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Case Mod - In Progress Alienware Aurora ALX-XL

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by kier, 27 Oct 2012.

  1. kier

    kier -----------------

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    [​IMG]

    The Alienware Aurora ALX-XL

    Sometimes you get a chance you can't say no to, so that's what happened to me.
    After some discussions and exchanging ideas with Dell, I am very happy to announce to you a build with a super case. It's allready beautiful But I'm gonna give it a try ;)

    The Alienware Aurora desktop.

    And not only the case, but a complete configuration with the following components:

    - CASE : Alienware Aurora ALX 875W-chassis (Matte Black)
    - PROCESSOR: Intel® Core i7-3820 (4 Core, 10MB Cache, 3.60GHz)
    - OPERATING SYSTEM : Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64-bits
    - GRAPHICS : 1 GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 555
    - MEMORY : 16GB (4 x 4 GB) 1.600 MHz Quad Channel DDR3
    - HARD DRIVE : 256 GB SSD
    - OPTICAL DRIVE : 8X Blu-ray Disc-rw-station en 24x dvd+/-rw-station

    Before I start, first I want to thank all the great sponsors for making this build possible.

    Alienware, for the system.

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    Nvidia to deliver GPU upgrade (more on this later)

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    And EKWB for the watercooling components

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    There will be a lot of pictures again in this build. What is new is that I now going to add videos, think this will be a nice addition.

    First contact with an alien:



    Always a great feeling to receive packages :) Once everything is dragged into the living room to have another great feeling ..... unboxing



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    The Aurora is certainly well packed, they have given this some good thought.

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    A box in a box

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    Clips to unlock the cover

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    Almost :eeek:

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    :jawdrop: :jawdrop: :jawdrop:

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    The Alienware Aurora

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    Nice shapes

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    Front also beautiful and clean

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    One touch on the Alien head and the panel slides down.

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    If the PC is turned on and you activate the sliding panel, the lights which illuminate the optical drives will turn on

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    Acrylic part what looks very nice ... especially when it is enlightened

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    Power button

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    Behind this is a pushpanel to the front I / O. containing

    (2x) Hi-Speed USB 2.0
    (1x) SuperSpeed USB 3.0
    (1x) Mic
    (1x) Headphone

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    At the rear is the handle to unlock the side panel.

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    Pull the last vent

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    To unlock the sidepanel

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    The PSU (Alienware™ 875-watt) is also swappable and modular

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    Another great gadget is the enlightenment on the back. Activated with a push button.

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    Also a great gadget is the Alienware Active Venting.

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    Next box. With keyboard and other accessories

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    The Alienware tactx keyboard with two-zone lighting setup

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    The Alienware mousepad

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    Some documents

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    Drivers and utilities

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    Cables

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    And two Alienware 3D avatars

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    Not finished yet ..... a monitor, the beautiful Alienware OPTX AW2310



    Specs:

    •Connections Dual-link DVI (with HDCP), HDMI, 4 x USB
    •Viewable Screen Size 23.5in
    •Maximum Resolution 1,920 x 1,080
    •Contrast ratio 80,000:1 (dynamic), static not quoted
    •Brightness 400cd/m2
    •Response time 3ms (grey-to-grey)


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    Back to the Alienware Aurora .... the inside



    First looks without sidepanel

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    And again a nice gadget: when the sidepanel is removed, the inside is illuminated without the power on.

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    Powered by rechargeable batteries

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    Very handy!!!

    The caps for the airflow and coverup are very nicely designed and printed

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    Cap for the GPUs is rotatable and removable

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    Beautiful swappable, tool-less and cable-free hard drive bays

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    Also well thought about is the power suply for the side panel (Lights)
    On the side of the powersupply are contact points which provide this

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    For now a Nvidia GTX555 is installed, but this will be exchanged for two Nvidia GTX680

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    Cooler motherboard

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    And the beautiful Alienware CPU cooler

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    Personally I really like this one, so it stays in this build (perhaps modify)

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    What cable management is concerned, everything is provided. But it looks a bit messy.
    This will be better ;)

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    Module for lighting, fans and other applications

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    This will be a lot of work, but a very exciting thing to do.

    The first change that I'm going to do is swap the Nvidia GTX555 for two GPUs Nvidia has sent me.

