Alienware Aurora 7500 Review
I had been using a Gateway computer for over 3 years and I decided it was time to invest in a top notch gaming system. I did plenty of research looking at a vast majority of websites dedicated to computer gaming. After doing extensive research I decided that an AMD processor would be the best for gaming. The only companies that I had ever done any business with were Dell and Gateway and neither of which used AMD chips in their computers. That is when I came across this company in Florida called Alienware. After looking at their service ratings and browsing this message board I would take a chance and order from a smaller company. I am now the proud new owner of an Alienware system. And here is the review…..
ORDERING
Ordering from Alienware is simple enough. You can either configure your system on their website and click on BUY or you can give them a call and speak to a customer service representative. What I did is I configured the system on the web site and before clicking on buy I picked up the phone and called and spoke with a sales rep. I went through each part step-by-step of what I wanted and finalized the order. Before I ordered I had applied for Alienware financing and was conditionally approved. I told the sales rep that the paperwork would be mailed to Alienware the quickest way so the computer would not be delayed (more on that later). After clearing the security questions the order was finalized on 11/28/2005.
After ordering they send you an email with the configuration specs. There was an order item that was different on the email than the configuration that I ordered. I called Alienware and pointed that out to them and they were super nice and changed it right then. They even sent me another email with my updated configuration.
My Configuration
[1] Aurora™ 7500
Processor: AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 4800+ with HyperTransport and Dual Core Technology
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional with Service Pack 2
Warranty: 4-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support with Onsite Service Bundle with AlienAutopsy and Respawn
Power Supply: Alienware® 650 Watt ATX 2.0 Power Supply
Chassis: Alienware® Full-Tower Case - Conspiracy Blue
Chassis Upgrades: Alienware® Acoustic Dampening with AlienIce™ 2.0 Video Cooling
Motherboard: Alienware® nForce™4 SLI™ Motherboard
Graphics Processor: Dual 512MB PCI-Express x16 NVIDIA® GeForce™ 7800 GTX - SLI Enabled
Video Optimizer: AlienAdrenaline: Video Performance Optimizer
Memory: 2GB Ultra Low Latency DDR PC-3200 SDRAM at 333MHz - 4 x 512MB
System Drive: High Performance - 500GB Serial ATA-II 3Gb 7,200 RPM w/16MB Cache
Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 16x DVD-ROM Drive with Software DVD Decoder
Secondary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy® 2 ZS High Definition 7.1 Surround Firewire (IEEE® 1394)
Network Connection: Integrated High Performance Gigabit Ethernet
Modem: 56K V.92 Performance Pro
Removable Storage: Alienware® 10-in-1 Digital Media Reader / Writer
Removable Storage: 3.5" 1.44 MB Floppy Disk Drive - Black
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 930BF 19" 4ms LCD Display - Black
Keyboard: Microsoft® Multimedia Keyboard - Space Black
Mouse: Microsoft® Basic Optical Mouse Black
Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia™ 2.1 200-Watt THX® Speakers
Power Protection: Opti-UPS ES1500C 1400VA (980W Capacity)
Alienware Exclusive Offers: Gamespot Complete - Free 90-day Trial (a $20.85 value)
Alienware Exclusive Offers: 10% off your next EB Games online purchase
ALX Heavy Duty Power Cable: Alienware® ALX System Power Cable
ALX High Performance Network Cable: Alienware® ALX Network Cable
Alienware Gear: Alienware® Hat Black
Alienware T-Shirt: Alienware® T-Shirt - Black - Price Includes $5 Instant Rebate
Free Alienware Mousepad: Free Alienware® Mousepad
Desktop Enhancements: Exclusive AlienGUIse Theme Manager
AlienInspection: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - $99.99 Value - FREE!
AlienWiring: AlienWiring - Exclusive Internal Wire Management - $99.99 Value - FREE!
SubTotal: $5,805.00
Shipping: $163.14
Discount: $0.00
Tax: $0.00
Order Total: $5,968.14
PHASE GAME
Oh the dreaded phase game. Well here is how that went.
