@Cass-Ole has some thorough Dell-Alienware Area-51 build-guides posted here on the forum for your modding enjoyment. For R1 and I think maybe R2 and others. Take a look.
@redxps630 Yeah I new all of that, except for the retirement part of Cass, which is bad for us. He's GOOD at what he did. He helped me out a lot when first upgraded these, for Windows 10. Right now I have an MSI MAG TOMAHAWK B550 with a Ryzen 3700X, 32GB of RAM and a Radeon RX6800X, for testing, to see if I can get the lighting and active venting to work. I'll just have to search the site for how others have done it. I still have an 8 pin connector that I hope to use in the cases for her motherboard which has a n 8 pin and a 4pin connector for the CPU
@Tesla1856 Thank you Tesla. I'll have to look through a lot of pages to find what I need and how to get this done. I hope, because those HDD fans are louder than my wife's Air Fryer. LOL
I found out that I need a USB extension cable and a USB 3.0 female to USB 2.0 Male adapter cable to plug into the MIO board to get everything ready for installing the AWCC 2.8.11.0.
That should keep them quiet.
My daughter has SATA SSDs for her gaming, video, and photo editing.
My motherboard is an MSI MEG B550 UNIFY. I need to use up as many accessories as I can and put them to good use, but I'll try it too. I'm just trying to eliminate the top panel ports all together, as well.
I'm trying to find the best 1000W PSUs to replace the existing ones that are from our non ALX cases.
Thank you again for all the help, before I head down to San Diego to surprise our daughter.
redxps630
9 Legend
•
15.4K Posts
1
March 31st, 2026 12:41
Cassole is guru on A51 R1 aka Phobos mod.
I know he (and others) has done 240 AIO on the top. He knows the details of how thick the radiator this case can support.
motherboard upgrade is standard atx
psu upgrade needs custom 10 pin power adapter. Cass said he has retired from making more adapter for others…
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
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17.3K Posts
1
March 31st, 2026 18:30
@Cass-Ole has some thorough Dell-Alienware Area-51 build-guides posted here on the forum for your modding enjoyment. For R1 and I think maybe R2 and others. Take a look.
redxps630
9 Legend
•
15.4K Posts
1
April 1st, 2026 11:32
I am quite sure A51 R1 user can modify SMBIOS of ASUS Gigabyte (and MSI) to support install and run of AWCC.
you can unplug hdd fans power cable from mio since the fans are not really needed.
10 pin adapter can be made in a number of ways
redxps630
9 Legend
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15.4K Posts
0
April 1st, 2026 21:38
TOMAHAWK B550 Motherboard has two USB2.0 9 pin header. I suggest use that to talk to MIO via 9 pin to 9 pin usb cable.
https://download-2.msi.com/archive/mnu_exe/mb/MAGB550TOMAHAWK.pdf
JUSB 1 and 2
DirtBoy71
1 Rookie
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5 Posts
0
March 31st, 2026 21:30
@redxps630 Yeah I new all of that, except for the retirement part of Cass, which is bad for us. He's GOOD at what he did. He helped me out a lot when first upgraded these, for Windows 10. Right now I have an MSI MAG TOMAHAWK B550 with a Ryzen 3700X, 32GB of RAM and a Radeon RX6800X, for testing, to see if I can get the lighting and active venting to work. I'll just have to search the site for how others have done it. I still have an 8 pin connector that I hope to use in the cases for her motherboard which has a n 8 pin and a 4pin connector for the CPU
(edited)
DirtBoy71
1 Rookie
•
5 Posts
0
March 31st, 2026 21:40
@Tesla1856 Thank you Tesla. I'll have to look through a lot of pages to find what I need and how to get this done. I hope, because those HDD fans are louder than my wife's Air Fryer. LOL
DirtBoy71
1 Rookie
•
5 Posts
0
April 1st, 2026 19:44
I found out that I need a USB extension cable and a USB 3.0 female to USB 2.0 Male adapter cable to plug into the MIO board to get everything ready for installing the AWCC 2.8.11.0.
That should keep them quiet.
My daughter has SATA SSDs for her gaming, video, and photo editing.
Cass helped me out with this issue.
I'll check out the SMBIOS
Thank you for the information
DirtBoy71
1 Rookie
•
5 Posts
0
April 2nd, 2026 00:01
Yes, I know that, I also have a couple of PCIE 1X to 2port 19pin Expansion cards I plan on using for a couple of
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BRYHF44V/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=AUDKLBLLNT486&psc=1
My motherboard is an MSI MEG B550 UNIFY. I need to use up as many accessories as I can and put them to good use, but I'll try it too. I'm just trying to eliminate the top panel ports all together, as well.
I'm trying to find the best 1000W PSUs to replace the existing ones that are from our non ALX cases.
Thank you again for all the help, before I head down to San Diego to surprise our daughter.