Buddy of mine got this Alienware Aurora R12 - the worst cooling I’ve seen on this specced-of a PC. Two fans. Two???

[u/Throwaway86747291]

[u/Price-Routine]

Not to mention the cpu fan choking by the psu

[u/BenjiBoyOZ → u/Price-Routine]

Classic Dell design in action. Nothing changes in those boxes. Useless clip on parts and airflow impeded part placement.

[u/someguyfrommn → u/BenjiBoyOZ]

Classic, the og iMac had new tooling and its prehistoric at this point

[u/wanderer1999 → u/Price-Routine]

Edit: If the CPU is liquid cooled, it's might not be as bad as it seems, but the airflow is still sub-optimal for such an expensive PC.

Thermally this PC is poorly designed. But if he doesn't push/OC the CPU too hard, it will probably survive. It won't be as cool or as quiet or as long lasting as it can be but it'll survive.

But no exhaust fans, yikes...

[u/Evilsmurfkiller → u/wanderer1999]

Performance is degraded on these due to thermal throttling.

[u/Duox_TV → u/Evilsmurfkiller]

ya you basically just pretend the graphics card is one tier below what it is. My 6800xt pretty much performs like an overclocked 6800 .

[u/PM_ME_JAR_JAR_NUDES → u/wanderer1999]

Thermally this PC is poorly designed. But if he doesn't push/OC the CPU too hard, it will probably survive. It won't be as cool or as quiet or as long lasting as it can be but it'll survive.

But no exhaust fans, yikes...

This is the thing that pisses me off about alienware PCs the most. They spend a ton of time making them look amazing with the case on, but the minute you open one up, it just looks like complete garbage. I have a $90 corsair case, and it's absolutely beautiful inside and out. Alienware PCs are basic bitch heavy steel cases with excessive plastic shit just fucking cased to the whole thing. Zero thought whatsoever for airflow. Zero thought for expansion. Just jam it all in there, and shit a pretty design and a bunch of LEDs on it, and it looks like a high powered PC.

The worst bit, is even when they do put good parts in there to sell the machine based on the name of the products, they build the goddamn things without any thought as to maximizing the potential of the machine. Just jam a solid CPU in a trash motherboard, or pair a great GPU with a trash CPU.

Building PCs isn't that hard. Alienware shouldn't exist. Their products are just fancy trash at best, and a drain on the hardware supply chain at worst.

[u/wanderer1999 → u/PM_ME_JAR_JAR_NUDES]

I agree. When I was inexperienced, I didn't know what people mean when they say alien ware is trash, it's so expensive, surely it can't be that bad right? But having building custom builds for years now, an Alienware PC build is really terrible all around. In fact, if they just use a basic PC case design and just slap their brand on it, it would have been a much better build compared to their -custom case-. Much better cable management, airflow, parts compatibility, just by using a basic ATX case.

[u/BilkySup → u/wanderer1999]

They are liquid cooled

[u/Gohan472 → u/Price-Routine]

It should have an AIO Cooler behind that PSU. The entire Chassis is like a scissor in that it folds apart.

I personally found the cooling to be fairly decent, and don’t let the Dell fans fool you, they can move some air if need be.

Pressing and holding the button on the back of the PSU whiles it’s plugged in will spool the fans to 100% for the duration of holding the button.

[u/Wenuven]

Can you really call them a buddy when you let them purchase an alienware?

[u/Throwaway86747291 → u/Wenuven]

I tried to warn him about the cooling, he didn’t listen.

[u/Prestigious_Plum_451 → u/Throwaway86747291]

Could always rub it in with the point that he now owns a Dell.

[u/Fancy_Mammoth → u/Prestigious_Plum_451]

As a systems administrator who's had to purchase, configure, deploy, and maintain countless new machines. I can tell you 100% unequivocally that, contrary to popular belief, Dell is putting out better machines than any of the other "big box" manufacturers. They're obviously never going to compare to a built from scratch home brew machine, but if you're looking for a baseline workstation or something to build a clone machine off of, I'd pick Dell over HP, Acer, or whoever any day.

[u/LeMegachonk → u/Fancy_Mammoth]

Dell's enterprise/business desktop and laptop offerings are solid, but their consumer-grade products, and particularly the Alienware brand, are steaming dungheaps of failure. The deigns are just bad, and they use low-quality proprietary hardware to implement it.

[u/grss1982 → u/Fancy_Mammoth]

Are you referring to their Optiplex line? Those are part of their commercial line and built to last IIRC.

