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So I've been told this is a good processor.

S

Scubastevie00

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 15, 2004
Messages
200
My brother just had his first child and gifted me his Alienware Area 51 R2. Yeah its an overpriced, 60 pound behemoth, but some internals I hear are good. I haven't build a pc nor gamed on one since around 2003 when watercooling meant using a car oil cooler for a radiator. Ah how I see things have changed.

I just upgraded the videocard to a Sapphire R9 390 OC Nitro which really made a difference from the original R9 270(That may or may not have issues). I can run Skyrim on Ultra now easily. Here are the specs to the PC:

Intel i7-5820K Haswell @ 3.3Ghz
16mb Samsung DDR-4 2133
Sapphire R9 390 Nitro OC
2Tb hd w/ a 240gb SSD
(Adding tomorrow when it arrives, 240gb Corsair SSD)
850W power supply
Alienware Mobo

I know the mobo is trash. Although it comes with some overclocking software. I've yet to mess with it. Has 4 delta fans, one is already on its way out. The processor is cooled by a single 120mm sized radiator.

Like I said, its been quite some time since I've been in the game. Is this processor really that good? I upgraded the video card b/c the original R9 270 couldn't even run borderlands at max settings. I'm basically looking for suggestions for what to do with this thing. I'm figuring I can play most games with the new videocard on 1080p at ultra now with pretty good framerates.

I know this is rather disjointed, but I'm just putting out a feeler for suggestions for upgrades hardware and OC wise. I've been told the proc is a beast, but I'm hesitant to really push it with stock alienware coolers.

Thanks in advance!
 
It's an excellent processor. Once you get a decent cooler...If the overclocking software can take the chip to ~4.2 ghz (which isn't hard to reach) then that setup will last you a very long time. The motherboard should honestly do the job if it has basic voltage controls.
Im guessing the current cooling is something along the lines of a thin radiator a la h55/h60 (not a thicker one like the H80) paired with a single fan? See if you can fit a dual 120mm AIO in there, setup push and pull fans if you have space, and turn it up to 4.2ghz.
 
If I had that gifted to me... I'd be happy as hell. Not an Alienware fan but... nothing to complain about here. :D
 
Thanks for the responses. Like I said, its been awhile. I have voltage regulators and clock multiplier options on both proc and memory. I am currently having issues that after running games on steam I lose the taskbar though. Not even sure what forum to put that in. I want to increase proc speed, but at this point I see no real reason to until I figure out why the explorer seems to crash. Windows key brings up the windows 10 start menu still, but nothing else.
 
To get back the taskbar just start taskmanager and run explorer.

Just a quick run around to get it back while you figure out the crashing.
 
Just kinda assumed. So the board isn't half bad? It was high on my things to replace. Just picked up the PC like 2 weeks ago so only 2 weeks of research when I'm not at work..
 
Sounds like a real decent setup and better than most here.....even without overclocking that pc can hold its own. look around in the bios and see if it allows overclocking and if not, maybe see if theres any way to software overclock it....i personally wouldn't be in any rush to change hardware:)
 
Step 1: Receive Intel's current top-of-the-line platform for free

Step 2: Post about what trash it is

Winning.

I wish I had cool relatives.
 
Well, lets face it, its a Dell mainboard. He's assuming its trash.

He ain't right...

But he ain't wrong.
 
Scubastevie00 said:
Just kinda assumed. So the board isn't half bad? It was high on my things to replace. Just picked up the PC like 2 weeks ago so only 2 weeks of research when I'm not at work..
Click to expand...

End all be all you really don't have to replace a lot on it. If you can get that machine to 4.2 (which shouldn't be an issue) you will probably be good for 5 more years.
 
KazeoHin said:
Well, lets face it, its a Dell mainboard. He's assuming its trash.

He ain't right...

But he ain't wrong.
Click to expand...

The motherboard in an R2 is actually quite good and has a significant heatsink on the VRM's. I think its OEM'd by Asus. Sounds like a fresh Windows install would fix the OP's issues more than anything.
 
trentchau said:
I wouldn't really call any x99 board trash tbh.
Click to expand...

