I purchased an Alienware Aurora R9 because it had excellent third-party reviews and the hardware bundle was actually about the same price as buying the components individually. Plus, having Dell assemble everything for me equaled massive time savings. I planned on upgrading my Alienware PC every so often over the course of a decade, and thought I was getting a product that would be good to go out of the box. However, it had severe issues with its cooling system, which culminated in hitting 101C while trying out Star Wars: The Old Republic, a game about a decade old. I knew what the solution was, and as much as I respect Alienware, I did not want to spend time with tech support and going through an RMA process just to waste time instead of going for the direct fix. I am currently running: Intel i7 9700 CPU Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super GPU 1TB NVMe SSD 8TB HHD (7200 RPM Enterprise-grade from Seagate– this is not stock, it’s just something I added to hold old/low res games and documents) 32GB DDR4 RAM at 2666 My idle temps were only 32C-38C. My underload temps for World of Warcraft (primary game I am using for benchmarking in this post) were 78-85C. This is REALLY hot for World of Warcraft. Sometimes when I alt-tabbed out of the game to Chrome it would spike to 95C. What this tells me is that there was a very poor thermal paste application. If your CPU temps are spiking high and spiking rapidly, typically it’s an issue with your thermal pasting, especially if your idle temps are on the low end. However, I have big plans for this rig, it needs to be able to run upcoming AAA titles such as Cyberpunk 2077 as good or better than upcoming consoles, so I decided to go beyond a repaste, and install: Corsair H60 AIO CPU cooler 2 Corsair ML120 Pro fans (used to sandwich the radiator form the H60) Arctic MX-4 Thermal Paste I was going to use the screws and splitter for a radiator sandwich, but decided against it after I got started I was going to do a 'radiator sandwich' but ultimately decided against it, as the area to mount a radiator is tight for space and I would have needed to drill a hole in the metal portion of the radiator cage to account for one of the fan wires. At the suggestion of xxxxx, I figured I might get the CPU temps I was looking for without a sandwich, so I used one Corsair ML120 Pro fan and set aside the SP120 fan that came with the Corsair H60 AIO. I installed the second Corsair ML120 Pro as a front intake fan. The process to do this was simple. I would refer folks making this upgrade to the Aurora R9 guide for uninstalling and reinstalling the fan, because it’s simplistic. You basically just unplug the front fan from the motherboard, click out the plastic cage for the fan, take the fan out of the plastic cage, put your new fan in the plastic cage, reinsert the cage+new fan into the case, and plug it into the motherboard. It’s about a 2-minute long upgrade process, and very much worth it. Installing the Corsair H60 AIO is not very difficult either. Here is my process Create a clear workspace. I used a pool table with a leather cover, as it provides a very large area and is a bit more forgiving than hard surfaces such as granite counter tops or hardwood tables. Get your tools – you will need a Phillips-head screwdriver. I bought one years ago from Wal-Mart that has adjustable bits, and multiple bits in the handle, so I always have the right size Phillips or flat head bit for the job. Open the case and PSU swing arm. You DO NOT have to take off the other side of your case as you may have seen in other Corsair H60 install videos for older Aurora systems. Ground yourself by touching the metal inside of the case cover you just took off Take out the top fan by unscrewing the metal chassis the fan is seated in. I believe it only. Uses three or for screws. Do not worry about taking the fan out of the metal chassis – we will not be using it again. Assemble the radiator by screwing a fan into it. My ML120 Pro fan is an OUTTAKE. Cold air comes in through the front fan, and the hot air is moved out of the case by the top fan, which also cools the radiator. Corsair recommends that this fan be used as an intake, as cooler air would cool the radiator even better. While that’s true, I am not sure you would see any temp gains with the Alienware Aurora R9 case, as heat travels upwards naturally and your fans would be fighting mother nature. Remember, the goal of upgrading your CPU cooling is to prevent both your CPU and other parts from getting cooked. Remove your RAM sticks – they will get in the way. Set them aside on a non-static surface. Place the radiator and fan into the radiator cage. You have to do this VERY CAREFULLY as it is a tight squeeze, and if you put it in on an angle your radiator might get stuck at an odd angle in the cage, and be hard to push further in or pull out. I had this issue, and it took me awhile to fix. Although the radiator is a tight squeeze, you still need to screw it into your radiator cage. Ensure the radiator cage is also screwed into the case itself on the inside of your PC. Mine was not screwed in by the factory and had no screws, but I was able to use the screws from the original top fan chassis to do the trick. Side note: You can mount a fan on the top of the radiator cage, outside the case altogether using long enough screws that go into the radiator itself, and I did this and it worked. It makes a radiator sandwich. I was able to thread the fan cable through an opening on the side of the radiator cage. However, you cannot get the top of the case back on if you do this. If I really wanted to make a radiator sandwich in the future, I would customize the top part of the case, which would basically consist of cutting a square hole at the top so that the fan can stay seated. Take off your CPU fan. Ensure you are grounded before doing this. Remove your old thermal paste. My wife is a medical professional and I got some medical-grade alcoholic wipes from her to do the trick. 