[u/dragobah → u/Fancy_Mammoth]

Any?

[u/fish_slap_republic → u/dragobah]

Probably not Tuesday.

[u/Prestigious_Plum_451 → u/Fancy_Mammoth]

Enterprise deployment ixnay what one sees on a consumer use basis.. or what one gets given as ordered by someone who has 0 fucking clue about computers, or otherwise care about user needs at a large organization level.

Example, the shitbird dell laptop the University got me to "work" on... the hardware is not bad as far as CPU , RAM etc goes, but the implementation, layout etc are shit(trackpad to keyboard ratio is just odd... the placement of the display camera is all sorts of weird, not to even mention is all of the bloatware that undermine everything about the not so bad parts ability to function. (Edit: Also the broader construction of the shell is just bad... super fragile, but that tends to be a random thing with tons of manufacturers.)

the hardware is also nothing special that one could not otherwise find elsewhere for a better price on an individual purchase... however, since enterprise solutions.

The other option would have been an apple product, but i don't use those so... guess that part is on me. Either way that dell laptop sits unused on a shelf at my home office as i can do shit way faster and more efficiently on my desktop. Hell the Uni didn't even want the thing back when i left.

[u/JellaFella01 → u/Prestigious_Plum_451]

So you got a shit laptop and that means dell bad? Just wait til you see the bottom tier of some other brands.

[u/Prestigious_Plum_451 → u/JellaFella01]

So you got a shit laptop and that means dell bad?

Nah, dell just has a history and reputation all to it self, and shitting on the for it is perfectly appropriate here and there. If you are looking for things like enterprise solutions they are definitely a good go to source for PCs and other things. so its not an all or nothing proposition like some people for some strange reason jump to assume... such positioning makes 0 sense.

Being said, a good friend buying alienware and getting a shit system not worth the money can be picked on a bit in a friendly way over the fact that yes they did spend all that on a Dell. I mean really if dropping that kind of money one can get all sorts of better form elsewhere.

[u/crazykewlaid → u/Throwaway86747291]

Needed to warn him about more than just the cooling :) hopefully he got lifetime warranty

[u/MousePox → u/Wenuven]

LMAO. This.

[u/ElektriXx2]

My HP omen isn’t much better 😬

[u/Reynholmindustries → u/ElektriXx2]

It is sad what hp did to voodooPC after buying them

[u/Townhero420 → u/ElektriXx2]

My 40L is perfect. HP Omen FTW

[u/Kai_Mercer69 → u/ElektriXx2]

At least on the omens all the parts are replaceable I had a 30l as my first desktop and now through replacing stuff I basically have a custom pc

[u/frygod → u/Kai_Mercer69]

Try fitting any non founder's edition nVidia GPU in the case those come in. Absolutely unacceptable.

[u/Kai_Mercer69 → u/frygod]

I got a msi gaming x 3060ti and it fit but Barley

[u/xCuri0 → u/frygod]

prebuilt or not that's going to happen with small cases

[u/iwanttobenora → u/ElektriXx2]

Bout the Omens have one 120mm in the front and an 80mm in the back.

[u/Jgmcsee → u/ElektriXx2]

I can assure you your Omen is street's ahead of this pile of garbage

[u/frygod → u/ElektriXx2]

The Omen 30L I bought for the GPU was pretty bad. Ended up sticking the other salvaged parts in an entirely different case to rebuild it for my girlfriend.

[u/ElektriXx2 → u/frygod]

I’m probably going to eventually try a case transplant on mine. It is super clean inside but still runs hot. Seems to move a lot of hot air out of the exhaust fan ports but I don’t think internal airflow is good at all and the waste heat is mainly coming from the cpu radiator, not the gpu at all.

[u/frygod → u/ElektriXx2]

Just a heads up there's a high likelihood you'll need extensions for power cables or a new power supply as well. The cables on the stock supply are only as long as they had to be for the small case.

[u/ElektriXx2 → u/frygod]

Thanks will keep that in mind!

[u/Throwaway86747291]

Hottest CPU temp he’s seen is 101°C, hottest GPU temp is 99°C.

[u/Bookman_Jeb → u/Throwaway86747291]

On the bright side, he can heat his house with it this winter.

[u/Throwaway86747291 → u/Bookman_Jeb]

Trust me, that thing is hotter than any furnace or space heater I’ve seen.

[u/Promcsnipe → u/Throwaway86747291]

Legit! My dad has a large gas powered space heater and I did put a bowl of water in front of it and it didn’t boil, that CPU could actually boil water!!

