Alienware Area-51 ALX upgrade

Hey Volfie ... (Full / Standard) ATX fits, E-ATX fits but you may have to remove the black snap-lok cable organizer.

Paso has a swap guide, Winter has a guide, I have a 'guide' more or less that may have links to other swaps + semi-'consolidated' info in last link

• Alienware Area 51 (R1) SkyLake Processor / Motherboard / EVGA 1600 P2 Power Supply Swap
• Area-51 ALX: the Alien Transplant
• The ALX-Files: A51 R1 Motherboard Swap Asus 4770k USB3.0 + Cmnd Cntr 2.08.11 = Proud new Poppa
• Install Command Center for a Non-Alienware Motherboard
• ALIENWARE ALX Case Mod Project

After the CPU temps hit 93C,  turns out in windows 10 the CC appears to not see the CPU temp and did not cycle up the radiator fan

I could be wrong, but I didn't think CC software or MIO-Board hardware really controls that (it just passes thru the signals to MB). Usually, if cooler can't "keep up" or keep CPU under 80c ... it's usually just a bad Asetek cooler.

CC under windows 7 could see the CPU temp.  under windows 10 the CPU temp is not there anymore.  And the radiator fan did not spin up like it should when the CPU got hot.  One the plus side, under windows 10 that fan never freaks out and goes to max RPM.

CPU got hot because the raid was in validation mode and was pulling CPU time, but windows 10 does not have a driver so it did not know.

Booted up windows 10 into safe mode and just let it sit there till the raid controller got done.  All 4 cores was at 3.43 Ghz and at 100% utilization.

Temp fix going to get a Corsair Commander Mini Link  And try that to control the radiator fan for the liquid cooling.

Oh separate question.  Anyone know what Intel driver to use in windows 10 for the raid controller for the Area 51 motherboard?  If I can get windows 10 to see the raid status that should stop this from happening again.

System is holding up well, but for the 12 Gig memory limit of the motherboard.  Hit that quickly when working on Space Engineers 

Elfiwolfe wrote:

1. Liquid cooling passed. 

2. Just looks like in windows 10 the fan stays at one speed no matter the CPU temp.

 

3. Oh.  I think I may know the problem.  This was an upgrade from win7 to win10.  So Let me remove AWCC and then install it again.  I am on AWCC v2.8.9.

 

4. Then I think i'm the only person crazy enough to mount a AMD R 295x2 in an Area-51 ALX

 

5. guess I should not replace the motherboard for a few more years.

1. Good. Hardware is good then.
 
2. Sounds like software problem. AWCC drivers for MIO-Board functions have always installed into Windows strangely.

3. Right. AWCC v2.8.11.0 for Area51-R1 running Win10-64bit, but must use Windows-8 Compatibility Mode. Aurora-R1 has a VERY similar motherboard and MIO-Board.

https://community.dell.com/thread/17251-alienware-aurora-r1-windows-10-pro-upgrade-smooth-sailing-so-far

4. Nice  As long as you have the power for it, should be fine. I've been running an AMD-5870 in my Aurora-R1 all these years. Just recently swapped it for an MSI Nvidia GTX-1070. I think I might drop the AMD-5870 into my aging Kodi media-server for occasional Windows gaming on Living Room projector.

5. Yeah, hard to get rid of Aurora R1/R4 or Area51-R1 when they are still working.  Still pretty nice Windows desktops with some power. I guess because they were built on Intel Enthusiast's Platform back in the day.

Elfiwolfe wrote:

 

Oh separate question.  Anyone know what Intel driver to use in windows 10 for the raid controller for the Area 51 motherboard?  If I can get windows 10 to see the raid status that should stop this from happening again.

 

System is holding up well, but for the 12 Gig memory limit of the motherboard.  Hit that quickly when working on Space Engineers 

That would be Intel-RST.
 
There is a section on this page about it. You will have to find the right version that supports new Win-10/64bit but on that old Intel-x58 Chipset.
 
I highly suggest you take a full Macrium Reflect Free v6.x Image (with Verify on) of whole system before you start messing with them. Pretty easy to fall into a deep hole that you might need help getting out of.

https://community.dell.com/thread/21205

Elfiwolfe wrote:

CC under windows 7 could see the CPU temp.  under windows 10 the CPU temp is not there anymore.  And the radiator fan did not spin up like it should when the CPU got hot.  One the plus side, under windows 10 that fan never freaks out and goes to max RPM.

 

CPU got hot because the raid was in validation mode and was pulling CPU time, but windows 10 does not have a driver so it did not know.

Booted up windows 10 into safe mode and just let it sit there till the raid controller got done.  All 4 cores was at 3.43 Ghz and at 100% utilization.

 

You can test all Asetek liquid cooling from Dell Diagnostics (outside of Windows).
https://community.dell.com/thread/3125

AWCC v2.8.11.0 works fine on Win10-64bit, if installed in Windows-8 Compatibility Mode.

Liquid cooling passed.  Just looks like in windows 10 the fan stays at one speed no matter the CPU temp.

Oh.  I think I may know the problem.  This was an upgrade from win7 to win10.  So Let me remove AWCC and then install it again.  I am on AWCC v2.8.9.

Then I think i'm the only person crazy enough to mount a AMD R 295x2 in an Area-51 ALX

guess I should not replace the motherboard for a few more years.

Reinstalling the AWCC.

CPU temp does not show up. and cpu temp varies from 43-60C.

But now the upper fins open on bios bootup instead of waiting for windows 10 sign in and AWCC starts.

And the CPU fan does cycle up and down in speed on bios bootup.

So one of three issues seems better.  Just have finding the right intel raid drivers and memory limits left as issues.

So one of three issues seems better. 

Yes, all that sounds pretty normal. Good work.

You can run CPU-ID HW-Monitor if you want more info.

What video card do you currently have with the factory motherboard and processor?  I have a rx480 8gb but I can't play for more than 20 minutes due to the pc randomly crashing.  I think the cause is from the mobo/processor and if so I will also need to replace mine.  Best of luck to yours.

I have a Radeon R9 295X2.  Had to make some changes to the fan combo and cutting my own screws to mount it in the top area to be next to the CPU radiator.

To work with the Alienware power supply you have to combine 3 power rails into 2 power rails to feed the card.  On paper it is barely within spec at max power of the card.

I ended up getting a Cass-Ole power cable assembly and replacing the power supply with a Corsair atx 1500

Nice.

So, you are still running the stock motherboard in your Area51-R1?
You got your AWCC running satisfactory on Windows-10/64bit ?

Elfiwolfe wrote:

I would need to use the intel program to stress the CPU and see if the radiator fan speed changes. 

I'm sure I sound like a "broken record" will all my posts, but checkout OCCT. It provides Prime95-like work for the CPU and Furmark-like work for the GPU ... concurrently if you wish.

Or possible use a program like Speed Fan