How the Alienware Aurora R13's chassis boosts performance

Alienware has debuted its new flagship gaming desktop the Aurora R13, which has a radically different design from previous generations. The new desktop sports a rounded Legend 2.0 chassis that Alienware says increases the Aurora's internal volume by 50 percent, without expanding the case’s overall footprint.

Styling looks to be “space” inspired, with Lunar Light and Dark Side of the Moon color options. But despite the eye-candy, Alienware has been quick to spruik the thermal and acoustic benefits of the new design for gamers. The curved frame is intended to dial in more airflow for better cooling and to reduce sound, the former of which according to Alienware, has proven to give slight performance improvements in company testing.

Credit: Alienware/Dell

The curvaceous chassis’ larger volume will accommodate up to four 120 mm fans and liquid cooling options, that Alienware says amounts to a 5 percent increase in graphics performance over the R13’s predecessor the Alienware Aurora R12. On the acoustics side, Alienware claims its new Aurora R13 is 16 percent quieter at idle, up to 9 percent quieter during CPU intensive tasks, and up to 13 percent quieter during overclocking than the Alienware Aurora R12 and Aurora R10.

Alienware is also offering new customization options for the Aurora desktop, including an optional transparent left-side panel that allows gamers to peek in at the Aurora R13’s dark motherboard that features eight customizable lighting zones.

An e-sports-inspired magnetic cable that stows away cables and conceals the rear ports is also available as an optional customization.

The Alienware Aurora R13 will be available in Australia and New Zealand from November 9. The Intel version will be priced at AU$2,799 / NZ$3,099, while the AMD version will cost AU$3,699 / NZ$4,099.