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Area-51 R2, upgrades, Z390 9900K, 2080 Ti
I currently have an Alienware area 51 r2 specs are 5820k, titan z, 16gb ram and 120gb ssd. I'm looking to upgrade the whole system to a Z390 9900K 2080 Ti build. I was wondering if anyone has any experience switching out the motherboard and if it was a simple swap of motherboards or if any mods had to be done on it. In addition I was wondering if there would be any issues with cooling with how the case is set up. This Will be the first time I dig into a pc and do upgrades. A comprehensive guide would be really appreciated, thanks.
Cass-Ole
1 Rookie
1 Rookie
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1.8K Posts
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March 7th, 2019 22:00
Area 51 r2 - swap to a new motherboard, is it possible?
Upgraded Area 51 R2 to X99A Raider Motherboard
Area 51 R2-Upgrades, Mods, Clarifications
Tutorial HOW to Upgrade A51 R2 with a E-ATX X99 Premium Mainboard
Motherboard Swapped on Area 51 R2 Very Easy
Trio Hive >< Triad Rise
ASUS Rampage V Extreme
Area 51-R2, GTX 1080 SLI FE Hybrid, i7-6850K, ASUS Sabertooth X99
Pics, Fisher's Asrock
Example google searches, I also like to search images looking for links to other places, other forums etc, tedious but can sometimes reveal builds: 1 >< 2 >< 3 >< 4 >< 5 Images >< uTube >< 2
Parts: Buy a new pair of longer USB cables to lengthen front panel & FIO board
Side Panel LEDs: some mthrbrds allow side panel LEDs, some mthrbrds the side panels fail to light up, there is no knopwn cure, there is no list of mthrbrds that 'work' vs 'don't'. Original R1 - R7 Alienboards are made by MSI, some users by MSI retail board in hopes it is similar enough to allow side panels to light up, but no guarantee
I can't think of any mods, other than plastic straps need relocated when installing wider E-ATX (extended) boards; relocating not required for ATX (standard)
Is it simple? Simple is a relative / subjective term: ... meh ... take your time so nothing breaks? Advanced project but no need to be expert
ProTip: Move like a sloth. Serious. Put on some low-intensity music & move slow when handling-using tools, handling-moving parts. Sloth-like allows u not to damage parts & allows u time to think about what you're doing. Slow down & make deliberate movements, treat your stuff like the high-dollar parts they are ... did I say to move slow?
Cooling: your pump motor is socket 2011 (v3), you'll need a socket 1151 retention ring (= 115x); Gordon Mah Ung is a personality at PCWorld, similar to Linus, soft-core vanilla opinions. He says you want 49mm Corsair H80i V2 minimum for 9900k (since it's a hot chip, he says to preferably buy a 240 280 360 which are sizes u can't use), yours is a whimpy 27mm wide radiator, so consider better wider cooling
This is all the time I have, do some reading & try AlienOwners
Idontknowhow2
3 Posts
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March 8th, 2019 04:00
Thank you for responding, it looks a lot easier than I thought.
Tesla1856
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17K Posts
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March 8th, 2019 10:00
Good to see that @Cass-Ole posted because he's the expert on installing/modding after-market motherboards into Alienware cases.
So, he covered that. However, it sounds like a nice system. If I may suggest an alternative plan ... think I would just:
- remove Titan-Z (and re-install original video card)
- Sell, gift-away, or move the Area51-R2 to lesser use-case role
- Buy yourself a nice (lighted) after-market case and do a normal custom build
Idontknowhow2
3 Posts
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March 8th, 2019 10:00
I was actually really conflicted at first when I though about upgrading. One of my ideas was to upgrade with the parts from my original post and modify the panel to look like this. After looking through the parts I wanted to upgrade to I decided on the z390 Aorus extreme, rtx 2080 ti, and a 9900k, one of my concerns as mentioned in my previous post was thermals, the case is really wonderful, but the lack of fan space for cooling was my biggest gripe. My alternative plan was to do as you suggested and get a new case and upgrade from there, but I am unaware if there is a market for me to sell my pc.