My R2 was purchased from SSJ92 (a member here) as an empty case with original 850w power supply, but I'm not using an original R2 X99 motherboard: what I have used/tested is both a stock R2 850watt & a 1500watt R2 power supply I bought from eBay, both of which work fine with a non-original motherboard as we'd suspect they would. I mention this for a reason which is that Gaudio tried to pair a Corsair ax1200i with his original mthrbrd, without luck for some reason:
Area 51 r2 - swap to a new motherboard, is it possible? & here:
Need help on installing new AX1200i PSU on Area 51 R2
I suspect user installation error in Gaudio's situation (his 1st psu swap attempt) or a faulty pin that didn't make contact or a rare DOA chassis etc, for several reasons: my R2 1500watt was removed/replaced with an EVGA 1600watt by the original owner, who did not complain of issues with the swap; both of my R2 psu's work with a non-original mthrbrd which means there's nothing 'special' or mysterious about them; Alienware employees are on record saying the case can have the psu replaced with any basic psu on the market, as we'd expect. By all indicators, Gaudio's ax1200i swap should have worked; I told him to return / exchange the chassis & try again but never heard back.
Because of Gaudio (pressed the power on button & only got a 'click' out of the psu, but no power output), I'd say whatever you do, buy your psu from a vendor whom will accept a return / exchange in the event yours is a similar scenario; Buying from say Newegg.com or MicroCenter (.com) will generate a receipt for future warranty purposes & of course return/exchange. Microcenter for instance has $6 standard shipping on most but not all psu's, without sales tax / in-store purchases you pay tax of course.
#1 the R2's 1500watt Delta Electronics power supply that you passed over at checkout is an 80Plus Gold-rated psu, therefore I might suggest the EVGA 1600watt Goldl Newegg had these at $280 after rebate on special, you'll have to shop for the best price; they also make pricier platinum/titanium models. Titanium-rated Corsair AX1500i is of course the world's finest psu, as stated by JonnyGuru.com - even when pitted head-to-head against EVGA T2 1600w - & I agree. These two companies then are the preferred brand for 1500+ horsepower in your rig.
Dell Sales, they want $465 for an R2 Delta 1500watt, a ridiculous sum of course for just the chassis & 1year warranty (EVGA hands you a 10year warranty for instance), a luke-warm 1440watt 12v max, whereas ax1500i hits all 1500 & EVGA hits all 1600 on their 12volt rails; their Delta of course has a whimpy 120mm fan, the others get a 140mm, the front panel is too sparse of connectors whereas the others are loaded, so from one owner to another I could never recommend buying theirs new; the only good '1500watt' Delta would be a used one with low miles from say eBay (mine was $235 with cables, one month old / one month new) ...
Removing the old psu/harness installing new psu/harness is easy. Note that due to the smaller volume inherent in the triangular case design, the stock cables tend to be short, for instance the 24pin ATX is 19", whereas ax1500i will come with a 28 inch 24pin flat-ribbon for instance, while most grfx cables are 24 inches long, meaning you will have to cable manage any new cables in your pouch. My R2 has a hand-made cable set cut to custom-lengths:
The ALX Files: Operation Kalifornikation / Area-51 R2 Kase Build / Surfin' with the Alien
EVGA & Corsair do of course offer individually sleeved cable sets if you want to go with custom colors. Corsair also offers replacement type3 sleeved cables for ax1200i which are fully compatible with ax1500i; note the shorter
24inch ribbon for $7 shipped:
Corsair Cables
EVGA Cables
Perhaps what I posted here for you is a good place to start, I whipped this up in a hurry ...
Last edited:
Oct 26, 2015
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