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January 7th, 2025 21:34
Aurora R16, no PCIe slot if config is with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070?
Alienware Aurora R16
I bought a 10GB ethernet card, which requires a PCIe slot, only to discover it is blocked by the GPU it came configured with. So far, the only solution was somebody adjusting their motherboards in order to get a riser in. Scares the heck out of me, is there really no other solution (without impacting the 10GB speed)?
Thanks
JohnDotKay
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January 10th, 2025 19:21
I just had a similar issue with my R16 w/4090 - both PCIe 4.0 x4 slots are empty but unusable because the graphics card is in the way. I found the following on Amazon (both work, one is a bit longer than the other)...
Amazon.com: GLOTRENDS 120mm PCIe 3.0 X4 Riser Cable (180 Degree Straight Angle to 90 Degree Right Angle) for PCIe WiFi Card, M.2 PCIe Card, Firewire Card, USB PCIe Card, Sound Card, etc (PCIE30-X4-120MM-1890D) : Electronics
... and
Amazon.com: BQZYX+ PCIE 4.0 x4 Extender Riser Cable,High Speed Flexible Right Angle PCI-E Port GPU Graphic Card Extension Cable-200mm90 Degrees (PCIE 4.0 X4 90 Degrees) : Electronics
In my case I wanted to use a PCIe to NVMe converter to add an extra drive, and it works like a charm. I know it's slower than the native NVMe slots, but it's for scratch use, and it's still quicker than any external option.
Joe00722
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January 8th, 2025 03:09
Please explain "adjusting their motherboards in order to get a riser in."
CluelesslyFrustrated
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January 8th, 2025 03:59
I think it was just to physically shift the board down so he could squeeze it in. Probably a realñtively straightforward step, but would make me nervous
Joe00722
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January 8th, 2025 04:34
So i looked up riser cables. There is a possibility there.
I also saw some information on m.2 - pcie.
CluelesslyFrustrated
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January 8th, 2025 04:39
Yeah, the guy who did it posted pics. I´ll see if I can find the link. BVut again, i´m not at that level. Not touching the motherboard all by myself and dont know anyone who would.
What do you mean about "some info on m.2". Can one use the SSD slots for something other than ssd? I have a spare for now but Dell tech support said no. (I assume you mean ssd slot when you say "m.2"? Otherwise, please dumb it down for me even more)
Joe00722
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January 8th, 2025 04:44
Yes, you can just google it m.2 cable to pcie.
CluelesslyFrustrated
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January 8th, 2025 04:49
https://www.reddit.com/r/Alienware/comments/17zpaaa/aurora_r15_amd_4090_where_are_my_pci_slots_dell/
Not the link I had in mind and the pic is not great, but he did some sort of finagling without touching the motherboard, or? Any recommendations on riser, and any other hardware needed to be able to use the PCIe slot? Thanks
(edited)
CluelesslyFrustrated
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January 8th, 2025 04:54
@CluelesslyFrustrated *clarification: i dont know anyone who would touch the motherboard for me or know how to anyways.
CluelesslyFrustrated
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January 8th, 2025 05:12
@Joe00722 Oh wow, that would solve things! I did Google it now but came up with a myriad of info and images and pics, all looking slightly different from one another and scrambling my mind again.
Just to reconfirm, any cable that says it is an m.2 to pcie cable should allow me to connect my pcie (ethernet) card directly in the currently empty m.2 slot? (Any cable you would recommend, if that´s not asking too much? Thx!!!)
Tesla1856
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January 16th, 2025 18:08
It all sounds rather kludgy.
I would suggest you just use the on-board one (it should be 2.5-gig).
If configured correctly, with a reasonable length of CAT-6/CAT-7 wire, and your ethernet-backbone Switch and/or Router is setup correctly ... it should be very fast (ie, good thru-put).
