Alienware Area-51 (Late 2009), PSU?

heres a list of all the components that came with the PC. Can anyone tell me what the power supply is??

Your system shipped with the dual AMD 6990. So the Dell power supply was =
KGTGV 1.2kW

• from your build-sheet, the designation Standard 1.2 = 1200watt power supply
• had it said Standard 1.1 = 1100w model
• had it only said Standard (or STD) = 1000w model

There are two known Dell part #'s (dp/n) for the 1200w models:

J297R (216VA) = 18Amp Circuit Breaker > (V x A = W) > 12V x 18A = 216watts = 'standard power'

VHM5V (240VA) = 20Amp Circuit Breaker aka 240watts > VHM5V = 'enhanced power'

The 'KGTGV Assembly' = the power supply caddy, black rear honeycomb trim cover & VHM5V power supply, such that KGTGV isn't the actual part# found on the power supply, it is a package, an assembly of parts

tag is found on the bottom of the PSU Caddy

when new, cables are wrapped in pink bag + VHM5V part tag

the PSU part# is found here (VHM5V or J297R) on the side label

on the other hand, when J297R is purchased with a PSU caddy, it is a Y195P Assembly

to see the labels, back the black 66pin modular bulk connector out of the psu by compressing the two plastic side-locks:

with 66pin pulled free, go to the rear of your case, pull the 'lever' down while sliding the psu chassis out of your case. remove the four trim retaining screws, slide psu out of caddy, inspect label. Install is reverse of procedure, making sure the modular connector clicks back in place. It is qwite ez to remove/replace the power supply

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The link to this article no longer exits on DELL.com, reproducd below using snips taken from the Bing cached page

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Enhanced Alienware Area-51 and Area-51 ALX Video Card Configurations

KGTGV PSU Assembly + 1R6H6 PCI Shroud + Kensington Lock

KGTGV assembly includes 1R6H6 modified pci-e shroud, whose top sill has cut-outs to stay clear of very hot dual-gpu's in 6990 (& high-power / hot dual-GTX 590 cards) & lower sill has less depth. If your Alien has this special shroud there's a good chance it came with the enhanced power supply package. Kensington lock also helps

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1R6H6 Enhanced PCI Shroud

HSG, DUCT, RETN, PCI, A51 for 3-WAY Cayman PRO, Antilles DUAL-CARD, & GTX590 DUAL-CARD Configs

1R6H6 found new on eBAY

On a final note, why do you need to know what psu you have? Are you contemplating a swap? Or did you need a new exact replacement? If so, best to find out what model 1200watt u have, by checking out the part# on the label so you get the right one.

Thanks Guys. Reason I was asking is I ordered a Club 3D Radeon R9 390 8GB royalQueen and It requires 700+watts. It says on the site "one 75W 6-pin PCIe® power connector and one 150W 8-pin PCIe® capable of supplying 28A of dedicated current per connector."  I should use two separate rails right? Or will 1 rail work fine. I don't want to fry anything but I would like to get a second card someday for some crossfire.

All in all, I havn't had too much problems with this computer. I haven't had to upgrade anything at all but time is moving on and its not quite powerful enough to run games like Witcher 3 and soon Fallout 4 (The reason for upgrading!)

I also plan to get more ram. I'm looking at 3 sticks of 8gb pc1333 DDR3. Do i have to stick with pc1333 DDR3 or can I get something else say pc2800 DDR3 both are 240 pin one has a higher mhz what about DDR4 probably need a new motherboard for that though right?

Sorry for taking so long to respond. I was having login difficulties and the instructions I was getting from the Dell Forums tech support wasn't working so i made a new account.

About the number in my name. When I was a kid we used to be to call Santa Claus and talk to him by dialing 1-976-8585 It cost something like $2.99/minute So after the bill came that was over a thousad dollars, boy was i in trouble. They then turned it into a phone *** line a few years later. Very shocking to a kid expecting to hear santa...lol  I've no idea what the number is now.

if yours came with a 6990 (a 375watt card) you should be good; here are the labels off of the two known 1200w models, for you & others to browse over:

this one has seven 12v rails (a-g), a/b/c/d are the video cables, each cable on its own 12v rail. I had my j297r tested on a professional load tester, a/b/c/d each topped out at 19.5amps b4 shut-down; however, if the chassis itself pulls the maximum of 1200watts over all voltage types, your shut-down value will naturally be 11.5amps or so on each vid-cable (regardless, it should shutdown at 1200w)

if this is the psu in the KGTGV assembly as Chris-M suggests, it has one vid-cable rail (12v3) pushing 46amps (550watts) out to four cables if/when 1200w max. My VHM5V had an issue (internal component failure) at time of load-testing, so 12v3 could not be tested for max amps b4 shut-down, but it should have pulled well over 46amps ... on both units, the vid-cables will output well over their label specs, so long as no other volts are being used, known as simply testing pure 12volt output.

I suggested you back your psu out & check which chassis you have.

What we know is that j297r could run dual-5970's, which are 295watt cards, so I think your Club 390 (300watt card) will work, whichever model you have.

Here we tried to get a beast 7990 to work on j297r, using an evga powerboost module & y-split cables on a solo-card. VHM5V wouldn't need y-splits since it has its own dedicated 46amp video-rail:

• Area-51 ALX, upgraded to AMD HD7990, random power offs?
• http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19563242?pi21932=1

I've done what I can to produce tips on how to best connect hi-power cards inside Area-51, find them in that thread.

Your qwestion about using 1 or 2 rails, hard to say until you know which model you have.