You'd be mistaken. There are some motherboards with crap construction and worse VRMs that barely adhere to Intel's current VRD specifications. These aren't what we review here, but they are out there.

KazeoHin said:
Well, lets face it, its a Dell mainboard. He's assuming its trash.

He ain't right...

But he ain't wrong.
Click to expand...

It all depends on who OEM'ed the thing. I saw a friend's Alienware based on an EVGA 780i SLI motherboard. I told him when it would die and how. I wasn't wrong. The VRMs on that thing and the shit firmware were a ticking time bomb and I knew what the time frame was for detonation.

LigTasm said:
The motherboard in an R2 is actually quite good and has a significant heatsink on the VRM's. I think its OEM'd by Asus. Sounds like a fresh Windows install would fix the OP's issues more than anything.
Click to expand...

I'd love to see the picture of it. Last time I looked at a Dellienware it was pretty bad. The case was a dated design based on a fairly cheap retail offering with a fancy shell. The PSU was some Chinese junk with a rating that was wishful thinking at best, the RAM sticks were basic JEDEC spec'ed garbage that could barely hit stock clocks much less go beyond that. The hard drive was a pathetic 7200RPM spinner that didn't even support the latest SATA spec. This was a while ago, but in my experience Dellienware has only gotten worse and worse as time has passed and the Dell overlords demand higher and higher profit margins in a business where the margins have shrunk to a pittance of what they once were.
 
you know with the right touch of cable management plus some aftermarket wires that could look good....lol...gives you something to improve....that triangle design doesn't make it easier
 
I think your screwed. Just play your games at 1080p Ultra Mega settings. Before you upgrade mobo and parts - other than GPU - think about relative gain. I doubt that buying a new mobo+ram+cooler would be worth the extra MHz compared to what you have already.

1440p needs more power because my old i7 930 + 7970 3gb is not beast enough for 60fps+
 
New video card did magic for this thing. Temps are good. Haven't messed around with any OCing yet. I'll have to do some research to figure out good clocks and voltage. When the new architecture comes out I figured I'd SLI the current card for 1/10 of the current price. That with OCing the i7 should hold me strong. Like I said in the original post I'm way behind on whats going on. It'll give me plenty of time to catch up.
 
Scubastevie00 said:
Not the best images, but here they are!

http://imgur.com/a/ZYLqU
Click to expand...

That motherboard is probably a Foxconn OEM design built for Alienware by request. The Alien silkscreening on it is a newer development for them. Kind of cool looking actually, but that's not an ASUS design. That much I can say with relative certainty. ASUS does design a lot of OEM motherboards, and sells many of them but ultimately someone else builds the PCBs and does the surface mount component assembly I believe.

Saki630 said:
I think your screwed. Just play your games at 1080p Ultra Mega settings. Before you upgrade mobo and parts - other than GPU - think about relative gain. I doubt that buying a new mobo+ram+cooler would be worth the extra MHz compared to what you have already.

1440p needs more power because my old i7 930 + 7970 3gb is not beast enough for 60fps+
Click to expand...

The only way he would see gains is if that motherboard is incapable of overclocking at all. If that setup can hit 4.2GHz or so I'd say he's good where he's at as long as it's stable. I'd replace that shitty JEDEC spec RAM with something more substantial that can at least do 2666MHz or more. That 2133MHz shit is slower than your relatively common DDR3 1866MHz modules and that's fucking embarrassing. Alienware is so fucking cheap I swear.

Scubastevie00 said:
New video card did magic for this thing. Temps are good. Haven't messed around with any OCing yet. I'll have to do some research to figure out good clocks and voltage. When the new architecture comes out I figured I'd SLI the current card for 1/10 of the current price. That with OCing the i7 should hold me strong. Like I said in the original post I'm way behind on whats going on. It'll give me plenty of time to catch up.
Click to expand...

The GPU is the most important factor in gaming performance when the basics are met. IE, enough RAM and a decent CPU with a PSU that can handle all of it.

The problem with Dellienware is that they skimp on most everything in the name of profit margins. They pull shit like giving you a decent processor and a large amount of HDD space and RAM to make the specs look good. The reality is that the GPU is woefully underpowered for the price you pay, the PSU's ratings are wishful thinking, the RAM is JEDEC spec'ed bargain bin junk, and for all that cash they can't even be bothered to do a decent wiring job.

