Alienware understands the needs of gamers who seek the ultimate in performance for power-hungry games. Powered by AMD's Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor and two nVidia SLI-enabled graphics cards, the Aurora 7500 SLI is elevated from the industry norm. If you want a high-end gaming machine that looks out of this world, but don't have the time or energy to invest in piecing together a home-grown system, this may be the system for you. And as long as size and quiet operation aren't critical, you shouldn't be disappointed.

Pros: Blistering performance; eye-catching design; high build quality
Cons: Expensive; big & bulky; noisy; no VGA port, monitor or speakers


Alienware systems are unique. There's nothing on the market that looks remotely as eye-catching or that performs as well out-of-the-box. Pitched at extreme gamers, the black-and-silver Aurora 7500 SLI (our review model costs £1999 ex. VAT) delivers enhanced levels of power and performance to 32- and 64-bit games and applications thanks to AMD's Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor and two nVidia GeForce 7800 GTX graphics cards. It's big, brash and noisy, but there's nothing that shifts quite like it (it scored a massive 10,362 on 3DMark05 Pro!).

The most impressive feature of any Alienware system is its design. The Aurora 7500 SLI is no different. The company has meticulously crafted a high-performance HR Giger-inspired system that offers unique build quality and carefully scrutinised component integration. Full optimisation also comes as standard, a feature missing from most big-brand companies who ship systems with drivers at least two months old.

The moment you boot the system you'll notice it's an Alienware - Windows Professional has been customised with a cool silver livery and Alien logos dotted everywhere. The high-gloss black finish (also available in blue, green, purple and silver) and silver fans are also outrageous, making every other tower system on the market look like a bygone product from earlier days of computing.

AMD's Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor (4400+, 2.21GHz reviewed here) utilises the next-generation approach of having two processing cores placed on a single die to provide maximum performance for multi-threaded and digital media applications. AMD's dual-core processor allows you to work at full speed on one project while accomplishing another demanding task in the background, such as burning music, downloading large files, or rendering images.

Providing cutting-edge performance in both 32-bit and 64-bit computing environments, the processor include innovations like an integrated memory controller that promotes faster processing and AMD's Direct Connect Architecture. Direct Connect Architecture supplies each processing core with the memory and I/O bandwidth necessary to maintain peak performance.

Another key performance enhancer comes from two nVidia GeForce 7800 GTX graphics cards running in SLI (Scalable Link Interface) mode. Delivering lightning-fast frame rates and optimal image quality for the latest graphics-intensive games and visual applications, the GeForce 7800 GTX features a brand new programmable shader architecture, with more than twice the shading horsepower of the previous generation.

The GeForce 7800 GTX also includes new image quality features such as transparency supersampling and multisample antialiasing, which enhances visual quality by removing jagged edges from 3D images, minimising aliasing, and high dynamic range (HDR) lighting support for next-generation lighting and shadowing effects.

The Aurora 7500 SLI doesn't make any compromises in other departments, either. It features 1GB of 400MHz DDR SDRAM (expandable up to 4GB), 800GB of SATA-based storage (RAID enabled), dual-layer DVD±RW drive, as well as 7.1 multi-channel audio thanks to Creative's Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS. The case is large enough to accommodate another three external 5.25-inch drives (for DVD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD/CD-RW, or DVD±RW drives), four 3.5-inch bays for hard disk drives, in addition to a 3.5-inch floppy drive (included here) and/or 8-in-1 digital media reader/writer (optional extra).

Connectivity options are also plentiful. Thanks to the inclusion of two nVidia graphics cards, there's four DVI ports (VGA monitors require and adapter) and two S-Video outputs with dual-display support. The front of the system accommodates four USB 2.0 ports, while the back plays host to one 25-pin parallel port, two FireWire ports (one is on the soundcard), another four USB 2.0 ports (eight in total), digital audio out port (S/PDIF), two Gigabit Ethernet ports, and two PS/2 ports (the bundled keyboard uses a PS/2 connection). Internal expansion options comprise two PCI -E 16x slots for graphics and three PCI slots for add-in cards, such as a TV tuner.

The major drawback with the Aurora 7500 SLI is that it generates a serious amount of heat - just like any other high-performance system - which means noise. To deal with this, there's a large 600-Watt power supply unit (PSU) and two fans (80- and 120mm) that draw heat out of the rear of the machine. The larger of these two fans is mounted flush with the rear of the system and evacuates air through a large perforated vent that dominates the back plate.

You'll need to make sure there's plenty of room behind the tower to avoid blocking this. As a result the system is very noisy, and is therefore unsuitable as a media centre. Having said that, most gamers shouldn't be able to hear the fan noise over the sound of their surround-sound setup. [8.5]

BIOS, Oct 04, 05 | Print | Send | Comments (0) | Posted In Desktop PC