Area-51 R2, 2020 Upgrades

I just wanted to share my experience upgrading the 2014 Alienware Area 51 R2 model. Initially I just wanted to upgrade from an i7-5820k to an i7-6950x, my ram from 2133 to 2666 and to a 20080 super. But I started to think about it more and more, I decided to try to upgrade to a 10th gen i9 instead. Here are my results.

Video Links:

https://vimeo.com/424410274

https://vimeo.com/424410024

As you can see my case LED's are working, but I can't install Alienware Command Center to change them. The effects you see are the ones I had before the motherboard swap. I tried the bios trick to install it but both versions that I found for windows 10 cause the pc to freeze during install. Can't remember if its during cleanup or determining file size or something like that. The only other thing that does not work is the eject button for the dvd rom but that was to be expected. Here is a list of what I swapped out.

Primary Components:

Motherboard: MSI MEG Z490

CPU: 10th gen i9-10900K (Quick note, this is hard to find I ordered from UK via overclocker.co.uk. Price is right even with conversion and it comes with a bunch of free goodies such as Fallen Jedi)

CPU Heatsink: Corsair Hydro Series H80i v2 (did not use fans that came with it)

Thermal Paste: Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Thermal Grease 

Memory: Corsair 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR4 4600

GPU: 2 EVGA RTX 2080 Super XC Ultra in SLI

GPU Bridge: EVGA RTX NVLink (3 slot spaceing)

PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 G2, 80+ Gold (Had this from before mobo swap)

Case Fans: Corsair ML120 Pro RGB 3 pack with Lightning Node Pro (added an extra 3 fans for a total of 6)

SSD1: Western Digital Black SN750 1TB M.2

SSD2: Western Digital Black SN750 500GB M.2

SSD3: Team Group GX2 2TB Stata III

Miscellaneous items:

NZXT Internal USB Hub (motherboard has 2, needed 3)

Front Panel HDD LED/PLED/Reset/Power/SW/SPK Extension Cable

Noctua 4 Pin Y-Cables (set of 3)

Noctua NF-A8 Chromax Fans (3) to help cool top GPU

120mm & 80mm fan grills

PCI Side-blown Video Card Heatsinks Cooling Fans Mount Rack (3). I modified two of them to mount a Corsair fan right in front of gpus. The third one I used to mount the 3 80mm fans on the side of the top gpu. I had to use some type of space to clear the nvlink. I ended up using some small tv mount spacers I had laying around.

Things I'm still waiting on:

Belkin USB-C 4 Port Mini Hub (so that I can have usb-c up front, going to mount it in the space between top handle and front panel)

USB-C Extension Cable for the hub