Resurrecting Aurora R4 ALX

Question

So in a someone's trash is someone else's treasure kind of way I came upon an Alienware Aurora R4, 16G ram, I7-4820K, GTX 770 2G x 2 (SLI).

The PSU apparently died and the former owner wasn't interested in fixing that. The bad is he took the old power supply, wiring harness and plastic mounting plate that the power supply attaches to.

(it also is devoid of hard drives but that's easily overcome).

So questions, I have, answers I seek.

I was debating if I should just yank the GTX 770's out as they are huge power hogs. Would a single 1650 super be about as good or better? I think so, but it's hard to get a read on that.

The thing is if i go with an after market power supply, I don't have to get as expensive one if I'm not driving those two cards.

Thoughts on going with a single 1650 vs the SLI 770's?

The other thing is it might be moot, as I can't seem to find the plastic mounting plate. as a seperate item. So i need to figure out the PSU. I found a "W299G Precision T5500 875W Power Supply (Certified Refurbished)" for $85 it looks like it comes with the wiring harness and the plate

I know the power supply for the T5500 and R4 are interchangable but not sure on that plastic piece. It looks right.. (Question out to the seller but haven't heard back yet, good chance they say dunno). Does anyone here have thoughts on whether that will fit my case?

So my first option is probably to get this PSU and drive the GTX 770's if that fits. If I can't find anything option 2 will be to get a 1650s and lower powered supply and rig something up for a plate.

thoughts?

thx!

Cass-Ole · Accepted Answer

W299G & J556T are the two most common PSU part #'s installed into systems, U595G is valid also (your $85 Amazon link I'd contact seller, make sure metal sub-trim & plastic rear trim are included & not just a stock photo)

This J556T has a rear black finish panel trim + case harness (rear trims are getting harder to find)

Aurora-R4, PSU replacement questions contains links to aftermarket PSU swap posts

Aurora R4 PSU Bracket talks about trims (ie contact 525w sellers & negotiate for just the plastic trim &/or metal PSU sub-trim) & also see a temporary rear clamp w/bolts etc

vikingAlien · Answer

just to add before anyone asks.  I did (as a test of the components)  pull the gtx 770's out, out in a gtx 745 i had layin around in and hooked in a 500w power supply that i had from a long defunct computer and booted into bios / setup fine.  I didn't test the 770's out as i need a different power supply for that, but everything else seems to be working.

Tesla1856 · Answer

You can download PDF manuals for both models and compare parts.

All Aurora-R4's came with 875w PS. Use that or maybe an after-market (but no smaller than around 800w). Corsair or Seasonic would be good. Yes, T5500 PS would have to be 100% operational and have the special wiring harness. Maybe you will get lucky and all cables will be long enough (even for this big case). All Alienware Aurora R1-R4 used 875w PS (optional on R1-R3 models).

Yeah, not many people SLI any more. You can use machine with one 770 if you want.

I have a MSI Nvidia GTX-1070 in my old Aurora-R1.

https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-General-Read-Only/Recommended-NVIDIA-graphics-cards-for-Alienware-Aurora-R1-2009/m-p/5590870/highlight/true#M92465

For boot drive C ... install a 2.5inch SATA-3/600 512gb SSD (they are cheap).

Hopefully, it still has Windows-7 (or Windows-8) 64-bit Key Sticker on back-case (can be used to install and Activate Windows-10).

Tesla1856 · Answer

I did (as a test of the components) pull the gtx 770's out, out in a gtx 745 i had layin around in and hooked in a 500w power supply that i had from a long defunct computer and booted into bios / setup fine.

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Good. Then sounds like motherboard and rest of machine might be good ... so it would be worth continuing.

Alienware Desktops

Resurrecting Aurora R4 ALX

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