Aurora R9, Cooling Upgrade with Results

I purchased an Alienware Aurora R9 because it had excellent third-party reviews and the hardware bundle was actually about the same price as buying the components individually. Plus, having Dell assemble everything for me equaled massive time savings. I planned on upgrading my Alienware PC every so often over the course of a decade, and thought I was getting a product that would be good to go out of the box. However, it had severe issues with its cooling system, which culminated in hitting 101C while trying out Star Wars: The Old Republic, a game about a decade old. I knew what the solution was, and as much as I respect Alienware, I did not want to spend time with tech support and going through an RMA process just to waste time instead of going for the direct fix. I am currently running:

• Intel i7 9700 CPU
• Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super GPU
• 1TB NVMe SSD
• 8TB HHD (7200 RPM Enterprise-grade from Seagate– this is not stock, it’s just something I added to hold old/low res games and documents)
• 32GB DDR4 RAM at 2666

My idle temps were only 32C-38C. My underload temps for World of Warcraft (primary game I am using for benchmarking in this post) were 78-85C. This is REALLY hot for World of Warcraft. Sometimes when I alt-tabbed out of the game to Chrome it would spike to 95C. What this tells me is that there was a very poor thermal paste application. If your CPU temps are spiking high and spiking rapidly, typically it’s an issue with your thermal pasting, especially if your idle temps are on the low end. However, I have big plans for this rig, it needs to be able to run upcoming AAA titles such as Cyberpunk 2077 as good or better than upcoming consoles, so I decided to go beyond a repaste, and install:

• Corsair H60 AIO CPU cooler
• 2 Corsair ML120 Pro fans (used to sandwich the radiator form the H60)
• Arctic MX-4 Thermal Paste
  • I was going to use the screws and splitter for a radiator sandwich, but decided against it after I got started

I was going to do a “radiator sandwich” but ultimately decided against it, as the area to mount a radiator is tight for space and I would have needed to drill a hole in the metal portion of the radiator cage to account for one of the fan wires. At the suggestion of xxxxx, I figured I might get the CPU temps I was looking for without a sandwich, so I used one Corsair ML120 Pro fan and set aside the SP120 fan that came with the Corsair H60 AIO. I installed the second Corsair ML120 Pro as a front intake fan.

The process to do this was simple. I would refer folks making this upgrade to the Aurora R9 guide for uninstalling and reinstalling the fan, because it’s simplistic. You basically just unplug the front fan from the motherboard, click out the plastic cage for the fan, take the fan out of the plastic cage, put your new fan in the plastic cage, reinsert the cage+new fan into the case, and plug it into the motherboard. It’s about a 2-minute long upgrade process, and very much worth it.