Area-51 is validated for tri-channel memory to run 12Gb max at 1600MHz & 6Gb max at 1866 MHz ... anything over 1866 is no promise & ddr4 needs a new mobo ... I think someone here got 24Gb of mem to run at 1600, you'd have to dig that old thread up though, we were sure he got lucky since it was double what was validated.

where does the EVGA PowerBoost adapter fit, The same pcie slot as the card or one on the other slots. Is there a picture i can see?

I'll try to look at the psu label but i might not be able to log in again. Its very difficult for some reason.

So 24gb at pc1333 would work just fine?

I had no idea about the different colours of the wires.

This is how I have my current amd 7970 wired

ok here is the psu lable and my memory lable which says 10600U is this pc 1333? so confusing...lol

errr   there's a blinking blue light on a daughter board (I think thats the right term)  to the right of the psu. What is it??

heres a video. sorry the videos so bad taken from my ipod.

[View:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THqb4Rod3VQ:550:0]

in a perfect world where your system ran a 6990, a 390's no problem. A powerboost to augment 12volts to the card can always help & never hurt, they fit in any pci-e slot, the small x1 normally, but can not fit in a slot occupied by a card. Check this thread for more photos & discussions:

• Area 51 ALX 5870 Tri-Fire Setup?
• http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19346132?pi21932=7#19753445

idk if 24Gb (3x8gb) will work or not,12gb was the validated max & this is the post of the guy who tried:

• Alienware Area-51 ALX Intel A10 XMP profile doesn't work with DDR3 1600 MHz
• http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19535096

ddr3 table: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR3_SDRAM 10600 = 1333 / 12800 = 1600

as for your connecting scheme (wht/blu cables) if u saw in my 7990 post, the cables that emanate from the psu chassis are superior since they are soldered directly to the internal board, making them less-resistive than the harness cable-pair. When running dual-cards, each card should get one chassis cable & one harness cable so it all 'balances' out. for now try your wht/ylw cables from the chassis.

VHM5V power supply, you have a single 12v rail worth 46+ amps that powers all four vid-cables, all of your vid-cables tie into one 12v rail (12V 3). On a 375w card like 6990, 300watts goes to the card through the vid-cable pair, the last 75watts through the mthrbrd/pci-e lane (which is why we use a powerboost to saturate the pci-e lane & feed it what it needs).

A blinking blue light is no sign of trouble, Chris-M told me (I forget which) it was either the presence of a blue-tooth radio or network device, but not a signifier of a state of failure of anything.

• Alien 51 ATX - MIO flashing Blue LED ??
• http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/p/19384097/20746396#20746396

So I should definitely get the powerboost for my system to be able to use my new card?

I wouldn't say definitely get it, not unless your system shuts down under a load (or blue/blk screens), but if you have 15 dollars or so to invest in one (from evga or an online parts source), then including one into your system will have a beneficial impact (the mthrbrd will not have to work so hard getting 12volts from the mthrbrd 24pin, through the mthrbrd, to the pci-e lane / pwrboost gives a direct added-path & augments the vid-cards 12volt needs). Your power supply, mthrbd & vid-card can/will all benefit, but the physical reason/explanation is too much to go into (the 'why' of it).

If you're in the US, keep your ii's on this auction:

• http://www.ebay.com/itm/PCI-Express-Video-Graphics-Card-Overclock-Power-Voltage-Booster-Video-Card-Cable-/111704002963?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1a0213d193

Your build-sheet says your alien came with & ran at least one 375watt 6990, so your new 300w R9 380 comes in well under, I don't foresee a problem, nor should you. If you'd like to treat your system to a powerboost, then do it, since it is a low-dollar beneficial product.

Ok I've just got the card and installed it. The quick install guide showed  the yellow/black rails as the ones to use so i did that. I used the 6+2 is the 8 port and the 6 of the other black/yellow cable from the 64pin connector into the 6 port.

does this look good or did I screw it up?...lol

I'm looking for one of those egva powerboosts amazon.ca is selling them for $60...lol  I'll keep looking. I did learn that Newegg has a Canadian online branch now. So awesome. They were sold out of the power boost though.  :(

I'm about to launch 3dmark. I'm making cross signs like a priest hoping my PC wont melt :)

the eBay auction ships to Canada, US $8.51. Or simply try evga.com:

• http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=100-MB-PB01-BR

To run a pwrboost you'll need an 8-12 inch molex / peripheral 4pin extender / extension. Normally we tap the molex 4pin that is part of the main sata/molex/floppy cable up at your dvd-drive area.

All four cables in your case harness work. No doubt. But the superior most-efficient least-resistive connexions for your solo-card are, again, the cable-pair coming out of the chassis, wht & ylw, soldered directly to the internal board. The cables in the harness/66pin have inherent measurable resistance due to the mechanical coupling which is the interface of the chassis/66pin male/female terminals. If you want your system to run its best, use the chassis cables, lay the harness pair to the side.

From there, pretend your wht chassis cable is going to be the 8pin (6+2). If you read my input in the 7990 thread you would see that inserting the 'primary' 6pin, laying the 6pin jumper (2ndary) to the side & 'borrowing' the 2pin from the jumper is the most efficient connexion-type, because the jumper is resistive - where - at the crimps inside the primary 6pin.

Based on your photo you look fine, your psu is decent - change the cable scheme if you want, add a pwrboost if u want - but from the looks of it you're all set, whatever else you decide to do or buy is optional & a judgment call. Thumb's up brother 

use 6pin primary & borrow 2pin from jumper / lay the resistive 6pin jumper to the side

my VHM5V & the five other US ones I've seen have a white/blk & ylw/blk chassis cable pair. perhaps yours is a Canadian version, lol. the color of the cables isn't what matters, but if you can, use the ones coming out of the chassis as preferential

ok I used the 6pin white and 6pin yellow both directly from the case and i use the 2 pin from the yellow and plugged it in next to the white. is that correct?