Can You Case Swap Alienware Aurora R9/R10/R11/R12

My channel has been blowing up with fellow Alienware Aurora owners asking if you can case swap this PC. I will cover the reasons someone would want to ditch the stock Dell chassis, if you can swap the components out of an Alienware gaming desktop, and most importantly, if you should. I will also explain some fixes for the issues with the stock case without having to do a full case swap and my opinion on the whole topic.

Alienware Aurora R11 Playlist:

0:00 Intro
1:10 Why Case Swap-3 Reasons
2:13 How to Fix These Issues Without Swapping
4:11 Can You Case Swap an Alienware
8:23 Should You Case Swap
11:39 Thank You For Watching

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[edwinlaboy]

This dude is better than Dell Community Forum, he’s answering all my questions!

[pvtvenom]

The psu is inside that swivel, it's a standard psu. The front shield plate comes off then the 4 screws in the rear. After that you can remove the psu and swap it with any standard ATX psu if you want.

[infasis]

It's refreshing whenever I come across Alienware owners that actually know what they're talking about. I bought an discounted R9 with my covidbucks and found that the average Alienware customer is very clueless and Dell seems to use that to rip them off and sell configurations that I don't even think they should be selling.
With tinkering it's a pretty good computer, but they should do so much better for people who just want a no hassle, prebuilt, gaming PC. At their regular price it's really pretty ridiculous in some of the ways they cheap out on things.

[WoodOxha]

this man answering all the important questions fr

[m_styles]

Glad I found this channel man, you answered all my questions! Thanks so much! I just got my R11 yesterday and I use it for day trading m. I run some pretty heavy programs on their haven't had a single issue yet for overheating. I've learned a lot from your channel so far

[deimo]

I have the r12 and found the case a way different shape than I thought it would be from pictures - way wider and taller at the back than the front. It's huge and heavy and lives in shame under my desk as it literally doesn't fit on it. Thanks so much for your videos!

[lukemc]

Thought about swapping the case for watercooling. Instead decided to do an exterior watercooling. I bought the Alphacool Eiswand and now Im getting 23 Celsius on the RTX3080 and maximum of 40-50 degrees C while gaming. Perfectly happy

[nicholasxayasith]

For all the reasons I hate buying OEM, parts to build my own were impossible to find last year. So I went with the R10 and spec'd it so it'd last me a few years with no interest in upgrading / tinkering with it.
You bring up some excellent points about exactly why case-swapping on one of these is nightmare-inducing. No thanks. I'd rather just build from scratch.
Appreciate the videos!

[coolguysleeks]

Recently started watching your videos and decided to go with the r10 for my first power house pc, thanks for all the info! Subbed with the notifications on!

[liberteus]

Why did I buy one? Cause it was the only east to get a 3080. Ended up gutting that disgusting case from CPU, ram, drive, GPU, and mounted everything in an itx case.
The aurora is awfully loud, inconvenient with is rounded shape and heavy.

[quintoncunningham]

Great video, I reached out to Dale and they said you can take the motherboard out the computer if you want it to, I went ahead and upgrade it to a water cooler from the original fans and it works just great keep up the Great work.

[brandonobe]

the PSU would work in any other case EXCEPT the 24pin power cable is SHORT and needs and extension. Also, the motherboard is only screwed down, not glued, and nothing shut down the motherboard in my experience while doing a complete teardown to do a custom water cooled GPU.

[jeremehm]

Stallion...so excited to get my Alienware sometime today. I’ve gotten all the supplies to do your recommended cooling. But I have to ask, if I’m not concerned about visual appeal would it be a great idea to leave the case off to keep it cooler? Any risks? Thanks!

[tombeauvais]

For a heads up, anyone looking to buy the Dark Side of the Moon R11 case (which I did), there are only 2 zones for RGB lighting. The "Alienware" on the side has no RGB nor the fins around the front of the case. The lunar case has all 4 zones, the DSotM case only has 2 zones.

[zacharypintzow]

hey there, i just ordered a alienware, your videos are so helpful and i’m so excited. already ordered the 120mm fan! i have an off topic question, where did you get your backgrounds for your PC? they look great!

[GeekStreet]

Some great info, I've got a R10 and was thinking of a case swap

[Mapexdrummer]

The PSU is a standard ATX PSU. I am currently using one in a custom build, it required no "fabrication". Just took it out of the R10, put into new PC build. No special tools or skills required, plug and play. If the cables are too short, good quality cable extensions are cheap and easy to find. *Most* of the AW PSUs are 80+ gold rated and decent quality, no reason not ro reuse.

The motherboard is also not "part of the chassis" or glued in. It's screwed in, and can be removed easily. I do concur with the sentiment about most other AM4 motherboards being better though, and would recommend not using Dells unless you need to. Right now is a great time to get new/used AM4 boards cheaply.

[treepizzle]

This video is super helpful. I have an r11 with 3080 and i9 10900kf. And it is so stupid hot. I modded it with dual Corsair ml120pro fans on the aio (dang tight) and still this baby is still quite spicy. Next step is an external water cooling setup.

[pablohdzjr]

thanks for this vid! You answered a ton of questions, I'll just keep enjoying my r12

[AnDrew-zgie]

Man you have inspired me. I just bought a damn 3090 tho and now idk what to do with my r11.