Updating Alienware X51

[Derek Woolley]

So my friend is thinking about building a new gaming pc. It would be his first build. I thought instead of spending like a grand on an entirely new pc he could update certain parts like the motherboard, gpu, and cpu in his current X51. He thinks that he can't do that since he didn't make it himself. So my question is: can he take apart his x51 and change out some parts to get a better gaming computer?

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

The X51 isn't really worth updating due to it's SFF type design.

 

[Supermuncher85]

Had a similar post not too long ago, short answer is yes. There's tons of guides on google on how to disassemble the thing, it accepts "most" 2 slot GPU's and the CPU's been upgraded plenty of times (even youtube videos about i7 upgrades).

So depending on if he has an i3 4gb ram and a 740ish gpu, yeah you can upgrade it a fair bit. I5 or i7 (I'd buy used from ebay I've never had a dud cpu in) and don't think you can overclock (h61 board?) so don't bother with a "k" part. GTX960 since it sips power unlike AMD equivalent and swap the ram to 8+ and should be like new.

 

[Derek Woolley]

The X51 isn't really worth updating due to it's SFF type design.[/quotemsg

What if he takes the parts from the X51 that he is keeping and put them into a new case. Would that work?

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=332-1432&mfgpid=227504
The power supply.