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7-year old Alienware Aurora Motherboard Upgrade?
Hey everyone, I've got a 7-year old Alienware Aurora desktop that I would love to upgrade if possible (it needs it!). The goal is to update it and give to my Son as a great gaming system. The current specs are:
- Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz
- 8GB 1333Mhz DDR3
- ATI Radeon HD 5970
- 1 TB SATA-II 7,200 RPM
- 850W PSU
- MOBO is an mATX Alienware 04VWF2 Intel X58 Chipset
I would like to switch out the MOBO to a Z270 LGA1151 board (looking at the ASUS ROG STRIX Z270G) so that I can upgrade the processor, RAM, and GPU. Just wanted to check if anyone has heard of any issues as this is a proprietary Alienware MOBO I want to replace. Appreciate any advice - thanks! -matt c.
mattskiii
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February 24th, 2017 15:00
Yep, had that thought myself. Just thought I would entertain the idea of using the same case. But you're right, it may be better just to scrap and move on.... :D
ejn63
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February 24th, 2017 15:00
If you're really going to replace the mainboard/RAM/GPU/etc., you may as well just build a new system. It's not worth living with the limitations of the OEM case for the sake of saving $50-100 out of several hundred dollars in new hardware.
You will need a new copy of Windows -- if you change the mainboard, the OEM copy won't work (activate) as it's tied to the Alienware BIOS.
Tesla1856
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February 24th, 2017 20:00
See my post here. While it's a slightly different machine, all still applies.
http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/20004186
Edit: Notice what I did with my Aurora-R1. With an SSD and a GTX-1070 ... it's still a very nice machine for very little upgrade money ($600). I'm playing Fallout-4 on Ultra Settings. With the AMD-5870, it had to be tweaked lower than Low. Pretty sure Nvidia PhysX is helping (apart from the fact that 1070 is just plain awesome).
Likewise ... gotta get a SSD . I've had it in there for 2-3 years now. Even at SATA-2/300 ... makes it a whole new machine.
rdunnill
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February 25th, 2017 23:00
It will activate with the COA's product key, but depending on the country, the license could be invalid.
Tesla1856
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February 28th, 2017 15:00
As you wish. I'm the last one to talk someone out of building a new system. :emotion-1:
Possibly. Do you have link for that? I don't think that is happening here, and I have a 930 which is just a bit slower. Both are quads, that run 8 threads.
You mean while I'm playing Fallout-4 on Ultra (Max-out) settings, at 1920x1200 (over 1080p) ... all CPU cores are at 100% utilization? I really doubt that is happening.
mattskiii
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February 28th, 2017 15:00
Thanks for the info. Don't think I will go with a GTX-1070 with my i7 920. Have read could be a bottleneck issue...
romeoteknik
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August 3rd, 2017 19:00
I just upgraded myself. Core 930 to 990X and Radeon HD 5970 to ASUS ROG STRIX GTX 1080 Ti. I had concerns since X58 has PCie 2.0 and not 3, but according to most folks, not much of an issue/bottleneck. I ran a benchmark and here are my PC results: www.userbenchmark.com/.../4528053
I scored low on the SSD drive, I am assuming this mobo doesn't have SATA 3, is that correct @Tesla1856?
Tesla1856
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August 3rd, 2017 22:00
That is correct. Quoted from above:
Likewise ... gotta get a SSD . I've had it in there for 2-3 years now. Even at SATA-2/300 ... makes it a whole new machine.
GTX-1080ti huh? Very nice. Yeah, I bought a whole new Aurora-R6 system so it's great having two fully-capable gaming systems setup. IMO, these older Aurora's and Area-51's still have some life in them.
I do have a spare matching Samsung 830 256gb SSD. I've toyed with the idea of setting up a RAID-0 with them ... it's just so simple, fast and dependable now ... I'm on the fence.
speedstep
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August 4th, 2017 10:00
With a GTX 1050 TI ZT-P10510A-10L and a
https://www.amazon.com/ZOTAC-GeForce-Profile-Graphics-ZT-P10510E-10L/dp/B06XHZ29N5/
OR
https://www.amazon.com/MSI-GTX-1050-TI-4G/dp/B01M27X836/
500 Gig Western Digital Blue SSD WDS500G1B0A
I think you will find that you have a whole new machine.
https://www.amazon.com/500GB-Internal-Solid-State-WDS500G1B0A/dp/B01LWQ9LYV
You could try this for better SSD data transfer. It does require an X4 slot however.
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSDACL6G.S/