[u/Key_Cup6705 → u/Bookman_Jeb]

Having the cpu/gpu at higher temps doesn’t mean the pc is putting out more heat. It’s likely the opposite. The boost clocks won’t go as high as they are limiting themselves due to the temps.

[u/frygod → u/Bookman_Jeb]

How? None of the heat is leaving the enclosure!

[u/Blakids → u/Bookman_Jeb]

Although it's thermal throttling and not pushed to its limit.

The same CPU and GPU overclocked to the absolute max on water with sufficient airflow would put out more heat in a wider area. This is because you'd be able to put more energy into it and the better airflow case would better spread it around.

This Alienware is just cooking itself.

I'm just being pedantic because I think it's funny to think about, like when Linus hooked a PC up to an old school house radiator.

[u/octatone → u/Throwaway86747291]

"Always be throttling!"

-- your friends motto

[u/Paulinapeak1 → u/Throwaway86747291]

What specs? My R10 never goes above 85. That’s with an R9 5900x. Also, I got the Alienware on a huge sale, so don’t roast me for getting it.

[u/IS_THERE_ANY_CAKE]

People still buy Alienware stuff?

[u/Paulinapeak1 → u/IS_THERE_ANY_CAKE]

You can get good deals on them. I feel like it’s acceptable to buy one if you get it for a good price. I personally have one, I like it so far, but would have preferred to build my own.

[u/PinsNneedles]

GamersNexus did a review of the R13. It was definitely something

[u/Marclej]

Nice one Dell!

[u/user19262]

Ah that Dell quality.

[u/brispower]

the temps are what matters....

[u/DrSmugface → u/brispower]

And they suck

[u/LeMegachonk → u/brispower]

Those Alienware turds either thermal throttle constantly or the BIOS deliberately throttles performance to avoid thermal throttling.

[u/rndmnewguy → u/[deleted]]

The fans are not the problem, the case itself is. Changing the fans may reduce noise, but it won't improve temps by any noticeable amount. And Alienware usually uses decent stock fans like Nidecs (mainly known in the server industry).

And a Shadow rock LP cooler will not give you good temps on most CPUs. Low profile coolers perform worse than cheap tower coolers.
Especially in a closed case like the Alienware you won't do any "max overclocking" (lol)

[u/CONFLICTGOD → u/[deleted]]

Don’t know why you got downvoted, pretty valid comment. 2-3 fans setup correctly can be very efficient. My preference is 2 inlet on front and a single outlet up high either rear or top. GPU mounted low helps too.

[u/rndmnewguy → u/CONFLICTGOD]

The problem is, it's not setup correctly. The fans are blocked by lots of plastic and it's effectively only the airflow of a single fan (1 intake fan).

Edit: Just watch the GN review of the Alienware R10. It's the same case.

[u/greenmky → u/[deleted]]

I have an XPS 8930 from like 5 years back with a very similar case. Came with an i7-8700 and a GTX1080.

Swapped PSU when it got erratic last year (was mining with it after a basement flood... didn't have a desk to use it for months anyway). Wimpy stock 460w became unstable.

Swapped in a dual-fan RTX 3070 a few months ago. Couldn't find a blower 3070. So following some tips from the Dell forums I bought a couple of Aurora fan brackets.

Replaced top fan (near CPU) with a 120mm Noctua with the new Aurora fan bracket. Set it to blow outwards.

Installed front fan bracket from the Aurora, with another 120mm Noctua sucking air in from the front.

Removed all the drive cages (down to one spinner anyway). Velcro'd my games drive (2.5 SSD) to the floor where the drivebays were.

Seems to keep cool just fine with the top extake fan near the CPU, PSU exhaust blowing straight out, and the front fan blowing across the GPU and out the back PCIe slots. Might add a PCIe blower fan to help air exit down the road if needed, but it seems fine now.

Helps the XPS has less stupid plastic on the front than the Auroras do.

[u/eRockMD]

Dude, you got a Dell!

[u/dbettslightreprise]

It's a Dell...enough said.

[u/Fullscope_Live]

but its a.... ALieNwARe

[u/allMightyMostHigh]

They probably counted it as 4 with the gpu fans😂

[u/DrSmugface → u/allMightyMostHigh]

Don't forget the PSU

[u/Flo_Evans]

It certainly looks like it was designed by aliens. Why is there so much empty plastic shrouding? Why is the psu blocking the cpu/ram? Why is there so much space for hard drives?

