Aurora R3, new graphics card upgrade

Well.. doesn't that R3 only come with a lower watt psu like less than 350w?   The 2080 can probably get by with a good quality 450W (it can use 140-220watts all by itself and Nvidia recommends a 650w a bit overkill but still)  If I had to guess.. i'd say that is the problem there.. could be wrong though.. I do know that the 2000series nvidia cards use more power than their 1000series counter parts (about 40 watts I think..)

From what I remember.. you couldn't put a 980ti in them (or better..) unless you buy the Alienware Graphics Amp.. which is a external enclosure for graphics..  But they have had several versions of the R3 so geez.. not sure. I suppose it's possible to just get a better power supply as well but if it's a slim design you have to make sure you get the right type as it won't be a standard power supply. (I recommend Seasonic) that's if it's all psu related and the R3 I think it is..

Depending on your configuration, the Aurora R3, may come with the 525W or 875W power supply https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-General-Read-Only/Aurora-R3-Power-Supply-Upgrade/td-p/5618146 The main issue is with the BIOS not supporting some video cards, from memory of the discussions from a long time back.

Thanks folks!  Yes, this one does come with the 875w power supply so we should be all good on that front.  As I was digging around a little more, after I wrote this, I also stumbled on an article that mentioned flipping a switch on the card switching between legacy and UEFI....either of you hear of anything like that?

Unfortunately, I can't wait too long so I ended up getting a PNY GEFORCE GTX 1080 XLR8 8GB GAMING card.  Worst case I end up staying with that...best case you guys help me find a solution. lol

Frustrating though.....I'd love to get this 2080 working...it's a beast

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@Mezzavo wrote:

1. Thanks folks!  Yes, this one does come with the 875w power supply so we should be all good on that front. 

2. As I was digging around a little more, after I wrote this, I also stumbled on an article that mentioned flipping a switch on the card switching between legacy and UEFI....either of you hear of anything like that?

3. I can't wait too long so I ended up getting a PNY GEFORCE GTX 1080 XLR8 8GB GAMING card.  Worst case I end up staying with that...

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1. Good

2. Really just for old AMD cards, not Nvidia.

IIRC, Aurora-R3 is not fully UEFI compatible.

3. Nice card also.

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@Mezzavo wrote:

Thanks folks!  Yes, this one does come with the 875w power supply so we should be all good on that front.  As I was digging around a little more, after I wrote this, I also stumbled on an article that mentioned flipping a switch on the card switching between legacy and UEFI....either of you hear of anything like that?

 

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The Aurora R3 has a buggy system BIOS that cannot cope with the hybrid vBIOS / UEFI-GOP firmware on recent AMD Radeon cards. The switch on older cards worked around the issue by setting the video card in either legacy vBIOS mode or UEFI-GOP mode. Radeon RX series GPUs instead present both versions at boot to the mainboard and expect it to pick the correct one. That doesn't work on the R3. It was a relatively common bug around 2010-2012, hence the switch, but most manufacturers have since published motherboard BIOS updates that fix the issue, unfortunately Dell abandoned support for the R3 without fixing this bug.

It is possible you ran into similar issue with the RTX2080. The firmware of affected AMD cards can be modified to work with the Aurora R3 (I've done it on an RX480) but hex editing the card firmware is risky, make a mistake and you can brick the card.  See this post on the win-raid forums for more details.

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@Mezzavo wrote:

Unfortunately, I can't wait too long so I ended up getting a PNY GEFORCE GTX 1080 XLR8 8GB GAMING card.  Worst case I end up staying with that...best case you guys help me find a solution. lol

Frustrating though.....I'd love to get this 2080 working...it's a beast

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Assuming you have the top end i7-2600k version, the Aurora R3 is still a decent system for its age, when overclocked it's roughly on par with an i5-8400 or Ryzen R5 2600. Perfectly fine for 60fps 1080p gaming with a mid range GPU.

However, pairing it with an RTX2080 or even a GTX1080 would result in a very unbalanced system, the CPU will really prevent the graphics card from showing its full potential. Unless you plan to also upgrade to a modern high end CPU, you would be better off saving your money and getting a mid-range card like the 1060 or 1070. Take a look at this article from gamersnexus where they take a 2080 Ti and compare performance with a range of different CPUs, from the i7-2600k up to the i9-9900k

So your sure a GTX 1080 will work? My GTX 560 booted up with red lines and would only boot windows in safe mode. So I borrowed a 8400 Gs and it worked. Meaning the video card was bad. I bought a GTX 1660 and the PC wouldn't boot at all. I the exchanged it for a GTX 1650 (power only from the PCI bus). Now it boots to the BIOS but not windows. I just want to be sure a GTX 1080 does work.

Hi!

Yes, I can confirm that it does work.  I'm running with it right now.  Have fun and enjoy!

Cards up to and including GTX 1080 TI work fine on dell models from 2006 on with at least PCI-E bus version 2.0

which is why there is a guy who installed one in his 2006 XPS 400 Dell with pentium D.

Newer dell models with non dell cards will require secure boot to be off which this model does not have aka UEFI Legacy option roms.

The R3 DOES NOT have a buggy bios.  The issue is diagnostic and Bios Setup and Post requiring DOS VESA Video mode 103.  Not working cards require UEFI.  Newer Dells require secure boot OFF for non dell hardware of any kind. Newest model dells ONLY support windows 10 and ONLY 64 bit versions.

https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3156/

Newer Radeon RX series and Geforce RTX series will not work because they DO NOT SUPPORT Legacy option roms or DOS VESA video mode 103.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa9b0TkTsLM