Alienware announces Alder Lake-powered Aurora R13 desktops are available immediately

(Image credit: Alienware)

Intel revealed some key details about its 12th generation processors at its InnovatiON event today, including the fact that Alder Lake will be officially launched on November 4. But alongside a glimpse of its Arc Alchemist graphics running The Riftbreaker, it also used the event to announce that Alder Lake will be quickly making its way into desktop PCs, including those from serious gaming box-shifter, Alienware.

The Alienware Aurora R13 family is available straightaway and can be spec'd out with up to a Core i9 12900K and an RTX 3090, although that top-end configuration will set you back a frankly terrifying $4,557. At the other end of the spectrum, you can pick up an Aurora R13 with a Core i5 1200KF and a GeForce GTX 1650 Super from $1,450.

Not exactly cheap, but the new Auroras do come with the new Legend 2.0 chassis, which features a redesigned layout to improve airflow. There's also the option of having a side window to show off your next-gen hardware.

You can of course configure your build to whatever works best for you—from swapping out the graphics cards (both Nvidia and AMD), adding a bigger SSD, or even sticking with spinning platter hard drives. If that's your thing. You can also elect to go with a lot more memory, up to 64GB, although you don't seem to be able to select anything faster than the DDR5 4400MHz RAM.

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Alienware is playing both sides here too, and at the same time as announcing the Intel-powered R13, it also unveiled that it's using the new Legend 2.0 chassis for its AMD line-up as well, and duly called that the Aurora R14 family.

There's nothing particularly new beyond that chassis here, with the machine topping out at the same Ryzen 9 5950X and RTX 3090 as its predecessor. Still, the improved airflow can't hurt. The AMD machines do start cheaper too, at $1,225 for a Ryzen 5 5600X and a Radeon RX 5300.

Intel 12th gen Alder Lake launches November 4, and we'll see then how it stacks up against AMD's Ryzen 5000-series. You can order the Alienware Aurora R13 and Aurora R14 gaming PCs today.

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Alan has been writing about PC tech since before 3D graphics cards existed, and still vividly recalls having to fight with MS-DOS just to get games to load. He fondly remembers the killer combo of a Matrox Millenium and 3dfx Voodoo, and seeing Lara Croft in 3D for the first time. He's very glad hardware has advanced as much as it has though, and is particularly happy when putting the latest M.2 NVMe SSDs, AMD processors, and laptops through their paces. He has a long-lasting Magic: The Gathering obsession but limits this to MTG Arena these days.