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March 20th, 2024 10:53
Aurora R8, upgrade decision
Hey everyone,
I was considering upgrading my specs on my Alienware Aurora R8. I have this PC since Jan 2020. I find it quite difficult to check what would be optimal to upgrade first so i thought of asking here. I have heard that the r8 can be quite tricky to upgrade. If its not possible its not the biggest deal. I use this PC only for playing video games ony my 1080 res Monitor. So no 4k gaming or whatsoever. Most games it reaches pretty good framerates but some games out there result in my CPU beeing at 100% all the time. Also the GPU might go up to mid 90s. So here are my specs that i have:
Intel® Core™ i7 9700 9th Gen(8 Cores @ 3.00 GHz base and up to 4.7 GHz with Intel Turbo Boost
NVIDIA Geforce RTX 2060
16 GB Dual-Channel-DDR4 with 2.666 MHz
460 Watt Power supply
and i think that is the motherboard? D00AWR818?
Also i did some SSD Upgrades
Would be happy to hear, why the CPU is at 100% very often.. is that due to overclocking?
Is it possible to upgrade and if yes to what and what should i upgrade first.
Happy to hear all Suggestions :D
Thanks for the help,
Markus
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redxps630
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March 20th, 2024 15:44
Upgrade gpu before cpu. The 2060 is not a high end gpu. Otoh R8 case has air flow issue so you cannot practically install a high power gpu either.
9700 is almost the top cpu. Upgrade to 9700k or 9900(k) probably would not make a big difference.
also if you are overclocking to limited extent (turbo) on i7-9700 you may consider adding vram heatsink.
(edited)
redxps630
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March 20th, 2024 15:59
These are Dell validated gpu for R8
If you want to stay w/ nvidia then 2080 is the top on list. In 2024 would consider 3080/3070 or 4080/4070 but be careful of gpu TDP matching 2080. And choose blower type gpu than open air considering R8 chassis air flow issues
Nvidia have also increased the TDP (or thermal design power) of the RTX 3080/4080 to 320W compared to the RTX 2080's 215W TDP and RTX 2080 Super's 250W TDP.
3070/4070 TDP are 220/200w which matched 2080 better
AMD Radeon RX 560Xwith 4GB GD DR5
CRD, GRPHC, 2070, CFL, R8, EM
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 OCwith 8GB GDDR6
NVIDIA(R) GeForce RTX(TM) 2080 Ti 11GB GDDR6 (OC Ready)
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 8GB GDDR 6
NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GTX 1080 with 8GB GDDR5X
NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) RTX 2060 with 6GB GDDR6
CRD, GRPHC, RTX, 2070, CFL, R9
Dual NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GTX 1070 with 8GB GDDR5 each (NVID IA SLI(R) Enabled)
NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GTX 1080 Tiwith 11GB GDDR5X
CRD, GRPHC, 1650, CFL, 8930
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Tiwith 6GB GDDR6
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 6GB GD DR5
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8GB GDDR6 (OC Ready)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8GB GDDR6 (OC Ready)
Dual NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 S UPER 8GB GDDR6 (OC Ready) with NVIDIA NVLink SLI(R)Enabled
CRD, GRPHC, 2070S, CML, R11
CRD, GRPHC, RTX, 2080, MLK, R9
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11G B GDDR6 (OC Ready)
(edited)
GMGAAzuri
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March 20th, 2024 18:01
@redxps630 Thank you for the great answer. So i will stay with my current CPU and upgrade the GPU. I really like the Nvidia Grahpic Cards. So i would probalby get a 2080. Also checking out the 3070 and 4070. I saw that the 2080 is a bit more expensive than the other two. Is ths the "best" out of the three?
Vanadiel
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March 20th, 2024 18:15
@GMGAAzuri So this is the issue with upgrading this machine.
Purchasing something like a new 2080 will be more costly than purchasing the latest version, which is technically speaking the 4070 although some will say 4080 to stay in line with the numbering order.
Pairing a 9700K with a 4070 is not a good match due to potential CPU bottleneck issues.
Then you have a 460 Watt Power supply which will be iffy with never video cards, and the RAM running at 2,666 Mhz.
In short, upgrading individual components might end up being more expensive than just purchasing a new system.
In my opinion, I would save up and upgrade to a complete new system rather then piece upgrading the R8.
GMGAAzuri
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March 20th, 2024 18:16
@GMGAAzuri Is that due to 4070 not beeing able to mine coins?
Vanadiel
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March 20th, 2024 18:19
@GMGAAzuri It's due to the age difference between a 2080 and a 4070 new. 2080 is not produced anymore and has not been produced for at least a few years.
The result is it costs a premium over the more recent and widely available 4070.
GMGAAzuri
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March 20th, 2024 18:46
@Vanadiel Ah that makes sense, thanks a lot
Vanadiel
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March 20th, 2024 19:15
@GMGAAzuri A 4070 requires 650 Watt system power minimal. Since the R8 has a 460 Watt PSU that will not work.
redxps630
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March 21st, 2024 01:42
Vanadiel likes to recommend a whole new system which has good point.
otoh some user like to tinker with older tech and do some limited upgrade. not saying which is better. it is a personal preference
4070 sees huge improvement over 2080
3070 less at 4k but still significant at 1080p
(edited)
Nodbot
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May 1st, 2024 13:45
redxps630,
Can you tell me how you created or found those benchmarks? I have my son's with an i7 8700 and a 1080 ti. It's in good shape (some what limited use) and I'm looking to bump up the gpu with the understanding the cpu bottleneck and psu are factors. Benchmarks like what you provided above would be very helpful.
Alan66
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July 7th, 2024 10:29
Your real bottle neck was (because your post was months ago) your power supply. I had the 850 watt in mine and upgraded the gpu from a 2070 to a 3070oc (tight fit - have to use the 2-fan version), from 16gb 2.666 to 64gb 3.200 dual channel (4x16) using RAM 1 on ACC to get the speed of the ram I bought, put in a PCI adapter and put in a 2TB SSD to go along with the 500gb SSD and 2TB HD I had, and an external 14tb portable SSD. I had the I7-9700k CPU, and you can only go to I7-9900 without figuring out some way of changing out their motherboard - and their motherboard is a customized size. Not worth it. IF you can upgrade your power supply, I would do that and then your video card. Running 100 percent on the CPU? I TRY and I never get much past 70 - what software were you running? I usually OC my CPU to 4.9GHz.
redxps630
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July 7th, 2024 12:47
gpucheck.com
Aceofdiamonds
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July 29th, 2024 19:35
@Vanadiel what system would be an upgrade? I have the R8 but sadly it is at the end of its days.
Vanadiel
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July 29th, 2024 20:40
@Aceofdiamonds Right now I would wait until Intel has their CPU crashing issues fixed. I would recommend a Ryzen platform if you absolutely need an upgrade right now. However, I don't see any Alienware Ryzen listings anymore for Dell, seems they are all Intel now.
I would stay away from any Intel offerings right now, even if they are really good.
(edited)
Aceofdiamonds
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July 29th, 2024 23:54
@Vanadiel got it. are there any specific models you can point me to? i just saw an R10 AMD ryzen 7 but not sure if this would be ideal.