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Alienware Aurora R1 to R3/4 motherboard upgrade
My old intel i7 920 cpu seems to be dying, and was looking to see if I could swap in a newer generation motherboard (R3 or R4), and purchase a new CPU separately. Has anyone had luck in doing this?
Alienware-Naomi
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March 14th, 2014 13:00
Hi!
In order to install the AURORA R3 or R4 Motherboard, you'll have to also replace the Master I/O board and the CPU. It's also possible the that ports on the back will not fit properly.
In that case, I recommend getting just the new CPU. These are the validated processors for the AURORA R1:
TheQMannX
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March 14th, 2014 14:00
How would I go about ordering one of those from dell?
Tesla1856
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March 16th, 2014 14:00
Don't assume Intel i7-920 chip is bad unless you saw it fail in another machine and/or motherboard. This is not common. A bad motherboard is more likely.
Tesla1856
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March 17th, 2014 19:00
Tesla1856
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March 17th, 2014 19:00
Removal all overclocks. Continuous OC can damage processors and motherboards.
TheQMannX
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March 17th, 2014 19:00
Oh, and there was very little thermal paste left between the cpu and heatsink, covering about 1/8th of the chip.
TheQMannX
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March 17th, 2014 19:00
So the windows crash dumps have error messages in the WHEA record about errors in the cache and MCA, all in bank 5.
The CPU has been mildly overclocked and running nearly 24/7 for over 4 years.
I've had it crash windows, the dell diagnostics on the hidden partition, and the windows cd installer.
RAM checks and every other test I can find have passed.
Upping the core voltage by +40mV causes it to happen more often.
No new parts have been added in the last year, and was working fine until last week.
TheQMannX
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March 17th, 2014 20:00
Right, and those conditions led me to think that the CPU was thermally damaged, thus my original question.
OldDocX
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January 2nd, 2015 11:00
How do you know which Rx model you have? My service tag is Service tag removed per privacy policy>.I *think* it's an R1 but not sure. Did this processor upgrade work? I'm considering it myself...
Thanks, Doc
TheQMannX
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January 2nd, 2015 19:00
I had an R1 from mid 2010. The fix did work. I ordered a used Intel i7 920 CPU (same as original) off eBay, and it solved the bluescreen errors completely. My guess was some damaged CPU cache.
Tesla1856
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January 3rd, 2015 13:00
Srosxi
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July 29th, 2015 23:00
Why, 15 years into the 21st century, is DELL not supporting HW/SW updates to older expensive Alienware systems such as Aurora R1-R3?
And, Why, does DELL force customers to CALL Alienware Support. That is 1960s technology.