Alienware Aurora R10 Ryzen Edition Gaming Desktop for sale in Portland, OR

Ryzen 7 5800 | Radeon RX 6800 XT | 16GB DDR4-3200
If you thought Nvidia GPUs were tough to find, AMD's GPUs are even rarer. But this config delivers both the latest 8-core Zen 3 CPU and the Radeon RX 6800 XT. That's a great gaming chip and probably the best graphics card AMD has ever created. Quite a combo if you're aiming to grab a new gaming PC during the chip crisis.

It took a while, but Alienware finally listened and created an AMD-focused line of its popular Aurora machines. The Aurora Ryzen Edition R10 delivers the Zen 3-powered AMD Ryzen 5000-series CPUs and either Nvidia's high-performance RTX 30-series or AMD's RX 6000-series graphics cards. 

This is one of the few places you might be able to find an AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, too—the red team GPU is actually capable of going toe-to-toe with Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3080.

The latest AMD Ryzen processors are exemplary in terms of both performance and price. The Ryzen 9 5900X stands out as a spectacular chip not just for productivity but also for gaming. That 12-core, 24-thread CPU shows just how far AMD has managed to push its smart chiplet-based Zen 3 architecture in order to deliver an affordable, seriously high core-count processor for a gaming PC. 

These used to purely be server-side specs.

Collapse content ↑

And where old AMD chips couldn't keep pace with Intel when it comes to gaming, the current Ryzen range absolutely can, especially when paired with one of the latest AMD or Nvidia graphics cards.

There are currently 11 different configurations on offer, though you can dig in and customize before you buy if you would prefer a different CPU or GPU or more SSD capacity. The selection starts with the GTX 1660 Super and a 6-core RX 5600X, going all the way up to the mighty GeForce RTX 3090 and the monstrous 16-core, 32-thread Ryzen 9 5950X.

You should definitely take a look at the configuration options, because the lowest spec option only comes with a single stick of DDR4 memory, which will halve the available bandwidth compared to running a pair of them, even at the same capacity. That's expensive, however, and there aren't options to, say, either have one 8GB stick or two 4GB sticks.

Take a look at the SSD on offer, too. Something with a 256GB SSD in 2022 is not going to get you much change out of having Windows 11 and Forza Horizon 5 installed at the same time.

Alienware is offering both the dark and light chassis options for the current lineup, and however you feel about the design, it does certainly make for a striking machine. The Aurora cases are not necessarily the easiest to upgrade due to their bespoke design. They're awkward to dig into if you want to start upgrading yourself, and you will soon see why they don't offer tempered glass side panels yet once you look inside.

But as a starter machine, the Alienware Aurora R10 will not do you wrong. And given the general component drought right now, that you can bag an all-AMD Alienware machine with just a few months lead time is pretty great.

SPECIFICATIONS

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X–Ryzen 9 5950X

GPU: Nvidia GTX 1660 Super–Nvidia RTX 3090

RAM: 8GB–32GB DDR4

Storage: 1TB–1TB HDD + 1TB SSD

Warranty: 1 year (onsite)

REASONS TO BUY

+AMD CPU + Nvidia GPU combo

+Ton of USB ports

+After sales care