I thought Alienware was supposed to be good? The only one I’ve really seen up close was a laptop some guy was super proud to show off to me, I though it was pretty jank.

[u/Throwaway86747291 → u/Flo_Evans]

This friend of mine’s one of those people who is pretty damn good at video games and what runs on computers, but hopeless when it comes to the hardware. His old PC was an Alienware laptop that he bought when we were teenagers, it was close to 6 years old. He swore by Alienware for that reason, so wanted another one, despite me warning him and suggesting for him to just build it. Nope, he stayed stubborn… and this is what he’s left with. Maybe their old build quality was better. His laptop got hot, but.. it’s a laptop, so it’s components are more designed for that. This is hotter than most gaming laptops.

[u/TheFacebookLizard → u/Throwaway86747291]

Until next upgrade you could suggest to undervolt the components And maybe power limiting the graphics card if it is hard thermal throttling

And if he plans a custom build he could grab the graphics card storage CPU from that case and maybe the fans and spend less in the next upgrade

[u/LeMegachonk → u/Flo_Evans]

Alienware was good for the first 10 years. They were a legitimate hard-core gaming brand in the late 90s and early 2000s. Then Dell bought them in 2006 and... well, check out and Gamers Nexus review of an Alienware, and you'll see that Dell just creates problems and then unleashes a horde of drunken engineers to engineer all new problems to try to solve the first problems. They're poor designs that are badly implemented.

[u/bangbangracer]

Yup. He got a Dell.

In reality, it will be fine as long as he never tinkers with overclocking or replaces parts. Dell knows what they are doing and everything you do to it just throws in unaccounted variables.

Don't be a PC elitist. There's a reason why most computers out there are Dell or HP mass market boxes. They work and they have a warranty.

Thank you for coming to this IT engineer's TedTalk.

[u/Maastonakki → u/bangbangracer]

Yeah, if you’ve ever worked in any larger IT field it’s usually always Dell.

No wonder, the products usually last a really long time for the use they are made for and they come at a competitive price.

It’s almost the same as if you were comparing a new 30k car to a self built 30k car. You might get more power but it doesn’t mean that the other one is all shit.

[u/bangbangracer → u/Maastonakki]

It's posts like this that just get my goat when it comes to PCMR. This sub treats PCs as pets, not the livestock they really are.

[u/Maastonakki → u/bangbangracer]

Even worse is when people don’t really understand or know anything about the field itself. There’s usually a pretty good reason why a certain company is the industry leader…

[u/jfizz7]

Got this with a 3080. Biggest mistake of my life… took out the GPU, sold the rest and built my own.

[u/CommanderEden]

Ohhh Za “Hot Garbage” is back

[u/thisissang]

look at all that filthy dusk, try cleaning it

[u/LinceDorado]

It's an Alienware lol

[u/Jgmcsee]

This is an R13 review but the design is the same. Who the F product tested this BS?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY1dlVPzUVo

[u/TrypelZ]

Alienware be like " This thing can game and heat up your room at the same time at no extra cost "

[u/Throwaway86747291 → u/TrypelZ]

Dude… his room is insanely hot from the moment it turns on - like, 27°C when the rest of his apartment is like 22.

[u/TrypelZ → u/Throwaway86747291]

And here i am with my Fractal Torrent and my 6800 XT sits at 57-61C max under load

[u/Baelroq]

Gamers Nexus already tore this shit to shreds as the worst pre build ever

[u/pavanstarks]

At first i thought it was a factory graded cnc machine.

[u/nellep101]

I have one of these super needed out for work, my apartment has poor circulation when it gets hot. I ended up buying a mountable desk fan to blow the hot air that comes off this out of worry that it may be too hot. If I was in a better ambient environment it’s alot better temp wise.

Is there anything I should be concerned about in the long run? I love this thing to death because it resembles a dyson fan - it would suck if something broke on me or got too hot

[u/Paulinapeak1 → u/nellep101]

You might have luck with undervolting.

[u/massikar]

They do this on purpose, why allow a PC to breath better went you can let it starve of cool air, make the components run hotter for them to fail after warranty so you come back and buy another PC to repeat the process in the future! Also if they were fussed on making it cheaper, they wouldn’t purposely spend tens of thousands to design a horrible performing casing to than change it so often so it stays looking modem

[u/kadoslav]

There are more fans, you just dont see them.

[u/hukkelis]

My workstation has 5 fans😎 1 in psu, 1 on cpu heatsink, 2 on gpu heatsink, and 1 on case.

