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Justin1985
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January 8th, 2019 16:00
Alpha R2, CPU upgrade
Hello,
I've got an Alienware Alpha R2 from a year or so back that I'm looking to upgrade the CPU for, but I can't find too much information about the motherboard to know what all I can upgrade to without it causing issues. The computer only has a 180 Watt power supply so trying to stick to a similar processor at 35W. It's currently running an i5-6400T which is Skylake architecture on an 1151 socket, running at 2.2 GHz to 2.8 GHz. I'm confident that an i5-6600T would work as it's still on a 35W, and would provide 2.7 GHz up to 3.5 GHz, but would that be my best option? I see there is an i7-6700T which has similar stats to the i5-6600T, going from 2.8 to 3.6, but I'm abit stand-offish on going from an i5 to an i7, even though both are 35W on the power supply.
Also, when I spoke to someone in a chat session with Dell who told me the chip was soldered on and couldn't be replaced however upon inspection it can be. Any advice about the chips would be great.
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Posted January 11th, 2019 19:00
Hi there,
So I have an Alpha R2 myself, and it has the i7 6700T, as it was the top tier option when it was initially on sale through Dell. It's built to be able to handle that CPU, so you'll have zero problems. Also, that rep you talked to is wrong, the CPU inside the R2 is not soldered and is upgrade-able, as is the RAM, SATA HDD, and M.2 SSD inside. They likely may have been referring to the Alpha R1(AKA Steam Machine) which I think was soldered. Hope this helps!
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Posted October 15th, 2020 14:00
I just did the BIOS update I see the i7-7700T is the same socket will it work in the Alpha 2 MB?
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Posted December 8th, 2020 09:00
The CPU in the R1, aka Steam Machine, is socketed, not soldered.
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Posted October 26th, 2021 03:00
I'm pretty sure any of Intel's T-series CPUs work in the R2. As long as they consume 35 W and FCLGA1151.
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Posted October 26th, 2021 04:00
Please press the blue Accept as Solution button below if this post answers your question.
Alpha R2 has soldered on GPU but does NOT have soldered on cpu.
However given its age you would be much better off buying a newer Dell tower like a precision T1700.
What people are asking for the cpu alone is almost or over the amount for a T1700 tower.
I'm posting using this model and it works fine with everything.
330W PSU is recommended for max cpu upgrade.
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Posted March 9th, 2025 05:30
@777Hunter I am also asking the same question. I have updated the CPU to i7-6700K and it works. I just want to confirm if the updated BIOS supports the i7-7700 CPU.
JOcean
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Posted January 10th, 2019 11:00
The following post in the Alienware forum is from a user that has the i7 6700T in his Alpha R2 and it works fine. And yes it can be changed. The service manual for that system actually describes the removal and replacement.
https://latam.alienwarearena.com/ucf/show/306752/boards/technical-support-1/ForumPost/cpu-upgrade-for-alpha-r2
CPU removal and replacement
https://www.dell.com/support/home/ca/en/cadhs1/product-support/product/alienware-steam-r2-console/manuals
I am not a Dell employee...I am forum volunteer
Serious work on an E5430 and constantly building and working on an i5-6500 Desktop