Upgrading a Digital Storm Aura

[The Apollo]

I bought a Digital Storm Aura under the impression that it was "upgradeable" only to learn that upgrading the machine is limited by its power supply. Has anyone found a way around this? I love the concept of an AIO gaming capable rig, but I enjoy playing AAA titles at high settings. That being said my time with my Aura may be limited if I cannot upgrade it. I have reached out to Digital Storm directly and they basically told me it cannot be done. My plan is to invest in a second Ultrawide Monitor to achieve higher frame rates but eventually I would like to upgrade the GTX1080 that currently exists in the build as well as the processor, memory and Storage capacity. All with a power supply capable of running it. Any help on achieving this is greatly appreciated.. 

[ch3w2oy]

Never buy an all in one..? 

[Fasauceome]

The PSU is "limiting" but it's not like you can't get better hardware, what are you currently equipped with? 

[jerubedo]

2 hours ago, The Apollo said:

I bought a Digital Storm Aura under the impression that it was "upgradeable" only to learn that upgrading the machine is limited by its power supply. Has anyone found a way around this? I love the concept of an AIO gaming capable rig, but I enjoy playing AAA titles at high settings. That being said my time with my Aura may be limited if I cannot upgrade it. I have reached out to Digital Storm directly and they basically told me it cannot be done. My plan is to invest in a second Ultrawide Monitor to achieve higher frame rates but eventually I would like to upgrade the GTX1080 that currently exists in the build as well as the processor, memory and Storage capacity. All with a power supply capable of running it. Any help on achieving this is greatly appreciated.. 

The Aura comes with a 450 watt 80+ gold PSU by default (don't know the brand). It should be enough to handle upgrades to the GPU. You should be able to get away with an RTX 2080. You also CAN upgrade the PSU itself. It's not a standard ATX PSU, though. That could be a pain in the ass.

 

EDIT: I found the brand. It's an Enhance Electronics ENP-7145B2 450W

 

@LukeSavenije, do you know anything about that specific PSU? Do you think it would handle an RTX 2080 okay?

[LukeSavenije]

47 minutes ago, jerubedo said:

Enhance Electronics ENP-7145B2 450W

ah, enhance is a oem, that's why you probably don't know them

 

they make a lot of PSUs for cooler master for example. 

 

it's good, but 450 is a bit on the short side with a 2080

[LienusLateTips]

The PSU should handle even a Vega 64... it's perfectly fine...

 

OK unit.... it's most likely still better than the M12II at the very least....

 

@Stefan Payne you know anything?

[Stefan Payne]

11 minutes ago, LienusLateTips said:

 you know anything?

Nope, only that its a FlexATX Enhance unit with 80plus Gold certificate and 450W...

Never seen inside one of those...

 

And they are usually not tesed or sold seperately.

[The Apollo]

So if need be, I may dismantle my unit and salvage some parts into a case that can fit a beefier PSU. However, I haven't built a computer in over ten years let alone taken one apart. Can any  of you help shed some light on this? I'm currently running a MSI Z370I Gaming Pro Carbon AC motherboard, I7-8700k CPU, 16gb  DDR4 3000mhz Ram, a 500gb m.2 ssd from digital storm, and a 1TB 7200rpm SATA drive. Digital Storm also confirmed that upgrading the PSU in my aura will be a pain in the ass if not impossible. I'm up for a challenge, but I'm also practical. Not sure what the better choice is between upgrading the PSU and rebuilding the PC in a case. 

[The Apollo]

1. So if need be, I may dismantle my unit and salvage some parts into a case that can fit a beefier PSU. However, I haven't built a computer in over ten years let alone taken one apart. Can any  of you help shed some light on this? I'm currently running a MSI Z370I Gaming Pro Carbon AC motherboard, I7-8700k CPU, 16gb  DDR4 3000mhz Ram, a 500gb m.2 ssd from digital storm, and a 1TB 7200rpm SATA drive, Nvidia GTX 1080, and the PSU mentioned above. Digital Storm also confirmed that upgrading the PSU in my aura will be a pain in the ass if not impossible. I'm up for a challenge, but I'm also practical. Not sure what the better choice is between upgrading the PSU and rebuilding the PC in a case. 

[Fasauceome]

23 hours ago, The Apollo said:

I'm currently running a MSI Z370I Gaming Pro Carbon AC motherboard, I7-8700k CPU, 16gb  DDR4 3000mhz Ram, a 500gb m.2 ssd from digital storm, and a 1TB 7200rpm SATA drive.

Using all this, you can make a decent ITX PC. Is the 1080 in that a blower model or a dual fan? I think they're all blower models but just in case they used a different one, it's good to know 

[The Apollo]

2 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

Using all this, you can make a decent ITX PC. Is the 1080 in that a blower model or a dual fan? I think they're all blower models but just in case they used a different one, it's good to know 

My build sheet doesnt specify weather its blower or dual fan. it just says gtx 1080 performance edition

[Fasauceome]

24 minutes ago, The Apollo said:

My build sheet doesnt specify weather its blower or dual fan. it just says gtx 1080 performance edition

You would be able to open it up and see.

Although, the only real reason to transfer the unit to another case would be to use a standard PSU so you could increase the wattage, or you could just swap out the motherboard since it uses a standard ITX form factor. When AMD releases their next Ryzen CPUs in a few weeks, they'll be more efficient than coffee lake and likely have similar gaming performance. You could go with one of these to take some load off the PSU and then have more room for a powerful graphics card.

 

If you wanted a small form factor PC with more power it would look something like this:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor	$0.00
CPU Cooler	Corsair - H60 (2018) 57.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler	$49.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard	MSI - Z370I GAMING PRO CARBON AC Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard	$0.00
Memory	G.Skill - Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$0.00
Storage	Samsung - 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	$0.00
Storage	Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$0.00
Video Card	EVGA - GeForce RTX 2080 8 GB GAMING Video Card	$698.99 @ SuperBiiz
Case	Silverstone - Sugo SG13B Mini ITX Tower Case	$50.50 @ B&H
Power Supply	EVGA - SuperNOVA GM 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply	$105.95 @ OutletPC
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$915.43
	Mail-in rebates	-$10.00
	Total	$905.43
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-05-07 11:37 EDT-0400

 

[WinDreamer]

Necrobump, but for anyone that's ever curious this is basically what you need: https://old.reddit.com/r/sffpc/comments/jthltd/new_flex_1u_psu_the_700w_beast/