11/28/2005Placed Order
11/28/2005 – 12/1/2005Phase 1: Order Received
12/2/2005 – 12/11/2005Phase 3: Payment Received
12/12/2005 – 12/13/2005Phase 5: Production – Assembly & Integration
12/14/2005 – 12/16/2005Phase 8: Production – Quality Control
12/17/2005 – 12/18/2005Phase 9: Production - Shipping
12/19/2005Phase 10: Order Shipped
12/21/2005Arrived at my house
I sent the finance paperwork USPS express mail on 11/29 overnight and thought that it would quickly go through some phases but it was still on phase 1 when I clearly sent the paperwork in as quickly as possible. I called about it on 12/2 and I got a nice rep who told me she would send an email about it. About an hour later it was at phase 3. The reason phase 3 took so long was because the DVD dual layer burner was on backorder but as soon as they got them in the other phases did not take too long. 12/12 was on a Saturday and a week later it was ready to ship out. I was afraid it would not arrive before Christmas but that was not really important at the time.
PACKAGING
The computer and accessories were shipped via Fed-Ex. Luckily I was off the whole day when my computer was to arrive at my house. The Fed-Ex guy came and I did not have the digital camera with me when he arrived because I was so excited. He thought that I was getting a new surround sound audio system. There were 5 boxes in total. The computer box is huge and heavy to boot.
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
I like the look of the blue case it really makes the computer stand out. You do have to get used to opening the door with the sweet spot but I don’t plan on closing the door completely. When I opened the door to look at the optical drives I got a big surprise. TWO DUAL DVD BURNERS.
Back in the phase game I had gotten an email about one of the DVD burners being on backorder and that delayed my computer being built. Someone at the factory messed up and I have an NEC DVD burner and a Toshiba-Samsung DVD burner (Writemaster). I checked the invoice and sure enough there they were. I also took the side panel off the computer and was very impressed with the wiring job. It was very clean and neat and the acoustic dampening is cool as well.
When powering up the computer I expected a loud machine but it is very quiet and the only noise you hear is when it is accessing the hard drive. The DVD burners are very useful and so is the 10 in 1 media reader. The red cathode tubes make it look like a mean beast especially in the dark.
PERFORMANCE
Words cannot describe the amazing performance of this machine. The dual core processor is amazing. I can listen to a CD, surf the internet, burn a CD, type a letter on Microsoft Word, copy huge amounts of data, all at the same time without a hint of slowdown. Games are amazing on this machine and perform very well.
BENCHMARKS
Here are the benchmarks straight out of the box. No additional software installed.
I compared benchies with SLI enabled and without SLI enabled and got some interesting results.
Without SLIWith SLI
3DMark2001SE28,67328,813
3DMark0319,78831,768
3DMark059,51312,392
Aquamark388,69988,847
PERIPHERALS
Samsung SyncMaster 930BF 19" 4ms LCD Display
Excellent monitor. You can change almost anything with this monitor. Very crisp graphics and bright colors.
Microsoft® Multimedia Keyboard
This is a very responsive keyboard and has a lot of extra features that are very useful if you don’t want to click on stuff.
Klipsch ProMedia™ 2.1 200-Watt THX® Speakers
Awesome speaker set up. The subwoofer is a huge beast (just look at the pictures). High quality sound system. Bass sounds rich and deep.
Opti-UPS ES1500C 1400VA (980W Capacity)
This thing weighs a ton but you can plug in pretty much everything and if the power goes out it will protect your computer equipment. If your computer does not have a 9pin serial port which I realized when I was trying to connect the UPS then you will have to buy a cable that is serial to USB and it will work.
CONCLUSION
I am very impressed with my new Alienware Aurora 7500. If you have the cash to spend on a high quality gaming machine this is the one to get. If you don’t want to go all out Alienware has several excellent configurations to choose from. They have pretty good customer service although I have not had anything to go wrong yet (knock on wood). I am very pleased with my choice and would buy again from Alienware. I hope everyone that reads this review finds it informative and helpful.
