Upgrading GPU (Alienware x51 R2)

[ssethowner]

Hello guys,

I have an Alienware x51 R2 with quite a bad GPU and I would like to upgrade it to like Nvidia Geforce GTX 970 4GB or 980 4GB. But my question is: which one would fit in my PC? Would I need like a new case? or a different motherboard? or different power supply? what would I need, and which one should/could I buy? Please help me. (My goal is A LOT more FPS while playing games)


These are my specs:

Operating System:
Windows 10 Home 64-bit
CPU:
Intel Core i5 4460 @ 3.20GHz
Haswell 22nm Technology
RAM
8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 800MHz (11-11-11-28)
Motherboard:
Alienware 0PGRP5 (SOCKET 0)
Graphics:
S273HL (1920x1080@60Hz)
S273HL (1920x1080@60Hz)
Intel HD Graphics 4600 (Dell)
4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 745 (NVIDIA)
ForceWare version: 353.82
SLI Disabled
Storage:
931GB Seagate ST1000DM003-1CH162 (SATA)
Optical Drives:
HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GS40N
Audio:
NVIDIA Virtual Audio Device (Wave Extensible) (WDM)

Power:
MODEL GA240PE1-00
INPUT 100-240V~ 50-60Hz 3.5A
OUTPUT 19.5V --- 12.3A

 

[Kenmitch]

Welcome to the forum

I'd suggest waiting the next couple of months to see how the next generation cards perform. Rumors state June/July timeframe currently. Most likely you'll be able to implant more power in your rig.

Some have had success with the GTX 960's and 970's it looks like.

Transplanting your internals to a larger case and power supply would open up your options a great deal. Looks like Dell used a standard mITX motherboard too me.

 

[RussianSensation]

Welcome to the forum

I'd suggest waiting the next couple of months to see how the next generation cards perform. Rumors state June/July timeframe currently. Most likely you'll be able to implant more power in your rig.

Some have had success with the GTX 960's and 970's it looks like.

Transplanting your internals to a larger case and power supply would open up your options a great deal. Looks like Dell used a standard mITX motherboard too me.

Seconded. Excellent advice in all areas. Your existing case and power supply will hamper your upgrade options. Best to upgrade those and then you can get a Polaris 10 or GTX1070 or above depending on your budget.

 

[ssethowner]

Thanks for your reply, so it would be possible for me to upgrade my GPU to 970? without having to get a larger case or upgrading power supply? (Sorry misread, I would have to upgrade my power supply for the 970? If yes, what would I have to buy and how much would it cost? Thanks in beforehand

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Thanks for your reply, so it would be possible for me to upgrade my GPU to 970? without having to get a larger case or upgrading power supply? (Sorry misread, I would have to upgrade my power supply for the 970? If yes, what would I have to buy and how much would it cost? Thanks in beforehand

No, not with the 240W PSU that comes with that system. It disgusts me that Alienware can get away with selling systems as gaming computers with crap like the GTX 745 and with these really weak power supplies so they can't be easily upgraded. The bare minimum reasonable gaming gpu is a GTX 750 Ti, which is about twice as powerful as the GTX 745.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Thankfully that board looks to have a 24-pin ATX power connection, so the core of your system should be good to go in another case. Here is the motherboard:

The only thing I'd be worried about is the front panel connectors for the power. Another downside is your I/O shield is built into the case on the x51 R2, so if you move it to a new case that's a hole that dust can creep into.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Here is a better photo of the board.

It looks to have pretty standard front panel connectors (very top right under the screwhole). You'd just have to figure out which two pins to plug your power cable into, as Dell doesn't seem to provide a manual for that board. I'm sure someone here would be able to tell you, or you could just try them.

A nice case for that would be the Corsair 250D, which isn't too bad a deal at $75 after rebate from newegg.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA125dPU-uk

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139033

Then a decent 500W power supply would be good. Something like this would be really nice (you'll have to overspend a bit if you're doing mini ITX to get a modular power supply, since on non-modular unit would be hell to work with in a small case).

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-210gq0650

 

[SteveGrabowski]

If you don't mind using a bigger case though you could go with something cheaper, like this XFX 500W psu:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207037

And say a case like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811854019

You could go maybe even $30 cheaper on the case if your budget is tight, though I'm not sure which specific case I'd recommend then.

 

[Kenmitch]

Thanks for your reply, so it would be possible for me to upgrade my GPU to 970? without having to get a larger case or upgrading power supply? (Sorry misread, I would have to upgrade my power supply for the 970? If yes, what would I have to buy and how much would it cost? Thanks in beforehand

I'm still going with the wait and see if at all possible.

It looks like your power supply is the weaker of the two options that were available with your x51 R2. Guess it depended on which gpu the rig originally shipped with. The ones that shipped with the 330w power supplies were the ones that had success running stock clocked GTX 970's it looks like.

If you wait or don't you'll need a decent power supply and a case. Without knowing about where you'll shop it's hard to give ideas as far as case, power supply, or even pricing.

