Alienware Aurora R6 Desktop: Jump-start your gaming experience with this Dell Alienware Aurora desktop computer. Its 1TB hard drive is preloaded with Windows 10 Home for compatibility with popular programs, and it includes an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card for detailed images. This Dell Alienware Aurora desktop computer has a quad-core Intel i7 processor and 16GB of DDR4 RAM for fast operation.
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I am a freelance graphic artist and have been utilizing 3D software more and more lately. The demands of rendering and displaying 3D content had begun to put a strain on my MacBook Pro and I wanted a computer better suited for the tasks at hand. My software pipeline includes Modo, ZBrush, Octane Renderer, and Substance Designer/Painter. To summarize, the Alienware computer fits my needs very well.
Getting to the Alienware purchase was a bit a journey though. I originally purchased a Dell XPS. I hadn’t used a Windows computer in quite a while and was pleasantly surprised Windows 10 is relatively easy to start working with. The Dell, had a lot of good features, but a defective CD drive and the lack of proper cables to connect the monitor soured the experience and I returned it for another computer. Before I returned the Dell, I ran several rendering benchmarks in Modo and discovered that I was able to effectively double my rendering speed compared to my Mac laptop. It should also be pointed out that the Dell could display higher quality graphics in the viewports more smoothly than my laptop can. ZBrush ran much smoother as well. My next try at a new computer was an iBuyPower. After doing additional research, I discovered the included graphics card in a gaming machine could be better suited for using the Octane Renderer (a very fast GPU rendering solution) than what was included in the Dell. In testing the iBuyPower computer, I was able to double the Octane render speeds compared to the Dell. Unfortunately, the iBuyPower came with a defective wifi adapter, a broken mouse, and other annoying glitches. After using and relying on Macs for so long, it was disappointing to purchase two defective PC’s back to back. One would think if you purchased a Dell computer with a Dell monitor that one would get the proper cables to connect the two together instead of collection of useless monitor cables. I was still intrigued by how much quicker I could render on a PC and did further research. I upped my budget for an even better graphics card and found the Alienware Aurora R6. Fortunately, I can report that the third try was the charm. The Alienware has been a reliable performer for the past month. Everything works as expected. My suite of 3D software feels snappy and my Wacom tablet works perfectly. My only complaints; the included mouse is cabled and feels a little cheap and the included keyboard feels a little clunky. A big feature of the Mac for me is how smooth the mouse input feels and how solid their keyboards feel, so that’s what I am comparing here. I realize this is a personal preference and the included keyboard may be great for gaming as that’s its intended use. I did replace the mouse with a wireless Logitech 510 mouse.
While it took a bit of patience to get things worked out, I am very happy with the Alienware and very thankful Best Buy made it simple to return the Dell and iBuyPower machines. My rendering speeds in Modo have more than doubled what I was able to achieve on my MacBook Pro. Octane render wasn’t even an option without a CUDA based GPU which increases render speeds roughly tens times faster than rendering in Modo. ZBrush and Substance Painter/Designer work very smooth as well.