PC at a similar price point, with and SSD?

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Rated 1 out of 5 stars

    Mine Burnt Out

    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    I really wanted to like this computer. For the time I had it it was great. After 11 months the motherboard burnt out. The computer went dark. Best Buy would not stand behind it, they wanted to ship it to Dell/Alienware for them to repair and they said it would take three months!!! THREE MONTHS TO REPAIR A NEW COMPUTER!!! I went to the forums and saw that this was a common problem as the company that builds these uses the cheapest parts they can get. I saw many guys stating how tired they were of it breaking every few months. In the end, I was told by an I.T. guy I took it to, the cost of repair would be about $500 . $500 on a new computer and Best Buy wouldnt stand behind it. I called Alienware, and got people from India that had no idea what I was talking about, and refused to answer the question I had as to why does it take three months to fix! Bottom line, I bought another computer for less money at another place OTHER than Best Buy. I wasted $1500 on the Alienware compuer. Neither Best Buy nor Alienware could care less. Lesson learned, I wont do that again. This was NOT a "Best Buy".

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
  • Pros mentioned:
    Performance

    Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    A must for pro gamers.

    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Runs all my games at max with no problem. For example YouTube Black Desert Mmorpgs Your welcome .

    I would recommend this to a friend
  • Cons mentioned:
    Psu

    Rated 1 out of 5 stars

    Was a good p.c

    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Was a great p.c. However after just shy of a year my ssd died or so im told. Took my p.c in to bestbuy and then sent to dell for repair and 2 weeks later still nothing. Was running flawlessly but now i dont have a p.c.

    I would recommend this to a friend
    • Brand response from YourDellTeam
      Posted .

      Donnybgaming - Thanks for your review. We're sorry to hear about the problems that your computer is having. We hope that when your computer is returned to you that it is working the way you intended it to. You can always check out our Product Support Page for additional help with your device - http://dell.to/2Duw5IA. - Bryan Dell

  • Cons mentioned:
    Dvd drive, Psu

    Rated 1 out of 5 stars

    poor

    Posted .
    This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.

    Very loud PSU fan under load - sounds like a vacuum cleaner, PSU is low quality and not even rated, optical drive and HD are low quality, for the price it should be liquid cooled and have an SSD (has neither), it's basically an overpriced CPU, Motherboard and GPU built up around a lot of cheap low quality parts in order to make a greater profit at your expense. All warranty replacement parts for the above are USED and of the same low quality. Good luck dealing with DELL's SUBDIVISION of Alienware that has even worse customer service than Dell's regular customer service.

    No, I would not recommend this to a friend
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