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Upgrade Alienware?

  • 26-03-2016 5:54pm
    #1
    The_Valeyard
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,452 ✭✭✭✭


    I have an Alienware Area 51 ALx machine.

    Its about four/ five years old at this stage.

    I have upgraded most to the hardware as the machine has gotten older, new fans, new gpu (980ti) two ssd & 4tb drive, etc, soundcard and others are fine.


    My only concern now is the motherboard & Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 960 @ 3.20GHz.

    I would love to be able to use the new HTC Vive. But i know that im just below the requirements.

    Has anyone had experience or know is it even possible to take out the old intel chipset/motherboard and replace it with a new one on these machines?


Comments

  • #2
    ED E
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,170 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    Check out this thread:

    http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19544435

    Dell often use non standard boards that are hard to replace as the mounts differ, but looks as if your box is a bit easier to work with.


  • #3
    Digital Solitude
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,397 ✭✭✭✭Digital Solitude


    Have you over clocked the CPU? It'd keep up with a heavy over clock I think. Possibly.

    New CPU and board is a good shout though, is it BTX?


  • #4
    The_Valeyard
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,452 ✭✭✭✭The_Valeyard


    ED E wrote: »
    Check out this thread:

    http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19544435

    Dell often use non standard boards that are hard to replace as the mounts differ, but looks as if your box is a bit easier to work with.

    Ill check this out, the box is vertical, but large, although, i had to remove some of the box 'cushion' to make room for the 980ti, much bigger than the 540s in width. But will check out the link ;)
    Digital Solitude wrote: »
    Have you over clocked the CPU? It'd keep up with a heavy over clock I think. Possibly.

    New CPU and board is a good shout though, is it BTX?

    Had previously experimented with this before, but have always been terrified of blowing out the motherboard.

    I changed the CPU BCK1 from 133 to 150 and increased voltage from 1.10 to 1.25. That gave me speeds of 3.78.

    I ran prime 95 but it crashed after two hours of testing, the temps were hovering around 80C, but i might try it again now that ive upgraded the gpu as the temps are lower than they were with the dual 580s.


  • #5
    TerrorFirmer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 29,930 ✭✭✭✭TerrorFirmer


    It's still an OK CPU especially if overclocked but considering you have a 980Ti and looking to jump into VR, I would just upgrade outright at this point.

    Also if your machine is that old it's possible you have slightly slower 1333mhz ram rather than the standard 1600mhz for DDR3.

    If you can just replace with standard ATX, great, if not, you'll need a new case as well - maybe even a power supply, some Dell/AW machines use non-standard supplies with their higher end builds. I have an XPS here from 2008 that does.


  • #6
    The_Valeyard
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,452 ✭✭✭✭The_Valeyard


    TerrorFirmer wrote: »
    It's still an OK CPU especially if overclocked but considering you have a 980Ti and looking to jump into VR, I would just upgrade outright at this point.

    Also if your machine is that old it's possible you have slightly slower 1333mhz ram rather than the standard 1600mhz for DDR3.

    If you can just replace with standard ATX, great, if not, you'll need a new case as well - maybe even a power supply, some Dell/AW machines use non-standard supplies with their higher end builds. I have an XPS here from 2008 that does.

    Yeah, I think I will examine the upgrade options. I know that the max ram at the moment is 12gb for the motherboard and id say id be needing more than that for games over the next two years.

    The memory is the standard 1600mhz for DDR3


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