The only reason why the OP scored here is because he didn't pay for that monstrosity. With a new GPU, some overclocking and some decent RAM the machine should perform. Just watch that PSU, that's some Chinese garbage right there. I'd be tempted to put a voltmeter to it and see if the thing is even close to ATX specs. Granted a voltmeter only tells you so much, so that may not indicate an issue. I'd wager that if Paul Johnson put one of those on his test equipment it would shit sparks and die at full rated capacity.

I can't tell you how many friends of mine bought Alienware machines thinking they had the best hardware money could buy. When I told them I could not only build a machine for 2/3 the cost or LESS, but that it would be faster and longer lasting they didn't believe me. Once their boxes started dying, they started listening.
 
Like I said about the GPU. Xfire when prices come down for a second one. I appreciate all of your feedback. It was free and I can't complain. I'm just going to slowly upgrade parts probably starting with the PSU and ending with the case. Thanks again!
 
Dan_D said:
That motherboard is probably a Foxconn OEM design built for Alienware by request. The Alien silkscreening on it is a newer development for them. Kind of cool looking actually, but that's not an ASUS design. That much I can say with relative certainty. ASUS does design a lot of OEM motherboards, and sells many of them but ultimately someone else builds the PCBs and does the surface mount component assembly I believe.



The only way he would see gains is if that motherboard is incapable of overclocking at all. If that setup can hit 4.2GHz or so I'd say he's good where he's at as long as it's stable. I'd replace that shitty JEDEC spec RAM with something more substantial that can at least do 2666MHz or more. That 2133MHz shit is slower than your relatively common DDR3 1866MHz modules and that's fucking embarrassing. Alienware is so fucking cheap I swear.



The GPU is the most important factor in gaming performance when the basics are met. IE, enough RAM and a decent CPU with a PSU that can handle all of it.

The problem with Dellienware is that they skimp on most everything in the name of profit margins. They pull shit like giving you a decent processor and a large amount of HDD space and RAM to make the specs look good. The reality is that the GPU is woefully underpowered for the price you pay, the PSU's ratings are wishful thinking, the RAM is JEDEC spec'ed bargain bin junk, and for all that cash they can't even be bothered to do a decent wiring job.

The only reason why the OP scored here is because he didn't pay for that monstrosity. With a new GPU, some overclocking and some decent RAM the machine should perform. Just watch that PSU, that's some Chinese garbage right there. I'd be tempted to put a voltmeter to it and see if the thing is even close to ATX specs. Granted a voltmeter only tells you so much, so that may not indicate an issue. I'd wager that if Paul Johnson put one of those on his test equipment it would shit sparks and die at full rated capacity.

I can't tell you how many friends of mine bought Alienware machines thinking they had the best hardware money could buy. When I told them I could not only build a machine for 2/3 the cost or LESS, but that it would be faster and longer lasting they didn't believe me. Once their boxes started dying, they started listening.
Click to expand...
This is the best post on the internet 1/28/16. :D
 
Definitely an MSI-built motherboard, so not TOO bad. I consider MSI to be up there with Gigabyte for the most part, which isn't saying much because I absolutely hate my Gigabyte X99 board, but at least it isn't dead a year later or known for catching on fire or anything.

The 5820K is definitely a good chip, though.

The first thing I would definitely recommend is getting a nice Seasonic PSU in there. For a nice system, you might as well get a modular 80+ Platinum one and be done with it.

The second thing I would definitely recommend is grabbing a quad-channel DDR4-2800 or faster kit. That'll definitely be an improvement over the 2133, which as Dan mentioned will be slower than common DDR3-1866 RAM once latency is taken into account. Once you get beyond 2666 you start to see DDR4 pull away from the faster DDR3 sticks.
 
xWiredx said:
Definitely an MSI-built motherboard, so not TOO bad. I consider MSI to be up there with Gigabyte for the most part, which isn't saying much because I absolutely hate my Gigabyte X99 board, but at least it isn't dead a year later or known for catching on fire or anything.

The 5820K is definitely a good chip, though.

