PC upgrade

But won't the 3060 be severely limited between the PCIe gen 2 and the really old/weak CPU ram?

Ultimately, we won't know until the OP confirms the specs, but it is likely that the type of games the 3060/2060 were designed for won't run (well) on a 10 year old pc.

Then there is the issue of physical fit. Alienware are notorious for upgrades, with the case specifically built for the exact components that come with it. OP might get lucky, but there might not be enough room to literally fit in a modern gpu, so that needs to be checked as well.

But the problem with that link is that it may not necessarily be the spec that the OP has.

For example, in that link, it says the the R4 was first released in 2012, but then lists the GPU as a 1650 Super which was released 7 years later in 2019! From looking on the net, there seems to be a lot of confusion regarding the PCIe version. Possibly that the earliest models came with PCIe 2.0?

Here is another spec sheet for that computer. While it doesn't say what generation of PCIe (very suspicious), it only states a single PCI 16x slot whereas the link above states 2. So there definitely seems to be some variety with this model.

Hence we need the OP to confirm the specs.

In terms of the CPU, again, we are not clear as to whether is is a gen 3 or 4, but if you look at min requirements for popular games, you will find it a struggle. If you even take something like Warzone 2. While it will hopefully make the Min CPU requirements, you will note that, on the setup where they recomeend the 3060, they are matching that with an i7 8700 which is vastly more powerful that what the Op will have. If you look at Far Cry 6, it is unlikely that the CPU will allow for the min requirements (and even that is only 1080p 30fps on low settings!). Similary with Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Watch Dogs Legion (where you will see either a 2060 matched with an i5-8400 or a 2060 Super matched with an i7 - 9700!) etc, and all these games got releeased a few years ago.

Again, without know what the actual spec of the OP's PC (and what their expectations from an upgrade would be), it is impossible to say. bu typically, if 10 years old, all money is better spent on on new build than trying to flog a dead horse.

Finally, while the external chasis may be big, the internal space looks cramped (and remember, it is a micro atx board). For example, on this image - what is that black plastic covering? It completely covers the GPU ! - is it touching the GPU? Is there 5mm between the original GPU and it, or what? In this image (with black cover removed, besides the obvious cable nightmare, you will notice there is a bit of a gap between the back of the GPU (furthest away from the external ports) and another black plastic "thing". That hopefully means there is some spare room, but given the low res image and cable disaster, it is hard to guarantee that there is not some small piece of cable or the case or a "plastic thing" blocking a longer card. Therefore, the Op would need to open up and measure the space himself.

Agree with AIO comment!

lol, reading back again the OP says "to the latest hardware" not "just new graphics card" so it's possible they plan to do a lot more. Though I do suspect they wouldn't be asking here about the gpu then.

Assuming we've all been looking at the right machine it's LGA 2011 so no 4790K. It's sandy bridge or ivy bridge and from Dell there was one quad core cpu option and 4 hex core options, all supporting quad channel ram (up to 1866 by default) with the top possible cpu boosting by default to 4GHz with 15MB L3 cache (Vs 6MB on a 10100F).