Which PSU do you have? 

It's a 850W PSU.

Anyone know?

With the standard Alienware PSU, you cannot run dual GTX 480s. The 875W is the biggest one that comes in the Aurora.

And you really cannot swap the PSU out unless you do some modifications to the power plate on the side of your stock PSU. If you dont, you wont have any power going to the door for your lighting.

So I'll have to buy a new 1200w PSU to run dual Geforce gtx 480?

When I bought this PC they actually told me it could run dual 480's for future upgrade :( but that's when I read about the PSU and started to doubt it.

You wont need 1200W. Probably only about 1000W from a good quality PSU.

But you must understand, if you switch out the power supply to an aftermarket model, you wont have power to your case door, which means the lighting control wont work on that left side (main access door). Also, you will have to pull out ALL the power supply cables from inside the case and reroute the new ones.

I think another user here, morblore, is using a supplementary PSU to power his extra GTX 480. I think its called an FSP Booster X5, which sits inside your 5.25" bay, and supplies extra power for graphics cards.

Here is a link for one, but they are out of stock at the moment:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104054&Tpk=fsp%20booster

Check that out and read up on it. If you like it, I would rather get that than swap out the entire PSU.

Cool, thanks :)

But is the computer not capable of running both 480's with the 850w PSU when both 480 are not overclocked?

Well tbh, the lighting in the case isn't why I got this PC hehe, I even have them turned off, but the rerouting of cables sounds like a drag

Methodical (nice screen name, by the way), you are my hero.  I have been looking for some PSU solution that is easier than trying to modify an aftermarket unit, and this will work perfectly.  I had no idea this kind of thing existed.

I just bought one at another retailer.  Thanks for the tip!

--Hank

No its not capable of running both 480s, hence why Dell does not offer it in the configuration of the Aurora. The 480s use too much wattage and amperage.

And yea the cable rerouting is probably going to be a real pain. Another reason why I really havent bothered to mod my Area 51 with a different PSU.

@ hankdennemann

No problem bro. Yea they are real nifty PSUs. Its real nice, especially to use in Dell and HP systems, where we run into problems like this.

I am actually going to get one for my 3rd 5870, because apparently my 1200W Alienware PSU is not enough for 3 of them, which is a shame.

What retailer did you buy from? All the places I checked were out of them.

The Booster PS is a great find and definitely the easiest.

However, if your optical bays are full, you must replace the main PS and wiring harness. I would definitely go with a nice, powerful, dependable Corsair.

I saw that $20 one, but I dont think that one will fit inside my Area 51. If you look at the front of that ePower PSU, it has some sort of wierd extending fascia cover. On my system, since I have the Area 51, I think it would cause a problem with the motorized door sliding up and down.

I found the FSP Booster X5 on Amazon for $80 which isnt that bad. I just wish I bought them from Newegg last month when they were $60 bucks.

I got it at this place because it said it had six in stock (which, unfortunately, is what it still says...but my order may not be fully processed yet):

http://www.virtech.ca/detailProduct.php?str=FS-BOOSTE83

It was pricy to ship it out of Canada ($25) but they were the only place I could find that both said it had it in stock and gave a count of how many they had in stock.  Since every other place was out of it I wasn't confident that the other sites which didn't have a count listed actually had any to sell.

--Hank

ok, big cheers guys. Btw when connecting the Booster PS do you connect it with the main PSU or something? or how does it work really?

Yep, exactly what he said.

And its nice, because you can use it for future systems too. Just take it right out and toss it into another system if you ever need it.

And thanks for the link, I have been trying to find these everywhere, but they are all outl I guess its getting more popular. lol.

ok, big cheers guys. Btw when connecting the Booster PS do you connect it with the main PSU or something? or how does it work really?

It's a good setup (I saw a diagram online).  The Booster PSU sits in your drive bay and takes one of your 4 pin MOLEX PSU connectors on one end (for power on purposes only--this isn't where it draws its power), and then it runs an a/c cable from the back of the Booster PSU to a slot on the back of your computer (you need a free slot underneath your video card, sound card, etc).  Once you mount the plug in the slot, you take an ordinary a/c cable and plug it in on the other side (external) and run it to the wall.  So your system will have two plugs instead of one.

Here's a diagram:

http://www.fspgroupusa.com/boosterx-5/p/417.html

Pretty cool!

-Hank