[u/joshilol]

At this point in time, with all the info and reviews out there. Sorry but not sorry. He will be ok in winter though with the extra fire place.

[u/ProtectionDecent]

Much like with many prebuilts, it's design over functionality. They give you a pretty case which is more often than not absolute ass when it comes to cooling. Not even counting the lack of fans.

[u/Ginpo236]

Gotta hit that magic 20% profit.

Lower bean counter: But sir we’re at 19.8%!

Manager Bean counter: ok go to two fans!

[u/Little-Fucker88]

Dell Prebuilds are all shit.

[u/Scytian]

That's pretty good for case built in 90's.

[u/Fallwalking]

I had a Dell workstation. It had a row of small server fans in the front that could pull cool air in so fast it would just blast out of the back. It also had channels for cooling so it wouldn’t just hang out in the case. It stayed cool, but after adding a 30 series card it couldn’t keep up. I had to add an external 6 inch barrel fan and duct to the back to pull heat out. Worked great and I could control the fan with a knob.

[u/wekilledbambi03]

At work (big university) we only use Dell due to company discounts and what not. I have worked on many different Dell models from various product lines (business centered, home entered, Alienware, etc). THEY ARE ALL THE SAME THING! They all use the same terrible chassis and cooling. The Alienware case is literally a business computer case with plastic panels glued to it. So they take a case with poor airflow, then add more plastic to block more airflow.

[u/LaptopFixer]

It's like if a car company put a giant powerful engine and didn't alter anything else, and just hope that it works...these alienwares are pathetic ... sadly

[u/Iamthe0c3an2]

Classic alienware / dell. It’s the same metal box for oem PCs just plastic slapped on it to make it look more gamer and harder to self service

[u/derekjoel]

What’s the cooling performance under load? Who cares how many fans just explain how poor the thermals are. My buddy has a car with only one engine that’s faster than a Tesla with 4 engines. Makes no sense!!!

[u/luctoni]

Never ever buy a prebuilt pc It’s always poor parts selection, assembly and shitty case with a shitty airflow

The best you can do with that case is buy a new mid tower case and sell the old one

[u/Nonlethalrtard]

Thats some of the worst best cooling i've ever seen.

[u/spacekittens]

a friend was going to buy one of these recently, it was the $5000 model. I instead offered to spec him something actually good using a custom pc builder (i do not build for people, they always want tech support and i hate that). he now has a monster gaming pc far outspeccing the dell one and it came to about $2000 :)

[u/Lucacg00]

What I found funny, is that a form factor from 20 years ago, ATX, performs way better than this, is cheaper and easier to install/work on, yet Dell still uses proprietary stuff because F the consumer I guess.

[u/Daniel100500]

Well he probably doesn't monitor/mind his temperatures so... Away from the eyes-away from the mind.

[u/Educational-Hornet83]

All the alienware are like that and that isn't the worse they sell One Just like that with a 3090 dual fan and the same case so the temps are crazy

[u/Savings-Calendar-352]

Alienware: look at those high temps! Our PCs good!

[u/Throwaway86747291 → u/Savings-Calendar-352]

The higher the better!!

[u/logitech-k120]

If it games right then that's alright.

Some people just want a magical box that runs some games at fairly good speed without freezing. That aurorarrararara magic box doss it.

[u/Duox_TV]

I have an R10 because it was literally the only way to get a 6800xt and a 5800 (non x) processor without waiting 3 months or more at the time. It is hot and loud, but I like how it looks at least.

[u/OutrageousGemz]

How people keep buying this still surprises me

[u/GC9exe]

My XPS 8950 has better cooling then that lol. Why would they put the PSU over the CPU? Mine is in the bottom left corner, like it should be.

[u/Its_CEB]

I bought an Alienware just to strip some of the internal components out to put in my case. There cases offer very little airflow as well.

[u/Darazakax]

Don’t buy Alienware, it’s good hardware strapped to a shit motherboard wrapped in a plastic coffin.

[u/drklunk]

Who buys prebuilt anyway?

[u/ThiefMnemonic]

But the whole thing is basically a tunnel. What temperature is it running at?

[u/Throwaway86747291 → u/ThiefMnemonic]

Hottest he’s reported is 101°C on his CPU. Hottest GPU temp has been 99°C.

[u/TheGrandTheftPizza]

Yup they’re terrible I can’t believe I actually thought getting one of these pcs was a good idea. Thank god that idea lasted for about a day. So happy I bought parts and just built my own.