Project Irony "Glutton For Punishment".

ALXAndy

ALXAndy

ALXAndy

Soldato
Joined
23 Apr 2010
Posts
12,477
Location
West Sussex
Well this was not even going to be a project log tbh. However, I got caught out and now it is one lmfao :D

I don't know if you know the meaning behind my username. Most people think my name is either Alex or Andy. The latter would be correct. The ALX part? comes from my prolonged history with Alienware computers. Well, cases and modding them.

It started out in 2002 when I was in Best Buy in Deptford New Jersey. I spent 8 years living out there. Any way, I saw my first Alienware in a AW branded Chieftec Dragon and fell in love. I could never afford one so it became a bucket list item for me. Then in 2006 I got my first case. The MJ12 server case. In 2008 I got my first Predator 2 case. In 2009 I got my first Predator 2 ALX case. In 2011 I got my first Area 51 ALX case. In 2015 I bought the triangular case and so on so on.

ALX though was like a special part of Alienware. IIRC it no longer exists, but it was like a even more deluxe version. And that was where I got my username in 2009 and I have used it ever since.

So after the triad triangular case for the first time in 10 years I started using other cases. I have never, though, owned one of the new Aurora cases. Well, until now. The white one for me is absolutely gorgeous. Just recently I got quite bored of the PC at mum's (this one)



It is a bit "clinic like". So, as we do I was on Ebay last night and found a Aurora chassis BNIB. Only it was in the USA, so by the time I get it I will be out about £135. I don't think that is too bad though tbh. This is it here. I will actually like not being distracted by the light show as I game.







Now look, I know it is subjective but I have never seen an Alienware case design I do not like. Apart from the new ones that look like any other PC.

Any way, given how "nice" Dell had been for many years I figured this would be a simple case swap. Seems I was completely wrong ! The first thing I realised is that the IO shield is not removable.



Which is kinda Apple like but look we can deal with that. They even left us a nice template to cut out. However, this was when I started to notice oddities. First up there are two USB 3 connectors.



OK not a problem I can get around that by using this.



Then, however, I spotted this.



And was like "WTF is that?". I soon got my answer when I downloaded a pic of the board that comes in the case.



See it? LED con. You'll never guess what? no one has decoded that block into a pinout. Nobody. In fact, when users have a board failure (which is very common on the boards Alienware did not fit any VRM coolers to) they naturally swap out of this case not back in. Hence the irony. Some complete wally wants to swap stuff INTO this case, not out.

Thing is if you knew me you would know this is like a red flag to a bull. You know? challenge foogin accepted you aholes.

Thus, if I have to swap every single sodding RGB bulb out myself I will.

Any way so the devolution of Alienware aside.... I have never had an IO shield on my X570i Strix. I bought it as a bare board only customer return for about 1/3 the RRP at the time. I finally found the IO I need on Ali, years later.



Which is awesome. I can also use the reverse flow fans I bought and never used when doing the 5090 build.. The rest of the fans? I have two carrier bags heaving with the sodding things.


So, the mission list.

1. Get the board in.
2. Get the RGB working or replace every strip myself.
3. Mod. Add fans. I want two intakes, push pull on the cooler and a side intake for the GPU. Why people have not done these mods is beyond me tbh.

I have bought a cooler BTW. It was £30. I think the 5700X3d will be fine with it.



It's a ruddy good thing I bought that Milwauke Dremel. I have a feeling I am going to need it !
 
OK so some good news. I did a bit of research, and, - ....



That is the main block in the front panel. And, it all looks completely normal tbh.

I've also been doing some research on the lighting. It seems the main lighting is in two areas.. The front, and this side (the entire name lights up)



When poking around however I discovered this video.



That is it there. To me? that looks like some sort of light panel. And, I reckon the milky white part is just a cover. I reckon I can mod that and put two RGB strips under it. Well, if I don't blow it up first lol.
 
OK so another discovery. The front RGB uses light pipes.

@Cenedd you bought single RGB LEDs, right? where can I get some? mail me dude.





Edit. The panel for the ALIENWARE text also uses those "tron lights" as Alienware call them. It is in the service manual.
 
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Interesting project and I’m glad you’ve shared the issues so far. Will be following as things progress.
I had an Aurora R7 case previously which I really loved and did a similar upgrade to what you are doing here. Noticed a lot of similar proprietary connectors there too but overall I really enjoy the industrial/chunky chassis interior that Dell use on the AW cases. Just feels unique to me.
Good luck!
 
ALXAndy said:
@Cenedd you bought single RGB LEDs, right? where can I get some?
Click to expand...

