aurora r3 video upgrade

Hello, 

The Nvidia GTX 960 is not a validated graphics card upgrade for the Alienware Aurora R3 system. We recommend you check the PSU in your system to confirm if it can handle dual GTX 960 graphics cards. For further reference, you could try posting this on the Notebook Review and Alienware Arena forums.

It cannot-you need more juice.  That's the issue with "engineered" systems from any company really--not just Dell, they can't handle much more than what they come with as far as power requirements go. For example years ago, I forget how many years ago:-). A decent power supply was about 350 watts. However the Dell/HP/Compaq/Gateway systems came with 200 watt power supply--engineers use all kinds of tricks to use as little power as possible-however, that seriously degrades the amount of "upgrades" you can do to said systems without purchasing a new power supply.

You need at least a 1000 watt power supply to run the system PLUS those two video cards...Your Dell system most likely has an 650-750 watt power supply--you'd be the best one to tel us that though.

My reasoning for the 1000 watt estimate is this: it takes a 400watt power supply to run 1 Nvidia 960-not including system power needs. The rest of your system needs at least 300-400 watts (minimum)...you have 2 960's for a total power need of approx. 600-800 watts(depending on whether or not you will over clock the video cards) JUST FOR THE VIDEO CARDS...you do the math and the research--there's tons of information online. Oh, and a decent 1200 watt power supply will cost between $350 and $400 (Canadian) -add the that to the cost of your Dell system.

I purchased 1 GTX 780 to replace the two 560ti's my system came with simply because the power supply. I didn't want to upgrade it. The one video card was enough to blow away the performance of the other two anyways...

Not sure what you're using them for, maybe you DO indeed need the video power, however, I suspect you'd never use the one 960 to it's full potential and the second card is simply a waste of money.

references:

 """""www.geforce.com/.../specifications"""""""

From 3dguru.com

We do recommend you purchase something with some more stamina. We always recommend a little extra because a PSU is most efficient at 50% of its full load. So if your load power draw is 250 Watts during gaming, then a 500 Watt power supply would be the best match in terms of efficiency versus energy savings.

Either-way good luck.

Does your R3 work fine with a single 960? I'm looking into getting the Evga gtx 960 FTW

It is working fine with a Evga gtx 960 ssc

Why is everyone buying the 960's? Just curious. I recently upgraded from the 780gtx to the 980 gtx (gave the 780 to my son to replace the 660ti he's been using for 3 years). The 980gtx runs everything ultra settings right out of the box without tweaking anything. Fallout 4/Farcry4/Blackops 3--all of them ultra settings. Does the 960 do that also? Just curious.

I can't say for everyone else but at Amazon there is a $300 price difference

That would explain it I guess. But I gotta say, this here 980 REALLY plays well...it eats everything I throw at it without even sweating.

Thanks fer the answer though. Cheers:-)