CluelesslyFrustrated
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January 18th, 2025 17:46
@Tesla1856
Thanks. The klufgyness is probably me, a digital (software) guy, tinkering semi-cluelessly on hardware. Well, i tooknthe plunge. Ignored the Dell support person who said i couldnt use my available internal NVME ssd slot for it. Bought an adapter, stuck it in, and then did unthinkable: plugged the power connection into what seemed to be an available female counterpart. Spent a couple hours tryingvto find basic info. As stupid as this orobably sounds, i was worriedvi was plugging it in somewhere wrong and cause a power isdue, frying everything. I finally lost patience plugged it in, turned on the pc, and it was if the ethernet card hsd bern there all along. I was thrilled, not withbthis primitive acheivement, but to have resolved a 3 month long frustration, regardless that i probably should have figured it out sooner. There are so many cables, adapters, etc, wih minute variations. I have ordered so many wrong pieces in the past year, since i wentvfreelance and no IT department to help. (Also, I'm an Asper, so neither of my 2 friends work in IT, and no Geek squad over here.
I did however lose my 2nd internal SSD slot in the process. Dell Support told me my pc supports max 4 TB, but 2x2 for example. I now have a 2TB ssd in the first slot. Soneone said that my pc actually supports more, and that the agent was just sticking to the official OEM guidelines or similar.
Can i just replace the 2TB with sth much bigger. Or what would be the best next step to et more internal storage? Use the SATA slots (sounds so easy but maybe spend another 3 months of my life figuring it out) and i think you can repurpose those so they go faster. Infinite options is not a good thing when one is a clueless perfectionist.
Thanks.
Tesla1856
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January 19th, 2025 01:17
@CluelesslyFrustrated
Sounds like you are running out of PCIe-lanes/channels. Nothing you can do about it since the other components in the computer are pretty-nice and need them.
No, there is no 4tb drive-limit ... not for each drive, nor for the whole machine like 2x2 or whatever.
I was trying to save you from all this. Please pull the PCIe-card back-out and do what I suggested.
JohnDotKay
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January 19th, 2025 04:03
@CluelesslyFrustrated
Why did you make things so hard?
Keep the NVMe slots for NVMe drives - you can have two of them natively connected, and the system will support more than 4TB (I have 2 drives, 4TB and 8TB in mine, working just fine).
If you really need a full 10GB/s of network bandwidth, get one of the cables I shared earlier, plug into one of the unused but obstructed PCIe 4.0 slots on the board, and plug your 10GB card in the other end.
As @Tesla1856 has said though, the on-board ethernet port should be plenty fast enough at 2.5GB/s. You have to be doing something crazy on a home PC to need 10GB/s connectivity!
CluelesslyFrustrated
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January 20th, 2025 21:17
@JohnDotKay Obviously that is the first thing I wanted to do and assumed I would be given at least one accessible slot! But as, I said, I can´t reach any PCIe slot. Dell Support also confirmed that with my config, the slots can´t be accessed. That´s where the problem began. Physically. I saw someone else share a photo of how they did it by displacing the motherboard slightly, but I´m not comfortable doing that.
If you have the same config, and were able to reach the slot, I´d be forever grateful for the pics of how you did it. But so far, from everything I´ve checked, including some extremely long rants from people who seem at ease with hardware, it´s not possible. Neither from above nor from below. I have multiple riser cables, but I just can´t squeeze them into any PCIe slot.
CluelesslyFrustrated
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January 20th, 2025 21:32
@JohnDotKay PS Thanks for the confirmation on the SSD capacity. I should probably stop asking Dell Premium Support about these things.
With regards to my speed, which is part of my digital world and I am confortable speaking to. I upgraded from a supposed 1GBps connection to 10Gbps. I thouight it was hilarious my PC kept telling me it was capable of going much faster. The options in my area are either 1 or 10 GBps. If I´m gonna pay for 10Gbps, then why not use it. Of course 2.5Gbps is plenty fast, but does not give me the type of perverted satisfaction of seeing my edited 100GB+ videos (and multiple variants) fly up and down. Nor my streaming, which alreeady has to deal with traffic jams, bottlenecks, and ensuring on my end that I am doing all I can at least from my end, keeps my sanity in check.
Besides, actually adapting the config to get the 10GBPS only took me about 30 mins. (Finding out this was an option is what took me months.)
Since my SSD slots can handle 4TB and 8TB, as you say, then one 8TB card is more then enough for me locally.
Obviously, my first choice would be reaching the PCIe slot and keeping the NVME for a second SSD. Until someone can confirm how I can do so without physical tweaks to the inside of my PC, I´ll make do with second choice.
(edited)