70% isopropyl alcohol will also do the job, in conjunction with q-tips and paper towels. Insert the screws for the cooling block into the motherboard around the CPU. It should be 4 screws. Refer to the Corsair H60 manual to see which screws exactly to use. Remove the thermal paste that comes pre-applied to the Corsair H60 block. In my case, it came totally dried out. It works for some people, but I would not trust it. Nothing against Corsair, but the Arctic MX4 is REALLY GOOD, and cheap, and you can rest-assured that it is fresh. Apply thermal paste directly to the CPU (technically you’re putting it on the CPU cover). I used the pea-sized method. You put a pea-sized amount of thermal paste on the CPU, then place the cooling block on top of it. Do not smear it around, do not lift the block one you put it on the cpu. You do not want to create air pockets. You want the thermal paste to basically create a firm seal between the block and the CPU. The good thing about Arctic MX4 is it’s non-conductive, so it’s a bit more forgiving if you use too much or some paste gets outside of the CPU/block area. Once the block is seated, secure it to the motherboard by applying the 4 caps. I recommend taking advantage of the Phillips-head tops and screwing them in more tightly than you could if you only used your hands, but be very careful not to screw them too tightly or else you will snap your motherboard. That’s a bad day and will lead to a much bigger project than replacing your CPU cooler. Plug your TOP fan into the TOP_FAN slot in your motherboard. Plug your 3-pronged pump fan into your PUMP_FAN slot (the slot is 4-pronged, but it will accept a 3 no problem). Plug your cooling block into a SATA connector (there are typically 2-3 open SATA connectors in an Aurora R9, including one near the back of the PSU. In my opinion, the Corsair H60 SATA connector is not as long as it should be, but I found an unused connector I could bring over it it without issue. Reinsert your RAM Organize the cabling within your case, and remove any unused SSD/HHD cages. I left one of mine in as you might see in the pictures, because I am about to add more SSD, as the next generation of games will be VERY storage intensive. Even next World of Warcraft expansion is adding 100GB of SSD to its minimum requirements list. That’s a game I’d keep on my NVMe SSD, but I think all of us will need a lot of storage to hold many games and keep load times low. Slowly close your PSU swing arm when finished. I was not very careful and I partially snapped a connector to my 8TB HHD in the 3.5' slot. Luckily it still works until a new one comes in the mail. Feel free to test your device right away, as Arctic MX4 has no cure time. You should be fine. You your device boots for the first. time post-upgrade, you will get a CPU fan failure message from the BIOS. Just click 'accept' and move on - your device should continue booting normally. AWCC will also have a CPU fan error, which you can ignore. The CPU fan will always be running at '86%' going forward. In reality, the pump fan is operational and running at 100%. Make a profile for your games that sets the TOP fan to 100%, and your FRONT fan to about a 50-80% offset. I made a default profile with a 100% TOP fan differential, and an auto-managed FRONT fan. Results Pre-upgrade temps: 32-38C idle 78-85C under load (World of Warcraft), with occasional spikes over 90C during intense activity. I only felt safe putting the game on 'Very High' settings. LOUD fans. Post-upgrade temps: 26-29C idle 40-50C under load (World of Warcraft) with occasional spikes to 60C during intense activity. All settings 'Ultra.' MUCH QUITER fans! Yet to see CPU temps top 69C for any game The differences were DRASTIC and way, way better than expected or I could hope for. Now, I can play games such as Assassins Creed Odyssey and Horizon Zero Dawn without worrying or listening to a jet engine. I can enjoy WoW and other 'older' games on ultra-settings. Altogether, the project took me 30 minutes to do, and it was a relatively cheap upgrade of only about $100 total. This was better than complaining to Dell or just letting the CPU chug or burn out over time and relying on a warranty. I’m happy with my Alienware purchase, as I said, the parts and labor together were a good deal for what I paid. I was not happy with the cooling, but with these after-market mods that problem is cured. Now, my GPU is the big heat generator, running at about 70-78C under load with World of Warcraft, and sometimes a bit higher for very graphic-intensive games. I will be looking to get that down somehow in the future, but it’s not very pressing. The GPU fans aren’t that loud, and while it can get up to its overclocking limits I configured in terms of temps, it’s safe. I hope this helps others who have similar cooling issues with their Aurora R9's, and I am happy to answer any questions.

