Is this GPU and SSD compatible with my Aurora R6?

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@Electronic Unicorn wrote:

Alienware Aurora R6 desktop PC. 850w PSU. No Liquid-Cooler on CPU  

1. add a Samsung 860 EVO SATA III internal ssd,

2. I would also like to replace my current gpu (an NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB) with a Sapphire Radeon RX580 Nitro+ 8GB gpu. 

3. As for my ssd, I had read that some users found the Samsung 850 EVO SATA III and M.2 ssd's were indeed compatible with their Aurora R6 system.  Since then, Samsung has upgraded their current line of ssd's to the 860 model.  I'm now, once again, left wondering if I'm going to encounter any sort of compatibility issues post installation.

  

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1. Yes, a 2.5inch SATA SSD will work

2. Yes, most normal-height AMD cards will fit ... but I would take comparable Nvidia card (or even GTX-1060) any day instead. I assume you are trying to do Windows gaming.

3. Yes, they are compatible. That's why SATA and M.2-PCIe/NVMe are industry standards.

Oops.  Double post.  Sorry!  XD

   In any other situation, I would completely agree with you in regards to NVIDIA gpu's.  Unfortunately, I am currently suffering from an issue that has spawned from a conflict between NVIDIA graphics card drivers and the Windows 10 Creators Update.

   Since the Creators Update, some pc gamers have been reporting minor to very significant drops in frame rates and stuttering since the Creators Update.  I have been suffering from this for over a year now and have been a part of an online group trying to convince NVIDIA or Microsoft to do something about this.

   In some cases, this issue renders certain games outright unplayable.  I can attest to this personally.  I don't tinker with my PC (I have never opened my case) and I don't tinker with Windows (hard to do so with a Home version lol). The only solutions that have been discovered so far are:

A) Find a method to permanently revert back to Windows 10, build 1607.  I own a version of Windows 10 Home, so it's not easy to do. I only have so much knowledge about PC software and hardware.

B) Upgrade to an Enterprise version of Windows 10 (not easy to do either), allowing access to the Long Term Service Branch (LTSB).  This removes all major feature and bloatware and, for some unknown reason, resolves the issue.

C) Replace your NVIDIA card with an AMD card.  The AMD gpu's are apparently unaffected by this issue. I found the AMD Radeon RX580 was comperable to the GTX1060 6GB card.

   I am only shooting for 1080p @ 60fps at medium to max settings. I know it can play well, as it was playing buttery smooth before the Creators Update.  I'm so ready pull my hair out and start crying.

Sorry for the long post.  Thanks for reading.

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/1004600/all-games-stuttering-with-fps-drops-since-windows-10-creators-update/#5276364

Check it out if want. This issue spans over 300 pages for over a year's time.

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@Electronic Unicorn wrote:

1.   In any other situation, I would completely agree with you in regards to NVIDIA gpu's. 

2. Unfortunately, I am currently suffering from an issue that has spawned from a conflict between NVIDIA graphics card drivers and the Windows 10 Creators Update. Since the Creators Update, some pc gamers have been reporting minor to very significant drops in frame rates and stuttering since the Creators Update.  I have been suffering from this for over a year now and have been a part of an online group trying to convince NVIDIA or Microsoft to do something about this.

3.   In some cases, this issue renders certain games outright unplayable.  I can attest to this personally.  I don't tinker with my PC (I have never opened my case) and I don't tinker with Windows (hard to do so with a Home version lol). The only solutions that have been discovered so far are:

4. A, B, C

@5. I am only shooting for 1080p @ 60fps at medium to max settings. I know it can play well, as it was playing buttery smooth before the Creators Update.  I'm so ready pull my hair out and start crying.

Sorry for the long post.  Thanks for reading.

 

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1. Good because swapping Nvidia card for AMD is just a shotgun fix and will likely make things worse.

2. Looks like a silly witch-hunt to me. I suggest you work the problems instead of throwing up your hands and blaming not only Nvidia, but Microsoft as well. :Indifferent:

3. There is no way that Windows-10 Direct-X gaming and/or Nvidia drivers have been broken for a year. Sure, Nvidia has released some pretty bad driver-sets over the last year, but none of this "the sky is falling" stuff. It's usually fixed on next WHQL release.

4. A & B are not even viable solutions. Who comes-up with this stuff?

5. Depends on what you are playing, but yes something like this is usually possible ... FPS can reach 60fps, but usually runs around 50fps, and can go as low as 35fps (on complex scenes). Main thing is that it's playable.

Remember, you only have a GTX-1060 with an Intel-i5. Probably single-channel memory. And no SSD ... that's what is really hurting your system speed and responsiveness. 