 

[ssethowner]

Thanks for all the replies, all of it is really confusing to me and seems like a lot of work. I think im going to keep this PC for a while (untill the new GPU´s are released) and then Ill probably sell this PC as whole and just build my own one. Thing is I have no clue how and what I would need. Maybe could one of you guys help me out by giving me list of items I would need to build a PC from scratch? The PC I want would have to have atleast 8GB RAM, i5 intel core (or i7), and atleast the geforce 970. But I seriously have no idea what kind of models I'd have to buy, what case, what powersupply. motherboard, processor stuff like that. If you guys could help me out with this that would be amazing. And thank you for spending so much of your time helping me :wub:

 

[Kenmitch]

Thanks for all the replies, all of it is really confusing to me and seems like a lot of work. I think im going to keep this PC for a while (untill the new GPU´s are released) and then Ill probably sell this PC as whole and just build my own one. Thing is I have no clue how and what I would need. Maybe could one of you guys help me out by giving me list of items I would need to build a PC from scratch? The PC I want would have to have atleast 8GB RAM, i5 intel core (or i7), and atleast the geforce 970. But I seriously have no idea what kind of models I'd have to buy, what case, what powersupply. motherboard, processor stuff like that. If you guys could help me out with this that would be amazing. And thank you for spending so much of your time helping me :wub:

A decent case and power supply would set you back around $100-$200. Case price is really dependant on what you want the rig to look like visually and size wise. Power supply wise you just need a decent one of higher quality.Swapping your current parts would be the more economical route. Either route you take would involve a new case and power supply anyways.

Where would you shop for parts?

 

[Headfoot]

I wouldn't be so set on the GTX 970. It's going to be obsolete in a few months here. Unless you're talking about at least GTX 970 class performance, in which case you'll be good to go in a few months when Polaris and Pascal come out which should beat GTX 970 level performance handily.

Otherwise, take a look in the General Hardware forum here when you are ready to buy, there is a constantly updated list of PC builds for various price points. Very well done stuff.

 

[p_monks33]

If you are looking at making your system actually gaming worthy, and don't feel comfortable with changing out your case, and power supply, I saw where there are now GTX 950 cards without a 6 Pin connector. That would be almost 3 times as fast as the card that you have now, and would be as simple as pulling the old card out, and putting the new one in. http://www.evga.com/articles/00990/evga-geforce-gtx-950-low-power/

Firestrike comparison to see what you could expect in FPS boost.
http://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/4248572/fs/7405668

 

[Ketchup]

A video card is not going to fit inside the stock case.

 

[p_monks33]

A video card is not going to fit inside the stock case.

It has a PCI-E riser board, plenty of videos showing people installing a full size card in them on YouTube. I would recommend looking at a blower type cooler though.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Thanks for all the replies, all of it is really confusing to me and seems like a lot of work. I think im going to keep this PC for a while (untill the new GPU´s are released) and then Ill probably sell this PC as whole and just build my own one. Thing is I have no clue how and what I would need. Maybe could one of you guys help me out by giving me list of items I would need to build a PC from scratch? The PC I want would have to have atleast 8GB RAM, i5 intel core (or i7), and atleast the geforce 970. But I seriously have no idea what kind of models I'd have to buy, what case, what powersupply. motherboard, processor stuff like that. If you guys could help me out with this that would be amazing. And thank you for spending so much of your time helping me :wub:

This guy shows you in a lot of detail how to build a system, though he doesn't cover overclocking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SpXdXdrrBk

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Though I wouldn't use a Corsair CX750M power supply like in that video, there are definitely better options for the money.

 

[Ketchup]

It has a PCI-E riser board, plenty of videos showing people installing a full size card in them on YouTube. I would recommend looking at a blower type cooler though.

No.
#1 - that case is only designed to keep the stock contents cool enough to not throttle or fail. If you put a video card in there, even with good cooling, everything else would overheat.
#2 - if you did find a blower powerful enough to get the components down to reasonable temperatures, it would be an extremely loud.

ssethowner, you have the right idea. And as SteveGrabowski pointed out, there are several good tutorials out there, in addition to the General Hardware section of this very forum. If it makes you feel any better, building a good pc and getting it up and running is 10x easier than it was 20 years ago, when I started.

 

[p_monks33]

No.
#1 - that case is only designed to keep the stock contents cool enough to not throttle or fail. If you put a video card in there, even with good cooling, everything else would overheat.
#2 - if you did find a blower powerful enough to get the components down to reasonable temperatures, it would be an extremely loud.

ssethowner, you have the right idea. And as SteveGrabowski pointed out, there are several good tutorials out there, in addition to the General Hardware section of this very forum. If it makes you feel any better, building a good pc and getting it up and running is 10x easier than it was 20 years ago, when I started.

How does Alienware put cards in these systems to begin with? The new ones have GTX 970's and 960's. The last generation had GTX 750ti, or 760, the first generation had GTX 660/670 cards. If you buy the 330w power brick, the power board is the same in all of them with the exception of the first generation which had a max of 150w allocated to the GPU. So you are saying that the difference in a GTX 745 with 55w of power draw, and a low power version of a GTX 950 that can only draw a max of 75w is going to cause problems? The only difference from one X51 configuration to the next (with the exception of the R1's power board), is the power brick which varies from a 240w, to a 330w. The case and cooling capability is identical 100%. Will this case keep a full size graphics card running at 60c? Probably not. Reviews show GTX 960 temperatures in the 80-85c range, which is what I would expect from a tiny itx case. Also configured with a GTX 960, and a I7 6700k the R3 only pulls like 175w from the wall at load. Check out a few reviews, and look at some youtube videos. Would a bigger case, and new PSU open up opportunity for this guy? Absolutely. Is he unable to upgrade from what he has currently? Not at all.

 

[Ketchup]

Yeah, #1 is probably out. I see your point. I still think #2 is valid. I don't know if you have owned many Dells, but I have had a few over the years (surprisingly they were all gifts/broken upon arrival. I didn't buy any of them, lol), and EVERY SINGLE one was louder than a compatible model from any other manufacturer. Some ridiculously so. Why? Dell loves passive cooling. So they are nice and quiet at idle, but get ridiculously loud under any sort of load. And when I see the passive cooling that the OPs model has, which is not surprising considering the size, and would be needed for a good video card, I see that they haven't changed.

 

[tweakboy]

grab a AMD 290 or a 970 GTX