Can I move my parts inside my Alienware Aurora R4 into a new case?

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orowles

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Aug 10, 2015
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Hi,

Around two years ago I bought an Alienware Aurora, due to worried of building one myself, it has rough specs of an i7, 8gb ram, 1tb hard drive and a GTX 760.

But now a few years later, and with a growth of my knowledge on pcs and how they run/put together. I am starting to want to customise my build and look at maybe purchasing some upgrades in the coming year.

One of my main problems is since this was a pre-build machine from Dell and I am not 100% what the case looks like inside (I have only had a look once or twice). But I was wondering if I wanted to, for example, change the case to a NZXT H440 and keep all my existing parts, would it be simple enough to just move all my parts over, or would I need to buy things like thermal paste, new fans and motherboard and would there much hassle with all the Dell drivers and software.

If anyone could help me here that would be greatly appreciated.
 
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Hi orowles,

You should be fine moving your internal components over. The biggest issue could be your motherboard size, but as long as your old and new case are either mid or full towers you should be ok.

As long as you don't dismantle the CPU and heatsink (which you wouldn't need to do if simply moving the motherboard over) you won't need to worry about thermal paste etc.

Edit: As far as Dell drivers and software are concerned, as long as you are keeping the same motherboard and hard drive you won't need to change anything about your core config. The possible exception to this is if your new case has USB 3 ports. If you don't already have USB 3 enabled on your rig you might need to find USB 3 drivers for your motherboard if they are...
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glamdringfh

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Dec 23, 2013
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Hi orowles,

You should be fine moving your internal components over. The biggest issue could be your motherboard size, but as long as your old and new case are either mid or full towers you should be ok.

As long as you don't dismantle the CPU and heatsink (which you wouldn't need to do if simply moving the motherboard over) you won't need to worry about thermal paste etc.

Edit: As far as Dell drivers and software are concerned, as long as you are keeping the same motherboard and hard drive you won't need to change anything about your core config. The possible exception to this is if your new case has USB 3 ports. If you don't already have USB 3 enabled on your rig you might need to find USB 3 drivers for your motherboard if they are available.
 
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Computers Taste Like Metal

Computers Taste Like Metal

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You should be able to, there is no need for thermal paste, though a 4mm drop of it wouldn't hurt either, basically you just unscrew everything and lay it on a table with bubble wrap under the parts, make sure you cushion them and keep it static free. Then just put them together like you would when building a new one. Drivers shouldn't be an issue since it's alll on the hard drive.

Your PC should stay the same OS wise, but while you are in there check for dust, it is the cancer of computers.


It will be simple, if not time consuming. (2-3 hours)
 
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orowles

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Ok, thanks for your help. Juts out of interest is changing motherboards a difficult task, or is it as simple as changing all other components?

 
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glamdringfh

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It is quite a bit more involved. For new motherboards you need to have/ check:

- The correct type of RAM for the new motherboard (and buy new if you don't have the right type)
- Re-install your operating system on your hard drive
- Make sure your CPU is the correct model for the new motherboard's socket type
- Remove the CPU and heatsink from the old motherboard & re-install them both on the new
 
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Computers Taste Like Metal

Computers Taste Like Metal

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You will need to remove your CPU, RAM, video card, and CPU fan, all easy EXCEPT for the CPU, which is VERY fragile, I mean, if you even touch the bottom of it you are in deep trouble. I don't even know what to put it on.... someone more experienced than me should know.

But when all parts are out take your new motherboard and replace everything.

 
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Computers Taste Like Metal

Computers Taste Like Metal

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Oh yeah, what he said...


Basically, some CPUs are not compatible with some motherboards, they have socet types (IE 1150) so you need to make sure your mobo and cpu have the same socket type, also, you need to see if the ram is, which it should be, ram is ram, no socket types.

Also, you will need to reinstall windows. Do you have the disc?
 
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