If you were to install a M.2/PCIe/NVMe SSD and clean install Windows, (a lean set of) drivers, and a few favorite games ... the system would be faster than new. It would be so much better you would be amazed. Game assets (levels, models, textures, etc.) will load faster and you can finally begin to see smooth game-play. First you test with offline games.

EDITED

   So many people want to claim there is no problem, when they understand so little of the issue.  It really irks me.  I'll try and keep this short.

   When I first purchased my Aurora R6, I initially installed games like Battlefield 1, Overwatch, Skyrim and a few others.  In the beginning I was running Windows 10 Home 64-bit on build 1607.  Despite an i5, single channel RAM and a mechanical HDD, all my games ran smooth as butter at High to Max settings at 1080p with a solid 60Hz.  After Microsoft launched the Creators Update, build 1706, I began having issues.  Stuttering and random drops in frame rates were often.  Sometimes games were nearly unplayable.  I shouldn't be getting frame rate drops in Geometry Wars and Path of Exile and Gauntlet on any level.  After a short time I (as you suggested) reinstalled windows and all my games.  I noticed immediately that his helped not at all.  I did some looking around the web and came across a community of users that were experiencing the same issue I was.  Microsoft even openly admitted on a major PC web page there was an issue.  They said they were "looking into it".  Since this issue appears to be limited to the GTX series of GPU's, part of this does lie with NVIDIA.

   I won't go into great detail or drone on.  I only understand so much and I don't want to bore. I don't expect anyone to read the 300 page thread. Nonetheless, these users have spent over a year trying to figure out what the issue is. From a long process of elimination performed by very knowledgeable users (not I), there were only two proven solutions found.

-Replace your NVIDIA GTX series GPU with an AMD GPU. This completely resolves this issue.

-Revert back to Windows 10 build 1607, or earlier.  (From what I understand, Microsoft Enterprise LTSB works wonderfully).  This just so happens to be Windows 10, sans any feature updates. Unfortunately, one can't just buy a copy.

   Many on my thread have tried various versions of drivers via DDU, re-installations of Windows 10 builds (on and off SSD's), and various graphics cards.  Some say the issue lies with the Pascal Architecture, as one user is using a $1,250 Titan Xp GPU.  Some say it's due to DX11/12, as one of the first and best examples was Battlefield 1.  Some say it's due to standby memory and clearing in every 5 minutes with MS task scheduler helps.

   I plan on upgrading to a SSD (from the list of officially supported models by Dell. I found that myself, so never mind) and dual channel RAM.  My i5 should be just fine, as I don;t plan on exceeding 60 fps.

   This is what has been proven on my forum page so far.

   I know I sound like a **bleep**, but no one came up with anything.

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/1004600/all-games-stuttering-with-fps-drops-since-windows-10-creators-update/#5276364[/url]

   All I wanted to know was whether that specific card would fit in my case or not.  I couldn't seem to find the necessary dimensions.  I would hate to order a card and it not fit.  Never mind.

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@Electronic Unicorn wrote:

    All I wanted to know was whether that specific card would fit in my case or not.  I couldn't seem to find the necessary dimensions.  I would hate to order a card and it not fit.  Never mind.

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In my first post, I answered your questions about the SSDs... Any M.2-2280/NVMe/PCIe-SSD will work in the Aurora-R6 .

https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-General/Aurora-R6-Hard-Lockup-and-crash-while-gaming-SOLVED/m-p/5504121/highlight/true#M6097

Any 2.5inch SATA-3/600 SSD will also work (although, not quite as fast). 

Any AMD card will fit as long as it is "normal height".

Now that I look-it-up for you ... It looks like the  Sapphire Radeon RX580 Nitro+ 8GB is too tall. It's fairly obvious.

https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-Desktops/Aurora-R7-GPU/td-p/5757231

Due to the power-requirements of these super-duper cards you are wanting to upgrade to ... the optional 850w power-supply is a smart-choice.

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@Electronic Unicorn wrote:

  So many people want to claim there is no problem, when they understand so little of the issue.  It really irks me.  I'll try and keep this short.

 

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Maybe there are others in that other thread, but here ... I think it's just me. :Smile:

Maybe I don't know much about computers, so forget all that. Lets look at actual facts.

I've got both an old Aurora-R1 and a new Aurora-R6 here. Both have:
- Intel-i7 and 16gb RAM
- Nvidia GTX-1070
- SSDs 
- Windows-10 64-bit v1803

They can both run Skyrim, Fallout-4, WoW, FarCry-4 and many other games ... all with High-to-Ultra Settings at 1200p-1440p. Good FPS, stable, and very playable. 

I already told you how to fix it cheap. Get yourself a SSD, and clean-install-away all your tweaks and any Dell nonsense. A good Nvidia driver is v378.78  (an oldie-but-a-goodie).