While I haven't been actively looking for a new gaming rig since my old one died, I've been occasionally browsing what's currently out there, and right now this particular (on sale) Alienware Aurora model seems quite enticing:

i7-9700k (3.6-4.9) - Closed-loop liquid cooled
NVIDIA RTX 2070
16GB RAM
256GB NVMe SSD

Yeah, Alienware is typically overpriced but for the current $530 off at ~$1400 that seems to be a pretty decent deal. Sure that SSD is paltry in size, but I may use it as a system drive only while adding a separate 1TB SATA SSD for another $100 rather than paying those ridiculous "upgrade" prices.

No, I'm not interest in building a system from scratch, and going this route is still way cheaper than going the premium boutique route a la Falcon Northwest or Puget Systems that I've been considering, too.

So I'm wondering what some of you guys think of this being worth it or not. Any input is much appreciated.

The 1400$ price tag is not bad indeed. Probably cheaper than to buy all the parts separatelly...
Just make sure the motherboard supports overclock if you want it, since the machine has a K series CPU wich allows overclock.
If you dont want the overclock feature, sometimes better deals pop-up on machines with non K Cpu's (wich are cheaper to build).

My country's local Pc parts shops usually build the computer by your spec for a modest price and have pre-built systems to choose from, just to give you other options...

The downside of buying a pre-built is that you often get less than optimal hardware, and often it isn't clearly marked.

In this case, my biggest questions are:
- What brand is the NVMe SSD? Some are more reliable than others (though honestly, it should be fine).
- What are the specifications of the motherboard? How is the VRM? Can you use it to overclock? Watercooling is nice and dandy, but if your motherboard doesn't allow overclocking, you're missing out there. Obviously, this is no issue if you never intend to overclock.
- What brand is the PSU? A good PSU can mean the difference between no damage and a fried PC if/when it eventually dies. Alienware SHOULD be fine, but...
- What are the exact specs of this particular RTX 2070? I doubt you'll be underwhelmed by the performance, even "weaker" versions of this card are still beastly, but still.
- Does it have a DVD player? (You can get a separate DVD player (connected by USB) if needed though).

Another downside as far as I'm concerned is that the RAM is rather slow (and you don't know the brand/timings). RAM prices have been dropping steadily and it's easily possible to get 2x8GB 3200 MHz RAM for less than 100 USD in the US these days - the upgrade to 2933 MHz for 100 USD is a rip-off. That said, Intel systems are less reliant on good RAM speeds/timings than AMD systems, so realistically, you're not likely to seriously notice it.

That all said, despite the concerns I've mentioned above: if you don't want to build a system yourself, it appears to be a pretty good deal at 1,400 USD, really. In addition, judging from the reviews I've found here and there, Alienware desktops offer decent upgradability, so that's always a plus.

I would suggest you take a look at a few reviews here and there before you finalize your purchase, but for most parts reviews were pretty positive about Alienware desktops in general - with the exception of prices. This particular PC should serve you well, I think.

I'm not familiar with the brand but going by the primary specs, it does seem like a great deal for the price. Going by local prices, the CPU and GPU alone should cost at least 1000 EUR.. getting any sort of quality mobo + case + psu + cooler + ram + storage for 400 EUR would be impossible.

That said, only 16GB of RAM? I hope they're at least using a good brand and leaving two slots open so you can just add another pair of sticks and bring it up to 32GB.

That config looks quite good indeed, but I have no idea about the $ price.
And who knows about the quality of some pieces (like mobo, disk, power supply, etc).

Big SSDs for the OS part aren't indeed necessary (if you have a secondary one for data and games).
With Win7 and a bunch of programs I'm only using 60/256Gb.
Win10 probably needs something more, but I imagine it won't even reach 1\3 of that size.

. Most people probably don't need a lot of RAM.
I have 16GB and I'm barely using 7..

I've seen worse deals. Jump on it if you have the money to spend, good neighbor!

Yeah, the not-named PSU is bothering me a bit, since most pre-built retailers tend to skimp on a lot that isn't CPU/GPU-related. Also, after reading some of the reviews it sounds like Dell may be using some really subpar case fans in addition of there being heat build-up due to bad airflow. Hmmm....

As for RAM, I think that anything beyond 16 gigs for non-professional use is quite the overkill still. I never even came close to hitting that ceiling on my previous system with some of the more demanding software I used.

Dunno about that. My laptop has 8GB and I run out of RAM all the time. Work laptop has 16GB and I run out of RAM every once in a while. My desktop has 32GB and I've run out of RAM a few times..

Right now desktop is using ~16GB.

Why not just buy all the parts yourself and then pay a local technician $50-75 or whatnot to assemble it for you? That's what I do when I buy a new computer.

No doubt that way you can buy all good parts and at better prices than prebuilders like Alienware would give you for comparable parts, even if their prebuilt system is sold at a discount.

You seem to have a good idea of how hardware works which parts do what and are of a good quality or not. Prebuilders like Alienware exist to extort/take advantage of customers on the basis that they don't have any of that kind of knowledge. So IMO, if do you have that knowledge, best to use it rather than pay prebuilders to rip you off.

It basically looks good for gaming on a 1440 monitor. Adding an extra fan or two to the case is often needed with the empty pc cases too where you build yourself. My new low cost pc case needed two extra fans...

The motherboard is probably an ECS but maybe (co-)designed by Dell.

But that is assuming the system cited in the OP has good quality for all of those items. But probably it doesn't.

I just clicked on that link in the OP. Why doesn't the alleged 'spec' details list all the specific parts in the entire system? What are they trying to hide, exactly? Their decision not to give the customer full disclosure of all the technical details is quite sketchy of them.

Totally agreed.

@Mr.Mumbles: I'd go for custom config than pre-built cause you always get more for the same money or less: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/2ZfTsZ

You can also shop some stuff on Amazon before Prime Day deals end.

Decent specs on that rig. Just remember though that it's a Dell, not to say that there is anything wrong with Dell. The original founders of Alienware are now Origin computer.

After reading some more professional reviews about more recent builds, I think I may end up passing. Almost every one of those reviews said how loud those fans would become under load, and the one thing I really want out of my next machine is to forego the jetstream effect.