    Again thank you Nvidia

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    For sending me two Nvidia GTX680's

    Engine Specs:

    - CUDA Cores: 1536
    - Base Clock: 1006
    - Boost Clock: 1058
    - Texture Fill Rate: 128.8
    - Memory Speed: 6.0 Gbps
    - Standard Memory Config: 2048MB
    - Memory Interface Width: 256-bit GDDR5
    - Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec): 192.2

    Unboxing again

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    The beautiful GPU's

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    with one Dual Link DVI-I, one Dual Link DVI-D, one HDMI and one DisplayPort

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    And installed the new GPU's

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    Last edited: 29 Nov 2012
  2. kier

    kier -----------------

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    And now it is time for some modding :)

    First a window in the Alienware Aurora. And maybe two, one on both sides.
    But this is for later... first one.

    The sidepanel

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    Contacts for lighting has to be kept in mind

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    And the shapes / curves must be maintained

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    Everything is pretty easy to disassemble. Black panel removed and drawn the line for cutting

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    Disassambled the remaining parts

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    RGB strip for color effects

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    Detached the Acrylic carefully

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    What's left...a piece of iron

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    This is what we gonna use for cutting the window in the plastic panel

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    After some sawing and filing

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    Excess plastic also removed with my dremel to place the window (later)

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    first fit

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    Next step. We use the jigsaw

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    Removed the reinforcement strip and drawned the hole slightly larger than the window in the plastic panel

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    And saw it (and some filling of course)

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    The points which seem to be thin will be reinforced

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    Furthermore, it's still a strong frame

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    And placed everything back. The gap inside between the plastic and iron needs to be filled

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    And the window is almost finished

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    A big start topic with a lot of pics and vids, but hope you like it.

    Until the next update!!!

    Grtz.

    Kier
     
    Last edited: 27 Oct 2012
  3. Gtek

    Gtek Doesn't raise the bar; he IS the bar.

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    Nice kier, this will be epic :thumb:
     
  4. l3p

    l3p www.^.nl

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    Really curious where this is going Richard :)
    Congrats on the cooperation with Dell and Nvidia!
     
  5. hangar_15

    hangar_15 What's a Dremel?

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    Great start! :thumb:
     
  6. kier

    kier -----------------

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    Thank you Gtek :thumb:

    Thanks Peter, im curious also ;)


    :rock::thumb:
     
  7. KoSoVaR^

    KoSoVaR^ Professional Sleever & Modder

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    Looks great Kier!
     
  8. whyte

    whyte What's a Dremel?

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    Wow! So cool already. Looking forward to seeing this. KayinBlack's log has been awesome, so these cases seem like they will yield some cool results.
     
  9. KayinBlack

    KayinBlack Unrepentant Savage

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    Careful what you do with that name, apparently it's a summoning spell.

    Great start, let me know if you run into any problems, I've got my Area-51 case able to do just about everything short of walk the dog now. I've been able to get the ESA working with third-party boards, as well as getting GPU clocks tied into the deal.

    When you get into cable management, have fun with that nightmare. Also, if you'll pull the PSU I can tell you if it's a straight swap with the 1100W Delta that came in mine. I can also show you where to get those dirt cheap, if need be.
     
  10. Jipa

    Jipa Avoiding the "I guess.." since 2004

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    Oh gawd the metal parts of that case look so rubbish...

    Good luck with that one!
     
  11. Attila

    Attila still thinking....

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    You're right! But kier will make them nice. ;)

    It's looking better already with that window cut. Good luck. :thumb:
     
  12. kier

    kier -----------------

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    Thanks :thumb:

    Thanks for the tip, didnt saw KayinBlack build before... sorry Kayin ;)

    Hi KayinBlack thanks, your doing a superb job my friend subbed for sure. the PSU is fine for now but thanks. About the cables.....hmm the cables, dont want to think about now

    Thanks :thumb:

    Thank you Attila ;)
     
  13. nagyizom

    nagyizom Minimodder

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    Pure awesomeness! I'm very excited about this mod. Sub'd inmediately :)
     
  14. [ZiiP] NaloaC

    [ZiiP] NaloaC Multimodder

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    Huzzah! Another build by Kier to drool over :D
     
  15. alain-s

    alain-s Minimodder

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    The design of the sidepanel is fit perfect with the case very nice Kier. Looking forward to the next update.
     
  16. Vetalar

    Vetalar *learning english*

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    after hours of new XCOM i'll shoot it if it moves :)
    interesting mod! i'll watch!!!
     
  17. kier

    kier -----------------

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    Thanks :rock:

    After this on vacation ;)

    Thanks Alain :thumb:

    Shoot my Alien ???
     
  18. Vetalar

    Vetalar *learning english*

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    yeah!!! with my trusty heavy plasma :D
     
  19. Guest-23315

    Guest-23315 Guest

    Definitely looking forwards to this!
     
  20. kier

    kier -----------------

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    :eeek: :eeek: :eeek:

    Thanks :thumb:
     

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