Aurora R7, After Market Cooling

I recently upgraded the power supply in my Alienware Aurora R7 from a 460w to 850w to get better performance from my GTX 1080. I really didn't feel that my games looked nearly as good as they should have graphically and I felt it was mostly because of a lack of power. Along with that upgrade, I wanted a new cpu cooler/fan because it was a little too loud when I would play almost any video game out there. It also got a little too hot when I played. I figured now that I had the extra power, the GTX 1080 would work a little harder and actually deliver the kinds of graphics that it was designed for. That being the case, I figured more power would bring more heat and a new cpu cooler would not only be considerably quieter, but would also help bring that heat down.

First, I replaced the top and side fans and then purchased a low-profile Noctua NH-L9i for the cpu cooler because there isn't much room in this particular case. I thought that I had all of my bases covered: it was small enough for this case and it listed my Intel LGA 1151 as compatible on Noctua's compatibility list. So, my luck being what it is, it didn't work. The mounting screws were either too short or too small. Here's what happens: They screw into the backplate, but then stop at the unthreaded shank which is wider than the threads. You see, DELL has modified the default Intel 1151 backplate. It is now a backplate, cpu retention device combination. The mounting screws for the Noctua NH-L9i are made for a backplateLESS installation. It's actually a nice simple setup, albeit includes removing the system board to install the mounting screws to the back of the board. It would have gone off without a hitch if not for DELL's proprietary practices.

I then contacted some very talented people who have helped me with computer issues in the past and I asked them for advice. There were several ideas tossed around, but we came to the conclusion that no matter what cooler I decided to use, that ridiculous backplate would be a problem. So, I decided to modify it: I decided to cut off the four extended arms from the backplate so that the mounting screws would fit. I did so and it worked out rather nicely too. The mounting screws fit perfectly, Noctua's awesome little low-profile cooler fit in my case like it was made for it. Only problem was at startup. I immediately received a scan and error message:

 SupportAssist immediately ran a scan...

I've read this thread about proprietary fan issues and several other such articles here on Dell's community boards and at other sights around the internet and I'm wondering if this is my problem? I've asked everyone I know and no one can seem to tell me if this motherboard - Alienware 0VDT73 (U3E1) - has standard fan headers. Any DELL techs out there?

I thought it might be prudent to document my work, so I made sure to take photos along the way of the steps that I took to get to this point. This is a link to Step-by-Step Photos and a brief explanation of the work that I did to get to this point. (A total of 13 pics plus the above 2)

I'd appreciate it if anyone has any insight into any of these issues and if anyone could help me out of the dilemma that I'm in right now. Can someone tell me what steps to take to move towards a resolution? Or maybe just answer one or two of my questions? I have so many great games to play right now and I just got a brand new Oculus that I wanted to try out on Subnautica and No man's Sky. I recently broke my ankle in three places and had to have surgery, so I'm laid up for a while and I'd love to use this time to play, play & play some more...I'll even post pics of my nasty broken ankle as incentive 

Thanks in advance