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Alienware X51 thread of 2.56TFLOPS comfy couch gaming at 180W in a console size box

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M

Marty Chinn

Member
Tillbo said:
Did you get the 1060 all working now then? Really happy with mine and I think you have the same X51 as I do
Click to expand...

Yep, ran into a few hiccups, but things seem to be working and stable now. Did you get the NVIDIA Optimus functionality to work? Heck is that still even a thing now? It used to work when I had the original GPU before I switched to the Radeon which of course didn't support it. I haven't tried to fiddle with that, but would love to get that running again if possible. I was impressed how well it fit inside compared to my old 7870 and how much quieter the system is now too. Definitely a great upgrade

Just to note about a couple of the hiccups:

1) When running Batman Arkham Origin's benchmark, I was baffled why the prison scene was chugging since that area is to show off PhysX and since it's an NVIDIA card it should support PhysX. It turns out PhysX for whatever reason is off by default in the NVIDIA software settings so my system was trying to do it all on the CPU. It just didn't make any sense why that would be off by default and not set to Auto. So that threw me for awhile until I dug down into the driver software.

2) 3DMark always fails on the stress test. It always stops around 92 or 93% and it doesn't give any indicator why. From what I can gather, it sounds like the Steam version of 3DMark is buggy compared to the non Steam one and that not being able to pass the stress test might be because of that rather than any fault of my system. Curious if you've tried this.
 
T

Tillbo

Member
Haven't tried 3DMark so I'll try to run that and see. Regarding Optimus I've never used that myself - thought that was more about preserving battery life in laptops? Or is that something else? Not really that up with PC stuff nowadays hence why it took me so long to finally upgrade my X51.

Overall though. I've not run into any problems with the 1060 and my machine runs much quieter. The performance gains I've got so far exceeded my expectations as I was worried my CPU would hold it back.
 
M

Marty Chinn

Member
Tillbo said:
Haven't tried 3DMark so I'll try to run that and see. Regarding Optimus I've never used that myself - thought that was more about preserving battery life in laptops? Or is that something else? Not really that up with PC stuff nowadays hence why it took me so long to finally upgrade my X51.

Overall though. I've not run into any problems with the 1060 and my machine runs much quieter. The performance gains I've got so far exceeded my expectations as I was worried my CPU would hold it back.
Click to expand...

Heh, I'm in the exact same boat as you with not being up to date on PC stuff these days. It was just the combination of hearing the X51 line was being retired and seeing you post about the 1060 being a perfect upgrade for it that sparked my interest in looking into this. So thanks for pointing me in the right way. I was also worried about the CPU, and while it sucks I can't hook a VR set up to it because of it, the normal games run great. I've run so many different game benchmarks just to watch the high numbers being reported. I think the only one so far that seems to have dips under 60 fps is Hitman Absolution.

As far as Optimus goes, as I remember it, you could plug the HDMI cable into the motherboard port instead of directly into the GPU HDMI port. Then, it would auto detect when to use which GPU. This was great for when I was doing anything non-game related as it would run cooler and in a lower powered state. Stuff like playing media since before it use to double as a HTPC. So having that option to use the integrated GPU for the HTPC was nice and then I could launch Steam in big picture mode from within Kodi. It was just nice being able to pick up a controller and seamlessly do everything including switching between GPUs.
 
Chittagong

Chittagong

Gold Member
Anyone interested in buying the very X51 in the OP? Barebones, just the machine and power adapter. Not really looking to get very much for it. Probably best if UK/London based.
 
D

Dimorphic

Member
I have the X51 R1 and have been looking at upgrading the GPU. I've been reading around and it seems the GTX 1060 will be compatible with the machine with a 330W PSU.

Is this the case? Has anyone installed the 1060 in the R1?
 
M

Marty Chinn

Member
Dimorphic said:
I have the X51 R1 and have been looking at upgrading the GPU. I've been reading around and it seems the GTX 1060 will be compatible with the machine with a 330W PSU.

Is this the case? Has anyone installed the 1060 in the R1?
Click to expand...
I upgraded mine and it works great. Be sure to get the Founders Edition.
 
T

Tenck

Member
Dimorphic said:
I have the X51 R1 and have been looking at upgrading the GPU. I've been reading around and it seems the GTX 1060 will be compatible with the machine with a 330W PSU.

Is this the case? Has anyone installed the 1060 in the R1?
Click to expand...

Just did so on Saturday. Best decision I've done. I've been playing some older games on 4K and been maxing out the games I play that are current gen (Overwatch, Doom, Battlefield 1) easily. You want a blower style cooler on your GPU (like the founders edition) or either evga 1060/zotac 1060 mini.

Edit:
Dimorphic said:
Why the Founders Edition? Is that just due to the size or fan?
Click to expand...

Blower style is better for smaller cases cause it's better at cooling. X51 case is too small for open air cooling. You'll run in to issues.
 
D

Dimorphic

Member
Tenck said:
Just did so on Saturday. Best decision I've done. I've been playing some older games on 4K and been maxing out the games I play that are current gen (Overwatch, Doom, Battlefield 1) easily. You want a blower style cooler on your GPU (like the founders edition) or either evga 1060/zotac 1060 mini.