Depends if you're after RGB or ARGB. If you're after RGB, you need to know if they're common anode or common cathode. I found them from China in a 5mm form factor and I've got a bag of about a hundred of 'em. If I remember correctly they were common anode which is the opposite of most strip types. I can check if those are what you need and I can post you some. 4 pins, a resistor on 3 to solder on three of them. Which is why I swapped to ARGB.

ARGB you want "WS2812B 5mm". Can't remember how many I've got but it's fewer than the RGBs. Might have enough to post you some depending how many you need.

That side panel, BTW, looks like it might be EL. Those tubes if they light up pale blue are probably the same. If I remember correctly the Electro Luminescence needs a much higher voltage and the transformer can whine a bit...which always put me off when I was aiming for quiet.
 
Interesting project, and look forward to seeing how you deal with the proprietary connector


I assume you've come across this:
1767007366933.png

Reddit - The heart of the internet

www.reddit.com www.reddit.com
 
As you point out Alienware tend to have way more non-standard proprietary connectors/layouts than you'd expect for a PC chassis with mostly standard components! Nice to see you making the effort to modify one and work around it though :cool:
 
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Armageus said:
See above - the Blue USB3.0 connector may be wired differently
Click to expand...

Yup I clocked that last night. The black one is standard. The blue one isn’t.

I found some spares last night. So It’ll probably be a graft job of sorts. I only need one really to plug my phone into.
 
What a pointless deviation from standards :rolleyes:

Right. RGB LEDs are common anode and I've got the remainder of a bag of 100 of them.
The ARGBs are WS2812D (there's not really any noteworth difference between the revisions if I remember correctly) and I've got a total of 13 of those with a frosted diffuser.
 
Cenedd said:
What a pointless deviation from standards :rolleyes:

Right. RGB LEDs are common anode and I've got the remainder of a bag of 100 of them.
The ARGBs are WS2812D (there's not really any noteworth difference between the revisions if I remember correctly) and I've got a total of 13 of those with a frosted diffuser.
Click to expand...

I was shocked. Honestly, I was shocked. My triad case was bone stock. I figured they would have no reason to be nasty but I guess times have changed huh. Oh well, makes me even more determined !!

OK so yeah, I think that the job will be to take apart that metal USB box and do some JB weld grafting inside. I did a womble hunt last night and found this.







Like I said, good thing I bought that rotary tool lmao. I also found this one.



So aye, plenty. I found this too. Looks like I ripped this from a case now long gone.



No power I have nicked that already but the HDD LED and PWR LED are there. Talking of LEDs... I want the head button on the case to be lit white. No point in RGB it just makes it harder to see. OK and here is the pile of also somewhat wombled parts.



SFX PSU adapter (need) reverse flow fan for pull on rad (you will see the LEDs through the top vent) and a fan hub. Also needed. I have bought a RGB hub from elsewhere nice and cheap, those will go on a custom CNC board.

Oh and G.. I think I am going to toss the tron light bars. I think they are all 12v and non addressable. I would rather have LED strips in it tbh.
 
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Cenedd said:
Depends if you're after RGB or ARGB. If you're after RGB, you need to know if they're common anode or common cathode. I found them from China in a 5mm form factor and I've got a bag of about a hundred of 'em. If I remember correctly they were common anode which is the opposite of most strip types. I can check if those are what you need and I can post you some. 4 pins, a resistor on 3 to solder on three of them. Which is why I swapped to ARGB.

ARGB you want "WS2812B 5mm". Can't remember how many I've got but it's fewer than the RGBs. Might have enough to post you some depending how many you need.

That side panel, BTW, looks like it might be EL. Those tubes if they light up pale blue are probably the same. If I remember correctly the Electro Luminescence needs a much higher voltage and the transformer can whine a bit...which always put me off when I was aiming for quiet.
Click to expand...

They are not EL. Inside those little things (black) are single LEDs. The tube? is just clear plastic. Think Lian Li Strimer. V1..



With those there are 8 LEDs in the black block polnted to here.



They then project along the plastic. So the reason Alienware have used two? is because the light won't project far enough so they have done it in two halves. I can better that for sure. I have not seen inside the channel in the front yet, but if I can slide a RGB strip in sideways (like thin ways) I will just do that.
 
OK so I also ordered one of these. As I mentioned I would like to machine a board that this and the fan hub reside on. Kinda like my MSI case I was using.



