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My CPU Cooling swap dilemma
First just to put you into perspective, I bought an Alienware R4 around 2-3 years ago and it came with a i7, GTX 760, 1TB, 8GB, stock AW motherboard and a Dell power supply. I have wanted to change my components into a mid tower by NZXT, everything seemed ok and everything will be able to fit.
But apparently the CPU cooler, which is supposed to be a re-branded Asetek 550lc, connects the a MIO board which is connected onto the top of the R4's case. This is connected through either a 5 or 7 pin connector onto this board. This apparently will not let me move this cooler into a new case, in which I am fine with buying a new cooler. But what I want to know before I fork money into this is, whether the motherboard will be able to fit a standard CPU liquid cooler, eg. any of the Corsair models. I am unsure if the cooler will fit since they used proprietary slots to attach their cpu cooler, so I am wondering if I will have to buy a new motherboard aswell or will a standard liquid cooler fit fine?
Any help will be greatly appreciated, I can't count the amount of forums and posts I have looked through. But there dosen't seemed to be much information on the web about this subject.
Tesla1856
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December 15th, 2015 14:00
Yes, you can. The MB is fairly stock in that regard.
You can even make it work with existing MIO-Board/Command-Center
http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19585441
ORowl32
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December 15th, 2015 14:00
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ORowl32
7 Posts
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December 15th, 2015 14:00
So if I was to buy a new cooler, I would be able to connect it staright to the mboard, without the use of the MIO-board.
Tesla1856
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December 15th, 2015 15:00
Cass-Ole
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December 15th, 2015 20:00
"a new cooler ... connect straight to the mboard, without use of MIO-board". The R4 mthrbrd has one cpu_fan header (circlded green). When used outside of an Aurora case (in otherwords, when used without the top lightstrip/mio board), I'd like to think the radiator fan needs plugged into the solo cpu-fan header, while the kooler pump needs constant 12volts from another source: note the top light strip / mio supply these basics to the rad-fan & pump.
The other day I guided you to that thread I was part of (Alienware CPU Liquid cooling and fans and PSU on new Motherboard) so you could see the 7pin adaptors I make & an explanation of these basic questions. You should have seen this photo, that is about what u need, just using a different scheme:
what I make can be a specialty adaptor, it doesn't need a 3pin fan end like the photo, what is important is the 7pin adaptor end; in your scenario, it is likely all you need is a 7pin end with a molex-peripheral 4pin, or simply a way of tapping constant 12volts for your stock kooler pump off of a power supply connector. You can spend whatever amount on a new kooler, or I sell you an adaptor end for ~$10 & you keep using the pump you have now.
Without an adaptor like this, you can still modify an end on, like here: CPU Pump power needs
If you buy a new kooler, Corsair etc, as Tesla said, yes it will work on Aurora R4, sure it will. You will want something like H80i, where the fans plug INTO the pump itself, since that cooler truly only needs just the cpu_fan header, & remember you only have one.