PICTURES
I had been using a Gateway computer for over 3 years and I decided it was time to invest in a top notch gaming system. I did plenty of research looking at a vast majority of websites dedicated to computer gaming. After doing extensive research I decided that an AMD processor would be the best for gaming. The only companies that I had ever done any business with were Dell and Gateway and neither of which used AMD chips in their computers. That is when I came across this company in Florida called Alienware. After looking at their service ratings and browsing this message board I would take a chance and order from a smaller company. I am now the proud new owner of an Alienware system. And here is the review…..
ORDERING
Ordering from Alienware is simple enough. You can either configure your system on their website and click on BUY or you can give them a call and speak to a customer service representative. What I did is I configured the system on the web site and before clicking on buy I picked up the phone and called and spoke with a sales rep. I went through each part step-by-step of what I wanted and finalized the order. Before I ordered I had applied for Alienware financing and was conditionally approved. I told the sales rep that the paperwork would be mailed to Alienware the quickest way so the computer would not be delayed (more on that later). After clearing the security questions the order was finalized on 11/28/2005.
After ordering they send you an email with the configuration specs. There was an order item that was different on the email than the configuration that I ordered. I called Alienware and pointed that out to them and they were super nice and changed it right then. They even sent me another email with my updated configuration.
My Configuration
[1] Aurora™ 7500
Processor: AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 4800+ with HyperTransport and Dual Core Technology
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional with Service Pack 2
Warranty: 4-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support with Onsite Service Bundle with AlienAutopsy and Respawn
Power Supply: Alienware® 650 Watt ATX 2.0 Power Supply
Chassis: Alienware® Full-Tower Case - Conspiracy Blue
Chassis Upgrades: Alienware® Acoustic Dampening with AlienIce™ 2.0 Video Cooling
Motherboard: Alienware® nForce™4 SLI™ Motherboard
Graphics Processor: Dual 512MB PCI-Express x16 NVIDIA® GeForce™ 7800 GTX - SLI Enabled
Video Optimizer: AlienAdrenaline: Video Performance Optimizer
Memory: 2GB Ultra Low Latency DDR PC-3200 SDRAM at 333MHz - 4 x 512MB
System Drive: High Performance - 500GB Serial ATA-II 3Gb 7,200 RPM w/16MB Cache
Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 16x DVD-ROM Drive with Software DVD Decoder
Secondary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy® 2 ZS High Definition 7.1 Surround Firewire (IEEE® 1394)
Network Connection: Integrated High Performance Gigabit Ethernet
Modem: 56K V.92 Performance Pro
Removable Storage: Alienware® 10-in-1 Digital Media Reader / Writer
Removable Storage: 3.5" 1.44 MB Floppy Disk Drive - Black
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 930BF 19" 4ms LCD Display - Black
Keyboard: Microsoft® Multimedia Keyboard - Space Black
Mouse: Microsoft® Basic Optical Mouse Black
Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia™ 2.1 200-Watt THX® Speakers
Power Protection: Opti-UPS ES1500C 1400VA (980W Capacity)
Alienware Exclusive Offers: Gamespot Complete - Free 90-day Trial (a $20.85 value)
Alienware Exclusive Offers: 10% off your next EB Games online purchase
ALX Heavy Duty Power Cable: Alienware® ALX System Power Cable
ALX High Performance Network Cable: Alienware® ALX Network Cable
Alienware Gear: Alienware® Hat Black
Alienware T-Shirt: Alienware® T-Shirt - Black - Price Includes $5 Instant Rebate
Free Alienware Mousepad: Free Alienware® Mousepad
Desktop Enhancements: Exclusive AlienGUIse Theme Manager
AlienInspection: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - $99.99 Value - FREE!
AlienWiring: AlienWiring - Exclusive Internal Wire Management - $99.99 Value - FREE!
SubTotal: $5,805.00
Shipping: $163.14
Discount: $0.00
Tax: $0.00
Order Total: $5,968.14
PHASE GAME
Oh the dreaded phase game. Well here is how that went.
