396 Posts
1
3531
Aurora R9, a pain free upgrade, nice for a change
When I bought my Aurora R9 earlier this year, I wanted 64 GB of RAM, but the sticker shock of the second 32 GB from Alienware was too much for me. They use Kingston HyperX, I'll just get some later when the price goes down.
Well...After reading the horror stories of folks trying to add RAM in these Dell Community post, I was expecting a battle but tried to learn from what I read here. So, the 32 GB of Kingston HyperX @2933 comes out and in went 64 GB of Crucial Ballistix @ 3200.
Well guess what, it was that easy...pulled the two Kingstons out and installed the four Crucial modules.
Fired the computer up...it lit up fine...sat there a minute...gave me a screen that asked if I had monkeyed with the memory...I clicked on proceed and the next thing you know, I was in Windows. I have shut down and powered up several times...no problems. Wasn't that easy!
I do have to admit that I have Windows fast start up shut off, I do think that may be the root of some folks problems, as it doesn't really shut Windows off properly.
Anyway, for what it's worth, with the upgrade I did of the power supply and this increase in RAM, I now have exactly the Alienware Aurora R9 that I wanted.
Doghouse Reilly
396 Posts
0
November 24th, 2020 14:00
Doghouse Reilly
396 Posts
0
November 24th, 2020 14:00
Yes all seems good...and a Happy Holidays to all!
r72019
6 Professor
6 Professor
•
5.3K Posts
0
November 24th, 2020 14:00
Great to hear the upgrade was painless. Did you check to see if it is running at 3200?
Also, if you edit your post too many times in a short period it gets auto marked as spam and deleted.
AuroraHasManyFans
118 Posts
1
November 25th, 2020 19:00
Congratulations! I too upgraded my R11's 8GB 3.2k MHz RAM from Kingston HyperX (OEM), with 2x16GB 3.2k MHz RAM from Kingston HyperX (consumer market). I did have to going into BIOS to change the profile to XMP2 for them to run at 3,200 MHz though.
It might be a good idea to run a memory test (such as MemTest64) when you freshly bought RAM (close all windows when you run a test). That way, if one of the RAM stick is defective, you can return and get a new one within your retailer's returning period.
(Windows 10 can also mark and block bad RAM sectors if one prefers the convenience.)
I do hope all 4 of your RAM sticks are as healthy as a baby though.
Ralf_83
50 Posts
0
February 2nd, 2021 23:00
Hi which BIOS Version do you use? 1.09? I tried this with 4 x 16 Kingston Hyper X but no sucess.
Doghouse Reilly
396 Posts
0
February 3rd, 2021 03:00
Yes, 1.0.9.
I replied to your PM with the details on the exact RAM that I use. Best of Luck!
Crucial 32GB Ballistix DDR4 3200 MHz UDIMM Gaming Desktop Memory Kit (2 x 16GB, Black)
Ralf_83
50 Posts
0
February 24th, 2021 23:00
A volunteer for testing the new 1.0.11 Bios with 64 GByte RAM?
Doghouse Reilly
396 Posts
0
February 25th, 2021 02:00
BIOS 1.0.11 seems OK, no problems to report, seemed to just contain lots of Intel security patches...
Ralf_83
50 Posts
0
February 26th, 2021 01:00
Too bad that it did not work for my Alienware. After I have upgraded the BIOS I got randomly bluescreens. Windows just run for a few seconds. I used the Dell/Alienware diagnostic tool and that showed "memory amount exceeded". Strange, but after I went back to 1.09 everything work as it should.
Doghouse Reilly
396 Posts
0
February 26th, 2021 07:00
That is most unfortunate and you have my sincerest sympathies. I have no idea why it seems Alienware Aurora's seem to have a mind of their own when it comes to when they work and when they don't.
I do see a trend that if you get it to work as it should, don't change anything.
Why it's like that, I could not begin to imagine...well, maybe poltergeist or ghost in the machine perhaps?
Ralf_83
50 Posts
0
August 2nd, 2021 03:00
Just for information 1.13 BIOS update works with 64 GByte RAM.