Recommended NVIDIA graphics cards for Alienware Aurora R1 (2009 model)

Hi,

The Nvidia 580 will be the highest supported video card for your model. But it should unofficially work as well with the newest cards like 1060/1070/1080/Titan X (875W PSU).

Aurora R1 (built October 2009).  Intel i7 920  Radeon 6950 series graphics card 24gb Gskill ddr3-1333mhz Tri-channel PSU is a high power unit   I would update the graphics card ... and would prefer an NVIDIA graphics card.

For my Aurora-R1, after some research I just ordered this:
 
MSI NVidia GTX-1070 GAMING-X 8G

Looks like a nice build with:
10-Phase power and high-temp Japanese caps, nice cooling (Twin Frozr VI, all parts are heat-sinked), metal back-plate ... even some OC-ing if you must.

Bundled software is nice too with AfterBurner, DX12-OSD and PiP (Dragon Eye)

What’s missing? Looks like eVGA is not the only one who can make a nice NVidia video card.

This GAMING-X card clocks a bit higher than plain GAMING card. I will likely just run it in “Silent Mode” which is a preset down-clock back to reference-1070 clocks. There is also a “Gaming Mode” which is a mild-OC, and a full-out “OC-Mode”.

My current specs are also in sig below:
Intel i7-930 with 12gb tri-channel ram
Intel x58-chipset MB with PCIe_v2.0 & Legacy BIOS
SSD
875w PS
 

Lets' see how long I can keep this machine running, relevant, gaming, and useful.

That is very interesting, good luck! These big Auroras were built like the proverbial brick outside lavatory, so with love and care will be good for a number of years I am sure.

I will be using it for video production, and processing huge RAW photo files, rather than gaming.

GPU and RAM requirements are similar (video/photo and gaming). Just follow the hardware recommendations of software applications.
 
I suggest a new video card over a used one. There is no telling how much longer a used card will work 100% properly. Or if it's even 100% now (if buying on sites like eBay).
 
I also recommend a SSD (at least on Windows bootable C:). Install those apps on it also, as well as any dedicated application "swap files". Final rendered photos and videos can be stored on larger spinning drives, NAS, etc.

The MSI Nvidia GXT-1070 Gaming-X 8gb seems to be working fine in my old Aurora-R1. No problems with Legacy BIOS posting, only PCIe-v2.0 lanes, older Intel-i7 processor, etc.
 
Machine was blown-out with air-compressor before install. It does not exhaust out the back, so I removed the Aurora's black-plastic hinged cover

It's a really heavy card. It’s about 1 inch taller than AMD-5870 …. Meaning, the LED-lit MSI logo is about 1 inch higher than screws that mount the card. Still, no problems with it fitting.

Windows-10 loaded a very recent (late 2016) NVidia WHQL driver … a full driver with NVidia Control Panel. I also installed MSI's Gaming App 6.x. Easy setup.

I was getting like 130fps in Heaven benchmark. The GTX-1070 fans were not even turning for the first few minutes (by design with "Zero Frozr" on). In general, the machine is noticeably quieter now.

Fallout-4 Auto-Detected (and nicely playable) 1080p video settings went from:
AMD-5870 : Low
to
GTX-1070 : Ultra
(passed-up Medium and High)
 
 

Here, you can see it's about an inch "taller" than Reference Design (notice hold-down screw-plate).

Edit: Pics got lost during forum migration, so I put them back in.