Installing the Corsair H60 AIO is not very difficult either. Here is my process

• Create a clear workspace. I used a pool table with a leather cover, as it provides a very large area and is a bit more forgiving than hard surfaces such as granite counter tops or hardwood tables.
• Get your tools – you will need a Phillips-head screwdriver. I bought one years ago from Wal-Mart that has adjustable bits, and multiple bits in the handle, so I always have the right size Phillips or flat head bit for the job.
• Open the case and PSU swing arm. You DO NOT have to take off the other side of your case as you may have seen in other Corsair H60 install videos for older Aurora systems. 
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• Ground yourself by touching the metal inside of the case cover you just took off
• Take out the top fan by unscrewing the metal chassis the fan is seated in. I believe it only. Uses three or for screws. Do not worry about taking the fan out of the metal chassis – we will not be using it again.
• Assemble the radiator by screwing a fan into it. My ML120 Pro fan is an OUTTAKE. Cold air comes in through the front fan, and the hot air is moved out of the case by the top fan, which also cools the radiator. Corsair recommends that this fan be used as an intake, as cooler air would cool the radiator even better. While that’s true, I am not sure you would see any temp gains with the Alienware Aurora R9 case, as heat travels upwards naturally and your fans would be fighting mother nature. Remember, the goal of upgrading your CPU cooling is to prevent both your CPU and other parts from getting cooked.
• Remove your RAM sticks – they will get in the way. Set them aside on a non-static surface.
• Place the radiator and fan into the radiator cage. You have to do this VERY CAREFULLY as it is a tight squeeze, and if you put it in on an angle your radiator might get stuck at an odd angle in the cage, and be hard to push further in or pull out. I had this issue, and it took me awhile to fix.
• Although the radiator is a tight squeeze, you still need to screw it into your radiator cage. Ensure the radiator cage is also screwed into the case itself on the inside of your PC. Mine was not screwed in by the factory and had no screws, but I was able to use the screws from the original top fan chassis to do the trick.
  • Side note: You can mount a fan on the top of the radiator cage, outside the case altogether using long enough screws that go into the radiator itself, and I did this and it worked. It makes a radiator sandwich. I was able to thread the fan cable through an opening on the side of the radiator cage. However, you cannot get the top of the case back on if you do this. If I really wanted to make a radiator sandwich in the future, I would customize the top part of the case, which would basically consist of cutting a square hole at the top so that the fan can stay seated.
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• Take off your CPU fan. Ensure you are grounded before doing this.
• Remove your old thermal paste. My wife is a medical professional and I got some medical-grade alcoholic wipes from her to do the trick. 70% isopropyl alcohol will also do the job, in conjunction with q-tips and paper towels.
• Insert the screws for the cooling block into the motherboard around the CPU. It should be 4 screws. Refer to the Corsair H60 manual to see which screws exactly to use.
• Remove the thermal paste that comes pre-applied to the Corsair H60 block. In my case, it came totally dried out. It works for some people, but I would not trust it. Nothing against Corsair, but the Arctic MX4 is REALLY GOOD, and cheap, and you can rest-assured that it is fresh.
• Apply thermal paste directly to the CPU (technically you’re putting it on the CPU cover). I used the pea-sized method. You put a pea-sized amount of thermal paste on the CPU, then place the cooling block on top of it. Do not smear it around, do not lift the block one you put it on the cpu. You do not want to create air pockets. You want the thermal paste to basically create a firm seal between the block and the CPU. The good thing about Arctic MX4 is it’s non-conductive, so it’s a bit more forgiving if you use too much or some paste gets outside of the CPU/block area.
• Once the block is seated, secure it to the motherboard by applying the 4 caps. I recommend taking advantage of the Phillips-head tops and screwing them in more tightly than you could if you only used your hands, but be very careful not to screw them too tightly or else you will snap your motherboard. That’s a bad day and will lead to a much bigger project than replacing your CPU cooler.
• Plug your TOP fan into the TOP_FAN slot in your motherboard. Plug your 3-pronged pump fan into your PUMP_FAN slot (the slot is 4-pronged, but it will accept a 3 no problem). Plug your cooling block into a SATA connector (there are typically 2-3 open SATA connectors in an Aurora R9, including one near the back of the PSU. In my opinion, the Corsair H60 SATA connector is not as long as it should be, but I found an unused connector I could bring over it it without issue. 
• Reinsert your RAM
• Organize the cabling within your case, and remove any unused SSD/HHD cages. I left one of mine in as you might see in the pictures, because I am about to add more SSD, as the next generation of games will be VERY storage intensive. Even next World of Warcraft expansion is adding 100GB of SSD to its minimum requirements list. That’s a game I’d keep on my NVMe SSD, but I think all of us will need a lot of storage to hold many games and keep load times low.
• Slowly close your PSU swing arm when finished. I was not very careful and I partially snapped a connector to my 8TB HHD in the 3.5” slot. Luckily it still works until a new one comes in the mail.
• Feel free to test your device right away, as Arctic MX4 has no cure time. You should be fine.
• You your device boots for the first. time post-upgrade, you will get a CPU fan failure message from the BIOS. Just click "accept" and move on - your device should continue booting normally. AWCC will also have a CPU fan error, which you can ignore. The CPU fan will always be running at "86%" going forward. In reality, the pump fan is operational and running at 100%. 
• Make a profile for your games that sets the TOP fan to 100%, and your FRONT fan to about a 50-80% offset. 
• I made a default profile with a 100% TOP fan differential, and an auto-managed FRONT fan. 

Results

Pre-upgrade temps:

• 32-38C idle
• 78-85C under load (World of Warcraft), with occasional spikes over 90C during intense activity. I only felt safe putting the game on “Very High” settings.
• LOUD fans.

Post-upgrade temps:

• 26-29C idle
• 40-50C under load (World of Warcraft) with occasional spikes to 60C during intense activity. All settings “Ultra.”
• MUCH QUITER fans!
• Yet to see CPU temps top 69C for any game

The differences were DRASTIC and way, way better than expected or I could hope for. Now, I can play games such as Assassins Creed Odyssey and Horizon Zero Dawn without worrying or listening to a jet engine. I can enjoy WoW and other “older” games on ultra-settings. Altogether, the project took me 30 minutes to do, and it was a relatively cheap upgrade of only about $100 total. This was better than complaining to Dell or just letting the CPU chug or burn out over time and relying on a warranty. I’m happy with my Alienware purchase, as I said, the parts and labor together were a good deal for what I paid. I was not happy with the cooling, but with these after-market mods that problem is cured. Now, my GPU is the big heat generator, running at about 70-78C under load with World of Warcraft, and sometimes a bit higher for very graphic-intensive games. I will be looking to get that down somehow in the future, but it’s not very pressing. The GPU fans aren’t that loud, and while it can get up to its overclocking limits I configured in terms of temps, it’s safe.

I hope this helps others who have similar cooling issues with their Aurora R9's, and I am happy to answer any questions.