ATI Radeon 7970 OC will not work in Aurora R3

Wow. That is just really not acceptable, considering that one of their biggest marketing ploys for the aurora was its so called "easy upgradeability". However, I guess that was quiet obviously a lie. In fact, if this thread is correct, the card does not work in all dell computers! I must say that I am, frankly, more than slightly mad about this.

Yah, that's exactly how I felt after my latest upgrade attempt ! Dell engineers have other priority than updating a year and a half old R3 Bios that did cost more than the a full ATX with high end MB and dual high end Video cards that you can build on your own. Will I buy AW again? I think not!

P.S : English is not my native language. Please pardon me if you see any grammatical/ spelling errors. Thanks!

AW need to release Bios update vey soon. More complaint will heart their reputation and consequently their sales! You cannot have your flagship product go without support or update for this long! If Dell are not reading those forum pages I will be shocked and if they are I will be even shocked more! What is up Dell!!

Was there not somebody earlier in the thread who had attempted to contact dell support? Did they say anything about an upcoming BIOS update? After all, I agree that it is quite an annoyance that he apparently received no satisfying response from the support team. If dell drops their support of products this quickly, I fear our coveted BIOS update may, unfortunately, never see the light of day. If a moderator, or even anybody that can contact dell support is reading this, we would all be very thankful if you could perhaps email this thread to a dell representative, so that I may receive a conclusive response as to whether I should attempt to sell this card in an attempt to procure another, or if I would do better to wait on a solution for this dilemma. Every other option has quite clearly been exhausted, therefore, I would be a satisfied customer once again if only alienware could address this problem, the only major problem I have had with any of their products during my period of usage with them. However, I am sadly beginning to doubt more and more that this problem will ever be addressed. After all, we are basically powerless, considering that the alienware staff obviously does not have any obligation to respond, nor does it seem that they where willing to give bolux a conclusive answer when contacted. Therefore I, once again, would earnestly encourage someone here to alert a dell or alienware representative, and then perhaps direct them towards this thread, so that we may finally have our deserved support as customers.

I just purchased 2nd 7950 visiontek and it worked out of the box with no problems what so ever! It was the Bios all the way! Before you buy, make sure that the video bios is compatible with Aurora's bios. Otherwise you will be stuck with none working GPU ! Of course there is no way to know except if you relay on somebody's experience with particular card.

Thanks for reporting back. Like I said previously ... an AMD 7950 based card is very nice (and very close to a 7970).

So, what other card are you running now? IIRC, you said the "Gigabyte 7950 Windforce" also works... do you still have that one? Yes, it appears a definitive compatibility list (compiled by you guys) is the only way.

Yes, GB is my top PCIe card and the new Visiontek at the bottom ( very tight fit ) but it's working fine.

The card bios is older one and I am not sure if the new bios would work though!

Just wanted to poke my head in and say I am still following this thread and hoping a real solution or explanation is found.  I reverted back to my stock 560 Ti that came with the R3 and am waiting to see how things shake out.

Just ordered this card: Gigabyte GTX 770 4 GB GV-N770OC-4GD.

Should be able to try it out this weekend.  I'll update on whether it works.

I just thought I would let you alkl know.

I have a Gigabyte HD 7970 windforce that will not post in an R3

Spoke to dell tec support today and was told

"there will be NO bios updates for the R3"

I personally think this is criminal. My comp is less than 2 years old and they are no longer supporting it.

I am not a happy chappy

I have the same issue with a r3 and a powercolor 7950 Boost. I had to pull it and replace it with a 660TI.  Dell refuses to acknowledge it is an issue and will not update the bios. Very disappointed with Dell and powercolor.