Edit:

Blower style is better for smaller cases cause it's better at cooling. X51 case is too small for open air cooling. You'll run in to issues.
Click to expand...

Awesome.

So with a 330W PSU and base every thing else I should be sweet? I am running an i5 so I'm fine in that regard.

Also I did hear that the lower PSU can also run the 1060, is this true? Thanks for your help mate as well!
 
D

Dimorphic

Member
It seems like the 1060 Founders Edition doesn't ship to Australia. Does anyone know an equivalent card compatible with the R1 I can source locally?
 
I

itschris

Member
Dimorphic said:
I can get this. In fact the store is like 15 mins from my house haha!

http://www.umart.com.au/umart1/pro/Products-details.phtml?id=10&bid=2&sid=288425&id2=1
Click to expand...

Hmm, that one is actually not a reference blower design, it just looks similar - I think it would blow the hot air into the case rather than out the back. It might result in overheating. Of course, I'm no video card expert, so maybe it would still work.

On that website you linked, this is the only reference design I could see (10.5 inches, so it would require you to remove a fan to make it fit):

http://www.umart.com.au/umart1/pro/...56&Asus GeForce GTX 1060 Turbo 6GB Video Card

The one I linked in my previous post is the only reference design I could find on an Australian site that was 9.5 inches.
 
T

Tenck

Member
Yeah the one you linked is the better one. I'm surprised the founders edition one isn't sold in Australia.

Edit: looking at my screenshots even my blower style 960 was running hot. There's just a 2 Celsius difference between that and my mini 1060
 
I

itschris

Member
Tenck said:
Yeah the one you linked is the better one. I'm surprised the founders edition one isn't sold in Australia.

Edit: looking at my screenshots even my blower style 960 was running hot. There's just a 2 Celsius difference between that and my mini 1060
Click to expand...

Ah, interesting! I've never tried a mini ACX card, so I wasn't sure if it would work well in an X51.

Dimorphic said:
This looks like a winner.
Click to expand...

Glad I could help!
 
D

Dimorphic

Member
It turns out I have an R2 not an R1 which is a bonus (no idea why I thought I had an R1). Is the above card still the recommendation?
 
D

Dimorphic

Member
Sorry for the barrage of questions guys. I'm likely going to go with the linked card above but despite their website stating stock the place is out of stock until mid-December.

Based on this site (http://www.msy.com.au/199-nvidia) what is the best 1060 option or the best GPU for a $400ish AUD price point available to me either with or without case mods (and if case mods are needed what exactly are they).

Thanks for the help I really do appreciate it!
 
I

itschris

Member
Dimorphic said:
Sorry for the barrage of questions guys. I'm likely going to go with the linked card above but despite their website stating stock the place is out of stock until mid-December.

Based on this site (http://www.msy.com.au/199-nvidia) what is the best 1060 option or the best GPU for a $400ish AUD price point available to me either with or without case mods (and if case mods are needed what exactly are they).

Thanks for the help I really do appreciate it!
Click to expand...

On that website, it looks like this is the only option:

http://www.msy.com.au/pc-components...1060-6g-6g-gtx-1060-turbo-pci-e-vga-card.html

It's a 10.5 inch model, so you'll definitely have to remove the small fan. If you jump to 2:25 in this video, you can see it being removed (the video is for a 1070, but it's also a 10.5 inch card):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UniD0tWJn3g

The person in the video also cuts off a tab on the case (at 3:09), which could get in the way, though you could try installing the card first - maybe the 1060 is slightly smaller so that wouldn't be necessary.

He also cuts a hole in the case to make room for some cables (at 2:51), but I doubt you would have to go that far (the 1070 uses an 8-pin power cable, so he had to make room for the 8-pin to 2x6-pin adapter cables, but that 1060 just uses 1 6-pin cable).

Sorry, I can't speak from personal experience here - maybe someone who's actually installed a 10.5 inch card could elaborate on whether they had to anything more than remove that fan.
 
K

krumble

Member
Dimorphic said:
Any case modifications needed?
Click to expand...

I did remove the front fan out and have to very slightly mod the case using a YouTube guide.

I used EVGA step up from 970 to 1070 so while the cards were in transit I took a Saturday afternoon to do it all patiently and with no stress or excitement to get the new card in and was very simple. My x51 came with an SSD and secondary normal 1TB HD so I also moved this from under the graphics card to on top of the DVD drive

When the new card arrived it was LITERALLY less than a 5 minute job to open it up and put the 1070 in.
Was EXTREMELY simple and plenty of space and airflow
 
K

KyleCross

Member
Could anyone tell me what my definitive options are for upgrading the GPU in an R2 with a 240w PSU? It's hard to find information when most builds seem to have the 330w PSU. I'd appreciate any help.
 
IbizaPocholo

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
poodaddy said:
Dude you're the only one on this fuckin site bumping these ancient ass threads all the goddamn time. Even placing you on ignore doesn't help, as the old threads just keep popping up. Why can't you just start a new thread for new news? Shit's annoying dude.
Click to expand...
This is the OT for the x51 and this is the perfect thread for the news i posted. Not every info needs a new thread for everything.
 
Chittagong

Chittagong

Gold Member
what-year-is-it-gif.gif
 
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