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Alienware Area 51 - Time to upgrade the graphics card!
I've searched through several pages of the forum so far and it seems like individuals are seeing some great successes with upgrading their video cards.
As much as I would like to believe that this old machine will suffice, there are some games coming out next month that I think I may need to upgrade for.
So my question is; how possible is it to use another video card brand to replace the existing one?
As in, my current card is an AMD Radeon HD 5800 Series. I want to upgrade to XFX Radeon R9 390X.
I know I can find the R9 390X as an AMD card, but I can get a much better deal price-wise on the XFX.
Any insight would be tremendous, I tried to upgrade my PSU over last summer and that turned into a disgusting ordeal. The more info I have going into this purchase, the better.
Thanks!
Cass-Ole
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February 28th, 2016 11:00
Alienware Area-51 (Late 2009), PSU? >< Area 51 ALX Replacement graphics cards
Not much to browse through in those two posts, accept knowing it's ok to buy a 390 & getting the cables hooked up right to the stock power supply. An EVGA Powerboost is always a good decision on these original x58 motherboards.
390's should be a been there done that affair in the R1; my interest in your post has to do with 'unnnnnn-limmmmmmited powwwwwwerrrrrr! '. I've helped with 47 power supply swaps in 51-R1; describe for me please this disgusting ordeal you endured last summer.
this is my How To: The ALX-Files: On a Practical Approach to the Area 51 Aurora Power Supply Swap Corsair ax1200i ax1500i Seasonic x-1250 Hale90 New R2 1500w Psu
this is my eBay Store: http://www.ebay.com/sch/drago_bludvist/m.html?_ipg=50&_sop=12&_rdc=1
this is the newest Area-51 GroomLake Edition, using my hand-made power supply cables in tandem with Seasonic's Snow Silent:
Skylake AREA-51 R1 upgrade – Operation code name Snow White > Blanche-Neige
another forum member may debut his hx1200i soon, which also use my cables
few of us will forget airene's beauty & the beast
Brayton
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February 29th, 2016 17:00
I wish I would have posted on here first then for PSU help!
Basically, I fought tooth and nail to get my computer to run. My dad taught me that only at the complete ends of my wits to use a mechanic (in relation to working on cars, of course), so naturally, I thought I could fix the beast up myself.
After trying to do many work arounds, I found myself at the end of my options and caved and brought it to my local computer repair shop. They told me the good/bad news, that my PSU was finally dead. I researched online to find a replacement. The prices were either exuberant for the 1200w replacement, or from some stores over in China, which, paired with lack of trust and extensive shipping time, I sided with the alternative of trying to purchase some random PSU off Amazon, with the stipulation that a good friend would buy it off of me if it didn't work.
Well, now it was right back to fighting tooth and nail to reinstall the PSU. With the help of a friend, we got it installed and plugged in up to the supposed "bare minimum". However, we discovered that Alienware has some interesting cabling procedures and so we ended up forgetting to power one of the internal fans, which led to approximately 30 seconds of time at the desktop before the computer shut down from extreme heat. Basically, we made a large misconception there and almost toasted my PC. I tried some more work arounds that I found online and lo-and behold, I went right back to the computer repair shop, dished out $300 bucks and told them to fix my mistakes.
They found a refurbished 1200w PSU and sold it to me at cost, recabled everything, and sent me home with a perfectly working computer again.
The Tl:Dr version is,
Thought I could fix my failing PSU, failed miserably.
Bought a new PSU, tried to replace it, failed miserably.
Brought into computer repair shop, paid nearly triple what it cost for the plug-and-play PSU, walked out with a working PC.
Now, 8 months later, I'm sitting with a fully functioning computer in need of some hardware touch-ups.
I'm excited to hear that I can use a great upgrade like that with no problems, this old machine needs some TLC and that'll be a strong first step.
I know it uses DDR3 memory too, is it pretty universal other than that? As in, do I need to look out for specific specs other than DDR3 when purchasing additional ram?
Cass-Ole
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February 29th, 2016 18:00
The MS-7543 V1 J560M or V2 XDJ4C alienboard is made for Alienware by MSI / Micro-Star Intl.; it is a typical garden-variety Intel X58 mthrbrd. As with other older x58 boards it can benefit from the EVGA Powerboost module as stated prior in order to help saturate the pci-express lanes with augmented 12volts when running high-power grfx cards; the memory should be Intel XMP approved triple-channel memory, bought in matching kits of three memory cards; the alienboard is validated to run 12Gb (3x4Gb) @1600MHz or 6Gb (3x2Gb) @ 1866MHz.
Read this post { Alienware Desktop Memory Specifications and Part Numbers } when setting manual memory settings (when xmp is set 'off') qpi/uncore +200mv etc, especially @1866MHz
375watt HD7990 N.Zealand & 500watt 295x2 Vesuvius are documented to work; 390 = cake walk
Per Elfie > Recommendation: Do not install the 295x2 in an Alienware Area 51 ALX v1 without upgrading the Power supply. The 295x2 wants 30 amps per rail with a total of 50A between the two. The reverse Y-cable gets you (18+9)*.9= 24.3 amps per 8pin connector. with 48.6 amps between the 3 rails (assuming a 10% amp lose due to wiring).