Question Upgrades for my Aurora R7 ?

[UpgradeTime]

Hi all - I'm looking to make some upgrades to my five year-old Aurora R7 (https://www.hardware-corner.net/desktop-models/Alienware-Aurora-R7/). I'm not a cutting edge gamer, by any means, but would like to make some improvements where I can to help it handle newer games and give it some more time before being put out to pasture.

I picked up 32GB of Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200MHz DDR4 RAM (I'll replace existing 16GB, not add to it), and would like to look at other moderate upgrade options, including graphics card. Detailed specs (Speccy) are below. Thanks for any input.

SUMMARY
Operating System: Windows 10 Home 64-bit
CPU: Intel Core i7 8700K @ 3.70GHz - Coffee Lake 14nm Technology
RAM: 16.0GB Dual-Channel DDR4 @ 1329MHz (19-19-19-43) - will replace with 32GB as indicated above
Motherboard: Alienware 0VDT73 (U3E1)

Graphics:
DELL S2721HGF (1920x1080@144Hz)
Intel UHD Graphics 630 (Dell)
4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti (Dell)
SLI Disabled

Storage:
931GB Seagate ST1000DM010-2EP102 (SATA )
238GB KXG50ZNV256G NVMe TOSHIBA 256GB (RAID (SSD))

Optical Drives: HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GU90N
Audio: NVIDIA Virtual Audio Device (Wave Extensible) (WDM)

CPU DETAILS
Intel Core i7 8700K
Cores 6
Threads 12
Name Intel Core i7 8700K
Code Name Coffee Lake
Package Socket 1151 LGA
Technology 14nm
Specification Intel Core i7-8700K CPU @ 3.70GHz
Family 6
Extended Family 6
Model E
Extended Model 9E
Stepping A
Revision U0
Instructions MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, Intel 64, NX, VMX, AES, AVX, AVX2, FMA3
Virtualization Supported, Enabled
Hyperthreading Supported, Enabled
Bus Speed 99.7 MHz
Stock Core Speed 3700 MHz
Stock Bus Speed 100 MHz
Average Temperature 28 °C
Caches
L1 Data Cache Size 6 x 32 KBytes
L1 Instructions Cache Size 6 x 32 KBytes
L2 Unified Cache Size 6 x 256 KBytes
L3 Unified Cache Size 12288 KBytes

MEMORY DETAILS
Type DDR4
Size 16384 MBytes
Channels # Dual
DRAM Frequency ~1330 MHz
CAS# Latency (CL) 19 clocks
RAS# to CAS# Delay (tRCD) 19 clocks
RAS# Precharge (tRP) 19 clocks
Cycle Time (tRAS) 43 clocks
Command Rate (CR) 2T

MOTHERBOARD DETAILS
Manufacturer Alienware
Model 0VDT73 (U3E1)
Version A00
Chipset Vendor Intel
Chipset Model Coffee Lake
Chipset Revision 07
Southbridge Vendor Intel
Southbridge Model Z370
Southbridge Revision 00

BIOS
Brand Alienware
Version 1.0.25
Date 9/6/2021

PCI DATA

Slot PCI-E Slot Type PCI-E Slot Usage In Use Data lanes x16 Slot Designation SLOT1 Characteristics 3.3V, Shared, PME Slot Number 0

Slot PCI-E Slot Type PCI-E Slot Usage In Use Data lanes x4 Slot Designation SLOT2 Characteristics 3.3V, Shared, PME Slot Number 1

Slot PCI-E Slot Type PCI-E Slot Usage In Use Data lanes x4 Slot Designation SLOT3 Characteristics 3.3V, Shared, PME Slot Number 2

Slot PCI-E Slot Type PCI-E Slot Usage In Use Data lanes x16 Slot Designation SLOT4 Characteristics 3.3V, Shared, PME Slot Number 3

Slot PCI-E Slot Type PCI-E Slot Usage In Use Data lanes x1 Slot Designation M.2 WIFI Characteristics 3.3V, Shared, PME Slot Number 4

Slot PCI-E Slot Type PCI-E Slot Usage In Use Data lanes x4 Slot Designation M.2 SSD Characteristics 3.3V, Shared, PME Slot Number 5

GRAPHICS DETAILS
Monitor
DELL S2721HGF on NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti
Resolution 1920x1080 pixels
State Enabled, Primary
Monitor BPP 32 bits per pixel
Monitor Frequency 144 Hz
Device \\.\DISPLAY1\Monitor0

ONBOARD GRAPHICS
Intel UHD Graphics 630
Model UHD Graphics 630
Subvendor Dell (1028)
Current Performance Level Level 0
Current GPU Clock 0 MHz
Voltage 0.650 V
Technology 14 nm
Count of performance levels : 1
Level 1 - "Perf Level 0"
GPU Clock 448 MHz

GRAPHICS CARD
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti
Revision A2
Subvendor Dell (1028)
Current Performance Level Level 0
Current GPU Clock 139 MHz
Current Memory Clock 405 MHz
Current Shader Clock 405 MHz
Voltage 0.650 V
Technology 16 nm
Bus Interface PCI Express x8
Temperature 29 °C
Driver version 31.0.15.2698
BIOS Version 86.04.85.00.91
Memory 4095 MB
Count of performance levels : 1
Level 1 - "Perf Level 0"
GPU Clock 1607 MHz
Shader Clock 4006 MHz

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

Per this specs page;
https://dl.dell.com/topicspdf/alienware-aurora-r7-desktop_specifications_en-us.pdf
the chipset on the motherboard is a Z370. Meaning you should be able to get to DDR4-3200MHz though in the URL'd info above, the highest it's shown to support is DDR402933MHz.

BIOS
Brand Alienware
Version 1.0.25
Date 9/6/2021
https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/alienware-aurora-r7-desktop/drivers
You have one more BIOS version pending update. Make sure you've done that prior to dropping in any upgrades.

 

[UpgradeTime]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

Per this specs page;
https://dl.dell.com/topicspdf/alienware-aurora-r7-desktop_specifications_en-us.pdf
the chipset on the motherboard is a Z370. Meaning you should be able to get to DDR403200MHz though in the URL'd info above, the highest it's shown to support is DDR402933MHz.

BIOS
Brand Alienware
Version 1.0.25
Date 9/6/2021
https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/alienware-aurora-r7-desktop/drivers
You have one more BIOS version pending update. Make sure you've done that prior to dropping in any upgrades.

Thanks, Lutfij, I had to enable XMP in BIOS but it seems to be recognizing the 3200MHz

 

[Speed.canada]

I tried to upgrade my similar R7 i7-8700/GTX1070 with a RTX3070ti last year (after 32GB RAM, PSU and cooling upgrades, of course). I found no real increase to performance after the new graphics card. I ended up restoring the R7 to stock and selling, and built a new machine around the 3070ti, PSU, and RAM.