New Alienware Aurora Shuts Down during gaming

I feel bad now. Here is what you need. Make sure the cards are wired like it is here for any of the dual card setups. If this doesn't fix it(i'm pretty sure it will) then have Dell replace the PSU.

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kcs/document?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&docid=DSN_84D6A6EDA59E9719E040AC0A64E97CC4&isLegacy=true

Nine times out of ten when a system does a full shutdown like if you pulled the powercord its PSU related.

You ether have a bad PSU or the cards are not wired right. Since it is a know issue for the past year or so that Dell doesn't wired the GPU's right I would say thats the issue.

I could explain how to wire it right but im so tired of doing it. There was a sticky in the forums here showing how to do it but it has been removed. Complain to Dell and make them explain how it should be wired. Then tell them to put the sticky back up.

They have been doing it wrong for over a year now...yes over a year. They even know it yet they still send them out wrong. Anyone that knows computers knows how to wire a GPU. It is very BASIC info yet they can't get it right and poor people like you have to deal with this.

If you are reading this Chris please put the sticky back up.

Remove Over-Clock to test hardware (when having problems).

Troubleshooting Dual Video Cards. Please use search next time (you get your answers faster).

http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/p/19359816/19801896.aspx#19801896

Please read this carefully. I try to make my FAQs complete and basically everything I know on the subject. You answer is likely there somewhere.

Make absolutely sure the power cables from the Power supply do not obstruct the fan of the second card.  Same thing happened to me.  Machine would have graphically corruption with crossfire enabled and machine would shutdown.  re adjusted the cables according to post on forum and has been stable since.  No graphical corruption or shutdowns for 2 X 6hours of benching heaven & tropics/ gaming mixture of Crysis/Warhead & Just cause 2. 

I had the same problem with "Virtual Skipper 5" on Aurora R3/Dual Radeon.

Try to disable CrossFireX, you can do it in "Catalyst Control Center", "Gaming" Tab, "AMD CrossFireX Configuration", uncheck "Enable CrossFireX" and Apply.

Yes, what everyone has said. MY SLI card were wired incorrectly. Plus, there was a cable underneath the lower card, keeping the fan from spinning. Months later, they still assemble these incorrectly. Why doesn't Chris inform Alienware/Dell of these ongoing problems?

Well I have an update after finally getting time to troubleshoot this problem.  It turns out the computer ran just fine with one video card, it didn't matter what one I had in at the time.  Temps were at around 75 degrees C during a heavy load.  As soon as I popped the second video card back in the temp jumped to 105 degrees C and the computer shut down again.

I ended up completely re-wiring the case so that I could get all the cables out from under the second video card.  Below is a before and after picture of where I put the wires and cables to help improve airflow.  I had to also remove the second hard drive bay at the bottom which was unused in order to run the power wires through that back hole.  This whole process probably took me 2 hours and since that video card overheated probably a dozen times I requested that Dell send a replacement.  This Aurora case design is NOT meant for a crossfire setup.  There just isn't enough room under the second card, especially if the Dell assemblers try to jam every cable and wire in the case underneath it.  After these changes the top card hovered around 60-70 degrees C under heavy load and the bottom one was at around 80 degrees C and I had no further shutdowns.

I ended up completely re-wiring the case so that I could get all the cables out from under the second video card.

Excellent post.

This Aurora case design is NOT meant for a crossfire setup.  There just isn't enough room under the second card...

Agreed. There might have been a time long ago (or with lower-end cards), but these-days with high-end cards ... they are simply too thick and require some space for proper air flow.

That's why I recommend Auroras use a nice single card solution. If you want high-end dual cards, you really should be looking at the Area-51. Not just for the space, but the 1100w and 1200w power supplied are available in that model.

This Aurora case design is NOT meant for a crossfire setup.

I agree with this in most cases. All the cards sold by Dell that come installed in these cases have reference coolers. If you used cards that had dual fans and open air designs the small amount of space would not impact the temperature nearly as bad. SO for people upgrading cards and not buying through Dell you could crossfire two dual slot cards with the right coolers. 

I ran the GPU cables up the side of the case and then over the metal ledge.  If you slide them a little to the left there should be a slight indentation in the plastic cover that snaps down so you should be allowed to still snap it in with a little elbow grease.  I tried to keep as many cables as I could out of the large hole underneath the GPU but unfortunately I couldn't fit the GPU cables in that back hole along with the other wires.  It was pretty snug already.  I also couldn't put the HD cage back in with those cables running in the back unless maybe you could sacrifice the top slot on it and put a hole in the left side of the cage to route the cables through.  I opted to just leave mine out since I don't plan on putting more than 2 hard drives in it anyways.