Alienware Aurora - is it worth buying?

[agracul]

Here in Russia it's hard to get anything legal: most of the computer parts sold by local retailers are either illigally-imported or used while sold as new, so I'm looking to get something from an official retailer, and my choise went to Alienware Aurora of the following specs:

Intel® Core™ i7 (960) 3.20GHz (3.46GHz Turbo Mode) 8Mb Cache
6144Mb DDR3 1866MHz Tri Channel
1.5Tb SATA 7200rpm
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 480 1.5Gb
6x Blu-Ray RW Drive + 16x Dual Layer DVD±RW Drive
Alienware Multimedia Keyboard + Alienware TactX Mouse

Even when it costs $2,226.87 here at my place, and I know there in States you can get a custom-made computer at least twice better than this one for the same price, I'm not really going into making one on my due to reason described in the beginning of the post. So I have the following questions and hopefully someone could help me with these:

1) Has anyone ever had something along these lines? I've googled and read lots of bad reviews for older Aurora models which stopped working within two weeks of usage and it was really hard to get the money back. As I'm located in Russia, so it seems that If something goes wrong (many had matherboard issues) I will not be able to gat any support or money-back.

2) The same Aurora for the same price has two different RAM listings at different retailers: 6144Mb DDR3 1866MHz Tri Channel described above and 6144Mb DDR3 1066MHz. Did any of them made mistakes in product listings or did this model was updated at some point of time to faster RAM and some of the retailers are still selling the old one?

3) This Aurora model comes in two variations: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 480 1.5Gb and AMD® Radeon® HD 6870 1Gb - which ones is better?

Thanks in advance,
and from Russia with love

[Deleted]

Here in Russia it's hard to get anything legal: most of the computer parts sold by local retailers are either illigally-imported or used while sold as new, so I'm looking to get something from an official retailer, and my choise went to Alienware Aurora of the following specs:

Intel® Core™ i7 (960) 3.20GHz (3.46GHz Turbo Mode) 8Mb Cache
6144Mb DDR3 1866MHz Tri Channel
1.5Tb SATA 7200rpm
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 480 1.5Gb
6x Blu-Ray RW Drive + 16x Dual Layer DVD±RW Drive
Alienware Multimedia Keyboard + Alienware TactX Mouse

Even when it costs $2,226.87 here at my place, and I know there in States you can get a custom-made computer at least twice better than this one for the same price, I'm not really going into making one on my due to reason described in the beginning of the post. So I have the following questions and hopefully someone could help me with these:

1) Has anyone ever had something along these lines? I've googled and read lots of bad reviews for older Aurora models which stopped working within two weeks of usage and it was really hard to get the money back. As I'm located in Russia, so it seems that If something goes wrong (many had matherboard issues) I will not be able to gat any support or money-back.

2) The same Aurora for the same price has two different RAM listings at different retailers: 6144Mb DDR3 1866MHz Tri Channel described above and 6144Mb DDR3 1066MHz. Did any of them made mistakes in product listings or did this model was updated at some point of time to faster RAM and some of the retailers are still selling the old one?

3) This Aurora model comes in two variations: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 480 1.5Gb and AMD® Radeon® HD 6870 1Gb - which ones is better?

Thanks in advance,
and from Russia with love

no,no,no and, NOOOOO, you can find way way better for your money, your just paying for a name. For starters the cpu is a nono as there is faster, better, and cheaper available right now(sandybridge) take a look at an i7 2600k, as for the gfx card im an nvidia fan so ill always go nvidia

[vesseblah]

GTX480 is better.

Keep in mind that all parts in that computer are about two years old. They were very high end and very expensive then and still will run most games at nearly maxed settings, but still it's old tech. There really aren't any reputable stores around that would sell you current gear with reasonable prices?

[Faulty Mitchell]

There must be a legit Russian store online that doesn't sell 'second hand parts' stating there new. Search around and try your like that, buying that machine is a MASSIVE rip off and you are NOT getting what you pay for. Best of luck.

[vizzle]

Never a good idea to get an Alienware, if your dollar means something to you. Tell me, why don't you want to buy something that is illegally imported?

* User was infracted for inciting illegal actions and brandbashing

[Dassen]

Don't buy Alienware. Just don't. You pay for the name and shiny lights. Buy parts and build a PC yourself, you'll get it WAY cheaper.

Infraction reversed.

