Advice on 2008 Alienware Aurora upgrade

[grandzinga]

Hello and thanks in advance.

This is an older one (2008) so any help in the medium price range of upgrading the memory and video would be much appreciated. Here are the specs:

*Aurora 7500-R4 DATE:02/2008
*Foxconn nforce 590 SLI motherboard
*D-Athalon 64 X2 5200+ AM2 DC processor
* WM552/XG691 Qimonda 1GB DDR2 PC2-6400 jedec std memory
*integrated audio c51xem2aa sound
*Geforce 8800gt 512mb graphics
*750 watt power supply.
*Windows XP SP3 32-bit

I play games on it no problem now, but I know it could be tweaked.

 

[Emerald]

what is you budget?

2x 2GB of PC2-6400 about $70 - $80

 

[grandzinga]

I could go to about $140 on the memory. What do you think a good upgrade of the GPU would be in the medium price range?

 

[hang-the-9]

The video card you have, if it's working good, is not bad for the CPU you have. I am thinking that a faster video card would be bottlenecked by the CPU. But if you have the budget to try it, get a mid range card like a nVidia 650ti, that way it's good enough to move into a faster system at some point. Getting a lower end but faster card than what you have now may not be a good buy. I'd also check for some used RAM, it seems new DDR2 has gone up in price quite a bit. Save some on RAM, put the savings on video card. Plus anything spend on RAM now is a dead end as new systems all run DDR3, while a better video card will fit into newer PC systems for a bit.

 

[grandzinga]

The video card you have, if it's working good, is not bad for the CPU you have. I am thinking that a faster video card would be bottlenecked by the CPU. But if you have the budget to try it, get a mid range card like a nVidia 650ti, that way it's good enough to move into a faster system at some point. Getting a lower end but faster card than what you have now may not be a good buy. I'd also check for some used RAM, it seems new DDR2 has gone up in price quite a bit. Save some on RAM, put the savings on video card. Plus anything spend on RAM now is a dead end as new systems all run DDR3, while a better video card will fit into newer PC systems for a bit.

Ahh very good points. My GPU seems fine but if you think I will get better looking games out of an upgrade then I might do that- but no need probably.
In summary- the only thing I should do with this machine that makes any sense cost-wise is to add RAM? Most def going with used- hadn't even thought of that - thanks.

 

[grandzinga]

I was thinking this looked good:

Patriot Viper 4GB DDR2 800(PC2 6400) RAM Kit (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin CAS 4-4-4-12

I will check out those nVidia 650ti's too.

 

[grandzinga]

ZOTAC NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1GB GDDR5 2DVI/Mini HDMI PCI-Express Video Card ZT-61101-10M
Is this one decent @ $130

-or-

GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 650 Ti OC 1GB GDDR5 2x DVI / HDMI / D-SUB PCI-Express 3.0 Graphics Card Graphics Cards GV-N65TOC-1GI @ $130

 

[hang-the-9]

ZOTAC NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1GB GDDR5 2DVI/Mini HDMI PCI-Express Video Card ZT-61101-10M
Is this one decent @ $130

-or-

GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 650 Ti OC 1GB GDDR5 2x DVI / HDMI / D-SUB PCI-Express 3.0 Graphics Card Graphics Cards GV-N65TOC-1GI @ $130

Both are good, see which one has the best warranty, is quietest, etc... The OC one will probably have a bit faster clock rate, but as I said, with your CPU it won't matter too much.

 

[grandzinga]

I want non-ECC memory correct? Is that what mine is? (* WM552/XG691 Qimonda 1GB DDR2 PC2-6400 jedec std memory)

I found this memory for a good price-
Qimonda 4GB (2x 2GB) PC2-6400 DDR2-800 DIMM non-ECC 240-pin
MPN#HYS64T256020EU-2.5-C2

But I would like to have the experts here tell me if its worth a little more $ for the Patriot Viper set listed in my earlier reply or maybe Corsair XMS2 ?

*UPDATE*
I went with the Patriot Viper- used- 2x2GB for $28

 

[grandzinga]

This is the GPU I plan to get. I know what you mean about the OC model not making any difference, but this model is the best price/most features I can find at $130.
Just one last check before I purchase that this is def. compatible with my system? Thanks.

MPN#GV-N65TOC-1GI
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 650 Ti OC 1GB GDDR5 2x DVI / HDMI / D-SUB PCI-Express 3.0 Graphics Card @ $130

 

[hang-the-9]

The only thing that may stop the card from working is if you have a rev 1.0 PCIe slot, which I doubt is the case. There are some compatability issues with 1.0 PCIe slots and 2 and later cards. You can do a BIOS update also, that will help with supporting newer hardware.

 

[grandzinga]

The only thing that may stop the card from working is if you have a rev 1.0 PCIe slot, which I doubt is the case. There are some compatability issues with 1.0 PCIe slots and 2 and later cards.

How can I tell if this mobo is a 1.0 or 2 PCI-E?

Foxconn
Model C51XEM2AA- 8EKRS2H
Dual PCI Express x16 Support
· Supports 4 GB/sec (8 GB/sec concurrent) bandwidth
Expansion Slots
PCI Express x16 2
PCI Express x4 1
PCI Express x1 1
PCI Slots 2

 

[grandzinga]

You can do a BIOS update also, that will help with supporting newer hardware.

There are three downloads from Foxconn for this mobo -
*Bios file
*On-board audio drivers
*System and chipset drivers

Do I want to do all of these even if I have no problems currently?

 

[hang-the-9]

You can do a BIOS update also, that will help with supporting newer hardware.

There are three downloads from Foxconn for this mobo -
*Bios file
*On-board audio drivers
*System and chipset drivers

Do I want to do all of these even if I have no problems currently?

It won't hurt to update, there is a tiny chance the BIOS update can go wrong but that is such a small chance that you should not worry about it. And it may save you some headachs with the card. The card may work just fine without any updates. I'd do the sound drivers and chipset if newer than what you have installed. To check the revision of the PCI slot you need to check the detailed specs of the motherboard on their support site. Make sure you get the right revision of the motherboard to check, it could be model 12345 Rev A, with Rev B havind different specs.

 

[grandzinga]

Ok thanks a lot for your continued support here H-T-9 ! I will check the Foxconn site again to see if I missed that PCI-E rev info somewhere.


I will post progress and results as I do this upgrade.

I read a lot of alien bashing out there. I can't speak for the Dell incarnation but I have many reasons that I am and have been 100% satisfied with this original Alienware machine. It has done all I've tasked it to do for 5 years without any real hardware issues at all.

 

[grandzinga]

I have searched Foxconns' support site with model specific searches relating to PCI-E and get nada.
I have done model specific searches for VGA compatibility lists on Foxconn Channel with zero results.
I have downloaded and read through the Foxconn manual for this board. The only reference is this:

Dual PCI Express x16 Support
· Supports 4 GB/sec (8 GB/sec concurrent) bandwidth
2x16 PCI-E SLI Support
Two full-bandwidth, 16-lane PCI Express links ensure maximum graphics performance
for next-generation GPUs and games. Offers twice the PCI Express bandwidth
of X8 SLI solutions
NVIDIA LinkBoostTM Technology
NVIDIA nForce 590 MCP automatically increases bandwidth when selected NVIDIA
GeForce® graphics cards are detected.

If there is anyone out there that can confirm what revision these pci-e slots are on these boards - I sure am curious about it now.
Thanks