It also dawned on me that the black "USB 3" header is actually not one. It is USB2. So the adapter I bought should deal with that. Which only leaves one USB3 and one USB C. Obviously the latter is not possible but that only leaves me with one port to sort out. I only ever use one port on the front of any PC and that is to transfer pics from my phone. So yeah, the C can be blocked off or what not. I think you can buy like rubber things that press into them and cover them up.

Edit. Well blimey, that was easy eh.



I got a gold one because I think I am going to theme it on "Aurora R12 ROG Edition".

Edit again. More good info if you are tempted to take this on yourself.

The front audio port is wired up "normally". I have just cross referenced it with the Strix motherboard manual (and the Strix is normal wiring). It also seems to be in an agreeable place to reach into a normal board.

The BLACK USB "3" header port is also wired up normally as a stock connector would be. So you can go ahead and use something like I got to make that work.

 
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So the fans are sorted. For free too which is always nice !

It did catch me off guard though. Like, two of them are wired together and have a RGB connector. I couldn't make head nor tail of it then I realised they must have come with one of the AIOs I bought (probably the one recently I put in the 5090 build) and they do indeed have RGB. Tiny weeny bits.



So the bottom two are the RGB ones. They are all identical, though. Basically I read (I think it was Der8auer who said it) that they are exactly the same as EK Vardar fans. Made in the same place and everything. I then have another one which will be fitted to the side panel where the GPU vent is, and a reverse flow RGB fan for the AIO which will be the pull fan and be visible through the roof vents. The two RGB ones are going to be the intakes in the front, and there is already one of the plain non RGB ones fitted to the cooler (I did that earlier).

So yeah, these fans are pretty butch so I don't see them having problems bringing in air.
 
I've got a trio of Varders pulling and pushing air into my server cupboard 24x7 for the last ...decade probably. One exhausts from the top down a good foot of 100mm tube and the other two are at the bottom as intakes. One pulls air down at least a foot of rectangular duct with a right angle and a convertor to circular and the other pushes air in from the other side down 6 inches of bare hole through breeze block (might have coated it in something to keep the dust down though, I forget). Anyway, point is, if they have the static pressure to cope with that, a case isn't going to be a problem....even one by Alienware! :D
 
I figured that tbh. They are like, really heavy. The motors are bleedin huge too ! Figured it would be sensible to go for performance over anything else.
 
You can always dial it back to less than 100% if you aren't happy with the noise level and are getting more than enough performance....you can't dial it to 150% if it isn't coping. Some of the Vardars (the ER Extended Range flavour) will go as low as 25% PWM so you should have the downward adjustability available.
 
Cenedd said:
You can always dial it back to less than 100% if you aren't happy with the noise level and are getting more than enough performance....you can't dial it to 150% if it isn't coping. Some of the Vardars (the ER Extended Range flavour) will go as low as 25% PWM so you should have the downward adjustability available.
Click to expand...

I will need to figure out how to control fans in Windows. I think I worked it out once before. I think Asus Armory Crate can do it. TBH? the noise? doesn't bother me. I wear closed back cans so it has never been an issue. I also have an air filter purifier thing running 24/7 and it is noisy AF, but necessary. Very small room that is notoriously dusty and I vape in here too so yeah... I have a distinct feeling the side fan mod could well sort it out tbh. That said though even with a 3090 in them none of the videos I have seen ever complained about GPU temps. It is always the CPU. And, I think I can easily fix that.

The USB adapter came today. So that is something else got now. The case tracking says it will be FedEx, so that is awesome.

Edit. Wait, I am a divvy. I forgot the PC I will be stripping has my PA3 in it with a Splitty 9 ffs. Sorted lmao.
 
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OK small update. I have decided not to use the Aquacomputer things. Mostly because it needs a USB socket, and they want paying. Neither of which I can be ersed with. Besides, it is not PWM. As such I will use one of the other hubs I have.

My RGB hub arrived. Seems it came from Soviet Russia.



So that is why they are knocking them out for £4.50 lmao. This arrived yesterday.



And last night I got to thinking about RGB things. Now whilst I was at it I finally found someone insane enough to do the same thing I am doing. It was on Reddit. Any way, I noticed he did the same with the front IO as I will be doing. Only I will be soldering straight to the power button so I don't have to have the huge harness just for two wires. I also saw how he did the front RGB and it didn't look very nice. The main opening lit up lovely, but the actual oval around the inside was not lit at all. Which made me come to the conclusion that nothing else will fit in that channel.

As such? I will be either deconstructing these housings.



And fitting these in there....





Thanks @Cenedd . Or some complete muppet will be printing me new ones that take those LEDs. Thanks @Cenedd :D

The other panel? the guy just put a strip behind it. Without the diffuser. I can do better than that...
 
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