Edit: Haha, was just about to edit my post and write something along the lines "the reason is in the last sentence", then I saw the above. Wasn't gonna bitch and moan, 1 single infraction doesn't hurt anyone. :P
but thanx <3

[agracul]

There must be a legit Russian store online that doesn't sell 'second hand parts' stating there new. Search around and try your like that, buying that machine is a MASSIVE rip off and you are NOT getting what you pay for. Best of luck.

online stores in here are the ones that scam people buying cheach broken stuff overseas and selling it here as if it was working okay For example, iphone 3g costs $600 in Russia and 4gs is around $2500 from official retailers, but if one ever decides to buy thos online cheaper, he gets chinese fake. And you can't sue those companies of anything as when this happens they just file bankruptcy and instanly start another company with the same name + some number.

[Deleted]

No, dont buy an alienware, they look pretty cool but you usually end up paying way over the top for old tech

* Mod Edit: Please don't brandbash.

[Deleted]

Alienware Aurora with i7 960? Around here Alienware Aurora comes with either i5-2300 or i7-2600

[DeltrusDisc]

I'd be shocked if they gave you a power supply that would actually be good enough for that.

[agracul]

Never a good idea to get an Alienware, if your dollar means something to you. Tell me, why don't you want to buy something that is illegally imported?

when you buy anything online in Russia you get chiness fakes, that's what i ment by illigal, sorry for being ambiguous. and you can't sue these companies, they alway win due to bribes as they are owned by our politicians' wives.

price is not the matter, for example iphone 3gs cost $600 and 4s is around $2500, and people buy them at those prices from retailers. We all know about chinese fakes from russian online stores and we have no other options

[cidic]

My friend has an Aurora and has had zero let me repeat that ZERO problems with his from day 1. I've got the laptop version of his desktop (with upgraded parts and fast cpu/gfx) and I've had 1 minor issue and that was a Driver issue that was resolved within a few minutes. Pricey? Yes worth it? Yes again I could of gone with another company as well but I also looked around for 6 months no one had anything I wanted at the price I wanted. Not to mention I also got a discount as well.

[inux94]

OP, I'd strongly advise you to order from OriginPC.com intead of Alienware, they got a much better service than Dell's indian customer service who just goes by the book.

I've got a computer myself from the company, I really like it.
http://originpc.com/

[DeltrusDisc]

OP, I'd strongly advise you to order from OriginPC.com intead of Alienware, they got a much better service than Dell's indian customer service who just goes by the book.

I've got a computer myself from the company, I really like it.
http://originpc.com/

Do they even ship to his area? That's what I'm wondering...

[Drunkenvalley]

http://originpc.com/

I think I just did something inappropriate when I saw "Buy GTX 580 - get one free!"

[dwarfoholic]

Do they even ship to his area? That's what I'm wondering...

Oh i guess they do, i think most firms selling high end gaming pc`s are used to none-US orders.
DHL/FedEx are worldwide and if they aint in your area they own a local firm or work together one.
I like to pay a few extra bucks on ebay to get FedEx, like 11 instead of 15 dollars and stuff gets delivered to my doorstep.

[Deleted]

Don't buy Alienware. Just don't. You pay for the name and shiny lights. Buy parts and build a PC yourself, you'll get it WAY cheaper.

* User was infracted: Don't brandbash

Eh, why was this guy infracted for telling his opinion?

Some mod got his panties in a bunch over "wasting" money?

Oh hi infraction inc.

[Autofollow]

Eh, why was this guy infracted for telling his opinion?

Some mod got his panties in a bunch over "wasting" money?

Oh hi infraction inc.

I was sort of wondering the same thing, although I may have worded it a bit differently. The OP asked for peoples opinions which are being given. In general, Alienware really is overpriced although I do own one myself to use when I have to travel for work and still want to play.

OP: If you're looking for something out of the box with decent performance that you are sure is legal then the Alienware is probably the way to go for you if you don't mind paying extra for the peace of mind.

*Edit*
Be a little wary of negative reviews as well. I've called support for my Alienware (battery stopped working and wouldn't take a charge) and the support was just fine. People are usually very quick to post when something doesn't go their way but not so fast when they are perfectly happy.

[BicycleMafioso]

This thread is not going places.

If you all promise to behave, you can have your discussion back. KK? <3

[inux94]

Do they even ship to his area? That's what I'm wondering...

They personally contact you if it's non-us shipments, and try to find the most efficient way to ship them, they even sent it to my homeland (north pole, Greenland) when I ordered.