11/28/2005Placed Order
11/28/2005 – 12/1/2005Phase 1: Order Received
12/2/2005 – 12/11/2005Phase 3: Payment Received
12/12/2005 – 12/13/2005Phase 5: Production – Assembly & Integration
12/14/2005 – 12/16/2005Phase 8: Production – Quality Control
12/17/2005 – 12/18/2005Phase 9: Production - Shipping
12/19/2005Phase 10: Order Shipped
12/21/2005Arrived at my house
I sent the finance paperwork USPS express mail on 11/29 overnight and thought that it would quickly go through some phases but it was still on phase 1 when I clearly sent the paperwork in as quickly as possible. I called about it on 12/2 and I got a nice rep who told me she would send an email about it. About an hour later it was at phase 3. The reason phase 3 took so long was because the DVD dual layer burner was on backorder but as soon as they got them in the other phases did not take too long. 12/12 was on a Saturday and a week later it was ready to ship out. I was afraid it would not arrive before Christmas but that was not really important at the time.
PACKAGING
The computer and accessories were shipped via Fed-Ex. Luckily I was off the whole day when my computer was to arrive at my house. The Fed-Ex guy came and I did not have the digital camera with me when he arrived because I was so excited. He thought that I was getting a new surround sound audio system. There were 5 boxes in total. The computer box is huge and heavy to boot.
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
I like the look of the blue case it really makes the computer stand out. You do have to get used to opening the door with the sweet spot but I don’t plan on closing the door completely. When I opened the door to look at the optical drives I got a big surprise. TWO DUAL DVD BURNERS.
Back in the phase game I had gotten an email about one of the DVD burners being on backorder and that delayed my computer being built. Someone at the factory messed up and I have an NEC DVD burner and a Toshiba-Samsung DVD burner (Writemaster). I checked the invoice and sure enough there they were. I also took the side panel off the computer and was very impressed with the wiring job. It was very clean and neat and the acoustic dampening is cool as well.
When powering up the computer I expected a loud machine but it is very quiet and the only noise you hear is when it is accessing the hard drive. The DVD burners are very useful and so is the 10 in 1 media reader. The red cathode tubes make it look like a mean beast especially in the dark.
PERFORMANCE
Words cannot describe the amazing performance of this machine. The dual core processor is amazing. I can listen to a CD, surf the internet, burn a CD, type a letter on Microsoft Word, copy huge amounts of data, all at the same time without a hint of slowdown. Games are amazing on this machine and perform very well.
BENCHMARKS
Here are the benchmarks straight out of the box. No additional software installed.
I compared benchies with SLI enabled and without SLI enabled and got some interesting results.
Without SLIWith SLI
3DMark2001SE28,67328,813
3DMark0319,78831,768
3DMark059,51312,392
Aquamark388,69988,847
PERIPHERALS
Samsung SyncMaster 930BF 19" 4ms LCD Display
Excellent monitor. You can change almost anything with this monitor. Very crisp graphics and bright colors.
Microsoft® Multimedia Keyboard
This is a very responsive keyboard and has a lot of extra features that are very useful if you don’t want to click on stuff.
Klipsch ProMedia™ 2.1 200-Watt THX® Speakers
Awesome speaker set up. The subwoofer is a huge beast (just look at the pictures). High quality sound system. Bass sounds rich and deep.
Opti-UPS ES1500C 1400VA (980W Capacity)
This thing weighs a ton but you can plug in pretty much everything and if the power goes out it will protect your computer equipment. If your computer does not have a 9pin serial port which I realized when I was trying to connect the UPS then you will have to buy a cable that is serial to USB and it will work.
CONCLUSION
I am very impressed with my new Alienware Aurora 7500. If you have the cash to spend on a high quality gaming machine this is the one to get. If you don’t want to go all out Alienware has several excellent configurations to choose from. They have pretty good customer service although I have not had anything to go wrong yet (knock on wood). I am very pleased with my choice and would buy again from Alienware. I hope everyone that reads this review finds it informative and helpful.
PICTURES
