Aurora R4, upgrading ATX and concerns

Question

So here’s the deal guys (thanks in advance for anyone’s input or suggestions), I have an R4 desktop I purchased in 2012 for $2900 when I was in my teens. It came with 2 555 TI’s (xfire), a 3390k @ 3.2hz according to my CPUID but when using turbo boost apparently it spins up to 4.1 ghz. I notice often when it does this because my fans will go nuts.

Here’s the deal: for one the input sound (via mic) does not want to work and the only thing I can broadcast is my system sounds. The 3.5mm jack slot for the headset takes some playing around with in order to achieve volume in both ears. This happened even BEFORE after my ex threw it across the room (not joking, it literally doesn’t even have a scratch on it either so props to you Dell, lol). My point is basically the volume output just stopped working one day externally and it had no physical trauma. The other problem is that (from what diagnosis tells me) is that it doesn’t detect the other GFX card (GTX 555’s SLI Crossfire). This isn’t a big deal because the only game I really play competitively on medium settings runs 60 FPS.

Anyway, to make a long story short, should I sell this computer and maybe purchase a laptop with the money (budget is 1k) or can I send it into Dell to have my external audio issue and SLI problem fixed? Or should I invest money into just upgrading it? The computer is beautiful and in incredible condition even after all it’s gone through and it only needs an upgrade as far as converting to SSD’s, perhaps a 1080ti, and it would be lovely if Dell could look into why my audio output hasn’t worked in over 5 years (thank god for my phone for Skype/Discord if I need voice chat but when in a game it’s hard to hear My phone without only 1 earbud in).

EDIT: Also, do I need to upgrade the bay for my HD’s in order for an SSD to be compatible? Excuse my lack of tech knowledge, I am a computer software programmer and database developer so I know a lot more about software than hardware

redxps630 · Accepted Answer

It might take a while to sell it, you may have to take it apart, sell piecemeal which can be a hassle unless you are very patient, but you could still enjoy it by fixing it up, why not get a discrete gaming PCIe sound card from Creative Labs sound blaster (plenty of choices). If you do not game intensely 1080Ti might be overkill, there are many cards that are faster and more efficient than GTX 555. SSD is good idea. R4 has a unique design of having sata connector hidden inside (as compared to R1-3) so getting a 3.5 to 2.5 adapter may be tricky.

e.g., i7-3930k will work great together w GTX 1060 (6gb)

Intel Core i7-3930K (Clock speed at 100%) with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060(Clock speed at 100%) x1 will produce only 3.47% of bottleneck.

if you do not overclock i7-3930k, it is too weak for 1080ti

Intel Core i7-3930K (Clock speed at 100%) with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti(Clock speed at 100%) x1 will produce 13.43% of bottleneck. Everything over 10% is considered as bottleneck.

redxps630 · Accepted Answer

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qBcOPxWUGq8

Os1r1s · Answer

Thank you for your input and help. A 1080 might be a little overkill but I’d like to start getting into playing some higher demanding RPG games; but honestly the most important thing would be getting an SSD(s) because I do a lot of multi tasking between photoshop, visual studio, HeidiSQL, excel, and I’m a weirdo and use 2 different browsers (Chrome for work relating to online monetization and then Edge for personal stuff). I had a 750 I could of used but ended up selling it instead.

Anyhow, as far as my HDD bays, will these need to be replaced with ones that are SSD compatible or is it universal? Thank you very much for your suggestions though; excellent ideas and insight.

EDIT: Also I have a 3930k in the OP I accidentally wrote 3390k I believe unless I’m tripping. Haha, it’s late here right now.

Anyway as far as your adapter idea I am definitely going to look into that, thanks again so much!

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Aurora R4, upgrading ATX and concerns

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