‎Aurora R9, Cooling Upgrade with Results

Responses(36)
Solutions(0)

Kiefer yin

11 Posts

0

November 18th, 2020 12:00

so what you mean is that if I use the fan I just bought and install with the h60 pump (combo: H60 pump and the ml120 fan) can solve the problem? The system will recognize the pump fan on its own and the computer will up on its own with no problem?

G

GTS81

2 Intern

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2.2K Posts

1

November 18th, 2020 13:00

Your AIO should come with a fan header connection and a SATA power connection. Connect SATA power connection to a SATA power cable. Connect fan connection to PUMP_FAN (#23 inside the manual below page 10).

https://dl.dell.com/topicspdf/alienware-aurora-r9-desktop_service-manual_en-us.pdf

Then for the ML120 Pro, connect it to the TOP_FAN (#22).

KY

Kiefer yin

11 Posts

0

November 18th, 2020 18:00

I didnt move any other cables sata or some others just trying to install a water cooling in order to play PUBG or CS without hearing complaining by teammates about the fan sound LOL

KY

Kiefer yin

11 Posts

0

November 19th, 2020 13:00

, just found out that I did not connect the power cable over the whole time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am a idiot......

NVM thank you for the help from all of you guys so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now I connected the SATA cable and the light comes up!!! no other errors occurs!!!!

TEMP just dropped from 84 celsius to 65 or sometimes 71 without any annoying fan sounds !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU GUYS SO SO MUCH HAVE A GOOD YEAR IN 2021 !!!!!!!

G

GTS81

2 Intern

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2.2K Posts

0

November 19th, 2020 16:00

Happy gaming. We can always count on resident @Anonymous to bring upgrade success and joy to users.

RH

Rene House

8 Posts

0

November 19th, 2020 18:00

@Anonymous Hello Dell630i, I'm trying to locate the upgraded heatsink/fan for my XPS 8930 and noticed you posted last year you had one that you were willing to give away. I'd be happy to buy it from you if by any chance you still have it? Sorry to be asking you in this forum but I figured if I replied to your most recent post you might see this.

Thanks,

Rene

KY

Kiefer yin

11 Posts

0

November 20th, 2020 08:00

Sorry for asking again lol

I saw some people install the fan on top and then the stock, which means my fan is facing the motherboard is that a correct installation?

Or should I install the fan first ?

KY

Kiefer yin

11 Posts

0

December 11th, 2020 08:00

Hello, I'm here again lol

I am thinking about installing a radiator sandwich for the water cooling fan, maybe its because I am living in Canada we open heat in winter and it makes the computer really hot and reaches 90c when playing cyper2077 what should I do if I want to install a radiator sandwitch for the computer!?

KY

Kiefer yin

11 Posts

0

December 11th, 2020 17:00

Thank you very much!!!

r72019

6 Professor

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5.3K Posts

0

December 11th, 2020 18:00

@Kiefer yin

You will also need four 6/32 thread by 1.25" long machine screws to mount the second fan to the radiator.

G

Gumbo3

1 Message

0

December 31st, 2020 10:00

Hello

Many thanks for your very detailed and informative cooling system upgrade install we have followed your instructions but have higher temps than your successful upgrade idle is 31 and black ops.cold war is 75 we are.looking in alienware command centre for the temps on the cpu is that correct although the fans sound great and o more jet engine! Please can you help identify where we may have gone wrong

Kind regards

D

Don93432

1 Message

0

January 31st, 2021 09:00

Thank you so much for this guide! I followed it and have seen a drastic improvement in both temperatures and fan noise. The only issue though is that every time I boot up the computer now, I am getting a CPU fan error message. First, it does a SupportAssist Pre-Boot System Performance Check (about 1 minute). Then it comes up with a critical error message that the CPU fan failed to respond. I did the radiator sandwhich idea with the H60 and two ML120 fans. These fans are plugged into TOP_FAN via a y-splitter cable. The H60 is plugged into the PUMP_FAN and CPU_FAN is free:

Any suggestions about how to get rid of the CPU fan error message? It's just annoying to have to go through that system check/error every time I boot it up. Thanks!

G

GabeFromanj

1 Rookie

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13 Posts

0

February 22nd, 2021 19:00

I just did this and followed your steps. I appreciate your detailed post. It really came in handy, however there are few things that I cannot seem to figure out. For starters my liquid core, the same one you use, does not seem to have a solder connection. My logo does not light off either. I do not know if they just did a way with the solder connection on newer versions or if I'm just completely missing something altogether. Secondly, I did not have a prior liquid cooling in my system. Just the top fan. I cannot seem to find any type of radiator cage, all I did was Slide the radiator with the fan up top and it fit fairly well without anything securing, however I would like some type of security up there so it is secure. Also I placed my fan on the bottom of the radiator blowing air upwards. This may not make sense and I may reconfigure it but so far my temperatures are right in the range of yours. Have yet to hit 60° but haven't really toy with it much. I did run a stress test as well as play a game and my Max temp was 61 degrees.

r72019

6 Professor

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5.3K Posts

0

February 22nd, 2021 20:00

"all I did was Slide the radiator with the fan up top and it fit fairly well without anything securing,"

You slid it into the radiator cage. It is hard to see from below. If you open up the top of the PC you will find four screw holes to secure the fan and radiator.

r72019

6 Professor

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5.3K Posts

0

February 22nd, 2021 20:00

rad cage:

rad cage.png

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