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Upgrading a 2013 Alienware Aurora R4 Desktop PC

Dr. Prop
By Dr. Prop
in New Builds and Planning
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I bought a Alienware Aurora R4 on 2013. It has served me well, but it has become slow and over-encumbered. I therefore am trying a few things to make it run faster again.

 

1. I want to give it an SSD as the boot drive. It currently has two 3TB HDDs in Raid 0. If I buy, say, a 1TB Samsung 850 EVO (https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E1T0B-AM/dp/B00OBRFFAS), is there a way I can transfer the license of Windows 10 from the HDDs to the SSD? I do not care about other data on the HDDs, just the OS. I am ok wiping their contents otherwise.

 

2. This computer came with 2 Nvidia GeForce GTX 780s in SLI. However, the cooling is not great on these cards because there is only 2-3mm of space between the cards. I am considering upgrading to a single 10 series card. Could there be compatibility issues with doing so? Do any of you have recommendations for how to get a cheap 10 series card that would perform better than 2 GTX 780s?

 

System

 

Motherboard: Asus - ROG MAXIMUS X FORMULA ATX LGA1151 Motherboard

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8086K 4GHz 6-Core Processor

GPU: Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB Turbo Video Card

RAM: G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory

Power Supply: BitFenix Whisper M 80 Plus Gold Full Modular 850W PSU, BWG850M

Storage: C Drive – Samsung - 970 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 NVMe SSD

Thermal Compound: Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Thermal Grease Paste - 1.0 Gram

All-In-One: NZXT - Kraken X62 Rev 2 98.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler

Case: Cooler Master MasterCase H500M ATX Mid-Tower

 

 

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Posted
2 minutes ago, Erwins Kitten said:

I bought a Alienware Aurora R4 on 2013. It has served me well, but it has become slow and over-encumbered. I therefore am trying a few things to make it run faster again.

  

1. I want to give it an SSD as the boot drive. It currently has two 3TB HDDs in Raid 0. If I buy, say, a 1TB Samsung 850 EVO (https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E1T0B-AM/dp/B00OBRFFAS), is there a way I can transfer the license of Windows 10 from the HDDs to the SSD? I do not care about other data on the HDDs, just the OS. I am ok wiping their contents otherwise.

  

2. This computer came with 2 Nvidia GeForce GTX 780s in SLI. However, the cooling is not great on these cards because there is only 2-3mm of space between the cards. I am considering upgrading to a single 10 series card. Could there be compatibility issues with doing so? Do any of you have recommendations for how to get a cheap 10 series card that would perform better than 2 GTX 780s?

I gave my aurora with my 3960x to my friend, it ran great with a RX 480 in it, so i'm sure a 10 series card would be fine, sometimes you can find 1080s for pretty cheap, (sub $350 for sure)

Current Build

Spoiler
  • CPU
  • Motherboard
  • RAM
  • GPU
  • Case
  • Storage
  • PSU
  • Display(s)
  • Cooling
  • Keyboard
  • Mouse
  • Sound
  • Operating System

 

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Selling 2 780s should net you enough for a 1070, I think it would be fine with the high end i7 that the Aurora packs. It will also decrease power draw, make things a little easier on your power supply.

I WILL find your ITX build thread, and I WILL recommend the SIlverstone Sugo SG13B

 

Primary PC:

i7 8086k - EVGA Z370 Classified K - G.Skill Trident Z RGB - WD SN750 - Jedi Order Titan Xp - Hyper 212 Black (with RGB Riing flair) - EVGA G3 650W - dual booting Windows 10 and Linux - Black and green theme, Razer brainwashed me.

Draws 400 watts under max load, for reference.

 

How many watts do I need? ATX 3.0 & PCIe 5.0 spec, PSU misconceptions, protections explained, group reg is bad

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Posted
1 hour ago, Erwins Kitten said:

I bought a Alienware Aurora R4 on 2013. It has served me well, but it has become slow and over-encumbered. I therefore am trying a few things to make it run faster again.

 

1. I want to give it an SSD as the boot drive. It currently has two 3TB HDDs in Raid 0. If I buy, say, a 1TB Samsung 850 EVO (https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E1T0B-AM/dp/B00OBRFFAS), is there a way I can transfer the license of Windows 10 from the HDDs to the SSD? I do not care about other data on the HDDs, just the OS. I am ok wiping their contents otherwise.

 

2. This computer came with 2 Nvidia GeForce GTX 780s in SLI. However, the cooling is not great on these cards because there is only 2-3mm of space between the cards. I am considering upgrading to a single 10 series card. Could there be compatibility issues with doing so? Do any of you have recommendations for how to get a cheap 10 series card that would perform better than 2 GTX 780s?

Login with a Microsoft Account on that PC and the Windows 10 becomes a digital license attached to your Microsoft Account.

 

Once that's done you can re-install Windows 10 (get the latest ISO by the way from MS) on the SSD, login with the Microsoft Account and then it activates with no problems.

 

How to sign in to a Microsoft Account in Windows 10: https://support.microsoft.com/en-ph/help/4028195/microsoft-account-how-to-sign-in

 

Activation FAQ for Windows 10: https://support.microsoft.com/en-ph/help/20530/windows-10-reactivating-after-hardware-change

CPU: Sempron 2500+ / P4 2.8E / P4 2.6C / A64 x2 4000+ / E6420 / E8500 / i5-3470 / i7-3770
GPU: TNT2 M64 / Radeon 9000 / MX 440-SE / 7300GT / Radeon 4670 / GTS 250 / Radeon 7950 / 660 Ti

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