The first thing I would definitely recommend is getting a nice Seasonic PSU in there. For a nice system, you might as well get a modular 80+ Platinum one and be done with it.

The second thing I would definitely recommend is grabbing a quad-channel DDR4-2800 or faster kit. That'll definitely be an improvement over the 2133, which as Dan mentioned will be slower than common DDR3-1866 RAM once latency is taken into account. Once you get beyond 2666 you start to see DDR4 pull away from the faster DDR3 sticks.
Click to expand...

It very well could be an MSI motherboard. Whether or not that's a good thing depends on what it's actual capabilities are. ASUS has OEM'ed a lot of motherboards in systems which are flat out stripped copies of existing models we know well in the DIY market. Often times the BIOS is neutered to prevent customers from overclocking too far or breaking the system by changing certain settings. This is actually why features like the Easy XMP switch exist now. This allows OEMs to set the memory settings so that customer actions don't reduce system performance or enter values which would cause instability or failures.

MSI builds great motherboards. In terms of physical build quality I think they have the best hardware on the market. I'm not saying all their designs are the best, but the build quality is there. The designs are good and in most cases comparable to anything ASUS or GIGABYTE has. Where MSI usually falters is in the firmware / UEFI or the included software packages. As long as this Dellienware motherboard can overclock, I don't think it needs to be replaced. As I said, if you want that machine to perform, overclock it and replace the JEDEC spec'ed RAM with something that can clock to DDR4 2666MHz or higher. I suggested this earlier for the same reasons you did. At 2666MHz and beyond you start seeing gains from DDR4 memory. I seriously doubt that the motherboard in question can sustain anything higher than 2666MHz DDR4 speeds though. It's probably not made with enough PCB layers and a good enough trace design to handle it.

The power supply is cheap Chinese crap, and while it should be replaced ideally, it's not going to change how the system performs. It's capacity for upgrades and longevity are what concern me about it. I'd be weary of loading the system down with extra hardware though without an upgrade as those PSUs aren't really good quality. I keep making comments about the ratings being wishful thinking, and I am not kidding. It you tax that thing to what it's rated for it won't last and worse yet, it may take hardware out with it.
 
Years back Dell would pin their PSU to mobo connectors differently than the typical standard if I remember correctly...... go to replace a dell psu or mobo individually and may be greeted unwanted and very brief "rerouting" of power aka ker-blamo to components.

Not sure if they are still doing that crap but may want to check into such things before replacing the factory PSU just in case.....


My brother was bought an alienware mx17 r2 years ago for like $4.8k .... lol..... "mobile gaming station" was what they called it instead of laptop....had to open it up and secure the crossfire wiring in the first week of ownership to make it function correctly. These days its torn down in my parts pile :) Anyone have need of an at-the-time $1000 extreme edition i7? Pffft..


Anyway as others have said best thing you can ever do for a dell is wipe and reinstall a fresh OS without the dell bloatware/bluescreen crap on it.
 
I have not seen a dell or HP computer with a non standard atx power supply in the last decade.
 
As always, thanks again.

I'm sure some of you have seen the other posts. I am upgrading memory, MOBO and powersupply tomorrow. I was gifted a "top of the line" computer and in all reality I was given something that has a nice processor and HD's in it. Thanks again!
 
mnewxcv said:
I have not seen a dell or HP computer with a non standard atx power supply in the last decade.
Click to expand...

It's been going on for years now. Here is one example, and it's a Dell Precision, not a cheap line at all:

https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/473555-dell-proprietary-psu-is-this-the-new-dell

Here is an adapter so you can use a standard ATX power supply:

http://www.moddiy.com/products/Dell...24%2dPin-to-8%2dPin-Adapter-Cable-(30cm).html

HP has been doing something similar but of course different.

cables here: http://www.moddiy.com/categories/Cables/HP-{47}-Dell-Cables/

edit: Lenovo is up to this as well. Here is a TS140 motherboard: http://www.d9commerce.com/api-connect/image_store/20150404/8113-6367-20150404-3415.JPG
 
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If you received the original Windows key, you can do a fresh install of Win10 off USB or DVD with a Win7 or Win8/8.1 key now. Use the Windows 10 media creator from the MS website.
 
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