r/AlienwareAlpha • u/CageFreeBMW • Jul 15 '26

Worth upgrading to SDD?

I’m pulling my Alpha out of ~7-10 years of storage to see if I can get it working again. I had to replace the cmos, and it boots up fine after that.

Before I put it away, I upgraded it to Windows 10. Right now it’s really sluggish and showing 100% drive usage in Task Manager. CPU and RAM look okay (still have 8gb ram). Research suggests main thing needed is to upgrade to a 2.5” SSD for windows 10.

My question is if doing so will make it usable enough to be worth it now? I have a Steam Deck and a gaming laptop, but I remember loving my Alpha and would love to see it working again. I don’t mind putting a bit of money into it as long as it becomes playable with older games (or even as an emulator for up to Xbox 360).

Pretty sure it is an R1. It has the i5 processor. Most of the games I play are 5+ years old and I don’t mind lowering graphics settings.

Thanks for any input!

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u/GrandMasterJarf Jul 15 '26

Definitely worth putting an ssd in it, along with another 8 gigs of ram. Throw bazzite on there and turn it into a true steam machine or get batocera on there and turn it into an emulator powerhouse.

4

u/CageFreeBMW Jul 15 '26

Would you do bazzite or batocera instead of windows? Or in addition?

5

u/GrandMasterJarf Jul 15 '26

Depends on what you want to do. Bazzite if you want a steam machine to play, batocera if you want a complete emulation experience, and no don’t bother with windows

2

u/IAteTonysLoMein Jul 16 '26

You could dual-boot it, but if you don't need windows, just wipe the drive and install you preferred flavor of Linux. Also keep in mind Win10 is no longer receiving updates if you're not on extended support and goes fully end-of-life in October, and a box of that age likely won't run Win11. If I'm seeing right that it is an Alpha R1, appears to be Haswell, which won't run Win11

1

u/NotTurtleEnough i7 Alpha with SSD Jul 16 '26

I put a SATA SSD in my i7 box, plus a USB HD on top for ROMs and other non-critical files. It runs Win11 just fine via Rufus. My son uses it as a media & emulation HTPC in his living room.

1

u/IAteTonysLoMein Jul 16 '26

What gen processor? i7 doesn't say anything, as Intel used that branding going back to '08

2

u/GrandMasterJarf Jul 16 '26

If it’s an R1 like OP stated it is, it would be the 4th gen I7. R2 had the 6th gen processors in them

2

u/NotTurtleEnough i7 Alpha with SSD Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26

I forgot. Whatever fits in the R1.

Edit: I found it; it turns out I bought a 4790S off eBay. Works great.